Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Beats, Hospitalizes, Arrests Man Whose Leg Became Lodged Under Police Motorcycle

The NYPD arrested a man who was walking with the Occupy Wall Street protestors today after his foot somehow became lodged under the tire of one of the police motorcycles that were traveling “at high speeds through crowds of demonstrators.” In other words, as you can see from this video — which was taken from a different angle than this video we published earlier today — the cops clearly and many would say, intentionally, ran over this man. Then, it appears they beat him. And then they arrested him.

The man, by the way, has been identified as Ari Douglas, a legal observer for the National Lawyers Guild. Talk about picking on the wrong guy.

“Mr. Douglas was charged with felony criminal mischief, obstructing judicial administration, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest,” writes The New York Times.

Gothamist this afternoon reported,

Attorney Gideon Oliver, a member of the National Lawyers Guild, confirms that the man seen in this harrowing video is in fact a legal observer for the NLG, and that he was arrested and then hospitalized. He’s currently in police custody in the emergency room.

The NYPD repeatedly drove scooters at high speeds through crowds of demonstrators during this morning’s march, and another demonstrator was beaten after kicking a police scooter. In this case, the unidentified legal observer will be charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstruction of governmental administration, and two counts of criminal mischief.

Oliver tells us, “It’s absolutely outrageous he was assaulted in the first place, it is outrageous that he was arrested, and outrageous he was assaulted after he was arrested—he has injuries to his face. It’s an example of the police putting charges against someone just to cover their ass. We ask that the NYPD releases him without charges immediately after he’s treated.”

…

The legal observer in this video has been identified as Ari Douglas, and while the extent of his injuries remains unclear, some doubt has been cast on earlier reports that he was seriously injured. A photographer for the Daily News who witnessed the confrontation, Joe Marino, says “the bike definitely hit him” but the officer didn’t run him over. “I saw him sticking his legs under the bike to make it appear he was run over,” Marino claims.

Another photographer who witnessed the incident believes Douglas was run over. And another legal observer, Zainab Akbar, tells the News, “His leg was stuck under the bike, and he kicked his leg to get the bike off his leg, and then the police attacked him and shoved him into the ground and put a night stick against the back of his neck.”

Clearly, Joe Marino is mistaken. Just look at this frame from our earlier video.

John Aravosis at Americablog writes, “It’s pretty obvious.  The cop ran the guy over on purpose, then left his motorcycle on top of the guy’s leg while his buddies came up and then they arrested the guy, screaming in agony.”

“It’s kind of amazing, but in the past two weeks the NYPD has destroyed much of the goodwill they built up nationwide and worldwide following the unfortunate events of 2001.  This is not the stuff of heroes.  These videos are abominable.  They’re third world.  And they’re embarrassing.  What the hell kind of city is Mayor Bloomberg running up there?”

Um, yeah, Mayor Bloomberg. What the heck are you thinking?