DJ John Knefel, stand up comedian and co-host of the news show Radio Dispatch, was arrested on Dec. 12th during a peaceful Occupy Wall Street protest at the Winter Garden atrium, owned by Brookfield Properties, in lower Manhattan.

John was taking video of the protesters and live-tweeting the scene, when a NYPD officer asked if he had media credentials as he was being thrown to the ground violently and subsequently arrested - along with 17 others - for observing the scene and held in jail for an astounding 37 hours. All those arrested and held during this long 37 hours had refused to "voluntarily" allow a retinal scan of their eyes, which may have contributed to their especially lengthy detention.

If you recall my earlier post on the arrests at this occupy event, remember that press credentials did not stop officers from violently seeking out persons with cameras or laptops to arrest even with press credentials prominently displayed.

John and Molly are independent journalists who have been covering the Occupy Wall Street movement since Sept. 17th, and are strong voices within that community.

John's sister and co-host, Molly, questioned the arrest, and wrote about her experience on Salon.com and also appeared on Keith Olbermann's Countdown to talk about the arrests. Molly was the person in my previous report that the NYPD cop told "I have a gun on me, okay? I don’t want any people coming that close to me.”

You can also listen to the story of John's arrest, and Molly's observations and experiences with the NYPD here on Radio Dispatch.

Video courtesy of BreakThru Radio.



Watch as NYPD officers violently arrest 17 members of a peaceful and festive gathering of Occupy Wall Street protesters in the Winter Garden atrium, owned by Brookfield Properties, in lower Manhattan. The 10-story atrium is part of the World Financial Center and is near the World Trade Center site. The atrium is used for musical performances, art shows and other events.

“Don’t get in my face,” one officer told a citizen trying to observe the arrests. “I have a gun on me, okay? I don’t want any people coming that close to me.”

In this video, you'll see several people arrested with no clear pretext...police seem to be randomly grabbing people from the crowd and throwing them to the ground. Anyone with cameras attempting to film are then blocked from doing so. As one man is arrested at just past the 10:00 mark, NYPD horrifyingly shove people down a staircase. Then again, just before the video ends, police give chase to a man who seems to be attempting to flee. As the officers involved in pursuit catch up with him, they appear to throw him into a glass wall causing it to shatter.

If you view part two of this video here, the NYPD aggressively usher those who witnessed the man being thrown head-first into a wall of glass outside, where they congregate around the glass to observe the aftermath.

Earlier Monday, protesters held a demonstration outside the offices of Goldman Sachs investment bank. Protesters pretended to interview a fellow protester dressed as a squid. The protest was inspired by a 2010 column in Rolling Stone magazine that described Goldman Sachs as a giant vampire squid.

[Hat tip to videographer diceytroop.]