[Update Below] This week, a pair of Occupy Wall Street activists went around the city affixing "Priority Seating For The 1%" stickers to various subways as a protest to the MTA being underwritten by Wall Street. And less than a day after they did it, Jeffrey Brewer and Aaron Minter were arrested and charged with criminal mischief, making graffiti and possession of graffiti instruments. Their big mistake? They let NY1 film them pulling their stunt.
“We’re making a statement to people who use the M.T.A. system,” Brewer told NY1 on Wednesday. “Most people do not understand that 20 percent of the fare right now is going to pay specifically for financial services to the M.T.A.” All police had to do was watch the segment—they then found the two men at Union Square Park at around 6 p.m. Thursday.
“They were both very upset by the arrests and were concerned to learn what kind of charges they would be facing,” said the men's shared lawyer, Gideon O. Oliver. It's also unclear how involved Transport Workers Union, Local 100 was with the action.
Update: We spoke with Oliver, who explained that there was some confusion with the charges—Brewer and Minter were initially arrested on criminal mischief, but they weren't charged with it at arraignment on Friday.
The person who made the initial complaint told police he saw them putting stickers on subway cars, and heard them shouting and chanting phrases about JP Morgan. The two men were charged with making graffiti, possession of graffiti instruments, unlawfully posting advertisements, and three transit regulation violations (including vandalism).
But they weren't charged with criminal mischief (which is intent to damage property of another without permission). They didn't actually cause any damage to the subways—the stickers weren't exactly stickers (there was no glue adhesive). Otherwise, they would have most likely been charged with that.
Brewer had been offered time served, and Minter was offered a 14 or 15-day sentence, but
both men have chosen to fight the charges.
