Couple handcuffed, jailed for dancing on subway platform

[jnelsoninjax]

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.

?We brought out the camera, and that?s when they called backup,? she said. ?That?s when eight ninja cops came from out of nowhere.?

Hess was allegedly tackled to the platform floor, and cuffs were slapped on both of them. The initial charge, according to Stern, was disorderly conduct for ?impeding the flow of traffic.?

?There was nobody on the platform. There were, like, three people,? she said.

The charges, including resisting arrest, were later dropped. The couple has filed a Manhattan federal court suit against the city for unspecified damages.

?If you are surrounded by good musicians, that?s going to make you want to dance,? Stern said. ?The musician who is playing is legal, but . . . we?re illegal??

The avid hoofers frequently go out on the town to boogie.

?When you?re waiting for the subway late at night, there?s not much to do but dance and celebrate life,? she said.

The city Law Department is reviewing the court papers, a spokeswoman said.

Source

[Ryoken]

Ninja cops eh ?

Something tells me that they may have gotten more vocal and argumentative than lets on..

But I'm sure if he was tackled, it'll be clearly shown on surveillance tapes..

[Growled Member]

Wow, sounds like an abuse of power to me, something cops are really good at.

[Rippleman]

everything is an abusive of power... excuse for everything

[PixilEyes]

Got to love these one sided stories.

[DocM]

Fact: people die by screwing around on NYC and other subway platforms, often gruesomely.

It's one thing to fall under the train and it's over, but quite another to be caught between the platform and train, cut in half but still alive and coincious because the pressure prevents the victim from bleeding out. They have to call the next of kin to come say goodbye, then the victim expires when the pressure is removed. This is a very painful series of events for all concerned, and can cause the city employees involved to have emotinal problems.

Now, tell us again how dancing, an activity where people do fall, on a subway platform is an innocent or good idea and that the city has no public interest in stopping stupid people from doing it?

[Daveski]

Fact: people die by screwing around on NYC and other subway platforms, often gruesomely.

It's one thing to fall under the train and it's over, but quite another to be caught between the platform and train, cut in half but still alive and coincious because the pressure prevents the victim from bleeding out. They have to call the next of kin to come say goodbye, then the victim expires when the pressure is removed. This is a very painful series of events for all concerned, and often causes the city employees involved to have emotinal problems.

Now, tell us again how dancing, an activity where people do fall, on a subway platform is an innocent or good idea and that the city has no public interest in stopping stupid people from doing it?

Yes, I agree. I use the London Marylebone commuter regularly & the last thing you want to do is waltz in front of a Pendolino bullet train doing about 200 kph.

[Dick Montage]

I can't help but feel there is more to this story than their colourful one-sided account...

[Original Poster]

Fact: people die by screwing around on NYC and other subway platforms, often gruesomely.

It's one thing to fall under the train and it's over, but quite another to be caught between the platform and train, cut in half but still alive and coincious because the pressure prevents the victim from bleeding out. They have to call the next of kin to come say goodbye, then the victim expires when the pressure is removed. This is a very painful series of events for all concerned, and can cause the city employees involved to have emotinal problems.

Now, tell us again how dancing, an activity where people do fall, on a subway platform is an innocent or good idea and that the city has no public interest in stopping stupid people from doing it?

while I agree on the danger its their choice if they want to endanger them selves and not being funny you could trip walking to the platform over here subway platforms are 8-10ft between the wall and the track and are packed at all hours (mostly) ...

your trains are probs alot safer...

The thing that concerns me about this story is them having back up called when the video camera came out... if this is true cops breached their right to film, I remeber seeing an american made video encouraging filming of the police as its 100% legal and needed most of the time

[myxomatosis]

Not the best place to dance if you ask me... I'd like to hear what the cops have to say before judging... but honestly, I'm trying to understand why you would dance on a subway platform... and why you wouldn't stop is a cop asks you to stop..

[jnelsoninjax]

Not the best place to dance if you ask me... I'd like to hear what the cops have to say before judging... but honestly, I'm trying to understand why you would dance on a subway platform... and why you wouldn't stop is a cop asks you to stop..

Duh! So you can sue them later on! :D

[COKid]

Fact: people die by screwing around on NYC and other subway platforms, often gruesomely.

It's one thing to fall under the train and it's over, but quite another to be caught between the platform and train, cut in half but still alive and coincious because the pressure prevents the victim from bleeding out. They have to call the next of kin to come say goodbye, then the victim expires when the pressure is removed. This is a very painful series of events for all concerned, and can cause the city employees involved to have emotinal problems.

Now, tell us again how dancing, an activity where people do fall, on a subway platform is an innocent or good idea and that the city has no public interest in stopping stupid people from doing it?

Fact: People die by screwing around in all sorts of ways. Where's the line between public safety and personal responsibility? Or have we come to a point where we expect the nanny-state by protect us from ourselves every minute of the day? Sheesh!

[theyarecomingforyou]

Dancing on a subway platform is potentially dangerous. It also sounds like there was more involved than is being reported. However, the reaction by the police is completely disproportionate and lacking in any empathy or common sense. Most importantly, police should have no qualms with encounters being recorded if they are doing nothing wrong - especially when there is so much potential for abuse under the current legal system. It is wrong to call in backup and treat a disturbance more seriously just because somebody tries to film it.

[Rippleman]

if someone fell on to the subway tracks, it would halt the subways for how long? Sure its their right to endanger themselves but not on the burden of others... go dance in a forest full of grizzlies or something...

[Denis W. Veteran]

Though police action might have been excessive here, I do agree that a subway platform is the last place I'd think of dancing on.

Of course, it's different if it's a system with floor-to-ceiling barriers installed, or if they were dancing inside a subway car.

[+devHead Subscriber²]

Fact: People die by screwing around in all sorts of ways. Where's the line between public safety and personal responsibility? Or have we come to a point where we expect the nanny-state by protect us from ourselves every minute of the day? Sheesh!

Yeah, but everyone still agrees that the State can create and enforce laws such as wearing seatbelts while in a car. You can't reason, 'Well, if someone wants to drive unsafely, that's their business.'

[Ryoken]

The thing that concerns me about this story is them having back up called when the video camera came out... if this is true cops breached their right to film, I remeber seeing an american made video encouraging filming of the police as its 100% legal and needed most of the time

I'm not sure how legal it is.. it might be legal for a 3rd party to film, or for you to be filming from the beginning.. not sure if part way through being questioned if you can..

But regardless.. it's not illegal to call for backup.. regardless of the reason.. It's the actions taken that matters.. and I agree with others, I feel there are some missing pieces to this puzzle..