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Police say cop smashed in face while trying to arrest congresswoman's daughter in Boston Common protest

Update: Bail set at $500.

Boston Police report one officer was injured and two people arrested during a protest Saturday night on Boston Common against over the death of a protester on the site of Atlanta's proposed 85-acre "Cop City" training facility.

Police say that around 9:30 p.m., Riley Dowell, 23, of Melrose, and the daughter of US Rep. Katherine Clark (D-5th), used spray paint to tag the Parkman Bandstand with graffiti that included "NO COP CITY" and "ACAB." When officers moved to arrest her, police say, they were surrounded by about 20 protesters "creaming profanities though megaphones on the public street causing traffic to come to a standstill."

Police say one officer was smashed in the face, causing a bloody nose and mouth. Court records at Boston Municipal Court, where Dowell will be arraigned Monday, show Dowell was charged with assault and battery on a police officer. Police say she was also charged with vandalism for the graffiti she allegedly sprayed.

About an hour later, police say, a second protester, Andrea Colletti, 27, of Brighton, was arrested after a brief foot chase and struggle on charges of vandalism by graffiti and resisting arrest.

In a tweet today, Clark said:

Last night, my daughter was arrested in Boston, Massachusetts. I love Riley, and this is a very difficult time in the cycle of joy and pain in parenting.

This will be evaluated by the legal system, and I am confident in that process.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

(incorrect) "daughter arrested for assaulting officer" headlines, apparently generated by people (or maybe bots) who didn't fully read the accompanying articles, each of which say that there was an assault of the officers but don't specify by whom.

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The only mention of assault in the police statement is against a police officer, and she is accused of the crime of "assault by means of a dangerous weapon" so perhaps it's an assumption that the only assault mentioned was the alleged assault of the police officer but it seems like a pretty strong assumption to make...

Of course, it was a weekend arrest so presumably the arraignment will be today and more details should come from that.

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There's a difference between assault and assault and battery and BPD is very familiar with the distinction and the fact that a) they didn't charge her with the latter and b) they included a poorly written, vague sentence about the attack on the officer is what made me think somebody else did the actual attacking.

But you're right - we'll probably find out more following the arraignment; charges sometimes change between the initial arrest and the court appearance.

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Her bare hand or shod foot? Seriously, the prosecutors are grasping at straws so much with the "dangerous weapon" just to get a higher level charge that the judges are laughing at them.

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in other words.

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Bodycam footage please. This is why activist like Clark demanded them.

Also, wasn’t Clark just ranting about political extremism.

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Cops are going to say what cops are going to say, but Uhub shouldn't be deadnaming anyone, guilty or innocent. It's one thing to repeat copaganda all the time, but its another to flat out use a trans person's deadname. Please don't, Adam.

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The congresswoman’s statement refers to her daughter as Riley, the name they currently use. The police report used what I assume is the deadname, which does not appear in Adam’s post.

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Riley uses they/them and has nonbinary in their social bios, so unless they asked for that gendered term to be used to describe them, it's misgendering. Should say "adult child of congressperson."

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I initially ran with the name given by police, because I don't know anything about Katherine Clark's children, then changed it after the note above. I kept the gendered pronoun because that's what Clark used.

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Isn't "Riley" also used as a female name? My understanding is it is unisex now... Are we still doing unisex?

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In all matters legal, as is the case here, the police have to go by the name on the driver's license as the formal and legal ID. We should respect the choices of people by using their preferred name but the journey has to include the paperwork.

I have a trans friend and use their new chosen name but they have hesitated to change the name on fhat ID. Their choice, but that is the name that has to appear on all legal documents.

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If they weren't going by the suspect's legal name, then wouldn't it make sense that the charges can't stick? I mean we are talking legally here.

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Let's focus on that and NOT the events that transpired.

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It seems to be the most important thing to them.

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Her original name. The cops are just identifying her in a legal manor. That’s on her for not changing her name LEGALLY.

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the original post deadnamed Riley. Adam corrected it (thanks, Adam!) later.

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It's got to be difficult to have a kid who is such an asshole.

I have confidence in the evaluation of the legal system as well. Filling up the prison commissary account will also be a "very difficult time in the cycle of joy and pain in parenting." The fact that the slogan used in the vandalism was malicious should be counted towards proving that the vandalism itself was malicious.

"An act is done with “malice” if it is done out of cruelty, hostility or revenge. To act with malice, one must act not only deliberately, but out of cruelty, hostility or revenge toward another."

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By far the most effective thing Clark's daughter can do is become a police officer herself.

The only way American is going to get better cops is if better people step up to the job.

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A few good apples in a barrel of rotten ones will soon rot.

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Do you want good police or not?

If you want nothing to change, sure, go spray ACAB everywhere. Keep playing the game where 1/2 the country hates the police and thinks they can do nothing good while the other half thinks they are heroic.

If you actually want to improve policing, safety, civil rights, etc then step up and become a cop yourself. The most meaningful, effective change comes from within organizations.

Don't want to be a cop? Run for public office and change public policy that way.

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I don't know if you happen to know what happens to "good cops" who try to do something about bad cops/the bad police system, but it tends to end up going very, very, very badly for them.

The American police system is rotten to its core and will not allow itself to be "fixed" or "reformed". Abolition is the only method that has any chance of success.

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I thought it was a great response from a parent. It showed me that she obviously disagrees with her daughter's choices, but that she loves her anyway. If we had more parents like that we'd have less problems and wouldn't need the police nearly as much, if at all.

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And the only assholes here are the ones deadnaming and misgendering them.

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The one who was assaulted.

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And yet they would be screaming for a cop when in need. Oh they hypocrisy.

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Where is the hypocrisy?

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I think you mean to say their slogan of "to protect and serve" is full of hypocrisy??

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unarmed_African_Americans_killed_b...

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"WaAaAaAaHhHh! My PwesIdEnT LoSt!!1111!!11!1111!!11 And Now Teh FBI is after My Fwiends!111!1!1!!11!1"

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Trump has always been and always will be a buffoon. Easily worst president in history.

Keep acting like a child though and making broad assumptions.

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IMAGE(https://external-preview.redd.it/7S5FjC9ncMDsMwa7J94GojsWKBWfnBaRpNFVCbBVCk8.png?width=640&crop=smart&auto=webp&v=enabled&s=6fc388a8c11ca1e1ffd2434d7ebd653061dcacce)

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Naturally, the Globe story has the comments turned off. How is Katherine Clark going to explain this to Jim and Margery? Doesn't look like a daughter to me.

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Nobody gives a flying f*ck what you think her daughter looks like. The Globe has their comments turned off because they don't want to deal with neanderthal comments from people like you.

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The congressperson used "daughter" in a quote, which may or may not reflect language Riley uses. Gender-neutral language is best if there isn't a chance to ask the individual about specific terms.

But no, you do not get to come on here talking about "doesn't look like a daughter." That's blatant transphobia.

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Naturally, the Globe story has the comments turned off.

Yeah, I bet that wrecked your entire day. You went over there looking to spew some transphobic bullshit and found you couldn't. Talk about a Monday!

Doesn't look like a daughter to me.

Who cares what you think?

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Nobody is going to change how cops think or act so all anti-cop activism is for the benefit of the bystander, the everyday voter, the people who get mad at politicians when they see the news, etc. Most of those everyday people are generally in the boat of neutral-to-positive on cops, likely because they've never had to interact with one outside of getting a warning for a speed trap. If you want to change hearts and minds and influence policy, these protests need to present a "Cops = cruel aggressors and protestors = innocent victims of police brutality".

Tagging a well liked/used structure in the park with ugly spraypaint slogans, while ultimately harmless, makes you look like an asshole. Having the cops step in to stop you from doing it, everyday people will be 50/50 on whether the cop's movement is reasonable or not. Then your group fighting back against the cops because they're stopping you defacing a monument isn't a "look how brutal the cops are see we're demonstrating exactly what the issue is", it just looks like a bunch of assholes fighting another bunch of assholes. ACAB but you look like you're baiting them here so you're really not selling that message. More like All Cops Are Overreacting Somewhat but You Broke the Law First and then the Cops Got Jumped so it Got Messy so Maybe they Aren't All Bastards.

This is why I stopped attending protests. There's a lack of discipline to stick to the narrative.
10 assholes in the crowd make the whole thing look like a joke when the whole rest of the protest jumps in on the arrest of that asshole. The lack of consistent PR / optics in modern leftist activism is why we aren't getting anywhere.

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This is an example of how many protestors are selfish. Many do not care about the cause and just want a free pass to be destructive. Hitting a cop and getting arrested is a clout move and will surly lead to positive attention from the “ACAB” community. Why does everyone need to be so trashy and crazy? Be respectful for once. Just once. This kid was also likely never told no in their life. Rotten elitist brat. Never once had to deal with any issues without mommy helping out. White privileged as the far left would call it.

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This is an example of how many protestors are selfish. Many do not blah blah blah blah blah

Citations very much needed.

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The lack of consistent PR / optics in modern leftist activism is why we aren't getting anywhere.

leftism isn't a monolith and the expectation of a singular, concise message is wildly unreasonable. i would argue that in fact, conservatives weaponize that expectation against any popular progressive message.

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According to Boston Municipal Court records Dowell was, in fact, charged with assault and battery on a police officer, so I've added that to the story.

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Of course you are, you Democrat piece of garbage, it's your cult who nominates the judges like the one who will probably get your adult child off.

Also, Riley is 23, if Riley didn't figure out "don't touch that if that's not yours" by now, it's not happening in Riley's lifetime.

On the bright side, this is a terrific argument in favor of Roe.

EDIT: I read the pronoun talk in the earlier comments.

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As far as I know, Maura Healey hasn't nominated any judges yet and all of the judges appointed in the last 8 years were by Charles D. Baker, a registered member of the Republican Party.

In fact, over half of the current judges in Massachusetts have been appointed by Baker: https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/12/07/metro/by-appointing-more-than-hal...

As for your abortion comment, what? Are you suggesting that Clark should want to kill her 23 year old child? The alternative is that you are suggesting that Clark should have had the freedom to choose to have an abortion 23-ish years ago, which I'm pretty sure was a choice that existed at that time...

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On the bright side, this is a terrific argument in favor of Roe.

Exactly what the french fried fuck is that supposed to mean?

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It's a Supreme Court decision which makes it easier for women to get safe, legal abortions.

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What exactly is the relevance here?

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Is the notion that there really should be no social or legal barriers whatsoever to prevent people like Katherine Clark from not being moms.

Instances of bad parenting (i.e, letting your kids grow up to damage things that don't belong to them) are arguments in favor of bad people not having kids, hence, my unequivocal support of a woman's right to choose.

And if they choose to keep it, well, (expletive), that's just something we'll all have to live with.

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