Laura Clout
London
Telegraph
Thursday, January 11, 2007
A distinguished British historian claims he was knocked to the
ground by an American policeman before being arrested and spending
eight hours in jail — because he crossed the road in the
wrong place.
Felipe Fernandez-Armesto said he had been the victim of "terrible,
terrible violence" after he inadvertently committed the offence
of "jaywalking" in Atlanta, Georgia, last week and failed
to realise the man telling him to stop was an officer.
The slight, bespectacled professor claimed that five burly officers
pinned him to the ground after Kevin Leonpacher kicked his legs
from under him as he hesitated to show his ID.
He was left "traumatised and disorientated" and with
a gashed forehead as he was taken to the local jail and charged
with pedestrian failure to obey a police officer and physical
obstruction of police.
The academic, professor of global environmental history at Queen
Mary College, University of London, and a member of Oxford University's
modern history faculty, said he had been subjected to "very
humiliating procedures" and even had his box of peppermints
confiscated.
The 56-year-old appeared in court the next day, "tortured"
by the fear of getting a criminal record that would wreck his
chances of getting a green card allowing him to work in America.
But prosecutors dropped the charges.
Atlanta's police chief ordered an inquiry after the mayor raised
the incident.
Prof Fernandez-Armesto, who is also a member of the history department
at Tufts University, Massachusetts, was in Atlanta for the convention
of the American Historical Association. He said he was crossing
the road and became aware of a "rather intrusive young man
shouting at me telling me that I shouldn't have crossed the road
there".
Because he was wearing a "rather louche" bomber jacket
that covered his uniform, the professor did not realise he was
a policeman.
"I thanked him for his advice and went on," said the
professor. When Officer Leonpacher tried to stop him and demanded
to see identification, the professor asked to see his, which he
"didn't take kindly to". "He said 'I am going to
arrest you'," Prof Fernandez-Armesto said. "In the culture
I come from this wouldn't mean that the conversation was over.
"Nor would it mean that you were about to be subjected to
terrible, terrible violence. This young man kicked my legs from
under me, wrenched me round in what I think is a sort of a judo
move, pinned me to the ground, wrenched my arms behind my back
and handcuffed me.
"Naturally I was bridling at this moment and he called his
colleagues to his assistance. I had five burly policemen pinioning
me to the ground, pressing my neck with really very severe pain.
I'm a mass of contusions and grazes.
"I was traumatised, disorientated, my conference programme
was in the gutter and I was begging them to give it back to me
and to give me my spectacles back," he said. "I still
find it incredible that an ageing, mild-mannered professor of
impeccable antecedent, should be the subject of such abominable
treatment."
The professor, who has written books on the Americas and global
exploration, was handcuffed to another suspected criminal in a
"filthy, foetid paddy wagon" to be transported to jail
and had his fingerprints and mugshot taken. With his bail set
at £720 but with no way to get the cash, Prof Fernandez-Armesto
remained incarcerated, until he eventually got out with the help
of a professional bail agent.
In court the following day he explained to the judge and charges
were dropped.
Officer Leonpacher denied that he overreacted, saying the historian
repeatedly refused to co-operate. The 28-year-old told the Atlanta
Journal-Constitution: "I used an excessive amount of discretion."
Atlanta's mayor, Shirley Franklin, said: "We want everyone
who visits Atlanta to find Atlanta to be friendly and helpful."
The professor said he had no plans to sue, adding: "It was
actually a fantastic experience going into that detention centre
and spending time with those miserable wretches of the earth.
I feel I've learnt more than I would have in important sessions
of the Historical Association."
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