J’Ouvert steel band players sue NYPD
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Four Trinidadian-born steel
band players in the Caribbean
J’Ouvert festival in Brooklyn
have filed a federal lawsuit
against the City of New York and
the New York Police Department
(NYPD) officers who made
their “unconstitutional arrests”
during the J’Ouvert weekend on
Sept. 1, 2018.
Michael Demas, Catherine
Nunes, Gwynn Glasgow and
Jennifer Frederick, members of
the Heart of Steel Band, filed
the lawsuit on Tuesday through
their civil rights attorneys at
the Manhattan law firm of Lord
& Schewel PLLC. Demas is also
the leader of the Heart of Steel
Band.
The lawsuit claimed that
members of Heart of Steel Band
and their guests were “unconstitutionally
rounded up and
arrested at a Pan Yard celebration
in Flatbush, Brooklyn.”
The lawsuit highlighted Sergeant
Alan Chau, an NYPD
officer, “who has been sued
seven times in the last year
alone for illegal arrests related
to alleged alcohol offenses in the
67th precinct” in East Flatbush,
Brooklyn.
Abraham Rubert-Schewel, a
lawyer from Lord & Schewel
PLLC told Caribbean Life on
Tuesday that the prior lawsuits,
like the one filed on behalf of
his clients, claimed that Sergeant
Chau, who is responsible
for enforcing all alcohol-related
laws in the 67th Police Precinct,
“unconstitutionally targeted
and arrested guests at Caribbean
and West Indian celebrations
in Flatbush.”
“The Heart of Steel plaintiffs
seek to hold Sergeant Chau and
the City of New York accountable,
through a Monell claim, for
the persistent and unconstitutional
harassment continuously
suffered by the Caribbean community
in Flatbush,” Rubert-
Schewel said.
He said the J’Ouvert steel
band players and their guests
were arrested for the administrative
code violation, ABC 64-B,
of “operating an unlicensed bottle
club.”
ABC 64-B states: “it shall be
unlawful for any person, partnership
or corporation operating
a place for profit or pecuniary
gain, with a capacity for
the assemblage of 21 or more
persons to permit a person or
persons to come to the place of
assembly for the purpose of consuming
alcoholic beverages on
said premises, which alcoholic
beverages are either provided
by the operator of the place of
assembly, his agents, servants
or employees, or are brought
onto said premises by the person
or persons assembling at
such place, unless an appropriate
license has first been
obtained from the state liquor
authority by the operator of said
place of assembly. . . Nothing
contained herein shall prohibit
or restrict the leasing or use
of such place of assemblage as
defined herein by any organization
or club enumerated in subdivision
seven hereof.”
Rubert-Schewel said his clients,
including Nunes, 71, and
Frederick, 65, “deny ever serving,
consuming or selling alcohol.”
“Ms. Nunes and Ms. Frederick
brought food to the celebration
to share with their friends,”
he said. “Instead of a joyous
start to J’Ouvert, the plaintiffs
spent 24 hours in custody for
charges that were all eventually
dismissed and sealed.”
The lawyers said in the
civil complaint that members
of Heart of Steel Bank were
“arrested, without probable
cause, and charged with operating
an unlicensed bottle club,
pursuant to ABC law 64-b.”
They said that ABC law 64-b
only applies “if a person or corporation
is operating a place
for profit or pecuniary gain and
permitting the consumption of
alcohol,” and that the arrest of
all of the plaintiffs were “made
by officers in the 67th precinct
at the instruction of Sergeant
Chau.”
Rubert-Schewel also told
Caribbean Life that the 67th
Precinct “contains large Caribbean
and West Indian communities
who are routinely
and consistently harassed and
arrested without probable cause
and charged with petty or
administrative offenses, such as
operating a bottle club without
a license.”
He said that data gathered
from a Freedom of Information
Law (FOIL) request from
the NYPD shows that on the
Saturday and Sunday prior to
J’Ouvert (Sept. 1 and 2, 2018,
respectively) officers in the
67th Police Precinct made 34
arrests.
Rubert-Schewel said seven of
these arrests were sealed, and
the charges could not be determined;
11 of the arrests were for
operating an unlicensed bottle
club, under ABC 64-b; and all
unlicensed bottle club charges
from Sept. 1 to Sept. 2, 2018
were eventually dismissed.
“Sergeant Chau, as conditions
Sergeant for the 67th precinct,
was responsible for verifying
each of these arrests,”
the lawyer said. “Officers in the
67th precinct, such as Sergeant
Chau, routinely arrest people
who are not operating a place
for profit or pecuniary gain, and
charge them under ABC law
64-b.”
He also claimed officers in the
67th precinct, such as Sergeant
Chau, “routinely arrest people
who are not owners, operators
or employees of the locations
(but are merely present at the
locations) they believe are illegally
serving alcohol, and charge
them under ABC law 64-b.”