Chief Smolka Will Retire
Break out the champaign... I-Witness video and AMNY report that Smolka will retire in one month! AMNY gives no reasons for the retirement, I-Witness video is more speculative in ways many will wish are true. Either way it looks like NYC is rid of one of its worst bullies.
After 26 years on the police force, two-star NYPD Chief Bruce Smolka is retiring and leaving for a security job at Revlon. The timing of his departure is both striking and curious. Since the Street Crimes Unit which he commanded was forced to close after the killing of Amadou Diallo, Chief Smolka has had a meteoric rise within the NYPD. He is currently the borough commander of Manhattan south of 59th Street, which is the plum patrol assignment at his level within the department.
Why would Chief Smolka choose to leave now, at the height of his career, holding one of the most prestigious assignments the department has to offer?
Is it possible that Chief Smolka's impending retirement has something to do with civil rights lawsuits that have been brought against him by activists? In addition to being named in multiple lawsuits related to the 2004 Republican National Convention, Chief Smolka is the subject of two separate lawsuits by women who have claimed that he used excessive and unnecessary force on them during demonstrations. One of the suits is being brought by National Lawyer's Guild legal observer Adrienne Wheeler. You can see Ms. Wheeler tell her story about being manhandled by Chief Smolka here.
Does the timing of Chief Smolka's exit from NYPD have anything to do with his upcoming civil trial for using excessive force against another woman activist? A deeply disturbing video that will be introduced as evidence in the trial shows Chief Smolka kneeing Cynthia Greenberg in the head while she is engaged in passive civil disobedience.
I-Witness Video has obtained the videotape of Chief Smolka personally taking Ms. Greenberg into custody during an anti-war demonstration at the Federal Building in Manhattan on May 5, 2003. The circumstances of the civil disobedience that day were negotiated in advance with the police department, including an understanding that arrested demonstrators would receive "desk appearance tickets" (summonses) rather than being locked up overnight.
View the short clip of Chief Smolka's actions here. The sequence plays once at normal speed and then again enhanced, zoomed in closer to the action and in slow motion.
SOURCE: I-Witness Video
Why would Chief Smolka choose to leave now, at the height of his career, holding one of the most prestigious assignments the department has to offer?
Is it possible that Chief Smolka's impending retirement has something to do with civil rights lawsuits that have been brought against him by activists? In addition to being named in multiple lawsuits related to the 2004 Republican National Convention, Chief Smolka is the subject of two separate lawsuits by women who have claimed that he used excessive and unnecessary force on them during demonstrations. One of the suits is being brought by National Lawyer's Guild legal observer Adrienne Wheeler. You can see Ms. Wheeler tell her story about being manhandled by Chief Smolka here.
Does the timing of Chief Smolka's exit from NYPD have anything to do with his upcoming civil trial for using excessive force against another woman activist? A deeply disturbing video that will be introduced as evidence in the trial shows Chief Smolka kneeing Cynthia Greenberg in the head while she is engaged in passive civil disobedience.
I-Witness Video has obtained the videotape of Chief Smolka personally taking Ms. Greenberg into custody during an anti-war demonstration at the Federal Building in Manhattan on May 5, 2003. The circumstances of the civil disobedience that day were negotiated in advance with the police department, including an understanding that arrested demonstrators would receive "desk appearance tickets" (summonses) rather than being locked up overnight.
View the short clip of Chief Smolka's actions here. The sequence plays once at normal speed and then again enhanced, zoomed in closer to the action and in slow motion.
SOURCE: I-Witness Video
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