"I had a picture of me posing in my bra and panties, and they took that."

We're a couple. On August 13th, 2008 at approximately 5 o'clock in the morning, we heard something at the door, like, maybe somebody tampering, and my honey went to the door. It just burst open and knocked him down, and come through the door were some men in brass and metal chestses and helmets and machine guns and they just screamed at us and said "get down, get down, get down!" And handcuffed us, and said that they had a no-knock warrant. To this day, I'm not aware of what that means other than no knocking, and they just knock your door down.

They accused us of having drug trafficking in our house, which wasn't true. So, they hauled me off to the precinct, they took him to the hospital because he fell out of the chair, the...you know, excitement, and they actually knocked him down. Yeah, he has a trache in his throat, he's a cancer survivor. So, while he was at the hospital I was at the precinct, waiting. They took me to the precinct, like, 6 o'clock in the morning, and they let me sit there until 6 o'clock in the evening without feeding me, or anything, waiting for him to come back from the hospital before we could come downtown and be booked. The charge was possession of a controlled substance in the third degree, but they searched our house for the four hours without us being there. So, they told us that they found an ounce of coke, which wound up being baking soda. So, in order for me to get out...I was put in jail, I stayed in jail for almost a month and a half, a month and a week, they just released me Thursday that just passed. He had to come back, in order for them to dismiss the charges because it was nothing. There was nothing. And I'm not understanding what the circumstances is of a no-knock warrant. He thinks that they were being spiteful because of the fact that we live in the midst of a lot of trafficking, and things, and maybe they couldn't catch who they wanted, and maybe a jealous girlfriend, I don't know. But the no-knock warrant is something that I think should truly be investigated.

Ransacked it. We put it back together, but a lot of things were taken. Like, they took my...I had a picture of me posing in my bra and panties, and they took that. Stanley doesn't want to make no fuss about it, but I told him we're truly considering...they took our keys, you know, saying there was evidence of us, evidence that we lived in the apartment. The picture was supposed to be evidence, and...for what?

Florence and Stanley

"I'm a madam, I'm a princess, everything I get is given to me."

I am a transsexual. I got arrested in Harlem uptown on East 132nd. Street and Madison Avenue yesterday because I was getting high with a couple of girlfriends and I wasn't on my p's and q's and the undercover ended up on me and locked me up. I'm free, they can't hold me or nothing. Because I'm that bitch. They can't hold me or nothing. I'm a fab bitch and all that. I can come see me. Anybody who interested in some good booty holler at me, you understand what I'm saying. I'm a madam, I'm a princess, everything I get is given to me. I don't gottta steal anything or nothing. I get it from the kindness of my heart. Me being me. You understand what I'm saying. You wanna have anymore information you give me a call at (212) 947 - ....

Tatyana

"Crack cocaine. I'm addicted to crack cocaine."

Prostitution, I was charged with prostitution. Yes. It was an undercover...yesterday afternoon, the undercover wanted drugs, and he came up to me, and said, "you know where to go get some crack at?" I said, "yeah," then he asked me do I want to do a sexual favor. I said "I don't do sexual favors. I don't do any sexual favors, I'm not a prostitute." But, they still charged me with...they just charged me with prostitution, not drug charges. No, I'm not a prostitute, that's the thing. I'm a person that does drugs. Nope, it didn't even get that far because I took the money and I ran. No, he gave me the money to go get the drugs, and I took the money and I ran. I guess he had something recorded, something on the phone recorded, stating that I would do it. Sexual favors. At the time, I did. I would have sex with him. Regular sex. $20. Sex. Regular sex. At the time, I didn't have no money. Yes, I was strung out. No, if it's for my freedom, no. I'm going home, I live in New Jersey, I'm going back home to try to straighten up my life. Crack cocaine. I'm addicted to crack cocaine. At the time, I did, but, now, I'm getting into too much trouble over this, I don't want to do it no more. Going on nine years. I want to get a job and go get my kids back. He's helped me, Jesus has helped me get through this, he's helped me get through this...this time. I had this for about two months, and it hasn't...it never came off my neck. Well, this case, right now, yes, because I could be going to jail now, to Rikers. And, since I prayed, and prayed, and prayed, I got released. So, thanks to God. I got released. I'm out, out in the world now. Now, I can straighten up my life.

Tara

"Im doing this to save the world..."

Middle of the road, front of all the cars, Times Square, the taxis are driving fast, cars were running all over the road, right? I was walking right in the middle of the road, and then a little sparrow came up to me, right? And it flew up, and it was injured. I could tell it was injured 'cause it couldn't fly. It was bouncing all over the road. And, I sort of picked it up like this, then it flew out of my hands and landed right next to me. And, I picked it up again, and a taxi ran right over it. And squished it. The point of the story is that I believe that life is so precious, you know, and you can't waste a single second, 'cause if a sparrow can get...gets killed like that, what about us? About the human population? Everything we do makes a difference. Every single thing that we do, every day in our lives, every second, makes a difference.

I'm doing this to save the world, one step at a time. My first step was saving a sparrow the other day, that was the second sparrow, the first sparrow I saved, I took care of it all night, after that, I sent it to the vet and it was saved. I give money to the homeless, I fundraise for the homeless, I'd like to help the sick, I'd like to find the cures for diseases, and if we all work together, if all the doctors and everybody who's willing, who wants to help, works together, then I think we can make a difference.

I was protesting against Donald Trump, because Donald Trump is a monopolist who builds buildings all over New York, and they're ugly, by the way. Right near his building. I was laying on the floor. Next to the sign. In the sidewalk. They asked me to get up, and I refused because I absolutely violated no law, I was standing...I was standing...I was laying on the floor and I wasn't doing anything wrong, and they told me to get up because "you're in people's way." Now, if I'm trying to prove a point, I'm in people's way, people walk by, and they notice, so...and then they tried to arrest me. I ran around a little bit so I could get the people's attention, to what's going on in the world, and then, one of the cops stood by me over there, and then ten of them or, I don't know how many cops—undercover, by the way, they weren't in uniform—jumped me from behind, got me on the floor, wrestled with me, I resisted arrest, of course. They maced me, which was okay, it was the first time I was maced in my life, but it didn't hurt that bad, I couldn't see anything for a while, but EMS came and they washed my eyes out, so it was okay. The cops were okay with me, they were fine. I respect the cops, I just want to make a point. And, I think I'm proving that point day by day.

Maksim

"Squeezing my genitals, this and that."

The previous case was about, of all things a straw. See I was with a friend of mine that had been know to these police because a couple of weeks earlier her and her boyfriend were in a pizza place arranging a drug deal from the dealer over the phone very much out loud with the narc squad sitting next to them. So some weeks later we're sitting in a coffee shop and they notice her and I guess they had their eyes on us. So I left the coffee shop to go around the corner to get a, this is right in Union Square to go to the grocery and of course two cops stopped me and started molesting me, throwing their hands all over me, squeezing my genitals, this and that. I'm asking them, What's going on?" They won't tell me. So they leave me alone. I go to the store. You know I better go check on my friends. Sure enough I went back and mind you they patted me down. A second time back, they see me like four or six of them just grab me and start doing the same thing, knock my food out of my hands, smash my face in the wall. Really manhandling me and this time he produces a straw and that's his evidence of drug use. I had a straw in my pocket, And, you know, this was for protesting that, you know, you can't just pull people out of coffee shops, and, you know, search them for no reason, you know, other than the sight of them. So, I'm here to get the straw thing dismissed, hopefully. They're giving me a hard time with it, but I'm pretty confident.

George