Critical Mass Arrests Dismissed NYPD "Hopelessly Overboard"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
January 10, 2006

CONTACTS:
DAVID RANKIN, FreeWheels 917-455-0609 drankinn@yahoo.com
GIDEON OLIVER, Oliver & Oliver 646-602-9242 gideon@mindless.com

JUDGE FINDS NYC PARADE PERMIT LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL:
"CRITICAL MASS" BIKERS' CHARGES DISMISSED

Yesterday, New York City Criminal Court Judge Gerald Harris decided that the City's parade permit
law is "hopelessly overbroad" and "'constitutes a burden on free expression that is more than the
First Amendment can bear.'"

Judge Harris's written Verdict in People v. Bezjak, et al. dismissed the parading without a permit
charges against all of the 8 people who were arrested on the night of the January 2005 Critical
Mass bicycle ride, but held each guilty of disorderly conduct, a verdict the cyclists may consider
appealing.

"The City has arrested and prosecuted over 2,000 people since August of 2004 for violating a law
this Decision clearly finds unconstitutional on its face," said Gideon Oliver, the cyclists'
attorney. Oliver "challenged the City to reconsider its aggressive stance toward policing First
Amendment activities in general, and Critical Mass bicycle rides in particular" in light of the 17-page
Verdict.

According to Bruce Bentley of the National Lawyers Guild, the vast majority of the 1,806
Republican National Convention arrests resulted in parading without a permit prosecutions. Since the RNC,
the City has arrested almost 350 bicyclists for parading without a permit, and sought injunctions
in State and Federal Courts that would subject participants in future Critical Mass rides to
criminal penalties of up to a year in jail.

Yesterday's Verdict offered several examples of events that appear to require a permit under the
law as written in order "to highlight the virtually unfettered discretion reposed in the Police
Commissioner to determine when any particular event may be found to fall within the amorphous
definition of parade or procession and, thus, requires a permit."

According to the Verdict, "a person promenading, or two persons racing, . . . a funeral
procession, two or three cars displaying political posters traveling one behind the other, caravan style, or
a small group of friends biking together" might be required to obtain permits under the law as
written.

The Verdict also found the permit law is unconstitutional because even a person who "unknowingly
participates in a permitless march may be arrested, fined or imprisoned. Thus, bystanders or
onlookers, stirred by the passion evoked by a political march, join in at their peril."

"While some Decisions from the Criminal Court over the course of the past year have upheld the
constitutionality of the permit requirement," said Oliver, "this Verdict is the first to result from
a full trial, at which the Court heard 3 days' worth of testimony from 11 NYPD Officers which it
said 'highlighted deficiencies in the City's parade permit scheme.'"

Dave Rankin, a FreeWheels Board member who assisted during the trial, said that the 8 defendants
were "pleased with the vindication of their First Amendment rights." However, Rankin noted that
the trials of about 30 bicyclists arrested for "parading without a permit" in February, March,
April, May, June, and July of 2005 are all currently scheduled to begin later this month, and said it
was "unclear whether the District Attorney's Office would consider declining to prosecute the
parading without a permit charges in those cases in light of the Court's ruling."

Recognizing that neither the City nor other Judges are technically bound by this Decision, Oliver
said he is nevertheless "hopeful that others will be convinced by Judge Harris's careful
consideration of the 600-plus page record in these cases and the Verdict's logical application of
well-settled United States Supreme Court precedents."

According to the Verdict, "there was testimony [at trial] that the practice of the Police
Department is in a state of flux - while Critical Mass rides have been occurring for years, only recently
have the police made arrests for proceeding without a permit."

Some of the practices the NYPD has deployed in policing Critical Mass bicycle rides since August
of 2004 have drawn wide criticism. A December 22, 2005 New York Times article by Jim Dwyer
recently led attorneys in the Handschu lawsuit to take steps that could ultimately lead to contempt
proceedings against the City in Federal Court for spying on peaceful protesters - including
participants in Critical Mass rides - in violation of Court-approved guidelines binding on the City.

A copy of the January 9, 2006 Decision in People v. Bezjak is available online at:
http://www.oliverandoliverlaw.com/ORAM.pdf.

- FreeWheels (www.bicycledefensefund.org)