FREEwilliamsburg: Up The Empire Drummer Busted During Obama Street Party

photo by ryan muir, c/o brooklyn vegan

As it turns out, one of the arrestees from last Tuesday night's Bedford & North 7th Obama street party was the drummer for the New York-based band Up The Empire. The Hartford Courant reports that he spent nearly 20 hours in jail, but doesn't say under what charges. A spokesperson for the band issued the following response:

"An officer came up to Ben, telling him to get on the sidewalk - which he was only a foot from - and pushed him with his shield and then poked him with his billybat. He continued to push, yelling 'Get on the sidewalk!' even though, at this point, he was already on the sidewalk. He then pushed him into a giant pile of trash, knocking over my girlfriend in the process, and fell on top of him. Then a bunch of other cops dog-piled and rolled him into the street onto broken glass before handcuffing him and taking him away."

The timing's not so bad, really, if you're a believer of the school of "All publicity is good publicity", as the band is releasing a new four-song EP, "Loose Ends" next month.

Update: Gothamist got the word from Ben back on Thursday (the drummer) about his charges...sounds craptastic, as expected. I hope they end up dropping the misdemeanor and disorderlys too. Now you guys have to buy Loose Ends....

"Ben Lord (who is shown being arrested in one of the videos), tells us, "they tried pushing through a felony charge but it got dropped to a misdemeanor class A...plus three counts of disorderly conduct. They were going to let me out after about 4 hrs when I was just at the 94th, but then the cop came in complaining about his broken finger and I was put back in the cell." And allegedly an arresting officer was heard saying: "Everyone's just pissed because our taxes are going to go up" (one was even wearing a McCain/Palin shirt down in the precinct)."