DECLARATION OF CONCEPCION PICCIOTTO

NOVEMBER 12, 1996

On or about 1 a.m. it was very windy, and the radio said it was 24 degrees, I was covered by a piece of plastic. I heard someone saying, "Here, lady, is a little thing for you. I looked out of the plastic cover, and a man handed me five one dollar bills. I noticed a Park Police paddy wagon parked in the middle of the street in front of my signs.

I kept listening to my little radio.

At about 2 a.m. I heard somebody right behind my signs, to the north, saying. "Hey you, why do you bother my dog. I looked and there was a man standing behind me looking furious.

I said, "What dog?" He began cursing at me with "F's you," etc.

Then I looked to the other side and I saw a German shepherd dog running loose.

I said I do not bother anybody, for I was just listening to my radio.

The man angrily picked up my bicycle and smashed it down on my literature.

I looked for a police cruiser, or the paddy wagon, but it had left.

I saw a Park Police officer across the street and called his attention, saying that the man with the dog was threatening me.

The officer moved in slow motion. He told the man to leash his dog. He saw my bicycle on top of my stuff.

I was very frightened and I asked for the man's name.. The officer was not trying to get the man's name and I was insisting that he ask for the man's ID.

By then a Park Police cruiser came, followed by the paddy wagon. The officers finally asked for the man's ID. The man kept his eyes on me most of the time.

Another Park Police cruiser came and the officer spoke with the man, very close, as if whispering in his ear.

I insisted to have the man's name.

They ordered the man and his dog into the paddy wagon and left.

I kept asking the officers who stayed in the park for the man's name.

The same officer who, on or about October 29, 1996, first accused me of "camping," when I wasn't even sleeping, and then accused me of being in violation of the three cubic feet, refused to give me that man's name, and said, "We already took care of him. You are in violation of the Code of Federal Regulations, three cubic feet, three cubic feet, three cubic feet." He kept saying louder, and louder.

I said that I had just what I need for my demonstration, and we were trying to straighten out any misunderstanding with the Solicitor's Office.

By then the same paddy wagon returned. It was gone for just a very short time. Because it came back so quickly, it appears to me that they let the man out within a few blocks.

The paddy wagon remained in the middle of the street in front of my demonstration. The cruiser came and went a few times talking to the officers in the paddy wagon. About 5:30 a.m. the paddy wagon left.

Confronted, by a man who was behaving violently, and accompanied by a large dog, I was very frightened for my physical safety.

I think there is something very wrong if police officers wink at a person who is threatening a citizen, and mistreating their property, ignore the citizen's complaints, and then accuse the citizen of violating a petty offense.