Mayor, police chief defend action to dismantle Occupy Albany

ALBANY ? On the matted, dead grass of Academy Park ? where the lively Occupy Albany camp held court for eight weeks ? only disappointment reigned Friday.

Disappointment by protesters still furious over what they say was excessive force wielded a day earlier by a police department whose leader, Chief Steven Krokoff, they had previously viewed as their principled protector.

And disappointment by Krokoff and other top city officials, who criticized the lack of respect shown by demonstrators and lamented having being drawn into the exact sort of physical conflict with the protesters they had sought for two months to avoid.

Krokoff and Mayor Jerry Jennings stridently backed the actions of their officers in the bizarre tug of war Thursday over the encampment's last remaining tent ? a scrum that ended with three officers injured and several members of the crowd, including a city councilman, reeling from pepper spray used by one mounted officer.

"Use of that pepper spray most definitely prevented serious injuries ? not only to the police officers but to the other people that were in that camp," Krokoff said Friday morning, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Mayor Jerry Jennings. "I'm proud of each and every member of my police department ? as proud as I've ever been of them ? for the work that they've done. ...the abuse that they took."

Richard Gorleski, the officer who used the pepper spray, later confirmed Krokoff's account of the incident, saying he reacted only after protesters reached for the reins and bridle of his horse.

"If I didn't spray a few of those people, someone would have been seriously injured," said Gorleski, who is also president of the Albany Police Officers Union. He said officers below him were being rushed by protesters trying to keep police from restraining those clinging to the tent.

Some protesters, however, disputed that account.

Jennings, meanwhile, contrasted the city's decision to send crews of workers into Academy Park to dismantle the two-month-old encampment after its permit expired Thursday with tactics used elsewhere.

"I didn't go in the middle of the night like they did in other cities," he said. "They did show restraint."

Krokoff's refusal to arrest the protesters after the camp first took root Oct. 21 ? paired with District Attorney David Soares' refusal to prosecute them ? only boosted the chief's credibility among progressives who backed his candidacy for the job last year. That he was at the center of its unraveling served as a strange coda to the Occupy Albany encampment.

"I no longer trust Krokoff," declared Councilman Anton Konev, a one-time supporter of the chief.

Konev has called for hearings to investigate the use of force and said using some of the city's new beat officers to dismantle the camp may have seriously damaged newly forged relationships with the community.

Councilman Dominick Calsalaro, who said he was grazed by the mist of pepper spray, also criticized the decision to capture the tent but laid the blame with Jennings, not Krokoff, who he said was likely just following orders.

"It was totally against the whole community policing philosophy, and they've destroyed relationships that they've had with the people," Calsolaro said. "Nobody disrespected the police until they came in to take that tent."

City workers first entered the camp around 2 p.m. Thursday after officials won a court order barring the occupiers from continuing to spend nights there.

But the violence didn't flare until some three hours later, after the protesters uprooted their last tent and carried it around the city through rush-hour traffic, then returned it to the park across Washington Avenue from the state Capitol.

Protesters maintained they had no plans to leave it there. Minutes later, however, about 30 police officers under orders from Krokoff moved in to capture it to prevent them from heading back into the streets.

Mark Mishler an attorney working with the protesters, called that the day's most fateful decision, saying that if the protesters were going to resist, they would have done so hours earlier when they linked arms and surrounded the tent before taking to the streets.

"The group had already essentially made a decision that they weren't going to fight to keep it in the park," Mishler said.

The hand-to-hand struggle that ensued ? including the use of the pepper spray ? was captured on numerous video recordings. Police first said only two protesters were sprayed, but Krokoff later acknowledged more may have been hit.

Four people were arrested, and three police officers suffered minor injuries, Krokoff said, including one who was hospitalized overnight for complications resulting from a back injury.

Soares said his office will review video of the skirmish to decide whether to prosecute those arrested. In a statement, he called the conflict a "black eye" for the city. But Jennings put the blame squarely on the protesters.

"I expected cooperation. We didn't get it," Jennings said, reiterating that the occupiers are free to return to the park, so long as they leave their camping gear behind. "We're not going to allow it. We'll take 'em down again."

Reach Jordan Carleo-Evangelist at 454-5445 or jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com. On Twitter: @JCEvangelist_TU.

Source: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Mayor-police-chief-defend-action-to-dismantle-2421993.php

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