[dc-critmass-list] Tourmobile behind police attacks on pedicabs

[Luke Kuhn]

This DC Indymedia story containing WAMU's interview with a witness
http://dc.indymedia.org/newswire/display/151686/index.php

Also includes a link to a Washington Examiner report quoting the park service as claiming their contract with Tourmobile requires the harassment!
http://washingtonexaminer.com/local/dc/2011/07/pedicab-problems-escalate-national-mall
This is NUTS, and we need to be thinking about ways to punish Tourmobile for this.
> From: jym at econet.org
> To: dc-critmass-list at lists.mutualaid.org
> Date: Mon, 18 Jul 2011 12:39:49 -0700
> Subject: [dc-critmass-list] WJLA\Pedicab Driver Tased by Park Police on	National Mall
> 
> http://wj.la/nOfs1U 
> 	|
> 	V
> http://www.wjla.com/articles/2011/07/pedicab-driver-tased-by-park-police-on-national-mall-63746.html
> 
> PEDICAB DRIVER TASED BY PARK POLICE ON NATIONAL MALL
> (Washington, DC July 15, 2011)
> 
> A pedicab driver was tased by a U.S. Park Police officer Friday afternoon
> outside the Air and Space Museum on the National Mall.
> 
> Police say the pedicab driver assaulted the officer. But witnesses say
> tensions between pedicab drivers and Park Police have begun to boil over and
> called it a clear use of excessive force.
> 
> "I was completely shocked. I've never seen quite so brutal an act of
> violence in any situation in my entire of life before," says Tyler Clark, a
> witness. "And I was sitting there with my jaw dropped."
> 
> Fellow pedicab drivers were appalled about what happened after fellow driver
> Charles Guillon pulled up to the museum on Jefferson Drive.
> 
> Police say they told him to get out of the crosswalk, but he refused, so
> they threatened to write him a ticket. Officers say Guillon then assaulted
> the officer, and got tased.
> 
> But Clark and another witness who, fearing retaliation, wouldn't show his
> face on camera to ABC7, say that assault never happened.
> 
> "I didn't see anything that looked remotely like an assault or battery on
> the police officer," Clark says.
> 
> "Apparently his passengers had been told to get off his cab," another
> witness says. "He went over across the street to where the museum was and
> tried to let the customers on, and was blocked by a police officer."
> 
> They say things had already calmed down, when the officer tased Guillon in
> the ribs. They watched their friend drop to the ground, screaming and
> writhing in pain. He hit his head hard on the police cruiser.
> 
> And then the officer fired again.
> 
> "It was very much like an episode of Cops where the officer says stop
> resisting arrest when it doesn't really look like the person's resisting
> arrest," Clark said.
> 
> Tonight, drivers showed up in numbers at Park Police headquarters, where
> they say police continue to hold their friend.
> 
> Outside they sought justice.
> 
> "We would like the Park Police to stop treating us like criminals and to
> treat us with a little respect," said a driver.
> _______________________________________________
> dc-critmass-list mailing list
> dc-critmass-list at lists.mutualaid.org
> 
> To (un)subscribe: http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/dc-critmass-list/
> 
> DC Critical Mass Unofficial website: http://cm-dc.mahost.org/
 		 	   		  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.mutualaid.org/pipermail/dc-critmass-list/attachments/20110718/425eca55/attachment.html>