Roxie
01-19-2007, 10:18 PM
Anyone else hear about this?
ATLANTA (AP) - Police say a British historian was handcuffed, thrown to the ground and jailed because he refused to obey a uniformed officer's order to use a crosswalk and wouldn't show identification.
The historian says he had no idea the upset young man was a police officer.
"Where I'm from, you don't associate young gentlemen in bomber jackets with the police. But he was extremely upset I had questioned his bona fides," said the historian, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts and expert on colonial history.
Mayor Shirley Franklin has asked for an investigation to make sure procedures were followed.
Fernandez-Armesto, 56, was arrested Jan. 4 while in Atlanta for the American Historical Association's convention.
Officer Kevin Leonpacher said he was in uniform as he directed pedestrians to use crosswalks in front of the downtown Hilton Hotel.
He said Fernandez-Armesto shrugged him off, walked away and repeatedly refused to show an ID after the officer told him to stop and warned him he could be arrested, police said.
Other officers helped him handcuff the historian. According to Leonpacher's report, the professor said: "Well now I believe that you are the police."
Fernandez-Armesto said he suffered a gash on his forehead and a bruise on his wrist. He spent eight hours in custody, but the charges of jaywalking and disorderly conduct were dropped after he appeared in traffic court and said any arrest record could jeopardize his immigration status in the United States, police said.
Jaywalker's arrest a bust in Britain
By SHELLEY EMLING (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/01/17/mailto:semling@ajc.com), TY TAGAMI (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/01/17/mailto:ttagami@ajc.com)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/18/07
Some English newspapers are taking aim at Atlanta because a visiting history professor, who previously taught at Oxford, was arrested for jaywalking.
In London, the Evening Standard newspaper plastered news of the arrest of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto — accompanied by a photo of the handcuffed professor surrounded by several police officers — on its front page. The Mirror chided Atlanta police for their recent success in jailing "Public Enemy No. 1."
"The story of his arrest is, alas, likely to confirm an impression that Brits have of rough policing in the United States," said A.C. Grayling, a philosophy professor at the University of London. "It reminds people of the videos from California of a black suspect being beaten by police."
"Atlanta's reputation as a conference center might take a bruising," said Kathleen Burk, a specialist in Anglo-American relations at University College London.
An Atlanta police spokesman said the London media coverage has been one-sided. The department offered the police report of the incident to British reporters but they didn't print information from it, said Atlanta police spokesman Officer Joe Cobb.
"We don't feel that the officer's side of the story has ever been presented outside of Atlanta," Cobb said. "I'm not saying that the officer acted appropriately, but there are two sides to this story, and only one side is being told."
Mayor Shirley Franklin said she's concerned about the effect the overseas coverage could have on Atlanta's reputation as a "friendly" city with a rich civil rights history.
"Any incident that calls that into question is of concern to me, but I'm not in a position to address that" until the police investigation into the incident is complete, she said.
Fernandez-Armesto, a British historian now teaching at Tufts University near Boston, was attending a conference of the American Historians Association on Jan. 4 when he crossed Courtland Street in the middle of the block.
Atlanta Police Department officer Kevin Leonpacher, who was working a private security detail, said in an interview days after the incident that he stopped Fernandez-Armesto before he stepped into the street, directing him to the nearby crosswalk, but he said the professor ignored him. Fernandez-Armesto said in a separate interview that he didn't know Leonpacher was a police officer.
"When I questioned who he was, he said something to the effect of, 'When I give you an order, you obey it,' " Fernandez-Armesto said. "I asked him what his authority was because I didn't see a badge. Where I'm from, you don't associate young gentlemen in bomber jackets with the police. But he was extremely upset I had questioned his bona fides."
Leonpacher said when he asked Fernandez-Armesto why he didn't follow the instructions of a uniformed officer, the author shrugged him off and walked away.
"Five times I asked him to stop," the officer said. Leonpacher said he grabbed the professor's arm. Leonpacher then said he repeatedly asked Fernandez-Armesto for his identification, but the professor responded by asking for the officer's I.D.
"I told him, 'It's gonna be awful silly if I have to take you to jail for jaywalking,' " Leonpacher said.
Fernandez-Armesto was booked for disorderly conduct and detained for eight hours, an experience he said showed that "the Atlanta police are barbaric, brutal and out of control."
A judge dropped the charges against Fernandez-Armesto the day after his arrest. Police Chief Richard Pennington launched an internal investigation of the incident.
Maj. James Sellers, Leonpacher's commander, said he doesn't know when the investigation will end, but that it has slowed because some witnesses are out of town.
Burk, the University College London specialist in Anglo-American relations, said she was surprised that the incident took place in a city that for decades has enjoyed a reputation as one of the more enlightened municipalities in the United States.
"I'm afraid this only reinforced people's views over here of the violent methods sometimes in use in law enforcement there," she said.
Grayling said Atlanta has long had an image abroad of race riots, of "Southern attitudes" and, more recently, as a city full of American vigor and contrasts.
"I don't think the incident is an especially positive addition to the city's image, but the way the mayor and the judge behaved says a great deal about all the good things in America," he said.
There are some comments on the last article here
(http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/01/17/0118natjaywalk.html)
ATLANTA (AP) - Police say a British historian was handcuffed, thrown to the ground and jailed because he refused to obey a uniformed officer's order to use a crosswalk and wouldn't show identification.
The historian says he had no idea the upset young man was a police officer.
"Where I'm from, you don't associate young gentlemen in bomber jackets with the police. But he was extremely upset I had questioned his bona fides," said the historian, Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, a professor at Tufts University in Massachusetts and expert on colonial history.
Mayor Shirley Franklin has asked for an investigation to make sure procedures were followed.
Fernandez-Armesto, 56, was arrested Jan. 4 while in Atlanta for the American Historical Association's convention.
Officer Kevin Leonpacher said he was in uniform as he directed pedestrians to use crosswalks in front of the downtown Hilton Hotel.
He said Fernandez-Armesto shrugged him off, walked away and repeatedly refused to show an ID after the officer told him to stop and warned him he could be arrested, police said.
Other officers helped him handcuff the historian. According to Leonpacher's report, the professor said: "Well now I believe that you are the police."
Fernandez-Armesto said he suffered a gash on his forehead and a bruise on his wrist. He spent eight hours in custody, but the charges of jaywalking and disorderly conduct were dropped after he appeared in traffic court and said any arrest record could jeopardize his immigration status in the United States, police said.
Jaywalker's arrest a bust in Britain
By SHELLEY EMLING (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/01/17/mailto:semling@ajc.com), TY TAGAMI (http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/01/17/mailto:ttagami@ajc.com)
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/18/07
Some English newspapers are taking aim at Atlanta because a visiting history professor, who previously taught at Oxford, was arrested for jaywalking.
In London, the Evening Standard newspaper plastered news of the arrest of Felipe Fernandez-Armesto — accompanied by a photo of the handcuffed professor surrounded by several police officers — on its front page. The Mirror chided Atlanta police for their recent success in jailing "Public Enemy No. 1."
"The story of his arrest is, alas, likely to confirm an impression that Brits have of rough policing in the United States," said A.C. Grayling, a philosophy professor at the University of London. "It reminds people of the videos from California of a black suspect being beaten by police."
"Atlanta's reputation as a conference center might take a bruising," said Kathleen Burk, a specialist in Anglo-American relations at University College London.
An Atlanta police spokesman said the London media coverage has been one-sided. The department offered the police report of the incident to British reporters but they didn't print information from it, said Atlanta police spokesman Officer Joe Cobb.
"We don't feel that the officer's side of the story has ever been presented outside of Atlanta," Cobb said. "I'm not saying that the officer acted appropriately, but there are two sides to this story, and only one side is being told."
Mayor Shirley Franklin said she's concerned about the effect the overseas coverage could have on Atlanta's reputation as a "friendly" city with a rich civil rights history.
"Any incident that calls that into question is of concern to me, but I'm not in a position to address that" until the police investigation into the incident is complete, she said.
Fernandez-Armesto, a British historian now teaching at Tufts University near Boston, was attending a conference of the American Historians Association on Jan. 4 when he crossed Courtland Street in the middle of the block.
Atlanta Police Department officer Kevin Leonpacher, who was working a private security detail, said in an interview days after the incident that he stopped Fernandez-Armesto before he stepped into the street, directing him to the nearby crosswalk, but he said the professor ignored him. Fernandez-Armesto said in a separate interview that he didn't know Leonpacher was a police officer.
"When I questioned who he was, he said something to the effect of, 'When I give you an order, you obey it,' " Fernandez-Armesto said. "I asked him what his authority was because I didn't see a badge. Where I'm from, you don't associate young gentlemen in bomber jackets with the police. But he was extremely upset I had questioned his bona fides."
Leonpacher said when he asked Fernandez-Armesto why he didn't follow the instructions of a uniformed officer, the author shrugged him off and walked away.
"Five times I asked him to stop," the officer said. Leonpacher said he grabbed the professor's arm. Leonpacher then said he repeatedly asked Fernandez-Armesto for his identification, but the professor responded by asking for the officer's I.D.
"I told him, 'It's gonna be awful silly if I have to take you to jail for jaywalking,' " Leonpacher said.
Fernandez-Armesto was booked for disorderly conduct and detained for eight hours, an experience he said showed that "the Atlanta police are barbaric, brutal and out of control."
A judge dropped the charges against Fernandez-Armesto the day after his arrest. Police Chief Richard Pennington launched an internal investigation of the incident.
Maj. James Sellers, Leonpacher's commander, said he doesn't know when the investigation will end, but that it has slowed because some witnesses are out of town.
Burk, the University College London specialist in Anglo-American relations, said she was surprised that the incident took place in a city that for decades has enjoyed a reputation as one of the more enlightened municipalities in the United States.
"I'm afraid this only reinforced people's views over here of the violent methods sometimes in use in law enforcement there," she said.
Grayling said Atlanta has long had an image abroad of race riots, of "Southern attitudes" and, more recently, as a city full of American vigor and contrasts.
"I don't think the incident is an especially positive addition to the city's image, but the way the mayor and the judge behaved says a great deal about all the good things in America," he said.
There are some comments on the last article here
(http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/stories/2007/01/17/0118natjaywalk.html)