Lawyers in the Pershing Park wrongful arrest cases say they have new evidence that former Metropolitan Police Department Chief Charles Ramsey personally ordered the roundup of protesters during the Sept. 2002 IMF / World Bank demonstrations in Washington, D.C.
In a sworn affidavit, MPD Detective Paul Hustler states that before the arrests began, he overheard Chief Ramsey tell one of his deputies, “We’re going to lock them up and teach them a lesson.” Shortly thereafter, Hustler says, police began funneling the crowd from Pennsylvania Ave. into the park, where they were arrested and loaded onto buses.
“These statements raise troubling questions about prior testimony and statements to the Court not only by former Chief Ramsey and Assistant Chief Jordan, but also the entire District of Columbia government and the Metropolitan Police Department,” a court filing accompanying the affidavit said.
According to plaintiffs’ lawyers, the testimony seems to contradict earlier statements by Ramsey, in which he said that although he felt the arrests were reasonable at the time, he did not officially approve of the arrest of nearly 400 marchers.
The filing quotes Ramsey in a Sept. 18, 2007 deposition saying he did not formally approve the arrests:
“I have stated before that I approved of [Newsham’s] decision, which is different than me approving the arrests, in my mind, anyway.”
He later elaborated :
“If I approve and affirmatively – in other words, I’ve observed, I’ve seen, I feel that I have enough information, and I am ordering an arrest be made, based on that. And I did not do that, nor do I have to do that. Police officers make arrests every day throughout this city, and they don’t call the chief to find out if it's okay.”
In 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that Ramsey’s deputy, Assistant Chief Peter Newsham, could be held personally liable for the arrests because of his direct role in the decision making. However, the court said it needed more evidence in order to decide whether Ramsey himself could be held personally liable.
The protesters are represented by a legal team including Bryan Cave partner Daniel Schwartz and George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley.
Schwartz said the detective's testimony could also help prove that the District itself is liable for damages.
“We believe the city is liable anyway, but if Chief Ramsey is responsible for the order to make the illegal arrests, than the District of Columbia is liable for those actions,” he said. “Newsham may or may not have been a high enough decision maker. But it’s clear that Chief Ramsey is.”
Chief Ramsey’s lawyer, Vinson & Elkins partner Mark Tuohey, said the affidavit is just retreading old ground.
“If there was a comment, it would have been after the decision was made by assistant chief Newsham,” Tuohey said. “He approved of that decision. This is not new information.”
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