In his van there was a person who had been maced directly in his eyes, while wearing contacts and the police driving the van refused to give him air, water or the emergency medical treatment he needed. At one point the driver "told him to cry." Later, another police officer came around to the back of the van, opened the door and taunted the man with chemicals burning in his eyes. This officer's name was Officer Fiore, badge # 18371.
When the arrestees inside the van raised enough hell to warrant a response from the drivers, one responded saying "that the guy had spit in a cop's face" and that was why they were punishing him by allowing his contacts to melt on his eyeballs (Officer Grumbs badge #22356).
Upon being processed at Pier 57, those working at the detention center said that he needed to be taken to the emergency room immediately. He has been treated and is currently being held at Central Booking with severely damaged vision and a scratched cornea.
Despite incidents such as these, there were also reports of people being able to keep spirits high and not be broken by the overwhelming injustice of the whole situation. At some moments the atmosphere inside Pier 57 may have even be called a raucus good time. One arrestee reported that inside his cage, people wer "playing dominoes with cereal boxes, making soccer balls out of balled up handcuffs and even unscrewing a piece of the fence that held the cage together. The guards reportedly made them beg for water. So the took empty water cooler containers and made drums out of them. There has been periodic singing, drumming and chanting.
At the time of writing, the two detainees who provided this report are still being held at Central Booking. Legal teams have filed a writ of habeas corpus, which would mandate the release of all detainees. There is currently a stay on the writ. We are waiting to see if the judge will uphold it.
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