2004 DNC protester wins
Federal court victory against Secret Service
By
Frank Neisser
Boston
Published Mar 21, 2010 9:04 PM
Culminating a years-long legal struggle and a week-long trial, on March 12 a
federal jury found the Secret Service had carried out a de facto arrest without
probable cause when agents dragged Indian-American Vijay Shah from a July 2004
protest march at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Agents
handcuffed Shah, dragged him to a police car and took him to a police station
where he was held in handcuffs in a holding cell.
After intervention by protest supporters and his attorney, John Pavlos, Shah
was released without charges. Secret Service agent Darin Czellecz was found
liable for violation of Shah’s Fourth Amendment constitutional rights.
Pavlos was the legal observer for the protest march, which was organized by the
International Action Center, the Answer Coalition and other forces. Pavlos met
Shah for the first time while Shah was held handcuffed on the steps at City
Hall Plaza. He offered to represent him on the spot, and Shah accepted.
Shah had come looking for the protest, which had begun and marched by the
convention center where the DNC was to be held the following day before he got
there. After looking around the area Shah found and joined the demonstration as
it marched back from the convention site to the Boston Common. Witnesses at the
trial described how Secret Service agents and Boston Police grabbed him from
behind, held him in handcuffs on some steps by Boston City Hall, forced him
into a police car and whisked him away, while supporters from the demonstration
chanted, “Let him go!” and “Racial profiling!”
Shah spoke to Workers World after the trial. When asked why he sued the Secret
Service, he stated: “They violated my rights. I felt the need to guard
and protect our rights under the Constitution, and hold the Secret Service
accountable. I didn’t want what happened to me to happen to anyone
else.”
Shah called the verdict “an extraordinary rebuke of the Secret Service
and victory for people’s rights against racial profiling and abuse of
police power. It was very clear the Secret Service was pressed by this case.
Throughout the trial they had phalanx of up to 15 Secret Service agents all
dressed in dark blue suits with lapel pins and crew cuts attempting to
intimidate me and the jury. When I testified they tried to stare me down, but I
wouldn’t be intimidated. We also had allies in court giving me support as
well as other witnesses ... who spoke truth to power.”
Shah continued: “In the end the jury saw through their attempts to
demonize me, invoke fears of post-9/11 security concerns and paint me as having
done something wrong, and found the Secret Service agent liable for having in
fact arrested me without probable cause, in violation of my Fourth Amendment
rights against unreasonable searches and seizures. My legal team of John Pavlos
and Brooks Ames did an extraordinary job in succeeding in getting this case to
actually come to trial at all, and in fact to prevail. Our original suit raised
the issue of racial profiling and included additional officers and the chain of
command, but that was not allowed by the court. However, the jury made itself
clear on the principle.”
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