New Britain herald., 1928-01-09
CLAIM POLICEMAN FILLED PRISONER
 WITH NIGH7S7ICk
(continued from First Page)

iness" and when Officer Curry or
 dered them to leave the doorway.
 they replied that they would do so
 ''in few minutes" Whereupon the
 officer pushed them and followed
 them over to the curbstone and
 threatened to flock up' "Whitey." The latter told the officer that he had not done anything to merit ar
 rest and therefore he would not
 move. The officer then beat him with l the nightstick. bringing him to his
 knees with a blow on the head, and
 Wisk, to defend himself. seized the l officer by the legs but did not at l tack him in the manner charged by
 the officer. Officer Lee came along
 and twisted Wisk's arm up behind , his back in a manner that caused
 great pain and Wisk begged him to
 release this hold, assuring him that
 he would go along with him. You
 know me. Tom. I'll go along with
 you" "Whitey" testified he said. 1 Cross-examined by Prosecuting {, Attorney Woods, Wisk denied that he was intoxicated or that he had
 abused the officer. He had not had a single drink all evening, he said.
 He worked in a store until a late hour and had not caused any dis
 turbance. He felt that the officer
 had no right to arrest him as he had
 not done anything and therefore he
 refused to move.
 f William J. Quigley of 227 Wash-
 ington street testified that he came | out of restaurant on Broad street
 and saw the Wisk cousins talking in
 the doorway. He had talked to l"Whitey" l5 minutes earlier and the latter had no sign of liquor on him. Walking across the street, Quigley say Officer Curry move the Wisks to the curbstone and q few seconds later saw him trying to move them from the curbstone. The next min- ute he saw the officer bring "Whit- ey'' to his knees with blows from the nightstick. Tt was the most delib-
 crate thing ] ever saw," Quigley said, and Prosecuting Attorney Woods told him not to pass his opin- ion but simply tell what he had seen. The officer struck Wisk sev- Icral times. according 10 Quigley.
 Cross examined by the prosecut- ing attorney. Quigley admitted that he was friendly with the Wiska I'm friendly with everybody" he said. Well. you do business in that neighborhood, don't you?" Mr.
 Woods asked him. "Ycs. and so do you. Mir. Woods" the witness re- piled. Quigley was positive that Wisk had not used improper lan- guage towards the officer or given him any reason to arrest him. Roy Barry testified in similar vein. Not Drunk, Doctor Says
 Dr. F.. R. Curran testified that he was called to the police station be- tween midnight and 1915 o'clock and found Wisk in need of atten- Ition for laceration above the right
 eye and a lump near the back of
 his head on the left side. He gave
 Wisk several tests and was unable to find the slightest trace of intoxi- cation. Had he been intoxicated at 11:45 o'clock, he would have. shown signs of it at 1c.15, the phy- scian said
 Prosecuting Attorney Woods ask ed that Wisk be convicted. The in- terests of law and order demand that the officer be backed up by the court. he said. but Judge Mangan replied that the officer was abso-
 lutely without right to make an ar-
 rest under the circumstances de- scr;hed. not to mention the use of the nightstick. T am surprised that MT. Woods has the coruage 10 ask for conviction" Judge Mangan
 said. Tt would be q fine place for
 him to get up and say the states case was not supported. Conditions here are not as they are in Russia. If ever a case mcrited discharge. this is 1t. There is no law in the world that can make mo move from the curbstone if I am not blocking trafiic or causing a disturbance, There is a law concerning three persons congregating. but none at iall concerning two. With all this talk about the vile language Wisk used to the officer. I notice that Officer
 Lee is here and he was not called to testify. Lieutenant Bamforth
 who was on desk duty when Wisk
 was brought in. was in the court
 room little while ago. but he is
 not here now to testify whether or
 lot Wisk was drunk. Officer Todzia,
 who was there. testified that Wisk
 was not drunk"
 i officer Tolzia testified that he <. did not know whether the man was fo Havana