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State prison plans: mental therapy or torture?
‘Progressive’ City Council abuses vulnerable persons—and free speech
East Cambridge Property
Ten Lessons from the Criminalization of Dissent
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Holiday greetings from the cops
Two Cambridge men, aged 27 and 31, went into ABC Pizza with two friends just after 2:30 in the morning of the Sunday before Christmas. A half hour later they were in a police wagon, after being beaten, maced, and arrested by Cambridge police.
There were others in the pizza shop that night. ABC is one of the few places open at that hour in Central Square, and it is no stranger to trouble.
A fight broke out among some people in the shop. The guys behind the counter told everyone to get out because the cops were on their way.
So Nilton Costa and Trevor Mullin left with their two friends and started to cross Massachusetts Avenue.
They were stopped by police officers in front of Phoenix Landing and asked to identify themselves. They kept telling the police that they were not looking for trouble and had nothing to do with the fight at ABC Pizza.
Names were checked through the central computer. Then the cops said, “OK, now get out of here.”
The friends crossed toward Norfolk Street where their car was parked. They noticed two cops following about three feet behind them, continually calling them names and making unprofessional remarks.
Snow from the recent storm, banked along the edge of Norfolk Street, had turned into hard, dirty slabs of ice.
Mullin, ahead of the others, took out his cell phone. Today most cell phones are capable of taking photos. The police rushed him, injuring his hand to get the phone from him. Witnesses believe the phone was smashed; it has disappeared and no one knows where it is.
Mullin was then pushed face down in an icebank and repeatedly pummeled so that he couldn’t get up.
Almost simultaneously the cops also rushed Costa. As he raised his hands in a “get your hands up buddy” gesture, one officer lost his balance and fell. Costa was pulled over to where Mullin was being pushed down.
The cops ignored Costa’s pleas to let Mullin up. He kept telling them that Mullin has asthma and a heart condition. Costa was maced and had his face beat on as he continued to plead with the cops to stop beating on Mullin and let him up for air.
“I feel that the whole thing was provoked,” a witness told us.
By now the police had blocked off Norfolk and Washing-ton Streets. Mullin and Costa were thus isolated on Norfolk Street.
More mace was sprayed on both men. Fortunately, Cambridge police haven’t yet deployed TASERs. TASERs have killed people with heart conditions.
Costa and Mullin were then thrown into a police van. More mace was sprayed into the van before the doors were slammed.
When the booking officer at police headquarters saw the physical condition of the prisoners, he ordered them taken to Cambridge Hospital for treatment.
The next day they were released on bail. After Christmas they returned to court for their arraignment—where the State formally charges you—and the judge revoked their bail. The reason given was that one was on probation, and the other had a minor charge pending.
Multiple charges are being pressed, including several counts of disorderly conduct and assault and battery on a police officer with a dangerous weapon—namely, a foot in a shoe.
Mullin and Costa are in prison now, one for a parole violation and the other on an earlier, minor charge. They are angry at what happened to them and want people to know what the police did—and they want their names cleared.
“Instead of being professional, they make it all personal,” says a witness. “Nilton was doing so good. He had an apartment, job, and was just trying to live like a regular citizen.”
One police officer who was not present on the scene, excused the cops’ behavior because of a rumor that someone spit at one of them.
Mullin and Costa have pretrial hearings scheduled at Cambridge courthouse on Thorndike Street March 24. They would like community support and hope people will show up for this hearing.