By Howard Koplowitz
Norman Siegel said in a phone interview Monday that his chances of filing the suit were contingent on meeting with Queens District Attorney Richard Brown about the arrests. If a potential meeting leads Siegel to believe that the arrests were unjustified, he will seek legal action. But he said he prefers that that not be the case.”The better course is to have a meeting to find out about the nature of the arrests,” said Siegel, the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union who is running for public advocate.But based on what he knows, the attorney said the police response was not appropriate. He said that when an officer is shot, police “should be knocking on doors to see if people know anything.”The beat officer for the 105th Precinct, Christopher Wiesneski, was shot with his own gun in Cambria Heights June 14 by a man whom he was attempting to arrest for smoking marijuana. As of Tuesday, police had yet to find the man responsible for the attempted murder of Wiesneski. A police sketch of the suspect, who was described as a black male in his 20s wearing a doo rag, dark shirt and jeans, was distributed after the incident. City Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) said the fact that black men who did not fit the police profile Ð those older than 29 and men that had both short and relatively longer hairÐ contributed to the large number of arrests. He pegged the number of arrests at 191 as did Cambria Heights Civic Association President Kevin Jemmott. The 105th Precinct could not be reached for comment and a spokesman for the Police Department's information arm said it would take too long to go through the arrest records to compile a complete list.”They should have had a professional police officer give a description,” Comrie said. After pointing out that some of the arrests were for disorderly conduct or not wearing a seat belt, Siegel said he believes constitutional rights were violated. Comrie said the misdemeanor arrests that resulted from the sweeps were an example of the Police Department “going to far.””We don't need to have an open season on all black males,” he said.Siegel said the two men he is working on behalf of were detained for 26 and 24 hours, respectively.”What's aberrational about this is that they were held four times greater than what they should have been,” the attorney said. Although sweeps are common after a police officer is shot, Siegel said those who are arrested are usually brought in for questioning and then released. If someone is arrested for disorderly conduct, they usually get a summons or a desk appearance, Siegel said. But that turned out not to be the case for Hussan Joseph, one of the two men the attorney has interviewed. Joseph, 20, was returning home from a basketball game with five friends when he was stopped by police. He and his friends were handcuffed, searched and arrested without an officer giving a reason for the actions. The car was impounded and Joseph's cell phone was confiscated. He was in central booking for 26 hours without food before being released, Siegel said.Comrie noted that the arrests may make it difficult for the men to get a job.Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173
