SVG Ambassador Gonsalves assaulted by NYC cops
Another version, probably including an interview as well as the Ambassador's statement
SATURDAY, 31 MARCH 2012 CARICOM NEWS NETWORk
NEW YORK, USA -The Ambassador of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves, on Friday became the latest victim of police profiling when he was handcuffed and arrested after walking through a barricade to get into his office building by a New York police officer who thought he could be a terrorist.
Ambassador Gonsalves, son of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in a statement released by his government, said that he was “struck or somehow bruised’’ behind his right ear and was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to his head, wrists, hand and shoulder.
Gonsalves said he was returning to his office after lunch Wednesday and stepped out of his official car and walked through a barricade in front of the building — as he has done for the past five years — when he was confronted by an officer. The building houses a number of U.N. missions including Israel’s and has a 24-hour police presence, with a guard post outside.
According to Gonsalves, the officer demanded to know why he went through the barricade. He said he didn’t respond and proceeded to the elevator. He said the officer ran into the building, approached him from behind, “grabbed me by my neck and shoulders, spun me around and said, `Didn’t you see me talking to you?’’’
Gonsalves, the son of St. Vincent’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, said he replied calmly: “You couldn’t have been talking to me.’’
He said the officer then demanded identification. “I said, `Why? Am I under arrest?’ He said, `Well you are now.’’’
Gonsalves said the officer tried unsuccessfully to get his hands behind his back to handcuff him, and he remained “uncooperative, but peaceful.’’ The backup officers who were called forced his hands behind his back and handcuffed him, he said.
He said other ambassadors with offices in the building — including the envoys of Gambia, Dominica and St. Lucia as well as his own staff — came into the lobby and began to tell the officer he was in the wrong, and that Israeli diplomats had crossed the barricades that day, just as he did. As a U.N. diplomat, Gonsalves has diplomatic immunity.
As the crowd gathered, Gonsalves said, the officer who arrested him “began to act in an uneasy manner.’’
“Apparently by way of post-hoc justification, (the) officer … said quietly to his fellow officers, but within my earshot: `I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist,’’’ Gonsalves said.
He said senior police officers and State Department officials from the U.S. Mission eventually confirmed that he was a diplomat and his handcuffs were taken off after about 20 minutes.
The statement released by the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines said The Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations is located at 800 Second Avenue, New York and Gonsalves said he enters and exits those premises multiple times on each working day.
The building is also the home to many other diplomatic missions. The majority of the diplomatic missions in the building are members of the Commonwealth, with the notable exception of Israel.
“We enter the building by means of a common lobby and shared elevator system, through which we have access to our various permanent missions and office facilities,” Gonsalves explained.
The lobby of the building is staffed by unarmed personnel, who check the identification of visitors to the building, and determine who should gain access. The lobby is also staffed by Israeli security officials, who perform separate identification and safety checks on those individuals visiting the Permanent Mission of Israel.
Uniformed police officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) are stationed outside of the building. The NYPD officers do not engage in checking the identification of people seeking to enter the building. There is usually one NYPD officer stationed in a permanent guard post directly in front of the building. One or two other officers traditionally patrol the city block on which the building is located.
On the outside of the building, the NYPD maintains stacks of metal barricades, which normally lean against concrete structures that line that particular sidewalk. The barriers are called into use whenever political demonstrations or protests take place outside of the building. In such instances, the barricades are erected on the opposite side of the street from the Permanent Mission to contain the demonstrators, and to keep the protestors from “disturbing the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity,” as is mandated by Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).
According to Gonsalves, ambassadors and other diplomatic staff, as well as delivery drivers, couriers, and pedestrians, regularly step between and around these metal rails when no demonstrations are taking place. It is the common practice for ambassadors and other diplomatic staff to be dropped off by their drivers directly in front of the building, and for those persons to step around/between the barricades, cross the sidewalk, and enter the building. The staff members of the Permanent Mission of Israel, as the largest diplomatic staff in the building, are probably the most frequent users of this particular mode of entry. However, all diplomatic staff frequently enter the building in this manner.
“Over the course of my four and one-half years as Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, I have regularly entered the building in this manner,” he pointed out.
On Wednesday, at about 2:45 pm, Gonsalves said he returned from a lunch with other diplomatic colleagues and, as is the custom, the official vehicle of the Permanent Mission of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, which bears diplomatic licence plates, stopped directly in front of the building that houses the Permanent Mission.
Gonsalves then recounted the sequence of events.
“I exited the official vehicle in full view of the NYPD officer in the guard post, and began to walk to my office, while the staff member continued driving the car to its designated parking area. As usual, I stepped between the metal barricades, which were not linked together or otherwise connected, and continued towards the front door of my office building.
“After I had walked past the guard post located on the sidewalk, an NYPD officer emerged from the structure and shouted at me angrily.
“He said: ‘Hey you! You! What the hell do you think the Goddamn barricades are there for?’
“I was, quite frankly, shocked at the NYPD officer’s loud and angry outburst, both because of its hostile tone and the fact that, in over four years of entering the building in that manner, I had never been previously been subject to any comment whatsoever. I did not respond to the NYPD officer, and instead continued into the lobby of my office building.
“In the building, I was greeted by the unarmed personnel that supervise the entrance of visitors to the building. Since the building staff all know me very well (as they know all longstanding tenants of the building), they do not require me to produce identification to enter the building. I stopped to speak briefly with the individual on duty that day, a Caribbean national with whom I chat often.
“I was proceeding to the elevators when the NYPD officer that shouted at me earlier entered the building. He approached me from behind placed his hand on my neck and shoulder, and spun me around to face him. The officer, again angrily, shouted at me once more.
“He said: ‘You! Didn’t you see me talking to you outside?’
“I replied, in a calm voice, ‘You couldn’t have been talking to me.’
“The NYPD officer then responded, again with hostility: ‘Show me some ID right now!’
“I replied to the NYPD officer’s demand with a simple question: ‘Why? Am I under arrest?’”
Gonsalves said his question was based on the fact that (1) the officer had already grabbed him and spun him around, impeding his entry into his office; and (2) the NYPD officers stationed outside the building, to his knowledge, have never previously requested identification from any individual. The decision to check identification and to grant access to the elevators is made by the building personnel in the lobby, not the NYPD.
Gonsalves continued:
“As soon as I asked the NYPD officer why I was being asked to produce identification, and whether I was under arrest, he said, ‘You are now!’
“The NYPD officer, whose surname is Parker, and whose badge number is 21289, then produced his handcuffs and demanded that I place my hands behind my back. Aware of my rights under the relevant sections of the Vienna Convention, and aware of the fact that I had committed no criminal offence, I informed Officer Parker that I would not place my hands behind my back. Officer Parker proceeded to place his handcuff on my left wrist. I clasped my hands in front of me and stood perfectly still and rigid, as if at attention.
“Officer Parker then began to squeeze the handcuff tightly on my left wrist, in an attempt to yank my hands behind my back. He was unsuccessful in this effort. Officer Parker called for backup, and another one or two NYPD officers arrived in the lobby and began to manhandle me in an effort to handcuff me. I remained uncooperative, but peaceful. At some point I was struck or somehow bruised behind my right ear. There are minor abrasions in this area.
“The officers, collectively, managed to force my hands behind my back and to handcuff me. I was pulled to the side of the lobby, where Officer Parker informed me that he was getting a squad car to take me to the ‘17th Precinct.’”
Other ambassadors with permanent missions in the building, as well as other diplomatic staff, began to congregate in the lobby. They were shouting at the NYPD officers that they were at fault, that Gonsalves had done nothing wrong, and that they should not arrest and handcuff ambassadors. The persons gathered in the building lobby also stressed the number of times that very day that members of the Israeli Permanent Mission had entered and exited the building in that manner.
“Other officers on the scene began questioning me about what took place, and also asked me whether I worked in the building and in what capacity. I responded to them calmly and truthfully, despite the fact that I was under arrest and being questioned without having been informed of my ‘Miranda Rights’ as mandated by US law. Similarly, I had not been informed of the supposed ‘crime’ for which I was under arrest. The other officers persuaded Officer Parker not to place me in a squad car and instead to call his superior officer. My own staff, in turn, learned of my predicament and called the individuals in the United States State Department responsible for the interactions between Permanent Missions and the United States, our host country,” Gonsalves continued.
“As the crowd gathered, Officer Parker began to act in an uneasy manner. Apparently by way of post-hoc justification, Officer Parker said quietly to his fellow officers, but within my earshot: “I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist.’”
After approximately 20 minutes in handcuffs, senior NYPD officers and US State department personnel arrived in the lobby. At that point, Gonsalves’ handcuffs were released, and he went upstairs to his office.
The lobby of the building in question is under 24-hour video surveillance. The Permanent Mission of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations is currently attempting to obtain the footage of the incident, which Gonsalves is confident will corroborate his account of his ordeal.
“The US State Department Personnel later joined me in my office to express their personal regret that the incident had taken place. They also said that the NYPD was considering issuing me a summons for disorderly conduct, which would require me to pay a fine. I informed them that I considered myself the victim of a police assault, and may pursue my own redress to that assault. Shortly thereafter, the State Department personnel informed me that the NYPD had decided not to issue any summons,” Gonsalves said.
“Later that day, I was contacted by the US State Department and reminded that, if I decide to pursue legal action for my assault, I would be waiving whatever jurisdictional immunities I possess as a diplomatic agent. I was informed that, if I contemplated legal action, I may become subject to a countersuit by the New York District Attorney. Responding to this, I told the State Department official that all of my legal and diplomatic options remain open at this point, and that I was unwilling to foreclose on any action under threat of counteraction,” he added.
On Wednesday night, Gonsalves said he visited the emergency room of the New York University Medical Center, which is located a short way from his office, where he was evaluated by Dr Heather Mahoney, who examined the following injuries:
1. Abrasions to the back of his head (and performed basic tests of balance and coordination)
2. Bruises on his wrists
3. Swelling and numbness in his left hand
4. Injuries to his left shoulder, which prevented a full range of motion in that joint.
Dr Mahoney ordered X-rays, which revealed no broken bones. She diagnosed Gonsalves with peripheral nerve damage in his left wrist and hand and possible strained ligaments in his left shoulder. In Dr Mahoney’s opinion, the damage should not be lasting. However, she indicated that he should see hand specialists and orthopedists if the hand and shoulder pain, respectively, does not dissipate within a week. He was also given a tetanus injection, due to the bruising on his wrists caused by the officer’s handcuffs.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations ensures that, at a minimum, any diplomatic agent enjoys “immunity from jurisdiction and inviolability in respect of official acts performed in the exercise of his functions.”
Article 29 of the Convention, which deals with the issue of “inviolability,” states: “The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”
Article 22 states that the receiving state (in this case, the United States) “is under a special duty” to “prevent any disturbance of the peace of the diplomatic mission or impairment of its dignity.”
Included in the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, which was approved by the UN General Assembly on 31 October 1947, the United States is bound, to extend these privileges and immunities to Permanent Representatives of the United Nations, even in instances where the United States itself does not maintain diplomatic relations with the countries accredited to the United Nations.
Similarly, Article V of the 1946 Resolution 22(I), entitled “Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations” states “Persons accredited to the United Nations by Members as resident representatives and their staffs, whether residing inside or outside the zone, shall be recognized by the Government of the United States of America as entitled on its territory to the same privileges and immunities as that Government accords to the diplomatic envoys accredited to it, and the staffs of these envoys.”
SATURDAY, 31 MARCH 2012 CARICOM NEWS NETWORk
NEW YORK, USA -The Ambassador of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, Camillo Gonsalves, on Friday became the latest victim of police profiling when he was handcuffed and arrested after walking through a barricade to get into his office building by a New York police officer who thought he could be a terrorist.
Ambassador Gonsalves, son of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, in a statement released by his government, said that he was “struck or somehow bruised’’ behind his right ear and was treated at a hospital for minor injuries to his head, wrists, hand and shoulder.
Gonsalves said he was returning to his office after lunch Wednesday and stepped out of his official car and walked through a barricade in front of the building — as he has done for the past five years — when he was confronted by an officer. The building houses a number of U.N. missions including Israel’s and has a 24-hour police presence, with a guard post outside.
According to Gonsalves, the officer demanded to know why he went through the barricade. He said he didn’t respond and proceeded to the elevator. He said the officer ran into the building, approached him from behind, “grabbed me by my neck and shoulders, spun me around and said, `Didn’t you see me talking to you?’’’
Gonsalves, the son of St. Vincent’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, said he replied calmly: “You couldn’t have been talking to me.’’
He said the officer then demanded identification. “I said, `Why? Am I under arrest?’ He said, `Well you are now.’’’
Gonsalves said the officer tried unsuccessfully to get his hands behind his back to handcuff him, and he remained “uncooperative, but peaceful.’’ The backup officers who were called forced his hands behind his back and handcuffed him, he said.
He said other ambassadors with offices in the building — including the envoys of Gambia, Dominica and St. Lucia as well as his own staff — came into the lobby and began to tell the officer he was in the wrong, and that Israeli diplomats had crossed the barricades that day, just as he did. As a U.N. diplomat, Gonsalves has diplomatic immunity.
As the crowd gathered, Gonsalves said, the officer who arrested him “began to act in an uneasy manner.’’
“Apparently by way of post-hoc justification, (the) officer … said quietly to his fellow officers, but within my earshot: `I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist,’’’ Gonsalves said.
He said senior police officers and State Department officials from the U.S. Mission eventually confirmed that he was a diplomat and his handcuffs were taken off after about 20 minutes.
The statement released by the Government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines said The Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations is located at 800 Second Avenue, New York and Gonsalves said he enters and exits those premises multiple times on each working day.
The building is also the home to many other diplomatic missions. The majority of the diplomatic missions in the building are members of the Commonwealth, with the notable exception of Israel.
“We enter the building by means of a common lobby and shared elevator system, through which we have access to our various permanent missions and office facilities,” Gonsalves explained.
The lobby of the building is staffed by unarmed personnel, who check the identification of visitors to the building, and determine who should gain access. The lobby is also staffed by Israeli security officials, who perform separate identification and safety checks on those individuals visiting the Permanent Mission of Israel.
Uniformed police officers of the New York Police Department (NYPD) are stationed outside of the building. The NYPD officers do not engage in checking the identification of people seeking to enter the building. There is usually one NYPD officer stationed in a permanent guard post directly in front of the building. One or two other officers traditionally patrol the city block on which the building is located.
On the outside of the building, the NYPD maintains stacks of metal barricades, which normally lean against concrete structures that line that particular sidewalk. The barriers are called into use whenever political demonstrations or protests take place outside of the building. In such instances, the barricades are erected on the opposite side of the street from the Permanent Mission to contain the demonstrators, and to keep the protestors from “disturbing the peace of the mission or impairment of its dignity,” as is mandated by Article 22 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations (1961).
According to Gonsalves, ambassadors and other diplomatic staff, as well as delivery drivers, couriers, and pedestrians, regularly step between and around these metal rails when no demonstrations are taking place. It is the common practice for ambassadors and other diplomatic staff to be dropped off by their drivers directly in front of the building, and for those persons to step around/between the barricades, cross the sidewalk, and enter the building. The staff members of the Permanent Mission of Israel, as the largest diplomatic staff in the building, are probably the most frequent users of this particular mode of entry. However, all diplomatic staff frequently enter the building in this manner.
“Over the course of my four and one-half years as Permanent Representative of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, I have regularly entered the building in this manner,” he pointed out.
On Wednesday, at about 2:45 pm, Gonsalves said he returned from a lunch with other diplomatic colleagues and, as is the custom, the official vehicle of the Permanent Mission of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, which bears diplomatic licence plates, stopped directly in front of the building that houses the Permanent Mission.
Gonsalves then recounted the sequence of events.
“I exited the official vehicle in full view of the NYPD officer in the guard post, and began to walk to my office, while the staff member continued driving the car to its designated parking area. As usual, I stepped between the metal barricades, which were not linked together or otherwise connected, and continued towards the front door of my office building.
“After I had walked past the guard post located on the sidewalk, an NYPD officer emerged from the structure and shouted at me angrily.
“He said: ‘Hey you! You! What the hell do you think the Goddamn barricades are there for?’
“I was, quite frankly, shocked at the NYPD officer’s loud and angry outburst, both because of its hostile tone and the fact that, in over four years of entering the building in that manner, I had never been previously been subject to any comment whatsoever. I did not respond to the NYPD officer, and instead continued into the lobby of my office building.
“In the building, I was greeted by the unarmed personnel that supervise the entrance of visitors to the building. Since the building staff all know me very well (as they know all longstanding tenants of the building), they do not require me to produce identification to enter the building. I stopped to speak briefly with the individual on duty that day, a Caribbean national with whom I chat often.
“I was proceeding to the elevators when the NYPD officer that shouted at me earlier entered the building. He approached me from behind placed his hand on my neck and shoulder, and spun me around to face him. The officer, again angrily, shouted at me once more.
“He said: ‘You! Didn’t you see me talking to you outside?’
“I replied, in a calm voice, ‘You couldn’t have been talking to me.’
“The NYPD officer then responded, again with hostility: ‘Show me some ID right now!’
“I replied to the NYPD officer’s demand with a simple question: ‘Why? Am I under arrest?’”
Gonsalves said his question was based on the fact that (1) the officer had already grabbed him and spun him around, impeding his entry into his office; and (2) the NYPD officers stationed outside the building, to his knowledge, have never previously requested identification from any individual. The decision to check identification and to grant access to the elevators is made by the building personnel in the lobby, not the NYPD.
Gonsalves continued:
“As soon as I asked the NYPD officer why I was being asked to produce identification, and whether I was under arrest, he said, ‘You are now!’
“The NYPD officer, whose surname is Parker, and whose badge number is 21289, then produced his handcuffs and demanded that I place my hands behind my back. Aware of my rights under the relevant sections of the Vienna Convention, and aware of the fact that I had committed no criminal offence, I informed Officer Parker that I would not place my hands behind my back. Officer Parker proceeded to place his handcuff on my left wrist. I clasped my hands in front of me and stood perfectly still and rigid, as if at attention.
“Officer Parker then began to squeeze the handcuff tightly on my left wrist, in an attempt to yank my hands behind my back. He was unsuccessful in this effort. Officer Parker called for backup, and another one or two NYPD officers arrived in the lobby and began to manhandle me in an effort to handcuff me. I remained uncooperative, but peaceful. At some point I was struck or somehow bruised behind my right ear. There are minor abrasions in this area.
“The officers, collectively, managed to force my hands behind my back and to handcuff me. I was pulled to the side of the lobby, where Officer Parker informed me that he was getting a squad car to take me to the ‘17th Precinct.’”
Other ambassadors with permanent missions in the building, as well as other diplomatic staff, began to congregate in the lobby. They were shouting at the NYPD officers that they were at fault, that Gonsalves had done nothing wrong, and that they should not arrest and handcuff ambassadors. The persons gathered in the building lobby also stressed the number of times that very day that members of the Israeli Permanent Mission had entered and exited the building in that manner.
“Other officers on the scene began questioning me about what took place, and also asked me whether I worked in the building and in what capacity. I responded to them calmly and truthfully, despite the fact that I was under arrest and being questioned without having been informed of my ‘Miranda Rights’ as mandated by US law. Similarly, I had not been informed of the supposed ‘crime’ for which I was under arrest. The other officers persuaded Officer Parker not to place me in a squad car and instead to call his superior officer. My own staff, in turn, learned of my predicament and called the individuals in the United States State Department responsible for the interactions between Permanent Missions and the United States, our host country,” Gonsalves continued.
“As the crowd gathered, Officer Parker began to act in an uneasy manner. Apparently by way of post-hoc justification, Officer Parker said quietly to his fellow officers, but within my earshot: “I couldn’t let him just walk into the building. Look at him: he could be a terrorist.’”
After approximately 20 minutes in handcuffs, senior NYPD officers and US State department personnel arrived in the lobby. At that point, Gonsalves’ handcuffs were released, and he went upstairs to his office.
The lobby of the building in question is under 24-hour video surveillance. The Permanent Mission of St Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations is currently attempting to obtain the footage of the incident, which Gonsalves is confident will corroborate his account of his ordeal.
“The US State Department Personnel later joined me in my office to express their personal regret that the incident had taken place. They also said that the NYPD was considering issuing me a summons for disorderly conduct, which would require me to pay a fine. I informed them that I considered myself the victim of a police assault, and may pursue my own redress to that assault. Shortly thereafter, the State Department personnel informed me that the NYPD had decided not to issue any summons,” Gonsalves said.
“Later that day, I was contacted by the US State Department and reminded that, if I decide to pursue legal action for my assault, I would be waiving whatever jurisdictional immunities I possess as a diplomatic agent. I was informed that, if I contemplated legal action, I may become subject to a countersuit by the New York District Attorney. Responding to this, I told the State Department official that all of my legal and diplomatic options remain open at this point, and that I was unwilling to foreclose on any action under threat of counteraction,” he added.
On Wednesday night, Gonsalves said he visited the emergency room of the New York University Medical Center, which is located a short way from his office, where he was evaluated by Dr Heather Mahoney, who examined the following injuries:
1. Abrasions to the back of his head (and performed basic tests of balance and coordination)
2. Bruises on his wrists
3. Swelling and numbness in his left hand
4. Injuries to his left shoulder, which prevented a full range of motion in that joint.
Dr Mahoney ordered X-rays, which revealed no broken bones. She diagnosed Gonsalves with peripheral nerve damage in his left wrist and hand and possible strained ligaments in his left shoulder. In Dr Mahoney’s opinion, the damage should not be lasting. However, she indicated that he should see hand specialists and orthopedists if the hand and shoulder pain, respectively, does not dissipate within a week. He was also given a tetanus injection, due to the bruising on his wrists caused by the officer’s handcuffs.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations ensures that, at a minimum, any diplomatic agent enjoys “immunity from jurisdiction and inviolability in respect of official acts performed in the exercise of his functions.”
Article 29 of the Convention, which deals with the issue of “inviolability,” states: “The person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving State shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity.”
Article 22 states that the receiving state (in this case, the United States) “is under a special duty” to “prevent any disturbance of the peace of the diplomatic mission or impairment of its dignity.”
Included in the Agreement between the United Nations and the United States of America regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations, which was approved by the UN General Assembly on 31 October 1947, the United States is bound, to extend these privileges and immunities to Permanent Representatives of the United Nations, even in instances where the United States itself does not maintain diplomatic relations with the countries accredited to the United Nations.
Similarly, Article V of the 1946 Resolution 22(I), entitled “Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations” states “Persons accredited to the United Nations by Members as resident representatives and their staffs, whether residing inside or outside the zone, shall be recognized by the Government of the United States of America as entitled on its territory to the same privileges and immunities as that Government accords to the diplomatic envoys accredited to it, and the staffs of these envoys.”
posted by Karl Eklund at 8:09 AM
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