Police at last year's Free Trade event in Miami weren't trying to keep the peace, but to stifle dissent, critics say.
By TAMARA LUSH
Published November 21, 2004
MIAMI - A year ago, 72-year-old Bentley Killmon found himself locked in a Miami-Dade County jail cell, his wrists handcuffed behind his back.
The 72-year-old retired airline pilot from Clewiston was one of hundreds of protesters arrested during the Free Trade Area of the Americas meeting that ended one year ago today.
Like the vast majority of those arrested, Killmon's case was dropped.
Killmon, a Korean War veteran who had never been arrested, said the experience left him wondering why $24-million was spent on security for an event that was largely peaceful.
"I just wasn't there wanting to raise hell," he said. "I was there for a definite purpose."
That so few arrests led to convictions has some critics saying police were interested in stifling dissent, not keeping the peace.
Killmon is one of 21 people suing the city and police agencies in Miami-Dade County. It's one of two suits filed in the aftermath of the protests.
Thousands of people from around the country filled the streets of Miami last year, objecting to the prospect of a free trade area stretching from Canada to Chile. Many said they feared the free trade area would result in U.S. jobs being lost to third-world countries where labor is cheap and environmental regulations few.
The free trade agreement has not been established, although it remains a goal of President Bush's administration. In response to the protest, police also took to the streets. Wearing black riot gear, thousands of officers lined downtown Miami sidewalks and used tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to subdue the crowds when they wouldn't disperse.
Of the people arrested, 219 were referred to the Miami-Dade State Attorney's office for prosecution; 18 of the cases involved felony charges. A handful of cases are still being tried.
So far three people have been convicted. Six cases were dismissed and six were acquitted by a court or jury.
Civil-rights attorneys who represented some of those arrested said police didn't merely target a handful of troublemakers, but wanted to shut down the protests and stifle dissent.
"It's a tremendous amount of resources," said Carol Sobel, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild who helped file the lawsuit against the city and police departments. "It's just so outrageous that this is what they're using taxpayer resources to do."
Miami officials said the protests were a model for homeland security measures. Miami used $8-million in homeland security funds to help pay for the policing during the trade talks.
Sobel scoffed at that. "What they used that money to do is to violate people's constitutional rights," she said.
Protesters and groups such as the ACLU said police used unnecessary force when making arrests and and dispersing the crowd, which was comprised not only of young college students but union members and retirees.
Killmon, who said he was taken into custody while looking for his bus ride home, said he is still having problems because of that day. He said he has had two shoulder operations because his rotator cuff was damaged when his hands were handcuffed behind his back for so long.
Others say they suffered emotionally.
"My heart still races at the thought of the date rolling around," said Nikki Hartman, 29, of Clearwater. She said that as she was in a "meditative stance" on her knees in the middle of the street, she was shot with rubber bullets in the head and shoulder by police, and was not one of the protesters who was arrested.
"This is supposed to be a free country," she said. "We're supposed to be able to exercise our rights to protest and to stand up for what we believe in."
An independent review panel of Miami-Dade officials said in August that police reacted with an "unrestrained and disproportionate use of force," and that protesters should receive "heartfelt apologies" for being greeted by police with "close fists instead of open arms."
Newly elected Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez, who was the county's police director during last year's protests, said police had solid information that 300 to 400 protesters would try to vandalize downtown, shut down traffic and possibly attack the port of Miami.
"Ninety-nine percent of the people there acted responsibly," Alvarez said. He said he was almost hit in the head with a lug nut thrown by a protester.
His 400 officers did not use force when arresting people and did not discharge rubber bullets, he said.
Alvarez said if police agencies had not sent thousands of officers to the streets, protesters would have overrun the city and vandalized downtown businesses, as they had in Seattle, where trade talks were held in 1999.
County Mayor Alvarez said the protests were a no-win situation for the police.
"A county commissioner asked me "What could we have done better,' " said Alvarez. "I told him, "you could have held it in Atlanta.' "
Times researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this report.
