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- MONTICELLO - Monticello human rights commissioner Jessie York was issued appearance tickets for a misdemeanor and three violations by Village of Monticello police on November 8.
- The next day, an additional accusation was leveled that York had hit the officer with his car, though no charge was filed for this allegation.
- Nine days later, York pled guilty to littering and parking by a fire-plug, with all other charges to be dismissed.
- York, 50, said trouble began when he momentarily left his car idling outside the Bagel Bakery on Broadway. As he emerged with his bagels, York said, police officer Brent Buckles, 33, pulled up in a patrol car.
- York told Buckles he was about to move the vehicle. "When he looked up and saw my face he said, 'No, I'm giving you a ticket,'" York said.
- York became angry, he explained, because some Monticello police are viewed as having a longstanding pattern of treating black men less respectfully than they do whites.
- York said he tore the ticket up and dropped it on the road, after which Buckles charged him with obstructing governmental administration, failure to comply with a lawful order of police, and leaving a motor vehicle unattended with its engine running.
- York said he went to the police station on November 9 to discuss the incident with chief Michael Brennan and was handed an "accident report" form signed by police officer Mark Johnstone, accusing him of hitting Buckles in the knee with a 1985 Chevrolet automobile.
- York had not been given the report and no mention was made the day before of an accident or injury of any kind, he said.
- "Operator [York] stated he was mad at police officer," Johnstone alleged in the report, "and thought Pedestrian #1 [Buckles] would move out of the way."
- Despite being accused of striking a police officer with his vehicle, York was not charged for this.
- "Brennan is too defensive of his men. He comes to their aid too fast," York added. "It seems to me the men run him. He's the chief but, he don't run the men."
- District attorney Stephen Lungen indicated on November 17 that he felt the incident was overblown, but declined to comment further. Lungen said York had recently been to his office and apologized.
- "I apologized for tearing up that ticket and throwing it on the ground, but I did not hit that man. He lied! Buckles tried to frame me. He wanted to make a felony offense out of this," York said.
- York said he was merely venting when he ripped the paper. He denied obstructing justice or disobeying police. He also denied hitting Buckles, and in fact was not charged with doing so.
- York accused village police of singling him out due to his vocal role on the HRC, where a small fraction of Monticello's police officers have been faulted for a persistent pattern of alleged improper treatment of minorities.
- HRC was founded in 1993. Appointments are made by the village board of trustees.
- Between one and two dozen lawsuits and less formal complaints have been lodged over alleged Monticello police brutality in the last 12 months, according to HRC chair Carl Silverstein and confirmed by documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Law.
- In particular, York has publicly spoken out on behalf of Monticello resident James Tomlinson, who suffered broken bones, cuts, bruises and abrasions when he verbally objected to being called abusive names by police after going to the station to retrieve a bicycle last summer. At the time of that incident, York told the village board that he had personally talked a number of local black men out of rioting.
- Silverstein agreed with York that HRC members seem to be targeted by police and that a pattern of allegations of racism has troubled the Monticello police department.
- "Three of our Commission members appeared to have been given unusual attention by the police since we have made public our interest in these matters," Silverstein wrote to U.S. attorney Mary Jo White in a November 11 letter complaining of Monticello police abuses.
- Lungen defended the police but asked not to be quoted.
- Lungen objected to Silverstein's letter, published last week in The River Reporter. He claimed that writing the letter was "unethical" of Silverstein and said his office would and not respond in the media.
- York pled guilty on November 17 to parking in a fire zone and littering. Obstruction of governmental administration and disobedience charges were adjourned in contemplation of dismissal by village justice Robert Kesten, York said.
- York represented himself in court.
Related external links
- Village of Monticello Commission on Human Rights
- NYS Division of Human Rights
- Related articles in this archive
- The next day, an additional accusation was leveled that York had hit the officer with his car, though no charge was filed for this allegation.
Rights commissioner arrested -- charges quickly dropped
Thursday, November 23, 1995, p. 1.
Related story here