Update:New York police lieutenant stripped of badge and gun over arrest of postal worker

[Liberal_in_LA]

An NYPD lieutenant who oversaw the arrest of a US postal worker this month has had his gun and badge taken as a result. The on-duty postal worker had claimed he was nearly hit by an unmarked police car when he shouted in frustration, prompting the arrest.

Lieutenant Luis Machado who supervising the plainclothes officers who then backed their squad car up, screamed at the postal worker, then demanded his ID before cuffing and arresting him.

As of Thursday, Machado was placed on modified duty over the arrest after being stripped of his badge and his gun, according to the New York Daily News.


The arrest of postal worker Glenn Grays, 27, took place on March 17 and was captured on several cameras, including a cell phone video that was circulated by the media. Grays was taken to the 71st Precinct station house in Brooklyn and charged with resisting arrest, leaving his mail truck double-parked and abandoned on a busy street.

bystander’s video, which was released by Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, shows plainclothes officers coming up to Grays at the door of an apartment building and asking for ID before placing him under arrest.

“My ID right there on the side of the truck,” Mr. Grays says. One the officers responds, “Let’s go get your ID.”

“I’m not going nowhere. I’m delivering my postal route,” Mr. Grays is heard responding.

In the video, officers repeatedly tell Mr. Grays to stop resisting arrest, though he doesn’t appear to be resisting and can be heard shouting back, “I’m not resisting.”

Mr. Grays is then handcuffed, placed in a car and charged with disorderly conduct along with a criminal summons.

[OnyxCollie]

1. Good.

Fuck that guy.

[geek tragedy]

2. Mr. Grays was on duty as a federal employee and is a member of a federal employees' union.

You can be damn sure that both the union and the US government had backchannel conversations over this. State law enforcement interfering with the federal government doing its job is a constitutional crisis type of issue that won't be tolerated.

[Lithos]

7. Not a constitutional crisis

Just several very clear violations of Federal Law including:

U.S. Code § 1570 - Assaults On Postal Employees
U.S. Code § 1701 - Obstruction of mails generally

Also some civil rights violations as well.

[geek tragedy]

8. this isn't a constitutional crisis because they're coming down on this guy pretty hard

but if state agencies were to engage in this kind of thing with any frequency, it would be a straightforward violation of the Supremacy Clause.

The statutes you cited certainly being part of that dynamic.

Hard to fathom how these cops could have been this stupid.

[tblue37]

10. Habit. They are accustomed to treating everyone--*especially* young black men--like this, so

they just fell into their default behavior, which has no checks on it because they never suffer any consequences.

Without the occasional pushback against such behavior in the form of consequences, the behavior is continually reinforced, until finally it becomes as automatic and as nearly impossible to control as a full-fledged addiction.

[geek tragedy]

13. god complexes are always dangerous unless one's a god nt

[La Lioness Priyanka]

21. so true. nt

[30Draw]

11. What if...

Let me preface this by saying I think this arrest was false and completely illegal. But what if the postal worker HAD been engaging in disorderly conduct or some other arrestable offense -- at what point can state or local authorities enforce the law?

[awoke_in_2003]

29. If a postal worker

is engaging in criminal activity, then he is no longer doing his appointed job, and subject to arrest

[Lithos]

31. Correct

Yet, none were broken in this case by the postal worker...

[awoke_in_2003]

32. Oh, very true

I was just answering the hypothetical posed by the other DUer.

[Scruffy1]

25. Postal Employees are not federal employees.

The Postal Service was spun off in the 70's. However I am sure the Postal Inspectors are preparing a federal case against these
assholes as there is federal laws involved and they have a 98% conviction rate. I don't think they can count on their buddies in the district attorneys office.

[cannabis_flower]

36. Is this a NY city or State Police officer?

Not that it matters a whole lot. Just wondering.

[geek tragedy]

37. City nt

[RKP5637]

3. Excellent! Assholes like this need to be removed from the police force. n/t

[FlatBaroque]

4. For each one of these caught on video, many more go unnoticed. /

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. Well.. these cops prob mistreated many, now they have been caught. Keep ur cell phones handy

With everyone filming, more will be caught

[Chakab]

14. The fact that an officer who holds the rank of lieutenant thinks that it's appropriate to act in

this manner says everything that you need to know about the NYPD.

It's one thing when guys at the bottom of the hierarchy act like asses on duty, but it's something else to see it countenanced by supervisory officers.

[unapatriciated]

5. Here is the vid

There is a comment on youtube that suggest the undercover cops might be committing a federal offense.

§1701. Obstruction of mails generally
Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 778; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(B), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2146.)

[Chakab]

12. The lot of them should be under indictment. It's actually illegal to falsely arrest somebody and to

make false statements in a police report. You wouldn't know it because cops are almost never held responsible for it, but it is a crime.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/16/nyregion/new-york-police-officer-is-convicted-of-lying-about-photographers-arrest.html

The only way to stop casual abuse of authority is to punish cops who think that it's okay to arrest and lay bogus charges on citizens who pissed them off or "disrespected" them.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. Here is link

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-oversaw-postal-worker-arrest-loses-badge-gun-article-1.2584376

[silvershadow]

26. Thanks!

[Rex]

15. Pigs with guns and a badge are pathetic and have no place in law enforcement.

I hope it hurt him financially since that seems to be the only way to get a pigs attention.

[winstars]

16. I am totally shocked, shocked I tell ya that the postal worker is........BLACK!!! WTF???

[malaise]

17. Great news

Rec

[valerief]

18. But the cop wasn't arrested for interfering with mail delivery? nt

[Rex]

20. Or how about falsifying an arrest report? Seems that is so common, it is not even a big deal.

Hopefully he will be fired along with his fellow tough guys.

[matt819]

22. Good

And I hope it doesn't stop there. One part of changing this culture is to make the penalties very high. Arrests and convictions.

[Aristus]

23. Grays dodged a bullet. Literally.

"Stop resisting! Stop resisting!" is what these pigs yell out just before they start blasting away. I guess it's supposed to indemnify them from cold-blooded murder, which is what a lot of these confrontations turn into...

Man, some fucking cops I just hate...

[Overseas]

24. K&R. Glad to hear it.

[passiveporcupine]

27. This is beyond ridiculous

He also put part of the blame on Grays.

“No one ever has the right to resist arrest,” Lynch continued. “Compliance is not optional.”

Are we living in a police state where human emotion is no longer allowed, where we have become so subjugated and fearful of our police that we obey their every command, no matter how ridiculous it may be in context. Like he did not have the right to be pissed that they almost struck him with their vehicle?

I'm starting to think this monster is too big and it's too late to stop it. Especially after reading the Bill Moyer's site article by Tom Engelhardt, posted in another thread. A must read if you really want o know what is happening in your country.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=7733946

With thanks to LongTomH

This article and the links within this article are so pertinent to where we are in this election cycle and where this country is headed. And it's not a pretty picture.

[malthaussen]

38. Perhaps Mr Lynch would care to enlighten us...

... as to how an illegitimate arrest constitutes an "arrest" at all.

-- Mal

[cloudbase]

28. If his badge was taken,

why is the lieutenant on any kind of duty at all?

[Hoppy]

34. Union contract... he is entitled to due process.

[jwirr]

30. Good.

[intheflow]

33. I think the US Postal Service should sue the NYPD over this.

The officers arrested one of their workers without cause, forcing him to abandon his unsecured truck filled with U.S. mail. Impeding delivery of the mail is a federal offense.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1701

[elljay]

35. A bit unclear

was this lieutenant actually at the scene supervising and participating in this travesty? What about the other officers? Do they not get punished?

[Liberal_in_LA]

39. He was at the scene. I think the other participants have already been pulled from duty not sure

[fbc]

40. Isn't obstruction of the mail a federal offense?

[Odin2005]

41. The Post Office doesn't fuck around with this kind of thing.

They are a lot more powerful than any local police force.