.@MassStatePolice Officer Kamel badge #814 - Lynch skatepark, MA. Derek politely asked the officer why they were kicking 40+ out of the skatepark at 8:30, when lights shut off at 9pm. Kamel gave no explanation for arrest, he did not read him his rights, then escalated. Share pls pic.twitter.com/UKVrkGnS1k
— ryan (@Animal_Mothah) October 1, 2018
State Police give their side of the story:
Per DCR rules, the skate park closes at dusk, as noted on a sign hanging in the park. The Trooper issued 6 to 8 requests from his cruiser's PA system and in person after exiting the cruiser, instructing the skaters to leave.
The Trooper observed one person continuing to skate despite the repeated requests to leave. The Trooper began a conversation with that person, later identified as DEREK HANLON, 27, of Boston, and again informed him numerous times to leave the park. HANLON continued to refuse to leave, leaving the Trooper no choice but to arrest him. As the Trooper attempted to place HANLON into custody, the defendant continually resisted while approximately 30 other skaters began to move closer. The Trooper then took necessary action to overcome the defendant's resistance and make the arrest quickly before the situation escalated further. Fortunately, neither the Trooper, nor the defendant, nor any bystanders were injured by the defendant’s refusal to comply with the Trooper’s directive. HANLON was charged with trespassing and resisting arrest.
The Trooper subsequently observed a second man, identified as ASKIA BURNS, 24, of Boston, walking back toward the park and stating that he would continue skating as soon as police left. BURNS was arrested and charged with trespassing.
Innocent, etc.
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Comments
Oh looky here
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:00pm
Picking on skaters is easy.
Rooting out your corrupt thugs is hard.
DA's Office
By Residente
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 9:29am
Good example of a "crime" that shouldn't be prosecuted. Don't know if the current DA would prosecute this case, but the new one will not. This young man will spend some time in jail and then be released on bail and the charges will be dropped. Getting cuffed and spending time in the back of a squad car is probably enough, but he will probably be put in a cage for a but as well. It's typical that resisting arrest and trespassing charges look exactly like this. That's why the new DA doesn't want to prosecute these charges. Nobody needs to spend any significant time in a cage for this type of stuff.
The old DA wouldn’t have prosecuted either...
By Pete Nice
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 9:38am
FYI
There isn't a new DA, since current DA isn't going anywhere.
By Neal
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 11:18am
Marian Ryan was reelected and will continue in her role as Middlesex DA. This happened in Cambridge, which is part (and is one of the two shire towns) of the former Middlesex County.
True
By Residente
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 11:45am
True, well it's awful close to Suffolk so forgive my mistake. The new Suffolk DA wouldn't prosecute this and some people are (were) all up in arms about it. Just wonder if they would be up in arms about this?
statie vs skatie
By bostnkid
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:04pm
maybe you could cooperate for a minute and the cop might be easier to deal with? maybe you should not argue with state police about skateboarding when you are 27 years old.
does anyone know who paid for those lights?
What’s the problem with
By PartyMarty
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:14pm
What’s the problem with skateboarding when your 27? I’m guessing you like to watch 30-40 year olds get dressed up in tights and toss a ball around a field and feel that’s somehow more mature...
Lets hope the skaties..
By Friartuck
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:14pm
Don't have an overtime scandal...
Who paid for the lights?
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:16pm
Listed here:
http://www.thecharles.org/projects-and-programs/sk...
and/ or here:
http://www.thecharles.org/media/uploads/2013/04/Ba...
Derek Hanlon is not listed. That doesn't mean he didn't donate; he may have donated through a group.
And while we're talking about the lights, what exactly is the point of lights in a park that is closed at dusk?
The City of Cambridge and the Charles River Conservancy might consider what the point of the lights is. If they are left on after dark, people will be attracted to the lights for recreational purposes. Either the park should be opened or the lights should be shut off.
Simple Answer
By AndyF
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:23pm
Q: And while we're talking about the lights, what exactly is the point of lights in a park that is closed at dusk?
A: it deters drug dealers. It also makes it easier for police and neighborhood groups to monitor those areas for illegal night-time activity (such as skate boarding after dusk).
Know whut?
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:39pm
Active skater activity deters drug activity.
DUH
Ah yes
By ChrisInEastie
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:44pm
those early bird special dealers, who work supposedly empty skateparks and call it a night at 9pm.
And those damn skate rats, with the audacity to use a skatepark after dusk, in New England, in the fall. How dare they partake in physical activity in a closed in space designed solely for said physical activity after 4:30pm. Think of the children!
All the violence going on and
By shawn
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:13pm
All the violence going on and in and around Cambridge but its ok we have to mess with the skate boarders we will get to the murderers and drug dea!ers later
There's that much gang violence in Cambridge?
By Ari O
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 9:45pm
I must have missed out.
Trust me
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:00pm
There's plenty of gang activity in Cambridge and Somerville, including violence l.
Cmon
By Jay
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 8:30am
You seriously haven’t seen alll the shootings and shots fired calls Adam posts here???There is a lot of gang violence in Cambridge-there always has been. If you follow this page or @stacos on twitter you should know.
The globe just won’t report crime in Cambridge because realtors/developers. It ain’t Brookline... and they have much larger issue to deal with than arresting skaters at a damn skate park. But alas these are Massachusetts State Police and thus effective policing is not their forté
Yes,
By whyaduck
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 1:35pm
you go.
It's a good thing we have
By ZachAndTired
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:09pm
It's a good thing we have these brave officers keeping public skateparks safe from skateboarders. The Charles River Conservancy installed the lights and announced that the skatepark is now open until 9pm. These people were doing nothing wrong. I'm sure there will be an influx of bootlickers in the comments to defend the cops though.
Maybe DCR didn't get the memo
By MattyC
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:15pm
From the CRC website:
Want answers?
By Ari O
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 9:50pm
Email your state reps. Tell them to call State Police. If a dozen legislators all ring up MSP, there will be some answers real quick. Find your legislators here.
Respect the neighbors
By Boston_Bloke
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:08pm
It's not OK to disturb the neighbors. They tolerate the skate park with the understanding that it closes at dusk.
Yes, the police should enforce the law.
There are no neighbors
By Ron Newman
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:55pm
This is next to railroad tracks and I-93. There's an EF office building overlooking it. The nearest place anyone lives is across O'Brien Highway in East Cambridge, or City Square in Charlestown.
Ever hear of the various
By anon
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 5:05am
Ever hear of the various residential buildings of North Point?
Ever hear of a map?
By anon
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 12:55pm
The skate park is nowhere near those buildings.
Nice try - next time, google it!
Not close
By anon
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 2:58pm
1/4 mile away from the closest housing.
Word
By Adam
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:53pm
Ah, so they should leave at 9? When the city announced the park closes? But he was arrested at 8:30...
Cops in cambridge are terrible
By Frank Rizzo
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:09pm
Never in my life have I seen cops giving out tickets to dog owners because they don't live in Cambridge and are at the park.
Maybe they should try and arrest the people who are committing real crimes instead of the petty crap.
They are state police. Read
By Matt
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 5:48pm
They are state police. Read the article.
Not quite
By eeka
Wed, 10/03/2018 - 12:05pm
While I am very much against the institution of policing as it currently exists, the laws themselves are not the fault of the police. There are parks in Cambridge in which Cambridge residents and their leadership have decided only dogs licensed in Cambridge are allowed. Residents and leadership have called for enforcement of this. This would only be a policing issue if we believe there are patterns of enforcement of certain demographics but not others, or if police are incorrectly enforcing the laws.
While I think the whole idea of a private public park and using municipal resources to enforce this is ridiculous, it's something Cambridge has chosen. They do at least charge for dog licenses, so some of the funding is coming directly from people who use the parks for their dogs. I encourage you to take your issues up with municipal government.
Yo uwould think, given the scandal and criminality that has
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:31pm
afflicted the MSP, that they would be more deferential toward the public and would show greater discretion.
I have been walking through that area to and from work since the opening of the pedestrian bridge to Charlestown many years ago, and anyone can see that the activity generated by the skateboard park makes the area inordinately safer.
The MSP, or at least this particular trooper, is doing a huge disservice to the community here - in particular to people like me who would like to have activity, and other people around, to dissuade the muggers.
Not really
By Bob Leponge
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 1:02pm
You would only think that if you were ignorant of police culture. "When you're in the wrong, double down." must be something they teach at the Academy.
Miranda only applies with custody and interrogation
By O-FISH-L
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:35pm
Contrary to what people may see on TV police shows, the strict requirements of the Miranda Warning (right to remain silent, etc.) must only be given when there is both custody and interrogation. Not much interrogation needed for trespassing and resisting. Plus he was barely in custody when the video ended. No Miranda warning needed. As standard procedure, he would get the Miranda warning at the booking desk once at the barracks but doubtful any interrogation was conducted on two misdemeanors. 27 years old? Grow up.
God Bless our police who have faced resistance, assaults and numerous shootings since Obama proclaimed that the "Cambridge Police acted stupidly" responding to a call for a break-in-progress where the man breaking into the home (Professor Skippy Gates) refused to cooperate. Glad the trooper here appears to be an ethnic minority and that's certainly not his badge number which would be assigned to someone who came on in the early 80's.
godbless?
By Frank Rizzo
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:40pm
love how the trumpers use god bless every time they speak like an ass. I guess it makes sense. I mean Christianity is responsible for the most violence, death, and wars.
Are you forgetting
By HolyMolyCodPiece
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:42pm
USSR, Cambodia, Nazis (no the third Reich was not Christian) and China’s cultural revolution, all atheistic governments led buy atheist leaders, to name a few that might have just a bit of blood on their hands? Just trying to be even Stephen and tell it straight. It’s a human condition.
Nazis are the opposite of Socialists
By AndyF
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 2:24pm
Regardless of whether or not Hitler himself was an atheist (which is not confirmed one way or another), the Nazi program is inherently built upon Christian theology. The most basic concept of an Aryan race is that God made them superior to other races and this is what gave them the right to persecute and kill lesser, unfit races.
27 years old? Grow up.
By frobot
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:16pm
Who the fuck are you to judge how and at what age somebody can have fun on a skateboard? You're an insufferable piece of shit.
Nice omission
By SP123
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 5:11pm
"where the man breaking into the home (Professor Skippy Gates) refused to cooperate"
You conveniently left out the fact that it was his own house he was "breaking into" and he told them that and they didn't believe him for some mysterious reason.
Do you
By Anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 8:06pm
Know who I am? No, you can’t see my ID!
Me thinks he brought it on himself
By Boston_Bloke
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:10pm
Gates issue was more of a bruised ego. The whole incident could have been avoided If he had kept his cool and showed his ID instead of demanding that everyone on earth recognize one of his lackluster PBS specials.
wait, so
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:52pm
being ruffled at unreasonable search and seizure is "bringing it on yourself"?
mkay.
Sure about that?
By AndyF
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 1:43pm
I'm pretty sure that the property was owned by the school.
You're interpreting "own" very narrowly
By Waquiot
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 2:21pm
It was the house where he lived and kept his stuff. That would make it his own house. The actual ownership is meaningless.
Why were they there in the first place?
By registeredUser
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:39pm
The state police, not the skateboarders. It seems that the hours are indeed until 9PM as informed by the Charles River Conservancy Twitter feed. The problem is that they we're in fact asking the officer why they were being told to leave when there weren't any rules being broken and the MSP officer decided that was too much democracy for one night. Be happy skateboarders are in the place built just for them and not actually trespassing like what many skaters do to get clips.
Because
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 7:05pm
ESCAPE IS FUTILE!!!!
God forbid they actually do a traffic detail somewhere that motorists have killed people.
Where is the beginning of the
By Republican
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:47pm
Where is the beginning of the video? Don’t tell me the cop showed up out of nowhere and started randomly arresting entitled brat skater guy because that is not believable. We all know how much uhub hates cops so no need to go there.
What do you think happened?
By Sally
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 10:26am
There’s no other mention of any bad behavior on the skater’s part, only that he wanted, legitimately, to stay at the park. Honestly—the state police have nothing better to do than harass skateboarders? This is lazy, inept policing and you know it.
Well I'm sorry to tell you
By Asdf
Sat, 10/20/2018 - 6:35pm
Well I'm sorry to tell you something that "is not believable", because that's exactly what happened. He showed up and started using his PA to demand they leave under the (incorrect) pretense that the park closed at dusk, when they tried to tell him that the park is open until 9, which is precisely why the lights the skater is referring to were installed, they arrested him without an explanation. All the officer had to do was use a little common sense (why else would they install lights unless they were planning to keep the park open past dusk?), basic communication skills, or perhaps checking with the park department to verify what the skaters were telling him rather than assuming he was omniscient, and the situation would have been resolved peacefully. Instead, he escalated a situation that he was wrong about and embarrassed himself, his department, and his profession.
Why does the park need to close at all?
By Ron Newman
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:51pm
It's in a non-residential area, by deliberate design, so if someone wants to skateboard at 3:45 am, why not let them?
Agreed
By johnmcboston
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:59pm
I understand the sign has to be there as a way to clear the skate park if needed. But if the cops patrol the spot and see nothing but folks skating, why not let them have their fun and say out of trouble. As long as you don't see drinking or drug use or such, what's the harm?
Maybe a cost issue
By Ari O
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 9:47pm
Electricity isn't free, and the number of users probably decreases as it gets later. Valid question, though. Probably the current agreement. No reason it couldn't change.
The skaters
By registeredUser
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 2:22pm
have paid for the lights to be on.
I'm conflicted
By Waquiot
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:53pm
In general, it's been my overall experience that both skateboarders and state troopers can be real dickheads, especially the numerous times they think they are right. Moreover, both sides are basically playing the roles they had when they were 16 years old.
Tie Breaker
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 10:04pm
The ones with the badges and guns and arrest powers need to be held to a vastly higher standard than the childish RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAY behavior we see here.
These idiots should be fired. My tax dollars don't like them.
Lack of respect on both sides
By Gary C
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 3:57pm
The skater should have complied with the officer's demands. That's what you do. The officer should have shown some class and deescalated the situation instead of letting his macho instincts take over. (And why didn't the other uniformed officers help out? Three of them could have stood the skater up and cuffed him...instead they just stood there looking like, "Oh man, I'm not getting involved in this one.")
staties vs town cops
By bostnkid
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:46pm
they hate each other!!!
1982 called
By anon
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 9:06am
They miss you.
Wrong
By anon
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 8:06am
An officer's word is not law and it should not be treated as such. Good way to end up with (more of) a police state. Only lawful directives should be followed.
MSP - Arborway
By FootPad
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:11pm
Let's hope we see the same law-enforcement zeal exercised by the MSP on the Arborway at the intersection of South St. and Washington St. Show up at dusk this Fall and Winter and pull every box blocker over and write a ticket. The idiots that block the box at and fly at high speed through those intersections cause more harm than some guy on a skateboard in a skate park.
Caveat: I think it's MSP that has jurisdiction in these intersections - not BPD. I'm not positive...
The park is open until 9pm as of last week
By frobot
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:12pm
...when the lights went up. You know, the lights partially paid for by the skaters themselves. Per the Charles River Conservancy:
https://twitter.com/CharlesRiverCRC/status/1046848...
Apparently DCR didn't update the signage on time, and nobody told this hothead trooper. He saw an opportunity to hassle some youths, and by golly he took it.
Disband the MSP.
I'll bet dollars to donuts...
By Kaz
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:23pm
Officer Kamel will be at the park at 9:01 PM tonight.
I put on my dickhead thinking cap and said to myself..."now that the officer is proven fucking wrong, what's the most dickheaded thing he could possibly do?".
You spelled
By polarbare
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 10:21am
8:59 pm wrong
:)
A complete waste of time and
By Joe P
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:17pm
A complete waste of time and resources. The State Police have enough problems right now to be wasting their time with people skateboarding in a skateboard park. How stupid.
Troopers are your best protection
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:18pm
Against scary skateboarders! Trooper you will be reassigned to patrolling the Quabbin Reservoir after this video makes its rounds to the Governors office.
Crazy World
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:48pm
Except for the skateboarder mouthing off, I see no real attempt to resist arrest. The officer kept repeating "put your hands behind your back" while he was actually holding the guy's hands behind his back. Near middle aged skateboarders, out of control staties...the world is crazy.
When did 27 become the new 50
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 5:25pm
When did 27 become the new 50? WTF
Some horrible threat lurking over the horizon?
By fungwah
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 5:35pm
If 27 is the new middle age, Boston's life expectancy must be dropping fast...
Mid to late 30s
By anon
Tue, 10/02/2018 - 11:24am
Guess what? You're early middle aged. You are no longer a yoot. 27? Not far off; and with a very tenuous hold on youth.
SOP
By SP123
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 5:49pm
Officers are trained to say that to use it as an excuse. This wasn’t too extreme, but there have been videos of officers beating people who have turtled and are just lying on the ground covering their head while the officers yell, “Stop resisting! Stop resisting!” eith each swing of the club.
Mouthing off?
By anon
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 7:07pm
Like, asking why Trooper Looozer was closing the place down when it wasn't nearly time yet?
That isn't "mouthing off". COPS DO NOT HAVE UNQUESTIONABLE AUTHORITY.
We pay their salaries - this one should be FIRED.
Apoligize Trooper!!!
By wayminute
Mon, 10/01/2018 - 4:54pm
This trooper owes this young man an apology. He's resisting arrest, for a crime that wasn't taking place.
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