A 64-year-old Bulgarian immigrant and Hoboken, NJ resident is fighting the local bureaucracy over what he calls an "unconstitutional and irrelevant ticket" for disorderly conduct on a PATH train. And it stems from looking at a heavily tattooed woman.
Vesselin Dittrich tells the NY Times that while riding on the train in August 2010, he thought the woman sitting across from him was all blue: "Since he has only partial vision in his left eye, his eyesight can be faulty. After enough of a look, he realized the woman was heavily tattooed." But the woman was upset he was looking at her, and Dittrich says she asked him to leave the train and he refused:
She threatened to call the police. Overhearing this, the conductor summoned the Port Authority police, and three officers arrived.
After speaking to the woman, an officer told Mr. Dittrich there would be no charges, he said, but requested identification. He told her he did not want to give it. She told him, he said, that he would be charged with obstruction. He gave his name and address. Then she asked what country he was from. He said he did not have to say. When she insisted and he insisted, he was taken to the police station in handcuffs and given a summons.
Dittrich, who works as a translator in NYC, refused a plea deal to downgrade the offense to municipal ordinance violation and now Hudson County prosecutors say that if Dittrich doesn't plead guilty or pay a fine, they want him jailed. But Dittrich points out, "The police had not accused me of any other crime, offense, or any other wrongdoing," besides not giving his country of origin.
The Port Authority told the Hudson Reporter, "In general, the need for PAPD to ask a suspect for country or origin pedigree information is made on a case by case basis, determined by several factors, including whether there is a language barrier (so we can get an interpreter) or whether we need further information to confirm a person’s identity." But the Hudson Reporter also points out that the ACLU says "people being questioned by police do not have to answer questions about where they are originally from... Under State v. Camillo, refusal to provide name, date of birth, and Social Security number to police is not a crime." Seriously, since when is NJ Arizona?
Dittrich also believes he's being targeted because he's a bit of a local activist, demanding information about local properties and local workers' salaries. The trial is set for December 13.
