The Rififi Rumble - Help Out

Last weekend I put up a short little post about the cops raiding Rififi on Friday and arresting two bystanders. Since then I have been contacted by the girl who got locked up. She is filing a complaint (rightfully so) and needs your help. Here is the letter she sent me, please email me if you have any info for her. Here's her story of what went down...

Hey,

I read your post and I am the girl who was arrested and "thrashed" by the cops on Friday night. My boyfriend and I were leaving Rififi, already out on the sidewalk, trying to get a cab to another place to avoid the cops. We are both kind of built like 12-year olds but two big cops started to provoke us for some reason. Some others standing by weren't even in uniform and they asked where we thought we were going so I think my boyfriend told them to leave us alone or get out of our way - we are trying to walk down the street and get a cab. Then they just cuffed him, 2 seconds later, they cuffed me. THEN, I called them many names and let my mouth start running. So I really didn't do anything until after I was cuffed. They had me bent over the trunk of the police car and I started screaming and shouting about what happened so someone would get a picture. They pushed me down hard on the trunk and threatened to mace me. Then they drove us to their precinct where we were held for 7 hours there and both denied phone calls. Then we were transported to central booking in Chinatown, where we still were not allowed to make a single call for another 20+ hours. They had no actual charges so when we finally made it through the system, the judge dismissed everything right away. We didn't get out until early Sunday morning. That is a LONG TIME to be locked up for no reason with no phone call allowed.

Apparently, they had some kind of "zero tolerance night" and the cops were all getting overtime so they needed arrests in that precinct. We met another guy who left his apt in the same neighborhood to get ice cream and was arrested because he didn't have an ID. I know you probably don't care about my details but here is a warning - they can really f*ck you up at a police precinct. Once you are at central booking in Chinatown, the only think you have to worry about are the other cell mates. The problem is the precinct - the cops have total control in there and try to mess with you. Also, there were condoms (new, wrapped, not used) all over that place (outside of the cells, near the desks, near the finger-printing machines, etc.). When I asked why, they messed with me more and said they like to practice safe sex (ha-ha). They can do anything they want at the precinct.

Anyway, we just wanted to go out to unwind and dance to the songs of our youth but look what happened instead! We have lived here for over 10 years and have been going out like this even longer than that, but have never encountered this kind of trouble. Why weren't they focused on West 27th or meatpacking? The funny thing is that we were supposed to go to Calling All Kids across town but decided to start at Rififi. Bad luck. If you know anyone who has a cell phone picture let me know, I might need it or a few witness statements for the Civilian Complaint Review Board. We didn't meet anyone else that night from Rififi at the precinct or in central booking so I think we were the only ones arrested.

Thanks,
Gretchen

Condoms, WTF? Sounds like the boys in blue are hard at work huh?