mobyhead
August 30th, 2007, 09:38 PM
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/67/Indianapolis-indiana-soldiers-sailors-monument.jpg/455px-Indianapolis-indiana-soldiers-sailors-monument.jpg
By Jon Murray
jon.murray@indystar.com
August 30, 2007
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070830/LOCAL/70830029
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana planned to file a lawsuit today on behalf of a homeless man told to leave the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Monument Circle in Downtown Indianapolis.
Michael Glover, 47, has been homeless off and on for 10 years. An Indiana War Memorials Commission police officer told him to leave the area around the monument Aug. 23 after he had been sitting on a ledge, says the suit, which was being filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. Before Officer Damon Dittemore approached him, the lawsuit says, Glover and his two backpacks were not obstructing pedestrians, and Glover didn't bother others.
On Saturday, Glover was told again by Dittemore to leave the monument. The officer issued a trespass notice advising Glover he could not return to any of the Downtown Indianapolis memorials and parks operated by the commission.
It's not clear whether the action was part of a recent police crackdown on the homeless Downtown.
"Officer Dittemore told him that it was now the policy of the Indiana War Memorials Commission to remove all homeless persons from the property controlled by the Commission and that the Executive Director of the Indiana War Memorials Commission and the Mayor of Indianapolis wanted to remove the homeless from Monument Circle," the lawsuit says.
The ACLU says the treatment of Glover violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of equal protection of the laws and due process. The lawsuit also challenges the use of Indiana's criminal trespass law to ban people from public property for engaging in innocent behavior.
The suit names Dittemore and the commission's executive director.
It notes that Glover has not been homeless since Tuesday. No current numbers are available on Downtown's homeless population, but a census conducted in January found 2,061 homeless people in Marion County.
By Jon Murray
jon.murray@indystar.com
August 30, 2007
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070830/LOCAL/70830029
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana planned to file a lawsuit today on behalf of a homeless man told to leave the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Monument Circle in Downtown Indianapolis.
Michael Glover, 47, has been homeless off and on for 10 years. An Indiana War Memorials Commission police officer told him to leave the area around the monument Aug. 23 after he had been sitting on a ledge, says the suit, which was being filed this afternoon in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis. Before Officer Damon Dittemore approached him, the lawsuit says, Glover and his two backpacks were not obstructing pedestrians, and Glover didn't bother others.
On Saturday, Glover was told again by Dittemore to leave the monument. The officer issued a trespass notice advising Glover he could not return to any of the Downtown Indianapolis memorials and parks operated by the commission.
It's not clear whether the action was part of a recent police crackdown on the homeless Downtown.
"Officer Dittemore told him that it was now the policy of the Indiana War Memorials Commission to remove all homeless persons from the property controlled by the Commission and that the Executive Director of the Indiana War Memorials Commission and the Mayor of Indianapolis wanted to remove the homeless from Monument Circle," the lawsuit says.
The ACLU says the treatment of Glover violated the U.S. Constitution's guarantees of equal protection of the laws and due process. The lawsuit also challenges the use of Indiana's criminal trespass law to ban people from public property for engaging in innocent behavior.
The suit names Dittemore and the commission's executive director.
It notes that Glover has not been homeless since Tuesday. No current numbers are available on Downtown's homeless population, but a census conducted in January found 2,061 homeless people in Marion County.