Quote:Late in the afternoon on St. Patrick’s Day, Glen Grays, a 27-year-old African-American mail carrier, was making his rounds in Crown Heights, in Brooklyn, about to leave a package at 999 President Street. Mr. Grays prides himself on getting to know the community he serves, he told me on Wednesday. He figures out who is sick, or old, or enfeebled, and makes sure that their parcels, especially if they contain medication — “I can shake a box and usually figure that out,” he said — land directly at the doors of the people waiting for them, even if they live in fourth- or fifth-floor apartments, in walk-up buildings.
On this afternoon, Mr. Grays was descending the steps of his mail truck backward, as postal workers often do to minimize wear and tear on the knees, when out of the corner of his eye he noticed a car making a sharp right turn onto President from Franklin Avenue. Mr. Grays shouted at the driver, climbing back up the steps to avoid getting sideswiped. The black car, in Mr. Grays’s telling, came tearing back his way in reverse. The driver said to him, Mr. Grays recounted, “I have the right of way because I’m law enforcement.” The unmarked car held four plainclothes police officers, according to the Brooklyn borough president’s office, which has taken an interest in the case.
This video of Glen Grays's arrest on March 17 contains graphic language. Video, via DNAinfo.com, is courtesy of the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President.
By the time Mr. Grays arrived at the front door of 999 President Street, the police were approaching him.
A video of the incident, taken by an observer on the street, begins at this point and shows Mr. Grays, in his postal uniform, as he is handcuffed, frisked and taken to the unmarked car. The officers tell him to stop resisting, even though there is no evidence in the video of resistance. What the video does not show, Mr. Grays said, is what happened next, after he was placed in the back seat of the unmarked car, with his hands cuffed and without a seatbelt, compelling him to leave the mail truck unattended. The driver, who had turned around to taunt him, hit the vehicle in front of them, Mr. Grays said, causing him to bang his shoulder against the front seat. Mr. Grays was then taken to the 71st Precinct station, where he was issued a summons for disorderly conduct that will require him to appear in court. He was then released.
On Tuesday, the Brooklyn borough president, Eric L. Adams, himself a former police officer, released the video at a news conference, expressing what he said was his outrage over the ostensible violations of the civil rights of yet another young black man, this one an employee of the federal government.
Mr. Grays is the oldest of six boys. His mother, Sonya Sapp, who lives in middle-income housing in Fort Greene, spoke briefly, only to say, “I worry about them every day, every minute, every second of every day,” before fading off with, “I’m short on words; I’m just hurt.”
Photo A still from a bystander’s video of Mr. Grays in the custody of police officers. He was later issued a disorderly-conduct summons.Creditvia The Office of the Brooklyn Borough President
Mr. Grays’s fiancée is also shaken. She is a New York City police officer he met while delivering the mail.
The day after the news conference, the Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson, announced that his office would not seek a prison sentence for Peter Liang, the former police officer convicted of manslaughter in the death of Akai Gurley two years ago in an unlit stairwell at an East New York housing project. In response, Mr. Gurley’s family issued a statement demanding accountability and a real message from prosecutors that “police officers are not above the law.”
About Mr. Grays’s encounter, the Police Department said only that the matter was “under internal review,” in an email response to queries.
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s deputy press secretary, Monica Klein, added that the mayor would be “in close touch with Commissioner Bratton over this incident’s investigations and findings.” (William J. Bratton is the police commissioner.)
Mr. Grays, who speaks with an intense focus, has an elaborate tattoo on his right arm, a tribute to his paternal grandmother that says, “Willa May Grays 1928-2004.” Twenty-two years ago, when he was 5, she covered his eyes on a sidewalk in Brownsville, shielding him from the sight of a stabbing that unfolded right in front of them. “I have been to more funerals than graduations,” Mr. Grays said, explaining that the horrors he had witnessed kept him from whatever nefarious temptations might present themselves to a boy growing up in a rough place.
Before joining the Postal Service, Mr. Grays worked at a branch of Key Food in Park Slope, where he took home $117 a week, he said: not nearly enough. He dropped out of college at City Tech, he said, because he couldn’t afford to stay in school. Later he worked stocking inventory at Fresh Direct in Long Island City, in Queens, but the stocking room was very cold, so he took a job in Floral Park, near the border with Nassau County, for a uniform company, which required him to leave his apartment in the Bronx at 3 a.m. to take the D train to the F to a bus that brought him to Carnation Avenue by 5:30. 1372COMMENTS Mr. Grays recounted these aspects of his biography to me at Brown Memorial Baptist Church in Clinton Hill, in Brooklyn. He brought along his mother; three of his brothers, among them a set of 4-year-old twins; and his aunt, who, he pointed out, had accomplished the feat of sending one of her children to Brooklyn Tech, the highly competitive high school. He quoted something his grandmother used to say: “The best way for a black man to become successful is to stay away from the cops, to keep a clean record.” Mr. Grays said he felt that he needed to live his life as an example for his siblings. He pointed to his fiancée, who sat silently in the corner. “I don’t hate cops,” he told me. “I’m marrying one.”
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
(03-29-2016, 12:26 PM)SteelCitySouth Wrote: No there doesn't. There could be, but your assertion there has to be is quite naive.
Not really. While it's true there doesn't HAVE to be more to the story, thinking there does is NOT naive when the story as it currently stands is somewhat nonsensical.
(03-29-2016, 12:28 PM)PhilHos Wrote: Not really. While it's true there doesn't HAVE to be more to the story, thinking there does is NOT naive when the story as it currently stands is somewhat nonsensical.
LOL...No. You were speaking in absolutes. That is naive. As I said there could be, but there doesn't have to be. You leave no room in your statement.
Quote:BROOKLYN — Charges against an on-duty postal worker arrested in Crown Heightshave been dropped, Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said Thursday.
Cellphone footage of the incident gained national attention after Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams released it to the media and called for the NYPD to investigate their officers' actions.
Grays was charged with disorderly conduct. That charge was dismissed Thursday, Thompson said.
“In the interest of justice I asked the court to dismiss the disorderly conduct charge,” Thompson said in a statement.
“Mr. Grays was working his postal route in Crown Heights when he was arrested and put in handcuffs following a driving incident involving undercover police officers.”
Gray's attorney Kenneth E. Ramseur said the decision by the court was a "big relief" to his client.
"They came up with the proper administration of justice," he said.
Now, Ramseur said Grays will consider what other methods of "legal redress" are available, but would not say for sure if his client will pursue civil action against the department over the arrest.
Though Grays will not face charges, the full effect of the arrest remains to be seen. Ramseur said the Civilian Complaint Review Board and the NYPD's Internal Affairs Bureau are continuing to investigate the incident. In addition, The NYPD lieutenant who oversaw the arrest has been stripped of his gun and badge and four officers present at the time were removed from their posts as the department investigates.
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
(05-13-2016, 12:12 PM)Vlad Wrote: Big whoop.
Another couple of idiot cops among thousands of good ones. You'd think they'd know by now about cellphone cameras.
What I've read was the black guy yelled at the unmarked cop car for almost running him over.
This apparently was insulting to the cops egos as they sit atop their perch of superiority....the attitude of these particular cops, mind you.
Was this guy walking in the middle of the street to almost get run over? I don't know, but when I see people walking in the middle of the street and not move over when they see me coming, there's nothing more I want to do than run their ass over.
if im walking I only think I have the right away if I see the car yelding im not testing my luck against a 2 ton piece of metal/plastic
People that just walk out infront of cars deserve what they get.
I know what the law says but unless your in a cross walk the car always has the right away... So did he park his truck in the middle of a cross walk?
(05-13-2016, 12:14 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: if im walking I only think I have the right away if I see the car yelding im not testing my luck against a 2 ton piece of metal/plastic
People that just walk out infront of cars deserve what they get.
(05-13-2016, 11:23 AM)GMDino Wrote: He probably got away with something because he is black.
Yeah continue playing your victimhood games.
Big whoop.
Another couple of idiot cops among thousands of good ones. You'd think they'd know by now about cellphone cameras.
What I've read was the black guy yelled at the unmarked cop car for almost running him over.
This apparently was insulting to the cops egos as they sit atop their perch of superiority....the attitude of these particular cops, mind you.
Was this guy walking in the middle of the street to almost get run over? I don't know, but when I see people walking in the middle of the street and not get the eff out of the way when they see me coming, there's nothing more I want to do than run their ass over.
(05-13-2016, 12:17 PM)Vlad Wrote: Yeah continue playing your victimhood games.
Big whoop.
Another couple of idiot cops among thousands of good ones. You'd think they'd know by now about cellphone cameras.
What I've read was the black guy yelled at the unmarked cop car for almost running him over.
This apparently was insulting to the cops egos as they sit atop their perch of superiority....the attitude of these particular cops, mind you.
Was this guy walking in the middle of the street to almost get run over? I don't know, but when I see people walking in the middle of the street and not get the eff out of the way when they see me coming, there's nothing more I want to do than run their ass over.
Anyway...my joke ( ) that apparently offended you was because of this:
(05-09-2016, 05:54 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: Hey sorry if the truth bothers you. He gets a pass because he is the first black president. But the reality is he is easily one of the worst.
Then he said:
(05-11-2016, 07:43 PM)StLucieBengal Wrote: I could care less what colour he is ....
Sooo.....
Your anger and ego will always reveal your true self.
(05-13-2016, 12:16 PM)fredtoast Wrote: He was on the steps of his mail truck.
then he did a good job noticing and not getting hit. no reason for handcuffs unless he got outta line with the officer who would have had right of way.
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