It was Friday night, October 6th in the year 2000. A group of nine teenagers were hanging out at a common meeting place, Howard T. Brown Park, in downtown Norwich, CT USA. They were meeting up with two friends of theirs who drove up from New York City so they could see their friends band, Suiciety, play the El-n-Gee Club in New London on Saturday night. A police cruiser pulled in to the parking lot. It drove all the way to the end of the parking lot, did a circle then drove back towards the teens, coming to a stop in the no parking zone. More cruisers began pulling into the lot. The officer in cruiser 1, James Curtis, got out of his car and approached ******* *****, age 18, of Norwich. The officer yelled at the teen, telling him to take his hands out of his jacket pockets. The teen did as he was told when suddenly the officer grabbed him by the arm, put him in a restraining hold, demanded identification, then cuffed him. Mr. Peret was quickly whisked away and placed in the back of the cruiser. Officers Gomes and Dye got out of cruiser 2 and approached Andrew Leitkowski, age 18, from Bozrah, from behind. He asked the officers what was Mr. Peret being detained for. Officer Curtis walked over and punched him directly in the face while Gomes and Dye held him down and hog tied him. The three officers beat and pepper sprayed him, but the teen refused to fight back. Mike Arsenault, age 14, from Norwich, witnessed his friend getting beat by the officers and tried to get them to stop. He was immediately clubbed over the head, handcuffed, then thrown into another cruiser, followed by another shot of pepper spray. From inside the first cruiser 1, Mr. Peret watched in horror as he saw the cops pulverize his friend. Mr. Peret kicked out the passenger side window and yelled in vain to the rest of the group to call for help. April Vogt, age 16, of Norwich ran to the pay phones and dialed 911. She told the dispatcher, "the cops are beating my friends!". The dispatcher told her that if the cops are already there, then there is no problem, and if she called back she would be arrested. The dispatcher then hung up on her. Mr. Leitkowski was dragged through the shards of broken glass and sprayed once again with the pepper spray, this time point blank. By this time, the parking lot was full with eight cruisers, one SUV, and one van, plus all the cops driving them. Mr. Peret was taken from the cruiser 1 and placed into a new one. When they arrived at the station, Mr. Arsenault was brought to the juvenile area and the other two were brought to regular booking. They were all searched. The only thing of interest were two crumpled photocopied fliers that both Mr. Peret and Mr. Arsenault had in their possession. These fliers were for the October 22nd Protest Against Police Brutality, taking place on the NFA/Chelsea Parade Green. The officers in the station thought it was quite amusing and quickly photocopied the papers and hung them on the wall. Mr. Arsenault was released to his mother's possession not long after he was booked. The other two were locked up. Within 24 hours they were both bailed out. A few days later in The Norwich Bulletin, there was an article entitled, 'Teens Organize Protest After Arrests' They article claimed the teens were self-proclaimed anarchists. Another man that had been arrested that night, Christopher Clarke age 27, was also thrown into the article although he had nothing to do with the incident. The newspaper failed to mention how the police officers beat a couple of local teenagers to a bloody pulp. The court process went like this: Mr. Leitkowski's 3 counts of assaulting an officer were thrown out of court, but he was also barred from taking any legal action against the Police. To this day, Mr. Leitkowski is still paying for his court costs. Mr. Peret was ordered to pay $2,026.89 for the cruiser window, door, decals, and Officer Curtis' medical bill. Curtis claimed it was from the broken glass from the cruiser window, but it was really for his hand that he hurt from punching Mr. Leitkowski in the teeth. Mr. Peret also received minimal probation with 144 hours of community service and was ordered to write an apology letter to the Norwich Police Department. The first written letter was rejected by both the police and by probation, and another, more 'sincere' apology was ordered. Mr. Arsenault got 50 hours community service. The officers involved are still on the force. It should be mentioned that at this same time in Norwich history, the NPD were taking topless pictures of three 18 year old girls in an underage drinking sting, and also drank with them while on the clock in their police van. All of the teens knew each other, having grown up together in the small town of Norwich, CT. Coincidence?

heres the original letter written to NPD.

Dear NPD,I apologize for looking suspicious and for having my hands in my pockets on that chilly night. I was totally out of line. I realize now that giving my out of state friends a tour of Norwich at 2 a.m. is wrong and results in beatings and arrests. I also learned that screaming fo help while my friend is getting beat up constitutes a pepper spraying. My apologies to all the officers who went out of their way to involve themselves in the incident, if it wasn't for them, none of this would've happened. If an altercation like this is to happen again, I will do my best to act passively and allow myself to be wrongfully but "lawfully" subdued.

12/16/02

Mr., GSSC can not accept this letter of apology. You need to write a letter that is more apologetic & less sarcastic. Please write another letter & send it certified to Norwich P.D. Send us a copy of the new letter & the return receipt. Thank you, GSSC (General Security Services Corporation)

2nd apology letter

December 18th, 2002

Norwich Police DepartmentWest Thames StreetNorwich, CT*****Dear Norwich Police Dept.:Please accept my sincere apologies for the incident thar I was involved with in Oct. 2000. I regret my behavior that night and realize that my actions affected many, especially my parents. I am a law-abiding citizen and I have learned that I need to control my emotions. Again, please accept my apologies.Sincerely,

HOW FUCKING DEGRADING!!!