More than a year-and-a-half after 19 South Asian students were arrested on charges of criminal trespass for congregating on a ball field on Long Island, all charges have finally been dismissed, Marvin Zevin, cooperating attorney with the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU), Nassau Chapter, told News India-Times last week.

Judge Margaret Reilly of Nassau County First District Court dismissed on June 29 charges against the remaining four students on grounds of lack of a speedy trial.

The case originated on Oct. 25, 2002, when Herricks High School Superintendent John Bierwirth asked the police to arrest a group of students who were dispersing after being asked to leave the ball field of the Centre St. Elementary School in Williston Park. Taken away in handcuffs, they spent several hours locked up at the police precinct where both they and their parents claimed they were mocked at on racial grounds.

A year ago the charges of disorderly conduct and criminal trespass were dismissed by Judge Lea Ruskin of Nassau County District Court on the grounds of insufficient evidence. When the District Attorney sought to re-present the charges to the Grand Jury, Judge Ruskin declined to grant permission.

Nevertheless, both the DA and the school superintendent proceeded to try a third time by bringing the same charges against four of the students who had been asked to leave the ball field earlier that same day. With no new evidence, it is these charges that Judge Reilly dismissed on June 29.

Attorneys for NYCLU Nassau, who have been representing the students, have also brought a claim of racial profiling against the Nassau County Police Department and the school superintendent on the grounds that none of the white or light-skinned students present were arrested.

Cooperating attorney Zevin, a private lawyer who volunteers with NYCLU Nassau to fight civil rights cases without a fee, told News India-Times that “These charges were baseless from the start. The police found no weapons, no drugs or alcohol, no injuries or evidence of a fight. The persistence of the prosecutors did not fool the judges, which should enhance our faith in the integrity of the courts.”

He added: “We are suing them in federal court for damages for violating the civil rights of the students.”

Asked about the size of the damages sought, Zevin said: “The size of the damages is not important. What is important is the issue of civil rights. The police arrested only the dark-skinned students, letting the fair-skinned kids go. That’s the issue.”

Assistant legal director of NYCLU Nassau, E. Christopher Murray, who has filed the civil suits, was quoted in a press release as saying “Now we plan to go full steam ahead with our civil complaint to recover damages inflicted by this frivolous and prolonged criminal prosecution.”

NYCLU Nassau has also filed a civil suit on behalf of Dr. Balvinder Sareen, father of one of the students, who had complained to the police and the NYCLU originally. Six days after the arrests he was stopped by the police, detained while he and his car was searched and let go. According to chapter director Barbara Bernstein, this was “pure intimidation in retaliation for his complaint, since the police gave him no ticket for an expired inspection ticket, indicating they had no reason to stop him in the first place.”