| I know Marion. I'd be surprised if she's even 5'4" and as reported, she is 69 years old. She is one of the gentlest people I know. There is no way she was ever a threat to the cop. Here's her story, followed by the AP version:
As most of you know, I am a lifelong Democrat. In my nearly 70 years of living, I have always believed in the ideals of the Democratic party, but I have come to recognize that the local Democrats in Piscataway have long abandoned those ideals in favor of their own political interests...
In my own effort to encourage people to vote the Democrats off the council, I made eight cardboard signs by hand and began hanging them around the township on Wednesday morning. One of my signs was hung at the intersection of Morris Avenue and South Randolphville Road near my home. While driving by not long after hanging the sign, I noticed that the sign had been taken down. I parked my car on the side of the road and walked over to pick up the sign and re-hang it. At this time, I was accosted by a Piscataway police officer, who instructed that I not re-hang the sign, suggesting that re-hanging the sign would interfere with work being conducted by a PSE&G crew nearby. When I protested that I had every right to hang the sign, the officer grabbed the sign from my hand, immobilized me with a grip around my shoulder and proceeded to place me under arrest. He physically forced me to the ground while handcuffing my hands tightly behind my back.
I was transported to police headquarters where I spent the next four hours handcuffed to a wall. Despite my repeated requests to make a telephone call to alert my family and friends of my whereabouts, I was not permitted. The handcuffs were so tight around my wrists that they are now bruised and swollen. After spending nearly five hours locked in handcuffs, I was eventually permitted to call my former husband who came to get me and drive me to retrieve my car which had been impounded.
Wednesday was one of the worst days of my life. No one should ever be subjected to the treatment that I received from our local police on Wednesday. I believe that my arrest was entirely politically motivated and that I was mistreated solely because of my opposition to the current Democrat regime. This is America, and I have every right to express my opinion, orally or on a sign. It is a sad state of affairs when our local Democrats and their police force resort to such ruthless tactics to attempt to silence their critics.
and here's what the AP reporter makes of it:
Elderly woman accused of punching cop
PISCATAWAY (AP) -- A 69-year-old woman who was charged with assaulting a police officer has turned around and filed a complaint against him for the incident, which stemmed from a political sign she had put up.
The incident started last Wednesday when Marion Munk, a ceramics instructor at a community college, said she noticed a handmade political sign she'd left on a street corner near her house was knocked to the ground.
Munk said she stopped at the corner, where Public Service Electric & Gas Co. crews were working, to find out why her sign, which was against incumbent Democrats, was down on the ground but two signs in favor of the Democrats were up.
"I asked them, 'Who did this?'" Munk said. "But they just wanted me out of the way."
Munk said Sgt. Wayne Vakulchik, an officer who was there directing traffic, grabbed the sign from her, at which point she "pushed him out of the way."
In the police report of the incident, Vakulchik said Munk punched him in the chest and that the sign was in the way of the PSE&G workers so they took it down, police said.
Munk, who was charged with disorderly conduct and assaulting a police officer, said she was handcuffed to a wall at police headquarters for more than four hours after her arrest. She's filed a complaint with the police department.
Vakulchik "just yanked me around," Munk told the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick.
Capt. Richard Ivone of the Piscatway Police Department said an internal affairs investigation would be conducted on Munk's complaint against Vakulchik, which cites excessive force. Ivone said the utility workers at the scene witnessed the whole incident, "so we should get this wrapped up pretty quickly." ...
The Home News reported that she faces up to 18 months in prison if she's convicted for assault.
After talking with someone who's worked on these issues, I'm calling for the mayors of Highland Park, Edison, Piscataway and New Brunswick to set up civilian review boards with subpoena power and asking for an external auditor from the state.
Their second article contains a pic and:
The police have kept Munk's sign as evidence. But after being freed, Munk quickly replaced it with another. |
