For Immediate Release (3/26/98):
provided through OPENAIR-MARKET NET
At noon on Tuesday March 24th, just two hours after the Giuliani Administration was served with legal papers in a $200,000,000 civil rights lawsuit, the main plaintiff in the suit, A.R.T.I.S.T. President Robert Lederman, was arrested and put through the system on charges including Unlicensed Vending, Failure to Comply, Disorderly Conduct and Resisting Arrest. Lederman was held in handcuffs at two police precincts for approximately six hours and then held in Central Booking until noon the next day.
The arrest came less than two hours after Thomas Rozinski, chief counsel for the Department of Parks, offered a settlement agreement to Lederman's attorney, Andrew Miltenberg by phone. After Miltenberg refused the offer, Rozinski, accompanied by ten Parks Enforcement officers went to the street artist protest in front of the Metropolitan Museum, now in its 28th day, and told Lederman he'd be going to jail. Lederman was then surrounded by Parks Enforcement officers, handcuffed and dragged to a police vehicle. Due to a recurring jurisdictional conflict between the N.Y.P.D. and Parks Enforcement officers under Rozinski, Lederman was initially released with three summonses and was then violently re-arrested by Parks officers less than 20 minutes later in front of the museum.
At his arraignment on Wednesday, the D.A. read the basis of Lederman's charges to the presiding Judge, claiming that when confronted by police while displaying books he'd written, copies of Time Magazine and photos of artist arrests Lederman recited the First Amendment and repeatedly said, "Giuliani=Police State", and "Stop Arresting Artists" as he was being handcuffed.
Andrew Miltenberg, attorney for Lederman and three other artist plaintiffs in the case, Wei Zhang, Knut Masco and Jack Nesbitt, said the latest arrest, Lederman's 28th since Giuliani first took office, was the best proof yet of what Lederman has been publicly saying for the past four years. "This Mayor really is creating a Police State where any act of political dissent, including the filing of a lawsuit for false arrest and First Amendment violations, is likely to lead to immediate and drastic police action aimed at silencing speech. My client is being repeatedly targeted for the content of his speech and because of his public profile as someone who dares to speak out against the Mayor. We will immediately amend our legal complaint to include these outrageous new actions aimed at intimidating Mr. Lederman".
Photos of the arrest and a tape recording are availiable to the media.
For more information or a copy of the legal complaint filed on 3/20/98 contact: Andrew Miltenberg (212) 481-4242 or Robert Lederman (718) 369-2111; E-Mail: ARTISTpres@aol.com
To read the 2nd circuit decision go to: http://www.openair.org/alerts/artist/nyc.html
Mayor's Press Office 788-2958; Parks Comm. Henry Stern 360-1305; Thomas Rozinski, legal counsel Parks 360-1314; William Leurs, Pres. Met Museum 570-3900; Museum Press office 570-3951
Also see: NY Times 3/2/98 B1; Newsday 3/2/98 A7; Village Voice 2/24/98 pg 57; Newsday 2/26/98 A8; NY Times 6/3/97 B2; NY Times editorial 3/4/98; Newsday 3/16/98 pg 4. NY TIMES Metro pg 1 3/22/98 "War of the Paintbrushes".