God, transit cops are even worse than the regular ones. Why the hell did he feel it was incumbent on him to go after this guy?
Musicians have rallied around a fellow subway performer who was arrested for playing at a Brooklyn subway stop – after the cop recited the law saying he WAS allowed to be there.
Andrew Kalleen, 30, was ejected from the G subway platform at the Lorimer Street-Metropolitan Avenue stop on Friday after calmly explaining to the officer that he was doing nothing illegal.
A video of the incident captured by straphangers waiting for a train shows a police officer approaching Kalleen and telling him he needed a permit to play there – which the musician disputes.
‘I’m not going to argue with you,’ the officer says calmly in response.
Kalleen, also speaking evenly, refuses to leave and tells the officer he has a right to be there performing, then directs him to the section in the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s rules of conduct that says artistic performances and solicitations of donations are allowed.
The flustered officer reads the section aloud and discovers that the musician is indeed right – but still decides to eject him anyway.
While the MTA rules did state he could be there, there remains a gray area – because MTA rules differ from state law, which says an entertainer can be arrested for loitering in a transportation facility unless he was authorized to be there.
As the police officer calls for backup on the video, straphangers clap and Kalleen puts his guitar back on and continues singing. The officer approaches him again to make him stop.
‘Get your stuff. You’re leaving,’ the officer says.
[…] Eventually, several other uniformed and plainclothes police officers arrive at the station and force Kalleen to the floor before handcuffing him – as he continues to sing – and dragging him out.
As he is pulled up the stairs, travelers shout ‘F*** the police’.
The video was posted online and has been viewed more than 800,000 times.
Kalleen was arrested on a charge of loitering and will appear in court on Friday. Police spokesman Steve Davis said Tuesday that the department is investigating the matter.
Respect for authority is breaking down all over. It happens every time people begin thinking for themselves. Questioning the world around them. If the oligarchy isn’t very, very careful it might wake up one morning and find that it is no longer making all of our decisions for us.
Imhotep is correct but the oligarchy will try to purchase authority to use force and violence and outgun anyone who can think for himself – they can buy bigger weapons and better protected armies…we will need to co-opt their soldiers
“Co-opt their soldiers,” interesting. Couldn’t we co-opt some of their soldiers by voting all of their bought and paid for incumbent politicians out of office on November 4th? Aren’t their armies made up of our son’s and daughter’s? Those kids are not beyond our control. What if the oligarchy gave us a war that we (99%) refused to fight? Wouldn’t all of their bigger weapons be useless to them? When all of the violence is coming from the smaller group (1%) doesn’t the larger group (99%) always force them to stop? The eventual downfall of every dictator is proof of that. Even those dictators that the US oligarchy (1%) props up with money and weapons will collapse in the end. We should all be co-opting the “powers that be” on and ongoing basis.
He violated Amerika’s newest rule, Thou shalt genuflect and OBEY IMMEDIATELY. “Fuck the law, I’m the law.”
Perhaps this is why NYC has paid out over a billion dollars for wrongful arrest, excessive violence, etc over the past couple of years. I wonder how many school lunches that would have paid for??
CORRECTION: That’s HALF a billion . . .