One arrested as police disband Occupy protest at City Hall

An Occupy Winston-Salem protester, angrily shouting at Winston-Salem police as they broke up the group's meeting on City Hall grounds Tuesday morning, was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting a public officer.

Occupy protesters, who say they want to bring attention to corporate greed and the growing divide between the rich and poor, say the police actions violated the group's right to lawfully assemble.

"This is a sad day for Winston-Salem," said protester Adam Price.

Protesters said they did not understand why police asked them to break up because they believed they were having a legally allowed open-air discussion.

"We have followed every rule," said protester Kim Porter, a social worker who said she is concerned about the number of children living in poverty while corporate CEOs rake in millions of dollars.

At a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Police Chief Scott Cunningham said police had been observing the Occupy group Tuesday morning. When it appeared just before 9 a.m. that the group was not engaged in any kind of coordinated conversation for a period of 10 minutes, officers determined that no meeting was ongoing and went in to disperse the crowd.

"The police were meeting around the corner for almost an hour," before they moved on the group, protester Tony Ndege said. "We knew something was going on."

The protesters were given a verbal trespassing warning and told they could not come back to City Hall for any similar protest for a period of 30 days, which means Jan. 18. Nothing bars them from staging Occupy protests on any other public property in the city, Cunningham said.

Price said that the protesters continued a discussion overnight Monday on topics including civil rights issues and corporate greed, and that a discourse was continuing at the time police moved in.

"People's minds were illuminated and good things were happening," he said.

Cunningham said the group was allowed to stay for as long as they were in compliance with local ordinances regarding public assembly. He said the city gave leeway to the protesters.

"It was decided by the city collectively to interpret the code as liberally as possible," the police chief said.

Kayla Cox, a student at Salem College who attended the protest, said things became tense when police told them to disband.

She said the man arrested had been part of the crowd overnight Monday, but had left to get some sleep and had just returned when police asked the group to disband.

"Several people were trying to calm him down," she said.

The protester who was arrested, William Bryant Bridge, 20, of the 600 block of Mulberry Street, was making a profanity-laced tirade against police and walking down the sidewalk when patrol officers moved to arrest him. He was pinned against a brick wall and subdued.

"This was wrong by police," said Thomas Leinbach to the arresting officers. "You all pushed this. I hope you're happy now.

"This is our City Hall, too. And our rights are being violated."

Leinbach said that Bridge was walking away, as the police requested, when he began yelling.

"And they thought it was appropriate to tackle him on the sidewalk," Leinbach said. "I don't think any of that was in violation of the law. This wouldn't have happened if they'd have maintained a good relationship."

In the magistrate's office, Bridge continued to try to engage Officer Brian Ashley, who told him to "stop talking."

Ashley told a magistrate that Bridge and the others had been cautioned about using profanity and yelling on the sidewalk.

Bridge's bond was set at $2,000. He was released within hours.

On Tuesday afternoon, Bridge called his arrest an "outrage."

He said he left the scene after officers told the Occupy group to leave, and he acknowledged that he yelled at police.

"I didn't say anything that was untrue," he said. "They bum-rushed me. They slammed me down. They hurt me."

In a news release about the incident, police said there were no injuries.

But Bridge said that his shoulder and wrist were injured. He pointed to scratches on his chin and nose that he said the police caused.

Bridge said he was treated for his injuries at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

"I was arrested for opening my mouth," Bridge said.

After his news conference, Cunningham declined to comment about Bridge's injuries because he said he hadn't seen any reports about the matter or seen Bridge's injuries.

"Suffice it to say, he should not have resisted," Cunningham said in an email.

Bridge has previous convictions of felony possession with intent to sell and deliver narcotics, misdemeanor assault with a deadly weapon, misdemeanor possession of burglary tools and several probation violations.

He is scheduled to appear in Forsyth District Court Feb. 2 on the Tuesday charges.

Despite Bridge's prior arrest record, Price stands behind Bridge.

"Will's a trustworthy person," he said. "I do not believe he deserved to be tackled from the back."

Cunningham said Bridge was arrested not because of his words, but because he was causing a disturbance.