Vindication: Baltimore Civilian Review Board Rules My Election Night Arrest a "False Arrest"

It's been a long time coming, but yesterday I received a letter from the Baltimore Civilian Review Board, in response to the complaint I filed with the Office of Internal Investigations for the Baltimore City Police about my arrest on election night, 2008. I was arrested, along with 14 others, for doing nothing more than exercising our First Amendment rights to assemble, in an orderly and well-behaved celebration of the Obama victory.

I'm not sure if the other two who filed complaints have had them sustained, but I hope that is the case. (UPDATE: At least one of the other individuals who filed a complaint has had his sustained as well.)

My thanks go out to everyone who has been supportive of those of us who were falsely arrested, including City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke (who accompanied 3 of us filing complaints to the Office of Internal Investigations), Congressman Elijah Cummings (who wrote a strongly-worded letter to the city police department). I also would like to thank the people at the CRB for doing their investigation and making the right decision.

I'll comment on this further once I find out the rulings for the other complainants. In the meantime, City Paper has an archive of articles and documents about the incident.

My City Paper article about the experience Jeffrey Anderson's City Paper coverage can be found here and here. Letter from Congressman Elijah Cummings to Police Commissioner Bealfeld Letter from eyewitness Michael Rogers, a Hopkins student (PDF) My discussion of the incident and the increasing harassment of photographers by police.