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Posted on 11/18/2010 5:48:50 AM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
Drop that bishop and come out with your hands up!
A squad of cops in bulletproof vests swooped into an upper Manhattan park and charged seven men with the "crime" of playing chess in an area off-limits to adults unaccompanied by kids -- even though no youngsters were there.
"Is chess really something that should be considered a threat to the neighborhood?" Inwood resident and mom Joanne Johnson wrote Mayor Bloomberg, the City Council and Police Commissioner Ray Kelly after the raid.
"This incident is an embarrassment to the officers from the 34th Precinct who felt that it was necessary to use their badge and authority to issue such a random summons."
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
That’s an odd number (literally), did one get away?
It’s about time the NYPD put these criminals in check.
One thing for sure, you can’t play chess when there ARE kids around.
Cops like soft targets. The DA probably needed some white guys to get busted to keep the stats balanced.
Nurse Bloomburg strikes again.
Ba-dum-bump.
Sounds like an overly ambitious Rookie mistake.
I love the NY Post and read it everyday, but they never miss an opportunity to inflame the situations.
"Cops in bulletproof vests"?! That's what they wear all the time. They didn't don them to take on the chessers.
This is unusual for the NYPD to get involved in such idiocy. Bloomberg must have given a direct order, or somebody spotted them conceal-carrying cigarettes.
Incidents like this are what undermine public confidence in LEO and make the citizenry more inclined to view them as Fascist thugs hiding behind a badge.
"Another man ticketed that day, Inwood resident and artist Junior "Chiqui" Mendoza, 46, said that the police "should have given us a warning, and not a ticket."
Hmmm, 46 year old male "artist" hanging around in a kids park. I hope he doesn't have some obsession with bananas being placed at the rear or between the legs of kids carton characters.
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How long has it been so "clearly marked"? I don't know that park. But I do know others with these stone chess tables. At the ones I know kids are a distinct minority.
ML/NJ
Is this the Park & Chess tables featured in various TV shows and commercials?
According to the article one of those ticketed saw the signs “months ago” but claims a cop told him it was ok to be there anyway.
Again, not defending the ticketing, just commenting on the hyped headline and “interesting” banana placement on kids cartoon artwork of one of the men ticketed in the kids area.
Once enough laws are made; everyone will be a criminal.
Another reason to NOT live in or near New York. How many kids play chess yet they have chess tables set up. The gate and signs were put up and the park authorities failed to move the tables. So the make something illegal that used to be legal by putting up a sign.
The men should have claimed illegal immigrant status and a parade would have been thrown in their honor to celebrate diversity.
The chess tables are concrete.
This is ridiculous but then smoking cars illegally parked in Times Square go unnoticed so the police can get to really important ‘crimes’.
Inwood Hill Park is actually pretty large for a New York City Park. It's about 200 acres, and covers the northern tip of Manhattan where the Harlem River meets the Hudson River.
I'm not sure what the story is behind this incident, but I've long felt uncomfortable about having working-age adult men hanging out in these places -- regardless of what the reason is.
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