Zachary Patrick Grey Arrested in the 1600 Block of Champa Street for Attempting to Throw a Bottle of Feces at the Denver Police

"I did not deserve to be arrested because I'm here to organize community and take part in beautiful new world..."---Zachary Patrick Grey

Community organizer Zachary Patrick Grey (above), a student at the University of Massachusetts, was arrested on Monday, August 25, 2008, at 1:40 P.M. in Denver during the Democratic Convention after he attempted to throw a bottle of feces at police who were attempting to arrest another person. Mr. Grey reportedly faces charges of "attempting to use a feces-filled bottle as a weapon."

According to The Denver Post (8-27-08):

A police officer was in the process of arresting someone in the 1600 block of Champa Street on Monday afternoon when a police lieutenant spotted Grey holding a bottle of feces, the police report says.

Grey was "getting ready to throw the bottle at officers," the report says.

The lieutenant tried to grab the suspect, who ran away, the report said. While he was running, Grey dropped the bottle, police said.

Grey was charged with interference, disturbing the peace and possession of "irritants" in public.

New England News (8-28-08) reports:

A Denver County Court complaint indicates 22-year-old Zachary Patrick Grey of Marion, Mass., was arrested Monday following a foot chase.

The Denver Post reports Grey dropped the bottle while he was running, but that police said he was getting ready to throw it.

...Grey said the bottle contained coffee with soy milk, not feces.

A Massachusetts Law enforcement forum is already taking note of Zachary Patrick Grey and posting a large picture of the distinctively dredlocked UMass undergraduate from Marion, Massachusetts.

Mr. Grey talked on the phone with CBS 3, a Massachusetts station:

The UMass undergrad was just one of several from the Pioneer Valley Food Not Bombs chapter, who are protesting outside the Democratic National Convention. He and the others are lobbying against a two party government.

"We believe that the power of change is in the power of the community rather than in the hands of a ballot box," he says.

But Grey feels it's his passion that landed him behind bars.

"I did not deserve to be arrested because I'm here to organize community and take part in beautiful new world," he says.

In other noxious developments down on Champa Street, the radical Recreate 68 organization reports (9-9-08):

Recreate 68 is working with David Lane, a prominent civil rights attorney, about civil suits resulting from some of the police actions during the DNC. As some of you may know, illegal police actions at some of the previous national conventions and other large protests (for example, the FTAA actions in Miami) have resulted in six- and seven-figure payouts by the cities involved. There’s no guarantee of similar monetary awards in these cases, but we will still be able to hold the city of Denver and the police officers involved accountable for its violations of the civil rights of demonstrators and of people who simply got caught up in police actions.

We need to gather information relating to three specific incidents:

1) The illegal arrests and detentions on Monday evening, August 25, on 15th Street between Court and Cleveland.

If you were caught in the crowd that evening, either arrested or detained, please send your name, address, phone and email, and a brief description of what happened to you that evening, and what else you saw or heard, to legal@recreate68.org and to dlane@killmerlane.com. If you know anyone else who was there and who may not see this email, please pass this information on to him or her. Time is of the essence, so please, the sooner the better.

If you have video and/or still photographs of any portion of the events that evening, please bring a copy of the video to Mr. Lane’s office at 1543 Champa St., Suite 400, Denver. Please leave your name, address, phone and email with the video, along with a signed letter stating that you personally took this video on the date in question. If you can’t make a copy yourself, Mr. Lane’s office can make a copy and get the original back to you. Please indicate that you need that done. If you are unable to get to Mr. Lane’s office, you can bring your evidence to the next R-68 meeting on Thursday, Sept. 11 and turn it over to Glenn Spagnuolo.

2) The arrests of Carlo Garcia and Alicia Forrest in and near Civic Center Park on Tuesday, August 26.

If you have video and/or still photos of either or both of those arrests, please follow the instructions above.

3) The pretext stops of vehicles associated with the convergence center on Monday and Tuesday.

We understand that several vehicles were stopped and searched by police shortly after leaving the convergence center, but no citations were issued, and that a truck or van carrying signs and banners was stopped and impounded and held for more than 24 hours sometime during the DNC. We know there were no videos of these events, but if you were involved in any of those stops or have knowledge of them, please get in touch with Mr. Lane. We know that some of those stopped may live outside of Denver; if you have contact with any of them, please pass this information on.

4) The illegal siezure of materials at the convergence center in relation to the incident when the Denver Police Department bulldozed material on private property rented by R-68 and Unconventional Denver.

Thank you in advance for your assitance in this matter of critical importance.