LVMPD Police Forced to Release Someone They Wanted to Arrest for Riding a Bike
Channel: Nevada Cop Block (NVCopBlock.org)
Date: 26/05/2016

Read the full background here: http://nvcopblock.org/160742/las-vegas-protesters-de-arrest-innocent-bicyclist-lvmpd-may-day-harassment/

During the 2016 annual May Day march in Las Vegas, officers with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department began bullying and acting aggressively toward people participating in the march. 

Among other things, several motorcycle police began running into (at a very slow speed) and pushing anyone that stepped off the sidewalk as they were walking. They also began harassing several participants who were riding bikes on the street next to the march demanding that that they ride on the sidewalk. (Not only is riding a bike in the street the safest way to ride and completely legal, but riding on the sidewalks is in fact illegal).

Shortly after this began, the police attempted to arrest one of those bicyclists for (legally) riding her bike in the street. The thing you don't see because it happened right before the camera was turned on is that she had actually gotten off her bike and thrown it into the back of a truck that was accompanying the march with the intention of walking. So not only was the attempted arrest based on something that was legal to do, but it was also completely unnecessary since she had already decided to avoid any further harassment by not riding the bike anymore.

The police then tried to pull her off to the side into the yard of a local business (a wedding chapel), apparently hoping that everyone would just keep going and allow them to perform their kidnapping without interference. Instead, everyone followed them and subsequently surrounded them demanding and chanting that they "let her go" until they were forced to do so.

The police tried to use the fact that they had dragged her off to private property to force everyone to leave. In reality, since an illegal arrest is tantamount to a kidnapping, that amounts to a kidnapper grabbing someone and pulling them onto private property and then saying, "you can't try to stop me from kidnapping them anymore because I'm on private property." They also refused to state what exactly they wanted to charge her with and claiming that we could not speak to her and ask her that, using the excuse of "confidentiality" as a reason. Arrests are actually public record, so there is no confidentiality requirement and police are required to tell an arrestee the reason for which they are being arrested.

Reportedly, the police told one of the organizers of the march that she had said, "fuck you" when they told her not to ride her bike in the street and that was the real reason for their desire to arrest her. While I have little doubt that that is true, saying fuck you to police is not in any way illegal and has been ruled legal by the US Supreme Court.

Don't just sit back and let innocent people be kidnapped for "contempt of cop" or other bullshit reasons. When people work together and look out for each other they can stop unlawful actions by the police.