Cuba Detains at Least Three Before Protest, Dissidents and Relatives Say

[Judi Lynn]

16. Ah, Miami's FTAA event, starring their fun-loving police chief, John Timoney!

John Timoney, America�s Worst Cop

He has spent 138 days on the road in just a few years on the job. Who�s minding the Miami Police Department?

By Tamara Lush Thursday, Sep 20 2007

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The defining event of Timoney's tenure, the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) summit, came to Miami November 20. Police were on guard because of the massive riots that had taken place in Seattle during a 1999 World Trade Organization meeting and demonstrations during the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, when Timoney was police commissioner there. Hundreds of people were arrested at both. "Timoney's strategy during the RNC was to arrest as many people as possible, look good in front of the TV cameras, and deal with the Constitution later," commented Kris Hermes, spokesman for a group that helped defend many of the demonstrators.

From FTAA's start, Timoney locked down the city's center. Then he dispatched 2500 officers in riot gear against about 12,000 protesters. The cops used rubber bullets, shields, batons, concussion grenades, and stun guns. The "rough start," Timoney would later explain, was needed because some demonstrators didn't have permits. Sixty people were taken into custody; many were beaten by cops. At one point, Timoney jumped off of his patrol bicycle and yelled at a protester: "Fuck you! You're bad!" Nineteen-year-old Edward Owaki of Connecticut was linking arms with other protesters on Biscayne Boulevard when police barreled into the crowd and pinned him to the ground. He suffered a severe head injury and was hospitalized for a week.

Free speech advocates were horrified. One editorial writer from the St. Petersburg Times said, "The show of force would have made a Latin American dictator blush."

Timoney responded with typical sensitivity. His officers "demonstrated a tremendous amount of restraint," he said.

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Fallout from the FTAA riots continued in 2004. Accountants totaled costs for security around $23.9 million. The American Civil Liberties Union received 150 complaints alleging police abuse and filed six lawsuits on behalf of protesters in federal court. (They are all still pending.) The city settled for $180,000 with an independent filmmaker named Carl Kessler after he was injured by a police beanbag fired into his face. And the Miami Civilian Investigative Panel issued a report criticizing cops for profiling and unlawfully searching protesters.

Yet the chief stood by his claim that his handling of the protests was a "success." And he was right — at least if you consider his frequent-flyer account. During at least half of the 26 trips Timoney took after the FTAA summit, he was called up to discuss what became known as "The Miami Model" of crowd control.

In April that year, the chief was embarrassed when a Philadelphia judge dismissed the case against "The Timoney Three," who had been arrested during the 2000 GOP convention after one had allegedly thrown a bicycle at the chief. It was the story he told to local media while chuckling that first day on the job. Called to testify, Timoney couldn't identify his attacker. Worse, a video showed the trio had cooperated with police before taking a beating.

More:
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2007-09-20/news/john-timoney-america-s-worst-cop/full/

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Police Trampled Civil Rights During 2003 Free Trade Protests in Florida, ACLU Charges

November 17, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [e-mail]

MIAMI – The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida’s Greater Miami Chapter today filed three lawsuits charging that officers of the Miami, Miami-Dade and Broward police departments used excessive force to intimidate and unlawfully arrest innocent bystanders and protesters who were exercising their free speech rights during the November 2003 Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) ministerial meetings in downtown Miami.

The three lawsuits filed today – on the two-year anniversary of the FTAA summit – are on behalf of a former Miami New Times reporter, four labor union members and a college student from Massachusetts whose skull was fractured after police hit him in the head three times with a baton. All six ACLU plaintiffs were arrested on November 20, 2003, during marches that resulted in hundreds of arrests after police used unnecessary force to disperse crowds.

“The ‘Miami Model’ was a police tactic designed to intimidate political demonstrators, silence dissent, and criminalize protest against the government policies,” said ACLU Greater Miami Chapter President Terry Coble, referring to the City of Miami’s law enforcement strategy during the FTAA meetings. “If this type of police action is allowed to continue, our country will have lost one of our most basic rights, and we will be on the road to a totalitarian government.”

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Working under the overall command of Miami Police Chief John Timoney, officers from the City of Miami, Miami-Dade County and the Broward Sheriff’s Office made extensive plans to militarize the police force in an attempt to limit demonstrations. According to news reports, police officers from more than three dozen law enforcement agencies converged on downtown Miami to create an almost surreal backdrop that included armored vehicles on the ground and helicopters dotting the skyline above. The police marched in lines wearing full riot gear and wielding batons, tear gas, pepper spray and beanbag rifles to control the crowds of demonstrators.

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“The police used intimidation and fear to basically shut us up,” said Winter, who returned to Miami from Pittsburgh to participate in an ACLU news conference today. “When I asked them why they were arresting us, they replied that they were simply following orders and proceeded to handcuff me and force me face down into the grass. At that moment, it felt like I had no rights; they had complete power to suspend my rights for the sake of what they called ‘security,’ but in reality they were the ones causing all of the violence and problems.”

The second case, Owaki v. City of Miami, et al., involves the severe beating of college student Edward Owaki, of Amherst, Mass. Owaki, 19, joined other college students in a peaceful demonstration that was cut short when police officers decided to order everyone to flee the area near Northeast Third Street in downtown. The officers used tear gas, batons and shields to push the protesters toward Biscayne Boulevard. Owaki, who turned around to follow police orders to disperse, was then struck from behind three times with a police baton. He was beaten so severely that his skull was fractured, and he fell unconscious. Owaki, an Eagle Scout who had never before been in trouble with the law, was arrested for “disorderly conduct” and then transported to Jackson Memorial Hospital. He was given Tylenol and then taken to the Miami-Dade County Jail, where he spent the night. Owaki suffered from pain and vomiting and a nurse at the jail noted that he was dehydrated. Owaki was released from jail late the next day and his friends took him back to Jackson because he was disoriented and in severe pain. He was admitted to intensive care and spent nine days in the hospital while being treated for a skull fracture, cerebral contusions and seizures.

More:
https://www.aclu.org/free-speech/police-trampled-civil-rights-during-2003-free-trade-protests-florida-aclu-charges

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Text-book case for the Miami original first wave "exiles' to use to show Cuba how to do it up right, wasn't it? My god. Could not have been an uglier nightmare.