NYPD Pummels Broken Social Scene-ster
As arguably America's cultural capital (or so we'd like to think, anyhow, what with bands like Haunted Pussy running around), New York should take a lot of pride in the talented artists visiting our music scene. Last week, the family-friendly SummerStage series at Central Park, hosted the popular Candian band Broken Social Scene. When BSS's Dave Newfeld and a friend hit Lexington Park to stock up on their necessary pre-show weed (dude, you can't have an arts scene and expect sobriety), Newfeld experienced firsthand NYPD's legendary devotion to public safety:
"We walk around the corner, and all the sudden I'm tackled in a football style attack, like a mugger would do, you know? You grab the person and catch them by surprise and they ambush in a football tackle. And then they're like, 'Police, police, police! Fucking put your hands behind you!'" Due to the lax drug laws in Canada, Newfeld says he didn't connect what he assumed to be a mugging with his schwag score, assuming the "police" claim was a ploy by thugs to keep their victims passive for an easy stick-up.
"They started punching me in the face and beating the shit out of me and throwing me on the ground, so I'm trying to get away— not fight them back, because I'm not capable of that, but just to escape. And then they threatened to break my hand and I'm like, "No, don't break my hand! I'm a musician. I gotta fuckin' play tomorrow! And so I'm really freaking out, and at that point I thought, 'Just take my wallet, whatever. Don't break my hand. My wallet's not worth it.'"
Certainly not when it's filled with all that Canadian cash. Shame on the NYPD for not going for some valuable Euros.
