Police describe anti-war protester as 'emotionally disturbed'

[iconoclastNYC]

Printed in Wednesday April 27th,2005 edition of AM New York:

Picture - A man with an American flag as a loincloth, tied up to a stoplight pole in a mock Crucifixion with "All American" scrawled on his chest and a neckless made of money, with a sign hung over him that says : "war"

"PROTEST AT ASTOR PLACE

East Village resident protest Iraq war

Eric Wallach tied himself to a utility pole at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Astor Place around 2 p.m. yesterday to protest the war in Iraq. The 33-year-old man, described by police as emotional disturbed, was later charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Wallach hung money around his neck and painted the words "All American" on his chest."


Are police qualified to give diagnoses like this? He's emotionally disturbed? Doesn't this require some sort of test by an expert?

Seems like a case of the police doing anything they can to smear anyone who dares stand up to Bush's war.

[gratuitous]

1. Tests aren't necessary in Stalinist regimes

And if you say they are, comrade, I'm afraid that you're betraying signs of emotional instability. Perhaps you should be examined at the Bushchenko Institute for Mental Disorders. It's for your own good, really. Please just come along with us, and there will be no problem.

[0007]

2. Would like to see about 500,000 of these type of protesters

invade Washington D.C.

[H2O Man]

3. What is "AM New York"?

Is it a newspaper? It would be nice to be able to respond to it.

[iconoclastNYC]

10. Yes, Free daily newspaper in NYC

Tribune New York Newspaper Holdings, LLC
145 W. 30th St,
9th Floor
New York, NY 10001

email: [e-mail]

[H2O Man]

15. Thanks!

Unreal. Just unreal.

[jilln]

4. It's those who are NOT "emotionally disturbed" over this war ...

we should worry about.

[MadHound]

5. Hear hear! A great point!

And hell, I'm suprised that he wasn't classified as an enemy combatant on the spot, and shipped off to Gitmo.

Just another ongoing example of the crackdown on legal, legit dissent in this country.

[smirkymonkey]

18. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes....

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." - J. Krishnamurti

[atommom]

6. Is he more "emotionally disturbed" than the people who picketed

outside Terri Schiavo's hospice with a Barbie on a crucifix, attached to an American flag? If he had been protesting in support of BushCo, or at least in support of the Religious Right, would he have been arrested? I can't help but wonder.

[Bellamia]

7. Well, of course........

he's "emotionally disturbed", aren't we all to a certain extent, what with the War, the Shrub, etc., etc., That doesn't make him insane, IMO, perhaps a bit radical, but, if that's what it takes............

[NYCGirl]

8. Forgetting about his politics, anyone who strips down, paints himself,

and ties himself to a pole in Astor Place at 2PM on a busy weekday afternoon is not playing with a full deck.

[iconoclastNYC]

11. Oh yeah, he's clearly psycho.

Forgetting about there politics, people who dress up like indians, boards a ship, and throws tea into the boston harbor are not playing with a full deck.

Or anyone who stands in front of a tank in the middle of tiananmen square is not playing with a full deck.

Do you think we'd be talking about him if he had picketed the Time Square Armed forces recruiting station in a sport jacket and nice slacks?

[NYCGirl]

13. Those are farfetched analogies, to say the least.

Time is different, place is different. Want to make a statement? Organize.

[iconoclastNYC]

14. Well we disagree.

How do you know he hasn't joined an anti-war group? How do you know he wasn't in the streets during the protests?

Everyone can do thier part, how they see fit. This is his form of protest, and the police shouldn't be diagnosing people with mental disorders because they don't like the manner of his protest.

[NYCGirl]

16. We certainly do.

And although the NYC Police has hardly been blameless lately, they at least spoke to him while they took him down from his perch — we didn't, so perhaps we're less able to judge, don't you think? (BTW, doing what he did in the ABSOLUTELY MOST DEMOCRATIC part of the city -- my neighborhood -- shows a lack of planning.)

[iconoclastNYC]

20. Lack of planning?

What was his intent? Get into the media. Get his message out. He did that.

Do you think he should have done this on the Upper East Side, would that be an acceptable locale for you? Staten Island?

And your defense of the NYPD is ridiculous. They have no respect for protest and under Bloomberg they are active members of the Bush crime family. Look at what they did for the anti-war protests, and the RNC protests....they got bitchslapped by a judge for illegally detaining people.

To call someone mentally disturbed for street theater is chilling dissent. They have no idea of his mental state, and they shouldn't have been editorializing. All they had to do was state the facts, that he was removed and arrested. Period.

The NYPD diagnosed this guy with a mental illness to smear the anti-war left, and i can't believe you are defending them.

[htuttle]

12. If he'd been wearing all of his clothes,

...the crucifiction analogy he was going for would have been far less obvious.

And if he didn't do it on a busy weekday afternoon, should he have done it in the middle of the night when nobody would notice him?

[NYCGirl]

9. Here's a picture:

http://www.gawker.com/

[lyonn]

19. Flag man

Ya gotta admit he is at the least a creative nut!

[Lone Pawn]

17. If I saw a man who had stripped naked, made a loincloth

of a flag, strung himself up on a pole, tied money around his neck, and painted words on his chest, resisting the officers attempting to subdue him, and then someone asked me to describe him, I don't think "disturbed" would be an unreasonable response.

It would require a test by an expert if it were to be admitted as evidence in a court of law. These are officers giving their personal opinions, which I could see myself agreeing with.