Apparently politics still operate in the old-school way in Staten Island.
A local activist is suing the city claiming that he was arrested after voicing his displeasure for S.I. Borough President James Molinaro.
Edward Sullivan, who has cancer and is awaiting a liver transplant, says he was cuffed and thrown in jail only three days after he wrote a newspaper editorial criticizing the BP, and a right after he had defaced a Molinaro poster by writing "The Jerk" on it on Aug. 8, according to the Daily News.
Sullivan, 52, said he was arrested by an unidentified cop and released with a summons for criminal mischief.
Prosecutors eventually dropped the charges, but Sullivan said he got the message.
"I have cancer. I don't want to be in jail with cancer," he told the News. "It worked."
Sullivan, who is being represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union," said the cop said he had "enemies upstairs," and had been following him when he was arrested.
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"This case seeks to vindicate the fundamental right of New Yorkers to criticize public officials free of police intimidation," lawyer Christopher Dunn wrote in court papers.
Molinaro's declined to comment and city lawyers told the News they planned to investigate.
