Can't Hartford Prosecutors Handle The Truth?

Witness Statement Filed
1-30-07 In Krayeske Case
The One They Didn't Want To See


The Hartford police are wrong.

I [Marge Nichols] was standing right next to Ken Krayeske at Jodi Rell's inauguration parade on Jan. 3. My sister-in-law and I had walked down Pearl Street on our lunch hour and were standing on a small traffic island when a young man materialized on my right. There was no one else around us and just the three of us on the island. He had arrived so quietly that I mainly became aware of his presence because I found myself admiring his long telephoto lens. I'm an amateur photographer with an SLR camera sporting a more modest 28-70 zoom, so it interested me. I didn't have my camera that day, but if I'd brought it, both he and I would have been doing exactly the same thing -- standing there quietly taking photos of the parade.

This man did not rush into the parade at Rell as the Hartford police have said. Jodi Rell passed by us on the far side of the road, walking right to left toward the brownstone Arch. I said to my sister-in-law, "There's Jodi Rell." Rell seemed to have heard me because she turned toward us, smiled, waved and continued to our left. But at the same moment, this young man, still next to me on my right, was pulled behind us into a parking lot, searched, handcuffed and led away. My sister-in-law and I were very surprised and couldn't figure out what he'd done. We had certainly not felt threatened by this photographer nor in any danger.

I remember being impressed by how calmly he stood as he and his camera bag were being searched. He did not resist.

Now I did not know who this young man was then and I don't care what his views are now. But at the time he was arrested, he was not doing anything illegal, unless there is a law that prohibits photographing parades. If so, the police should take note that there were other people walking right along among the marchers holding up digital and video cameras. This man, on the other hand, had remained standing quietly next to me on the island.

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