Fergie's Tech Blog

NYPD Intelligence Operation Targets Dot-Matrix Graffiti Bike

Graduate student Josh Kinberg tested his protest bike before the 2004 Republican National Convention with the chalk message, "I love New York."
Image source: Bikes Against Bush / Wired News

Though they'd never seen him use the bike, the police arrested Kinberg on criminal mischief charges prior to the convention start, during an interview on Broadway Avenue with MSNBC's Ron Reagan. The arrest took place on a spot where, two days earlier, Kinberg had printed out the water-soluble message, "America is a free speech zone" during an interview with MSNBC's Countdown With Keith Olbermann.

During his 24 hours in lockup, his bike was inspected and praised by bomb-squad technicians, while detectives traded Polaroids of his creation and members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force questioned whether he knew violent protesters. Kinberg's charges were later dropped, on the condition he not get arrested again for six months.

It wasn't until December of last year that Kinberg learned his arrest was less spontaneous than it appeared.

posted by Fergie @ 4/09/2007 10:22:00 PM