St. Paul man arrested in skyway was in public area, city prosecutor says

Pioneer Press ^ | 9-3-14 | Mara H. Gottfried

[TurboZamboni]

Chris Lollie was in a public area of the St. Paul skyway when a security guard told police he was in a private area, the city attorney said Wednesday.

A guard said the 28-year-old man was sitting "for some time" in a skyway-level lounge area designated for building employees, a police report said, and officers were responding to that information when they arrived, St. Paul City Attorney Sara Grewing said.

The guard's report led to the Jan. 31 encounter with police that has drawn national attention and criticism. Whether the downtown area where Lollie was sitting was public or private has been the crux of the case.

Lollie, of St. Paul, posted a cellphone video on YouTube last week that showed officers confronting and tasing him. The video, which Lollie titled "Black man taken to jail for sitting in public area," has been viewed more than 1 million times.

Lollie was charged with misdemeanor trespassing, disorderly conduct and obstructing the legal process. The city attorney's office dismissed the charges July 31.

[proxy_user]

Thousands of lawyers are now standing in line to speak to him....

[TurboZamboni]

He already has one -working pro bono.

[babble-on]

Lollie gagging

[TurboZamboni]

Pioneer Press photog told to stop shooting in “private” St. Paul skyway

Footage of Chrie Lollie’s controversial arrest in the St. Paul skyway raised questions about the public/private status of that area.

Though both the First National Bank Building’s Facebook page and St. Paul city ordinance suggest the seating area where Lollie was arrested is open to the public, the experience of Pioneer Press photographer Ben Garvin supports a different conclusion.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2014/09/pioneer_press_photog_told_to_stop_shooting_in_private_st_paul_skyway.php

And photo gagging-—no freedom of the press allowed in the skyway either.

[Dallas59]

$$$$$

[Carl Vehse]

He already has one -working pro bono."

That lawyer will have a lot of financial "bono" himself when he gets through with out-of-court settlements from the involved miscreants and the companies and departments they worked for.

[relictele]

Paul Westerberg call your office.

[muir_redwoods]

It’ll never happen but any settlement should be paid out of the police pension fund.

[Ben Ficklin]

As far as the police officers and the private security officer were concerned, Lollie was just another uppity black boy.

This article doesn't mention that the first officer on the scene(female), resigned from her job.

She, and the other two officers, made the mistake of relying on the private security officer's assessment that Lollie was trespassing. That is a very common theme in many of these conflicts. Someone calls or contacts law enforcement and describes the situation and the responding officer(s) accept that description as fact when they should take the time to investigate.

Lollie also committed two other cardinal sins with these police officers: he was videotaping and refused to show his ID.

[moovova]

I hope Mr. Lollie profits nicely from this.

[TurboZamboni]

He will . And taxpayers are always ‘happy to pay more’ in St.Paul.