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I showed up at loring park around 5:00pm. Over the next half hour about 60 people showed up. Around 5:30 we decided it was time to begin the ride. I do not know if there was any consensus as to the route we were going to take. We went south on willow street.

We turned on the first side street (W Grant ST). The sight of several police cars lined up several blocks down caused the group to return to willow street (an interesting excersize for so many bikes in such a small place to do.) The police joined us on this street. They passed us and blocked us with their cars at the end of the street. I was towards the front of the group. When the group met the cars, the police began taking bikes from riders.

The group turned into loring park. The police followed us down the path. We met on the south side of the pedestrian bridge and were joined by two squad cars. Looking around I saw police cars were stationed on all sides of the park. The group seemed noticably smaller by this point. A large portion of the group crossed the bridge and managed to leave the park on the north side. We went a few blocks, made a few turns. I don't remember which streets we were on at this point. At a stop sign, the police again blocked the road with their cars and started confiscating bikes from riders. The group changed directions to avoid this and went up another street. By this point we were seperated into many groups going in several directions. I do not know how many different groups. The group I was in headed west, though I could be wrong about the direction. This was about 6pm. After a few blocks, we turned north, though i could be wrong about the direction. I do not know the street. After several blocks three or four police cars caught up with us.

Up until this point I did not see any intentional traffic violations. Half of the group was through a green light when it turned yellow and then red. Some of the riders in the intersection stopped which allowed the entire group to make it through the light before perpendicular traffic could start. The decision seemed to be largley out of confusion rather than intention. About midway up the next block the police speed up to us and quickly stopped.

One policeman left his car and sprinted towards Jared (someone I had learned the name of in loring park.) I don't think Jared knew the man was coming from behind. The officer forcefully brought him to the street. I did not hear the officer give any instructions to Jared or even ask him to get off his bike. While the officer was doing this, he also unitentionaly knocked another girl off her bike while tackling Jared. At this point I was horrified because I expected the police to atleast give us directions instead of using force. This is about 6:15pm. The officer had Jared pinned face down on the ground. Jared was screaming for help. He says he can't breath and complains about his arm being hurt. Another office comes up from behind and also puts his weight on Jared. This seemed extremely brutal at the point because Jared had been under the first officer's control for quite some time. Before I left the scene I saw that Jared's face had several lacerations. Other officers confiscated bikes. I'm not sure if anyone else was arrested.

After this incident, the group dispersed into smaller groups. I left in a group of about 5 people. We were careful not to violate more traffic laws as we feared further harrasment.

During the entire event I did not hear any instructions from the police. This is either because they did not give any or because the group was large.

-Zachary K Drew

drew0054@tc.umn.edu phone: 612-600-7895