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Couple handcuffed, jailed for dancing on subway platform: lawsuit

mark1447

By mark1447,
in New York City Subway

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mark1447

mark1447

Posted
Posted

First smoking, then soda — now there’s no dancing in New York City.

 

Caroline Stern, 55, and her boyfriend George Hess, 54, claim they were handcuffed for having happy feet on the platform of the Columbus Circle subway station — and spent 23 hours in custody as a result.

 

“I’m a dentist, and I’m 55, and I got arrested for dancing,” Stern told The Post. “It was absolutely ridiculous that this happened.”

 

It was nearly midnight when Stern and Hess, a film-industry prop master, headed home last July from Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Midsummer Night’s Swing. As they waited for the train, a musician started playing steel drums on the nearly empty platform and Stern and Hess began to feel the beat.

 

“We were doing the Charleston,” Stern said. That’s when two police officers approached and pulled a “Footloose.”

 

“They said, ‘What are you doing?’ and we said, ‘We’re dancing,’ ” she recalled. “And they said, ‘You can’t do that on the platform.’ ”

 

The cops asked for ID, but when Stern could only produce a credit card, the officers ordered the couple to go with them — even though the credit card had the dentist’s picture and signature.

 

When Hess began trying to film the encounter, things got ugly, Stern said.

 

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/waltz_the_charge_officer_8jQ7kbvZwVhaU4PxNi917K#ixzz20FsM0EsG

 

 

 

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B3 Via Av U

B3 Via Av U

Posted
Posted

This is making me outraged. The police department has nothing better to do then arrest people dancing to decent music? I bet the officers may have had a grudge on that day, since they were charged with disrupting flow of human traffic with 3 people on the platform.

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Astoria Line

Astoria Line

Posted
Posted

This is one of the most absurd things that I have heard in my life...

I think that cops do sometimes abuse their power, and its ridiculous..

I know that they are supposed to protect us and all, BUT these two, who look relatively harmless, were DANCING, AT NIGHT, and didn't harm anyone...

"Disrupting the flow of human traffic" was it rush hour? No! There wasn't much human traffic to begin with if there was only three ppl on the platform...

Also, the woman produced ample ID what was the need for the cops to take her w/them? All her info was there...

I dance in the subways, I don't hurt anyone at all, its not illegal, and its not a bad sight to see either, now I'm supposed to be scared to dance in the subway?

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TheSubwayStation

TheSubwayStation

Posted
Posted

This is making me outraged. The police department has nothing better to do then arrest people dancing to decent music? I bet the officers may have had a grudge on that day, since they were charged with disrupting flow of human traffic with 3 people on the platform.

This is one of the most absurd things that I have heard in my life...

I think that cops do sometimes abuse their power, and its ridiculous..

I know that they are supposed to protect us and all, BUT these two, who look relatively harmless, were DANCING, AT NIGHT, and didn't harm anyone...

"Disrupting the flow of human traffic" was it rush hour? No! There wasn't much human traffic to begin with if there was only three ppl on the platform...

Also, the woman produced ample ID what was the need for the cops to take her w/them? All her info was there...

I dance in the subways, I don't hurt anyone at all, its not illegal, and its not a bad sight to see either, now I'm supposed to be scared to dance in the subway?

Those cops should be terminated.

Thank you all for expressing that this is a really bad thing without turning this into a global statement about our society and how nobody has freedoms and blah blah blah...
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Astoria Line

Astoria Line

Posted
Posted

Thank you all for expressing that this is a really bad thing without turning this into a global statement about our society and how nobody has freedoms and blah blah blah...

 

Yes! No debate or anything, its just everybody in a general agreeance over the topic, this is the way that it always should be tbh.. It makes for a more lively, calm conversation..

 

I would like your post, but I ran out of likes for the day :( (they really should add more likes to our daily quota, I hate when this happens -_- )

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B3 Via Av U

B3 Via Av U

Posted
Posted

Yes! No debate or anything, its just everybody in a general agreeance over the topic, this is the way that it always should be tbh.. It makes for a more lively, calm conversation..

 

I would like your post, but I ran out of likes for the day :( (they really should add more likes to our daily quota, I hate when this happens -_- )

 

I did it for you lol...

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SoSpectacular Bus Operator

SoSpectacular

Posted
Posted

What the hell is a couple in their mid-50s going to do to provoke an officer when they were just... dancing?

 

Like I always say... There's BIGGER things out there happening (like people who forget to use their turn signals) that police should be worried about period.

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GojiMet86

GojiMet86

Posted
Posted

I have to admit that I find the story rather odd too.

 

 

It's too one-sided.

My honest belief? That's it's adding to the conversation of whether or not the city should have a lot of power. The first sentence of the story says it all:

 

 

"First smoking, then soda — now there’s no dancing in New York City."

 

 

 

 

Plus, the language of the story makes it seem like this couple was have the time of their lives dancing and having fun, and it makes the police look like some secret force. I mean, the guy arrested called them ninja cops. And of course, the Law spokeswoman isn't quoted directly, and only the arrested couple is quoted.

 

The police don't go arresting dancing people for no reason. Perhaps they were having too much fun (drinking, obscene stuff).

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Via Garibaldi 8

Via Garibaldi 8

Posted
Posted

It's too one-sided.

My honest belief? That's it's adding to the conversation of whether or not the city should have a lot of power. The first sentence of the story says it all:

 

 

"First smoking, then soda — now there’s no dancing in New York City."

 

 

 

 

Plus, the language of the story makes it seem like this couple was have the time of their lives dancing and having fun, and it makes the police look like some secret force. I mean, the guy arrested called them ninja cops. And of course, the Law spokeswoman isn't quoted directly, and only the arrested couple is quoted.

 

The police don't go arresting dancing people for no reason. Perhaps they were having too much fun (drinking, obscene stuff).

 

 

Exactly...

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Threxx

Threxx

Posted
Posted

It's too one-sided.

My honest belief? That's it's adding to the conversation of whether or not the city should have a lot of power. The first sentence of the story says it all:

 

 

"First smoking, then soda — now there’s no dancing in New York City."

 

 

 

 

Plus, the language of the story makes it seem like this couple was have the time of their lives dancing and having fun, and it makes the police look like some secret force. I mean, the guy arrested called them ninja cops. And of course, the Law spokeswoman isn't quoted directly, and only the arrested couple is quoted.

 

The police don't go arresting dancing people for no reason. Perhaps they were having too much fun (drinking, obscene stuff).

 

 

Goddam it, I would like this post, but:

 

 

 

You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day

 

 

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Joe

Joe

Posted
Posted

Who knows how they were dancing, maybe they were a public annoyance who knows. Also since when are credit cards a valid form of ID?

 

 

No ID = you're held until they figure out who you are. Why wouldn't someone carry around ID with them?

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Fan Railer

Fan Railer

Posted
Posted

Regardless of what the implications behind the story are, the fact remains that there are just certain cops in the city who have nothing else to do but troll innocent people because they were erroneously granted "authority" to do so. That bothers me, considering the fact that the one time I was stopped by cops for filming on Metro North, they were VERY professional about it, and knew the regulations for what they were.

 

On another note, this isn't the first time the "obstruction of movement" excuse was used to arrest someone. Remember that MTA employee incident a few years ago that cost the city a couple million dollars in a lawsuit? Some cops are completely ridiculous.

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Y2Julio

Y2Julio

Posted
Posted

 

 

No ID = you're held until they figure out who you are. Why wouldn't someone carry around ID with them?

 

Cause they're idiots. I dealt with that all the time back with the DoE. Parents would show up for their hearings with no ID. Security wouldn't let them through.
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WMATA

WMATA

Posted
Posted

This reminds me of a video I saw on YouTube involving a bunch hippies dancing inside the Jefferson memorial in DC. Of course, those idiots were "demonstrating," which is illegal there. I'd like to hear from someone other than the victims before passing judgement.

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