In the months since Mayor Bloomberg forcefully evicted thousands of peaceful protesters at Zucotti Park, renamed Liberty Square, a small group of Occupiers has set its camp to the north at Union Square.
Not to be outdone, however, New York's Mayor took action to clean up the filth and trash that he associated with the Occupy movement. Each night, around eleven, a wave of uniformed patrol officers has dutifully arrived. Armed with hundreds of barricades the men in blue form a circle around the statue of our Nation's Father - George Washington - as if to protect him from the huddling masses yearning to breathe free.
One by one the metal barricades encircle the square until it is free from those who choose to stroll along its paths or strum a guitar on its steps. Midnight is the witching hour - the public is freed from its space.
To be fair the throngs of NYPD officers who are deployed to the park do not solely confine their activities to those Occupying as a means of speech. A few weeks ago a group of officers informed a contingent of persons unfortunate enough to be homeless that they could "not be seen" in the park.
Clearly the Mayor and his minions are on a crusade to keep the City's streets clean from riffraff and trash. Who could doubt that this would be the result of allowing such folk to soak in the Spring evenings unfettered and free to ramble about under the watchful gaze of President Washington.
Yet it was on Tuesday evening, May 8th, that a citizen journalist, also known as a "streamer," named Recai Iskender - armed with little more than a cell phone - captured one of the culprits responsible for littering the City with waste.
From about 11 pm till the midnight closing hour Recai, or "Rocky" as many of the "chatters" on his livestream broadcast refer to him, filmed one of NYPD's "finest," Officer Restano, badge #2700, meticulously preparing an armory of wadded balls of trash along the railing above the heads of pedestrians headed down into the Union Square subway station.
Accompanied by an unknown sidekick Restano slowly took aim at the unwitting subway patrons below seemingly undisturbed by the fact that all of this was being filmed live to an audience that grew, as word spread over the internet, to over one hundred. As he dropped his bombs she would dutifully peer over the railing, not much higher than her head, and track the path of the projectile as it made its way to its target.
At times it even appeared that Officer Restano would add spit to his arsenal to liven things up a bit more. One would be tempted to assume that Restano's mission was to harass the Occupiers - but this would not be consistent with the video which captured over an hour of his maneuvers.
Restano's target was anyone and everyone who walked the streets of New York that night and happened to choose Union Square as their subway destination.
While no one was physically harmed by the officer's assault - and one can be assured that this would be the criminal charge applied if the shoe were on the other foot - Restano's behavior and his nonchalant attitude signal to all a man who is unfit for duty as a uniformed patrolman with any self-respecting police force.
What his acts display are a callous disregard for humanity and a contempt for New Yorkers. It is hard not to imagine that in other, less peaceful circumstances, that Restano would capable of the most severe abuses of power and authority - rendering the public safety at serious risk as long as he is allowed to remain in uniform.
A complaint has been filed with the Civilian Complaint Review Board regarding the acts of Officer Restano and his fellow officer for their disgraceful actions this past week.
To add your voice to the complaint - and to help insist that officers sworn to "serve and protect" actually do so - you can call (212) 442-8833 and document what you see on this video - the case is # 2012-05338.
This behavior cannot be tolerated by the public or the NYPD. It is a civic duty to report the activities of Officer Restano.
Let Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly know who the City really needs protecting from.