Gregory Pflugfelder had just finished the final class of his career at Columbia. In 28 years at the university, he achieved many accolades as a professor of history who taught a popular course on Japanese monsters – mostly focused on Godzilla and “the role of the monstrous in the cultural imagination.”
He didn’t know it, but a cultural monster of sorts would soon be at his door.
The next night, on Tuesday, the 64-year-old silver-haired scholar stepped outside his apartment building, located off campus across the street from Columbia. He wanted to record iPhone video of hundreds of police responding to historic student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza. Fifteen minutes later, the NYPD arrested him.
He was charged with obstructing a government organization. Obstruction of Government Administration under NY Penal Law § 195.05 is a class A misdemeanor. A class A misdemeanor is punishable by up to one year in jail or up to three years of probation. Additionally, the court may impose a fine of up to $1,000.
For holding an iPhone in the street.
Yeah that case is getting tossed. The bigger question is whether or not he files suit for the arrest, which he should.
Presumably that’s the strategy: arrest everyone to break up the protests and scare off future protests , then drop charges since you really don’t have any. Bonus that most students don’t have the resources to sue for wrongful arrest. It would be a shame if they arrested someone who did
Bonus bonus points, even if charges are dropped, the fact that you were arrested still shows up on your criminal record, and may affect your employment opportunities.