Woman Charged With Hate Crime for Anti-NYPD Graffitti

staycurly/Flickr

If I were to call you a bully, it would be protected speech. If I were to spraypaint that same sentiment on public property, it would be vandalism. And if I were to turn that sentiment toward the New York Police Department (NYPD)? Apparently, it would be a hate crime. That's the charge leveled against Rosella Best, a 36-year-old Brooklyn woman who spraypainted messages such as "NYPD pick on the harmless" around Williamsburg. 

Other messages, which Best spraypainted on cop cars and one elementary-school wall, included "Nazis=NYPD"; "NYPD pick on the innocent"; and (my personal favorite) "a wrongful arrest is a crime." 

Our graffiti justice warrior was caught on camera and arrested. But instead of charging her with "defacement of property" or merely "criminal mischief," the NYPD booked her on the more severe charge of criminal mischeif as a hate crime, plus aggravated harassment. 

I would say this seems like good evidence that the NYPD does, indeed, "pick on the harmless"—but I don't need a federal hate crime task force coming after me. You just keep doing you, NYPD. 

Comments

[Christophe]

I believe this is the intended endgame for hate crimes. One more stick to bludgeon opponents of the Total State with.

[buybuydandavis]

The end game for all *laws*, including hate crime laws.

[sarcasmic]

That makes sense.

A hate crime is a crime against a protected class.

Is there any class that is more protected than the police?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I don't think I've seen a hate class statute which covers any occupational group

[sarcasmic]

Statutes only matter when you can afford representation.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I'm betting it was some overcharging strategy, because I can't see even the silliest judge doing anything but throwing that out

[sarcasmic]

Who said it got to a judge? Without representation, or with representation from a public pretender, it is resolved with a plea.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That's what Ieant by overcharging strategy

[sarcasmic]

So what was your point again?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

That the charge could not be supported by the language of the statute so it was probably meant to scare the defendant, perhaps into a plea.

[sarcasmic]

I think I covered that when I said statutes only matter if you can afford representation. Or did you feel that I was not being clear?

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It needn't be for getting a plea, that kind of thing can just be to scare the poor woman knowing that the charge will just be dropped.

[sarcasmic]

All of that was implied, but thank you Captain Obvious.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I'm willing to bet that given your less than careful eye for detail and distinction you didn't check the language of the statute to see if it was perhaps different than any of the other dozens of state hate crimes laws.

Everything's obvious to a blowhard know it all

[sarcasmic]

This isn't a courtroom.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

You know, I want to write something snarky or amusing but I can't even. This is just so fucked up.

[GILMORE]

"Best spraypainted on cop cars and one elementary-school wall"

I really love the 'community activism' of my neighbors! they really care so much about the 'hood.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

It's not like government doesn't plaster plenty pro cop messages that I don't approve of on public property

[GILMORE]

Who gives a fuck what you think?

[sarcasmic]

His mom.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Gilmores upset, and Sarcasmic has a sympathy sad

[sarcasmic]

Sympathy is nothing more than a word in the dictionary between shit and syphilis.

[GILMORE]

No, it was a sincere question =

No one cares what you think; least of all me. Find someone who does and share your insights with them.

If you want to argue that defacing elementary schools is a wonderful thing, i'm sure you could share that with your local PTA and have a very fruitful discussion.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

In Gilmore's perfect world no one on a libertarian website would question his passionate defense of public property.

[sarcasmic]

Tell you what! Why don't you take a dump in one hand, rub one off in the other, mix them together, and maybe you'll get some sympathy! Go on Bo! It will be fun!

Oh wait. To get syphilis means you have to get laid. Never mind.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Are you drunk or something?

[sarcasmic]

Yes.

[barfman2014]

This is tedious.

[Gene]

+1

[ant1sthenes]

Public property? Like what, unowned commons? There is private property, and there is government property. The word "public" is a fraud.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Here is NY hate crime law

http://ypdcrime.com/penal.law/article485.htm

I don't see any way that's applicable

[Hyperion]

You forgot take notice of how the FYTW clause applies to the statute. That makes all the difference.

[buybuydandavis]

Thank you, I never saw the acronym before.

[Hyperion]

Apparently, you haven't been around here long. The Fuck You That's Why clause is well known around these here parts.

[ant1sthenes]

Well, when self-evidently absurd charges lead to disbarment for prosecutors, then that will matter.

[Hyperion]

I was just waiting for this entire hate crime thing to become a total joke and nothing but another bludgeon for the state to oppress citizens. Well, now we're there. Are you idiots who support garbage like this surprised once again when it is turned on you?

[Episiarch]

If you really want to get charged with a hate crime by the NYPD, just punch a NYPD horse a few times. Well, not a hate crime, but you know what I mean.

[sarcasmic]

This afternoon when I was reading the paper there was a story about a guy who was charged with a crime for fighting back when attacked by a police dog.

I couldn't help but think of what happens when a cop kills someone's pet for failing to obey when the brave officer tells it to shut up.

[Pl?ya Manhattan.]

All of my childhood hobbies are now illegal. Pellet guns, fireworks, horse-punching....

[Episiarch]

Droit du seigneur...

[Hyperion]

When I was a kid, I always thought horses were cool. Until one day I was riding with a friend of mine whose family owned horses, and the damn horse threw me off for seemingly no reason, out of nowhere. I was 10 years old. I am a very mellow person for the most part, and I was even as a kid. But for some reason this infuriated me to a point of rage that I had never felt all my life. I swore revenge on that 4 legged legion of Satan.

One quiet day, I snuck around to the barn where my friends family kept their horses, and not seeing anyone around, I found the stall that bastard was in. And I had a big ol rock with me. I smashed that mofo in the face with that rock and ran away. I'm sure I didn't kill it, but it had to hurt. I never heard anything about it, although I thought for sure I was in big trouble. Yeah, I did that, I'm not sure I'm too proud of it, but my emotion of rage got the best of me that time.

[ant1sthenes]

and the damn horse threw me off for seemingly no reason

One quiet day ... I smashed that mofo in the face with that rock and ran away.

Animals can be very intuitive about people. Are you sure it was for no reason, or was it that he was terrified of the blackness in your soul?

[Gene]

You should come on up to the farm, I'm sure with a bottle of scotch and some quality time, you and the equines can work it out.

[Dweebston]

I was thrown by a horse when I was seven or eight or so. We didn't grow up in the country, but I had some experience riding. The owner set me up in the saddle, turned around, and suddenly I was on the ground ten feet away. All I remember is several people lunging toward me, then spending a terrific afternoon riding around the arroyos.

[Robert]

I want to know why the Daily News had a horse to begin with.

[Irish]

Hey, remember those 'moderate rebels' we're arming in Syria?

Oops.

Reached by phone in Arsal, Abu Osama, a member of Mr. Jomaa's brigade, said that the sole purpose of Saturday's attacks was to secure the release of Mr. Jomaa and that they were carried out as a combined operation involving fighters from the Free Syrian Army, the Nusra Front and ISIS.

For a long time, Western and Arab states supported the Free Syrian Army not only with training but also with weapons and other materiel. The Islamic State commander, Abu Yusaf, added that members of the Free Syrian Army who had received training ? from the United States, Turkey and Arab military officers at an American base in Southern Turkey ? have now joined the Islamic State. "Now many of the FSA people who the West has trained are actually joining us," he said, smiling.

Brilliant!

Incidentally, James Foley may have come into ISIS custody when an FSA affiliate defected to ISIS and handed him over as a goodwill gesture.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I thought we didn't arm them? I heard McCain complaining that we didn't recently (he blamed the ISIL mess on the fact we didn't arm the moderates)

[Irish]

We stopped arming them for a short period of time because the weapons we gave to the FSA kept 'accidentally' being stolen and ending up in the hands of ISIS.

People are beginning to suspect they were running coordinated fake raids so that the FSA could funnel weaponry to ISIS in a way that wouldn't seem suspicious.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

Sometimes I wonder, we can supposedly read a cigarette carton laying on the ground in Moscow but our vaunted intelligence services can't figure things like this out?

[Anon E. Mouse]

The Commander in Chief has to actually take the time to read their briefings. He's too busy playing golf to do that, and that's no exaggeration.

[sarcasmic]

Ever tried to look for something on google maps when you don't know exactly what you are looking for? You can't exactly google "ISIS smuggled weapons locations" to narrow down your search.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

I guess I was thinking that the same nation that had the money to develop, launch and maintain sophisticated satellite systems might also be able to develop excellent human intel.

[Agammamon]

We have shitty humint *because* we spent the money to develop, launch, and maintain sophisticated satellite systems.

In the US, Elint killed Humint.

[sarcasmic]

I guess I was thinking that the same nation that had the money to develop, launch and maintain sophisticated satellite systems might also be able to develop excellent human intel.

I'll take that as a "No."

It was a serious question. Try it. Maybe some place where you played as a kid. The first place you caught a fish. The first place you had sex outdoors.

Try it.

You kinda know what you're looking for, except that you can't google it and you've never seen it from above. That's not a normal angle for viewing things. It takes time to cover ground. Even on google maps. Constantly changing satellite images are another thing.

I don't envy the job of the people who look at those pictures.

[True Scottsman]

I know it is sort of off topic, but those Top Men recognize market forces all the time! Those kind of jobs pay really well because, 1) not a huge pool of qualified people and 2) it is really dismal work. So these assholes adjust the pay for this position according to these market conditions and then tell us to just suck it up and deal with a minimum wage increase for our employees. And pay for their healthcare.

[ant1sthenes]

Does it matter? It makes hawks like McCain and H. Clinton look like asses, is the important thing.

[Bo Cara Esq.]

The NYPost's take on this includes this extra bit:

"Cop-hating and anti-Semitic remarks were also plastered on vans and scooters near the school, the sources said."

I wonder if they are arguing that the references to Nazis were anti-Semitic?

http://nypost.com/2014/08/27/b.....-graffiti/

[mr lizard]

I didn't know godwining gets you 5 years?

[Agammamon]

Sure man, don't you remember from school when the Jews tried to gas the Nazis into oblivion?

[Robert]

How about the reference to the graffitist's being blond haired & blue eyed?

[NYC Liberal]

I hate the special HATE CRIME thing.

[True Scottsman]

So your handle is just snark, then?

[Rich]

A hate crime is a crime against a protected class.

Consider the set of people who could not be victimized under existing hate crime laws. If one of these people is attacked specifically because of membership in that set, is that not on the face of it a hate crime?

What could be more hateful than considering a class to be unworthy of protection?

[WDATPDIM?!]

When a story reports that someone has been "charged" with XYZ, does that necessarily mean that a prosecutor has determined what the person should be charged with? IOW, can the police just charge someone with a crime on their own, for starters?

[Robert]

I think that refers to the content of an "information" they supply.

[crufus]

Sounds like she really does hate the police.

[Agile Cyborg]

The NYPD can suck a bag of broken cocks while they collectively bend over to rape by the strap-on's of demons screaming straight out of hell. The NYPD is a goddamn brain-shrinking farm of fools with crufus above being the cream of the stupid crop.

[avocats]

Are there no adults in the room while this is going on?

[TopherB]

So the NYPD just officially declared itself a protected class. Well we all knew that.