(Please repost where appropriate.)
Dear members of the community,
Here is the long overdue update on our case. People have been asking me for an update, and I should have posted one a couple of weeks ago. Sorry.
I would like to again thank all of you who have offered us you support. The response of the community has been great, and all your help and kind words have been greatly appreciated.
As many of you already know from the previous announcements, on Sunday, July 11, 2004, on the National Nude Recreation Weekend, five of us have been maliciously cited by sergeant John Velasquez, badge # 742, of the San Francisco police department, on our return trip from a nude bike ride free speech demonstration, with Cal. PC Sec. 314.1 - indecent exposure, a sex crime! There were only five of us left on this return trip, with no females, making us an easy target for harassment.
If you had missed the first announcement, you may find it here: http://SanFrancisco.WorldNakedBikeRide.org/Resources/2004_St_John_Velasquez_Harassment/Community_announcement_1.html
On August 16th, 2004, the five of us appeared in court for the citation we had received. The DA handling the case was not present, and the substituting assistant DA, instead of dropping the case, surprised us by frivolously charging us with a brand new charge, Cal. PC sec. 647(a) - Disorderly conduct. Although no longer a sex crime, the bait and switch meant we were no longer prepared with the demurer I had prepared, which had been targeted for 314.1 PC.
If you had missed the second announcement, you may find it here: http://SanFrancisco.WorldNakedBikeRide.org/Resources/2004_St_John_Velasquez_Harassment/Community_announcement_2.html
The Intention:
I would like to take a moment again to stress that this case is not about our demonstration, your political inclination, or what you think about public nudity. This case is ONLY about the police having the ability to take law into their own hands and using the power awarded to them for the purposes of protecting and supporting the public, to intimidate, threaten, and harass. When making this citation, sergeant Velasquez was aware that it was frivolous and that we had not broken any laws.
The Update:
Well, this is going to be quick!
On September 15, 2004, we returned to court for our pretrial hearing. This time the DA was there. One of our attorneys showed up around 9:15 am, exchanged a few words with the DA, and immediately called us up. The DA addressed the judge, stating that the DA's office feels that they would be unable to sustain the burden of proof, and wished have the case dismissed. The judge agreed to the DA's request. That was the end of it.
In summary:
Although we had eventually come out of this relatively unharmed, sergeant Velasquez achieved exactly what he was aiming for - we got substantially harassed and inconvenienced. The next step will be filing official complaints against the officer. If this repeats, with the complaints on file, we would have a case against the SF PD and the officer, and could also ask the judge for and injunction.
Please visit our website regularly for updates and useful information and links. http://SanFrancisco.WorldNakedBikeRide.org/Resources/2004_St_John_Velasquez_Harassment/
Thank you all for your support,
Daniel O. -
contact me
One of the five cited.
October 03rd, 2004.
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