BY MICHAEL HAYNE

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

COMMENTARY

Back in November when NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave the OWS movement an early Christmas gift when he ordered the evacuation of the protesters at Zuccotti park, many reporters and journalists were forcefully prevented from covering the eviction.

As a blatant infringement on the freedom of the press, many major news outlets sent out letters accusing the police of breaching “N.Y.P.D. policies and procedures as concerns the media.”

As a result, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly heeded the message and sent out an internal memo to his department ordering them not to encroach upon members of the press and admonishing that those who did would be subject to disciplinary action. Apparently indiscriminately pepper-spraying young girls with henna tattoos like they were overgrown weeds isn’t the only thing that results in ‘disciplinary action,’ which almost sounds like they will be sent to the principals office.

Well, it seems the NYPD followed that edict like Chris Christie follows a low-carb diet since the NYPD continues to mishandle the press.

John Knefel, a fellow comedian and writer who has been been covering Occupy Wall Street as an independent journalist for its entirety as a radio show host, for Salon, and on Twitter, was apparently and aggressively thrown to the ground like he were a terrorist with a bomb in his underwear and placed under arrest.

Prior to having his glasses smashed and tossed to the ground, Mr. Knefel had been covering the NYPD’s bullish arrests following the impromptu celebration in the Winter Garden on Dec. 12. Not one for violence (unless sarcasm is considered a deadly weapon), Mr. Knefel most certainly didn’t want to dangle read meat in front of the seemingly rabid NYPD. According to Knefel, an NYPD officer shouted quite loudly if he had press credentials, but before Mr. Knefel could even offer a response he was immediately tossed to the ground and placed under arrest for what Mr. Knefel said was “criminal trespassing”.