Buying Sprite Can Get You Arrested in Brooklyn
It is pretty dangerous…
The latest in totally justified lawsuits against the NYPD: a woman who claims she was thrown in jail for five days just for buying Sprite at a Bed-Stuy deli. After making the purchase, 24-year-old Catherine Cyrus was charged with was charged with “disorderly conduct and obstructing governmental administration,” according to the Post.
After Cyrus left a deli with her soda last winter, several cops started “demanding to see her ID and her purchase,” and insisted that she leave the area even after she showed them what she’d actually bought. Which was a Sprite. Pretty soon she was handcuffed (and also refused to let officers take her fingerprints), and languishing in the city’s prison system for five days. Officers later tried to trump up charges that she’d tried to hit one of them, but a judge later threw the case out, calling the allegations “totally incredible.”
But, not before Cyrus had spent several days of her life in prison for no reason at all. So, just a nice Monday morning reminder: if the NYPD wants to find a reason to toss you in prison, they’ll find a reason to toss you in prison.
Follow Virginia K. Smith on Twitter @vksmith.
