- Police Brutality Watch

Three members of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Lumumba Bandele, Dasaw Floyd, and Djbril Toure were arrested in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn just past midnight this morning. At the time of their arrest, the three were engaged in the legal monitoring of police activities as part of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement Copwatch Program. According to Bandele, he Floyd and Toure were driving down Greene Avenue when they heard sirens blaring. They observed an unusual amount of police activity on the block. They parked their car, turned on their video camera and approached the scene when a witness to the events ran past them stating that the police were beating someone. Bandele, Toure and Floyd continued to walk toward the scene when they were stopped by an officer who told them that they had to leave. Bandele told the officer that they had a legal right to observe the activities, and that they were not interfering with the arrest, only witnessing it. At that point, the officer, who was never touched by Bandele, Toure or Floyd placed the three under arrest, charging them with assault and obstruction of governmental administration. [more] and [more]