According to officer Pruitt, Markeson had "yelled" at him and refused orders to step backwards from the car. Markeson, however, says he was obedient and contends that it was Pruitt who got angry. "He started to get more belligerent as the seconds ticked by," Markeson says of the officer. "Next thing I know, he’s grabbing my wrist and twisting it behind my back." Markeson is retaining counsel from lawyer Jacqueline Dowd, who, as we reported last month, will also be representing Food Not Bombs in a February re-hearing of the group’s federal lawsuit against Orlando’s “group feeding ordinance.” Besides the charges against Markeson, Dowd also finds it ridiculous that standing or stopping would be outlawed at a sidewalk-lined circle which seems to encourage, well, stopping and standing. “I wonder what the circle is for, then – maybe to drive around for the fun of it, to make the kids in the backseat dizzy?” she says. Naturally, Markeson, who invoked U.S. plans for war on Iran in our discussion, believes the police’s presence near the park was calculated intimidation, not routine parking duty. “I’d seriously doubt you’d find police leaning against their cars any other day of the week, doing parking enforcement [next to the park],” he said. Orlando police spokeswoman Barbara Jones, communicating with the Weekly through email, says that officers are doing parking enforcement “all the time” in the area.
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