By:Brian Zanzonico
Traslavina, 17, was cleared in Manhattan criminal court Thursday, Dec. 9 of all charges related to his arrest on the floor of the Republican National Convention at Madison Square Garden Sept. 1.
The honors student was covering the convention for the school's newspaper, the Malverne Mule, which he edits. He was in attendance with the Junior Statesmen Foundation, a student leadership organization, and had all necessary press credentials. He was awaiting an 11:30 a.m. speech by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers when members of the AIDS activist group ACT UP tore off their ties and blazers to unveil anti-Bush T-shirts. They then began shouting anti-Bush slogans. Traslavina, just 50 yards away, starting walking over to the mob with other members of the press to snap photos.
"Then whistles blew and the Secret Service charged in," said Traslavina, a senior.
Secret Service began rounding up the ACT UP protesters and Traslavina, 16 at the time, was grabbed and handcuffed. He immediately professed his innocence, which was supported by ACT UP members, and showed his press passes. Despite confirmation from ACT UP that he was not one of them, his camera was taken away and his film destroyed. He was brought with the protesters deep inside Madison Square Garden.
Traslavina and the protesters were loaded into a police wagon at about midnight and taken to Chelsea Piers for fingerprinting and mug shots. They were later transferred to a precinct on Center St., where he was stripped of his belt and shoe laces like a real criminal for fear of suicide. But he was kept out of population and moved from cell to cell with the other protesters. He thought he was only being charged with disorderly conduct but learned he was being charged with a felony for inciting a riot, misdemeanor assault and a violation for misconduct.
It was well past midnight and he still had not spoken to his parents. Luckily, a police officer offered his cell phone. Traslavina called home and found his parents had been notified about what happened by the Young Statesmen but did not know where he was. A judge eventually released him Sept. 2 without bail. Traslavina's parents' next move was hiring flamboyant civil rights attorney Ron Kuby.
In October, Traslavina was cleared of the felony and misdemeanor charges. Last week, the violation charge was dropped.
"I've learned how incredibly important it is to protect civil liberties," Traslavina said. "This was a wake-up call on how fragile they are."
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