The following message comes from the a16-international-planning list serve,it concerns a photo a protestor took of a man in plain-clothes who was beating him – quite a startling image. Initially the protestor thought it was an incident in road-rage. Now, with the photo as evidence, the protestor is seeking justice….
http://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/0004/07ae2f9a534e55fef8dc.jpeg
Being bashed.. (Rob Fish snaps a policeman beating him.)
HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN! Here's a
photo of him beating me! if so please email me and call the
legal team ASAP Hi everyone I need your help. Monday
morning at about 8:30 am near the corner of 18th and K on
Monday, April 17th, 2000 I was beaten by a plainclothes
officer (not sure if fed or mpd) after photographing him
going crazy though the streets hitting people over the head
with his baton. At the time I didn't even think it was a
cop! Being a part of the Independent Media Center, and
wearing my Indepentent Media Center id, I photographed this
man, who I believed was an angry motorist. After seeing me
about to take the photograph of him, he lunged towards my
neck with his hands and proceeded to club me at least two
times with this club like device and pushed me to the
ground. He then hit me several more times and wrestled the
camera from my hands. I called for police to arrest this
man still believing this was a case of road rage. Upon
arrival the police officer (not sure if MPD,secret service
or another agency) informed me that the man was a
plainclothes officer.
The camera at this point had been
knocked to the ground and the plainclothes officer attempted
to stomp on it. He was able to crack the frame, but the
camera slipped out from under his foot. As he was about to
stomp down a second time I was able to swipe the camera and
throw it back into the crowd. In turn I received several
more blows to the head. This continued for I believe about
20 seconds. I have little recollection of this time period
and believe I may have briefly lost consciousness. My
glassed were ripped from my face and i yelled for them back
as they dragged me away yelling for medical attention after
realizing the extent of my head wound and thrown into a pile
near an approaching group of officers. They made no
effort to get me medical attention more or less smirking
when I made this request. As I laid in a pile bleeding the
medical team for the collection pulled me away to the
sidelines and treated me for severe head wounds. I was
bandaged up to stop the bleeding (by this point I had blood
running down my face into my ear and onto my pants) and
then helped to the opposite corner where we called cab to
bring me to the hospital. At this time I was extremely
dizzy and shakey. The man was in a beige trench coat
with a pin stripe dress shirt underneath. He was older and
larger and apparantly had a chain with id hanging from his
neck. He was away from any police line and just going crazy.
AFter taking the photo I recieved the same treatment and
required seven stitches and have a concussion. I need you
help - I know some of the witnesses from the event were from
NY (syracuse I believe) and the medics who treated me were
from NYC. I was wearing jeans and a green shirt covered by a
black trashbag - well, before the cops ripped it off me and
had on glasses with black plastic frames. If any of you out
there think you saw this take place, please email
ASAP. Below is some info on the media coverage - if any of
this sounds like something you may have witnessed, please
email me. Media: Immediately after my attack I was
interviewed (if you can call it that!) by the Washington
Post (see Tuesday, April 18's paper), C-SPAN, and CBS News
and possibly others. C-Span aired my complete statement
about the incident while I sat there in a bloody and
bandaged mess while the CBS Nightly News aired a brief
quote from me stating that the the attacked was entirely
unprovoked. The Washington Post presented my info as the
following: "In one, near K & 18th Street NW, Rob Fish, 21,
of Stanhope, NJ., said he was taking pictures of police
activity. He said an undercover officer hit him with a billy
club, knocking him down. 'I got thrown to the ground and hit
over the heard,' Fish said. Fish was left with a stream of
blood running down his face, straining his jeans and green
shirt. Several friends tended to his wounds." Later in
the day, I took part in a closing press conference called by
the protest "organizers". At the conference I told my story
and was interviewed by several other media outlets. The
press conference was also broadcasted in full on C-Span.
There may also be video footage of the beating that was
broadcasted in the NYC area. Tuesday morning I told my story
on "Democracy Now" with Amy Goodman.- Currently, I am
still feeling dizzy and have a major headache. I may seek
further treatment if these symptoms continue into tonight.
Please email me with any information! Rob Fish
A message from Rob Fish