Inauguration - Third Installment

Anna's friend, Steve, was arrested around 1 p.m. on inauguration for putting a hand on a policman's arm. But he wasn't just handcuffed and hauled off to jail. The arresting officer threw him to the ground and kicked and beat him. Then he went to jail to the taunts of the officers.

One of the police was a black woman and when she began berating Steve for protesting, he asked her what Malcolm X and Martin Luther King might think of her views. She kept her mouth shut after that.

Steve stayed in jail for the next 24 hours. They would not release him until he signed a paper stating he would take a drug test once a week for the next year. Everyone arrested in the protests that day had to sign the same form, regardless of their alledged crimes.

Anna and the rest of the crew picked Steve up around 3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 21, and immediately took him to the emergency room because of the pain he was in from the beating the day before. He had bruised ribs. Some in ER congratulated the group for their efforts. We saw Steve a week after his return and he was still having a great amount of back pain.

As soon as Steve was treated and released from ER, they began the drive home. Anna and another friend did all the driving because everyone else was too exhausted. They did not want to spend another night in the nation's capital.

I plan on going to St. Augustine and interviewing Anna and her friends more in depth in the next week so I can compile a more in-depth article and try for a broader audience. Suggestions are welcome.