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Occupy Wall Street lawsuit over NY arrests can go forward

NEW YORK, June 7 (Reuters) – A lawsuit filed against New

York City police officers involved in arresting some 700 Occupy

Wall Street protesters during a march over Brooklyn Bridge last

fall can go forward, a Manhattan federal judge ruled on

Thursday.

A separate claim against New York City Mayor Michael

Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the city was thrown

out.

Last Oct. 1, as thousands of demonstrators marched from

their encampment at Zuccotti Park to the Brooklyn Bridge,

hundreds were rounded up in police netting and arrested.

In a lawsuit filed on Oct. 4, many of those protesters

contended they were unlawfully arrested. They said police had

effectively tricked them into believing their march was being

accommodated and they could lawfully be on the bridge roadway.

“While initially, the police officers congregated at the

entrance to the bridge’s vehicular roadway, thus effectively

blocking the demonstrators from proceeding further, the officers

then turned and started walking away from the demonstrators and

onto the roadway – an implicit invitation to follow,” U.S.

District Judge Jed Rakoff said in a 30-page ruling.

“We think this is a significant victory and a vindication

for the protesters who were illegally arrested on the Brooklyn

Bridge,” said Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a lawyer representing the

protesters.

But while the protesters’ claims against the arresting

officers can move forward, the larger claims suggesting a

city-wide conspiracy against the Occupy Wall Street protesters

were thrown out.

“The plaintiffs cannot bridge the gap between the broad,

conspiratorial policy they attribute to the city and the

violations that they have plausibly alleged in this case,”

Rakoff said.

Arthur Larkin, senior counsel at the city law department’s

special federal litigation division said the city is “pleased

the Court found that neither the mayor nor the police

commissioner is liable.”

“We are considering all legal options, including appeal,

concerning the remainder of the decision,” Larkin said.

(Reporting By Edith Honan; editing by Todd Eastham)