The Outrageous Trial of Cecily McMillan
http://www.thenation.com/blog/179330/outrageous-trial-cecily-mcmillan
Occupy Wall Street protesters Eric Linkser, left, and Cecily McMillan, right, take turns shouting information to protesters on November 15, 2011. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)
Two years ago, a young activist named Cecily McMillan attended a protest at Zuccotti Park marking the six-month anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. When police moved in to clear the demonstrators, a cop roughly grabbed her breastphotos show an ugly bruiseand she ended up being injured so badly that she had a seizure and ended up in the hospital. In a just world, she would be getting restitution from the City. Instead, in a grotesque act of prosecutorial overreach, shes currently on trial for assault and facing up to seven years in prison.
According to prosecutors, McMillan, now 25, intentionally attacked her arresting officer, Grantley Bovel, by elbowing him in the face, and was then hurt when he tried to subdue her. She says that she instinctively struck out when she felt his hand on her breast, not knowing that he was a cop, and was then further assaulted.
Her story is more convincing for a number of reasons. McMillan, a veteran of the antiScott Walker protests in Wisconsin, was a dedicated pacifist; in Dissent, her masters thesis adviser Maurice Isserman writes about the many and long discussions Cecily and I have had about nonviolence. Her injuries, which you can see in this Democracy Now! piece, are indisputable, particularly the hand-shaped bruise on her right breast.
Meanwhile, The Guardian, which has covered McMillans case closely, reports that Bovel has twice been investigated by Internal Affairs, including for one incident in which he and his partner were alleged to have run down a 17-year-old on a dirt bike. He received a command discipline for failing to radio that they were in pursuit. In another case, he was filmed kicking a suspect on the floor of a Bronx bodega. (Unfortunately, the judge in McMillans case has ruled against turning Bovels internal disciplinary file over to the defense.) Austin Guest, a protester who was arrested the same day as McMillan, is currently suing him, claiming that Bovel purposefully bashed his head into the seats of a police bus as he was dragged down the aisle.