POLICE STEAL CHAIR FROM HOMELESS MAN TO KEEP HIM FROM USING PUBLIC SPACES AS A PEDESTRIAN.

Date of Incident: October 17, 2000
Received:

Box 15071
Berkeley, CA  94712-6071
October 25, 2000



JASON MEGGS' STATEMENT 
October 17, 2000 INCIDENT

Description of incident:

At approximately 11:30 AM on Tuesday, October 17, 2000, as I stood on the northwest corner of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way in Berkeley, I witnessed the actions of officer J.B. Singh, BPD #10, across the street at the northeast corner of that same intersection (directly across Shattuck Avenue from me).

Officer Singh picked up a white, plastic chair in front of Wallgreen's and threw it towards the BART station's raised brick-walled flowerbed alongside the east end of the bicycle rack there. He then picked up a gray milk crate and began walking towards a garbage truck which was parked in the wrong direction on Allston (which is presently one-way westbound on that block due to construction) around the corner, with its rear bay open. I shouted at him that he was taking the property of a homeless man and that he should stop. He did not. I shouted not to throw out the milk crate, but he did over my protests. He then proceeded to observe me for at least 10-20 seconds as I waited for the light and continued to call to him that what he was doing was wrong. He then proceeded to walk back to the white plastic chair which he had thrown aside, pick it up, and throw it out again over my called out verbal protests.

The light changed and I made my way across the very wide intersection, and proceeded to approach the garbage truck. I began to pull the white plastic chair from the garbage truck but officer Singh and another officer, T.D. Kaplan BPD #109, interceded and physically stopped me from pulling the chair out. Officer Singh ordered me not to reclaim the chair and both officers made a show of power/police wall with their bodies to guard the open bay of the garbage truck from me.

I asked these officers to identify themselves and Singh refused despite my repeated requests and a direct question: "Are you refusing to identify yourself?". Only by changing my position and looking from indirect angles was I able to ascertain his identity (if it is correct) from his name tag and badge. Officer Kaplan did not refuse to identify.

I insisted that they had taken a homeless man's property. Singh asked where the man was and I said I did not know, but that he would be back shortly and probably went to the rest room. I stated that he is there on an everyday basis. I further stated that the supreme court had ruled that anything in the trash can be claimed by the public and I was claiming those items so as to return them to their owner. Officer Singh asked if the Supreme Court's name was on the chair and I said no. He then said that as public property it must be thrown out, a statement which I did not understand whatsoever.

Officer Singh refused to state how long he had been on the BPD. Officer Kaplan responded only that he had been on the BPD for "a long, long time".

Officer Kaplan then left the scene and officer Singh went around the corner. I contacted the garbage truck driver, who identified himself as John, about getting the property. He stated that the police would intervene if I tried again, and that there was pressure on the city to remove all property that "is abandoned". I told him that my impression was that that was wrong, and that this was a theft. When we came around to the back of the truck to look at the chair, officer Singh began to move towards us as if to intervene. I did not wish to risk arrest to assert the homeless man's right to his property, as I am depended on at work by many people, and needed to return. I regret that I was unable to save his property and watched sadly as the garbage truck destroyed a perfectly good chair and milkcrate, two items that probably can't be recycled and may be headed for a landfill or incinerator because of this officer's cruel actions.

Within one or two days of this incident, I encountered the man whose property had been stolen. His name is Ronald Coleman. He said the kind people at Arnelli's Pizza had given him the chair and that he would be willing to file a complaint. He said that he had observed the police steal his property but was intimidated or otherwise unable to assert his rights to the property. He may have been across the street as well.

Sincerely,




Jason Meggs

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