St Louis Post Dispatch May 19, 1988
Title: Protesters Plead Guilty, Are Released
By William C. Lhotka and Mark Schlinkman Of the Post-Dispatch Staff

Thirty-seven disabled people arrested at wheelchair protests here this week entered guilty pleas Wednesday afternoon to charges of peace disturbance and then were released under an agreement worked out by lawyers.

The court action came after members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) held a final protest rally outside Union Station, where an association of transit systems completed its five-day regional convention Wednesday.

No new arrests were made at the 45-minute gathering, which involved about 90 people, most of them in wheelchairs.

But about 2:15 a.m. Wednesday, two able-bodied men who police said were associated with ADAPT were arrested on assault charges after fighting with police on the parking lot of the Holiday Inn, 2211 Market Street. Police were called to the scene by hotel security guards who reported a disturbance.

The incident had no connection with any protest or demonstration. Police said one of the officers had suffered a potentially serious eye injury.

In an interview Wednesday afternoon, an ADAPT leader, the Rev. Wade Blank of Denver, denied that the two men were members of The organization.

He said they were with a disabled woman from Lawrence, Kan., who had arrived in St. Louis early Wednesday. Blank said she apparently had come here to take part in the rally later in the day; he said he was unsure whether she had done so. Most of the members of ADAPT here have been staying at the Holiday Inn on Market.

The protesters want the transit group, the American Public Transit Association, to push for the installation of mechanical wheelchair lifts on all buses in the United States.

Association officials say that they support access for the disabled but that each local system should have the right to decide for itself how to provide such access.

Protesters were arrested Sunday for blocking entrances and hallways at the Omni International Hotel at Union Station and on Tuesday for blocking buses entering and leaving the Greyhound Lines depot at 801 North Broadway.

Under the agreement worked out by prosecutors and defense attorneys, Associate Circuit Judge Thomas C. Grady accepted the time the defendants served in jail after their arrests in lieu of any further sentence or fines. The judge also waived court costs.

The agreement meant that the demonstrators were free to leave St. Louis. On the other hand, they have misdemeanor convictions on their records.

Three of the 37 faced charges from both the Sunday and Tuesday protests.

Arrested in the separate incident early Wednesday were Mike Knowlen, 22, of Lawrence, Kan.., and Dana Dower, 22, of Viburnum Mo.

Police said Dower faced a felony charge of second-degree assault and misdemeanor charges of peace disturbance, resisting arrest and destruction of city property. Police said Knowlen faced misdemeanor charges of third-degree assault, peace disturbance, cruelty to an animal and interfering with an arrest.

Police said the fight had erupted as police officers attempted to arrest Knowlen. Police said Knowlen had been slapping and swinging a dog by its tail on the lot and had been shouting profanities. In the scuffle, police said, Dower fell face forward onto the trunk lid of a police car.

Police said Officer Barry Hinchey had been treated at Bethesda Eye Institute for an injured retina after he was struck on the face Hinchey also was treated, at St. Louis University Hospital, for a human bite wound. Officer Mark Chambers was also treated there for bruises.

Bill Bryan of the Post-Dispatch staff contributed information for this article.

Created on

Thursday 11 July 2013

Posted on

Wednesday 20 December 2017

Tags

ADAPT - American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit, APTA - American Public Transit Association, arrested, assault, blocking doors, buses with lifts, court, Dana Dower, Greyhound, jail, local option, Mike Knowlen, Omni Hotel, police, protest, rally, Union Station

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