Minneapolis To Pay Zombies $165,000

[twyacht]

Can't make this stuff up.

http://www.startribune.com/local/101273159.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUac8HEaDiaMDCinchO7DU


Minneapolis will pay $165,000 to zombies

Minneapolis will pay seven people who were jailed after a street theater protest.

By RANDY FURST, Star Tribune

Last update: August 23, 2010 - 12:20 AM

The Minneapolis city attorney's office has decided to pay seven zombies and their attorney $165,000.

The payout, approved by the City Council on Friday, settles a federal lawsuit the seven filed after they were arrested and jailed for two days for dressing up like zombies in downtown Minneapolis on July 22, 2006, to protest "mindless" consumerism.

When arrested at the intersection of Hennepin Avenue and 6th Street N., most of them had thick white powder and fake blood on their faces and dark makeup around their eyes. They were walking in a stiff, lurching fashion and carrying four bags of sound equipment to amplify music from an iPod when they were arrested by police who said they were carrying equipment that simulated "weapons of mass destruction."

However, they were never charged with any crime.

Although U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen had dismissed the zombies' lawsuit, it was resurrected in February by a three-judge panel of the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which concluded that police lacked probable cause to arrest the seven, a decision setting the stage for a federal trial this fall. The settlement means there will be no trial.

"I feel great that the city is being held accountable for the actions of their police," said Raphi Rechitsky, 27, of Minneapolis, one of the seven zombies, who said he and his friends were performing street theater when they were arrested. He is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Minnesota.

Minneapolis City Attorney Susan L. Segal said it was in the best interests of the city to settle. "We believe the police acted reasonably, but you never know what a jury is going to do with a case," she said.

If a jury had concluded that the seven plaintiffs' constitutional rights had been violated and awarded $50,000 to each, plus defense attorney's fees, "it could have been quite substantial," Segal said.

Zombies had no IDs

***

I don't think the police acted "reasonably" at all...

At least they weren't paid in BRAINS!!!!

 

[tt11758]

I saw that headline this morning.  Best one of the week!!

[billt]

And people wonder why Minnesota has some of the highest property taxes in the entire nation. When you like to give money away to idiot's, it has to come from somewhere.  Bill T.

[MikeBjerum]

And people wonder why Minnesota has some of the highest property taxes in the entire nation. When you like to give money away to idiot's, it has to come from somewhere.  Bill T.

Gentle ... I feel that pain twice a year 

[billt]

Gentle ... I feel that pain twice a year 

If misery loves company, I was in much the same boat back when we lived in Illinois. The house we sold back in 1991 had a yearly property tax bill of just under $4,000.00 a year then. My wife looked it up, and in 2008 the same house was taxed at $9,460.00. I'm guessing now it's over the ten grand mark. It's truly amazing how they can make so much money disappear.  Bill T.

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