06-23-2007, 01:27 AM
Judge dismisses suit by free-trade protester
BY ANDREA TORRES
atorres@miamiherald.com
A federal judge dismissed a case on Friday involving a clash between a student protester and riot police during the Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2003.
Edward Owaki, then a 19-year-old, traveled from the University of Amherst in Massachusetts, to protest near Biscayne Boulevard and Flagler Street on Nov. 20, 2003.
The lawsuit, filed in 2006, claims a police officer fractured Owaki's skull after hitting him with a baton three times and pinning him to the sidewalk.
After the arrest, the suit states, Owaki spent a night in jail, and then nine days in intensive care at Jackson Memorial hospital.
Miami attorneys John De Leon, Raymond J. Taseff and Elizabeth M. Iglesias represented Owaki in requesting $15,000 in restitution for damages that include loss of cognitive function and disfigurement.
Federal Judge James Lawrence King closed the case Friday in favor of City of Miami and Broward police on the grounds of insufficient evidence.
BY ANDREA TORRES
atorres@miamiherald.com
A federal judge dismissed a case on Friday involving a clash between a student protester and riot police during the Free Trade Area of the Americas in 2003.
Edward Owaki, then a 19-year-old, traveled from the University of Amherst in Massachusetts, to protest near Biscayne Boulevard and Flagler Street on Nov. 20, 2003.
The lawsuit, filed in 2006, claims a police officer fractured Owaki's skull after hitting him with a baton three times and pinning him to the sidewalk.
After the arrest, the suit states, Owaki spent a night in jail, and then nine days in intensive care at Jackson Memorial hospital.
Miami attorneys John De Leon, Raymond J. Taseff and Elizabeth M. Iglesias represented Owaki in requesting $15,000 in restitution for damages that include loss of cognitive function and disfigurement.
Federal Judge James Lawrence King closed the case Friday in favor of City of Miami and Broward police on the grounds of insufficient evidence.