Four of eight people charged with resisting police officers during a Punk Week gathering in Ann Arbor on Sunday met today with a private defense attorney.
Ann Arbor-based attorney Michele Kelly, who met for two hours with the defendants, said they had a right to assemble at Bandemer Park for a barbecue.
“They were not committing any crime by cooking the chicken,” said Kelly, who has not yet been retained by them.
Ann Arbor police are conducting an internal investigation into how they responded Sunday to a report of people smoking marijuana, lounging naked and having sex at the park on Lake Shore Drive.
Police say they ordered people to leave, but they refused, prompting what witnesses say was a heated exchange between officers and people who traveled to Ann Arbor from around the country for Punk Week.
Witnesses alleged officers used racial and homophobic slurs and were overly rough with people taken into custody. One witness used her cell phone to record short videos of an incident police say lasted at least 40 minutes.
Since news of the arrests broke, at least seven other defense attorneys have taken an interest in providing legal assistance in the case, Kelly said.
"A lot of people are watching this case,” Kelly said. “Deep down, everybody wants the system to work and that means everyone has to play fair.”
Kelly said she was walking her dog near the park on Sunday when some young men and women ushered her away, telling her she would be arrested.
The eight arrested Sunday are charged with resisting and obstructing police officers and disturbing the peace. They are scheduled to return to court for preliminary hearings Aug. 25.
Three remain at the Washtenaw County Jail, being held on $2,500 bonds with the right to post 10 percent, officials said this afternoon.
According to a MySpace page for Punk Week, it was started by a small group of friends who “thought it would be a good idea to have a whole week of events just for the fun of it and to see what they could get away with.” The event includes a shopping cart race.
Kelly said the defendants planned to leave the city, but are now staying here looking for work.
"They were all just coming here for the festival, and now they're just stuck," she said.
Lee Higgins covers crime and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at (734) 623-2527 and e-mail at leehiggins@annarbor.com.
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