Tewolde is fighting to get charges against him stemming from his February 1 arrest at the Pittsburgh Greyhound terminal dropped. Speakers at the press conference included representatives of Amnesty International, the NAACP, Islamic Council of Greater Pittsburgh, National Lawyers Guild, Thomas Merton Center, the rights group Zi, and the president of District Six of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America.

"What is being done in the name of counterterrorism has nothing to do with security," said Mary Zimmerle of Zi. "We are not safer because of what happened to Getu."

Thirty-five-year old Tewolde, a native of Ethiopia who is living legally in the United States, was traveling by bus from his home in Washington, D.C., to Denver, Colorado, where he used to reside, to pick up some of his personal belongings from his uncle.

What was supposed to be a 12-minute layover at the Greyhound station downtown in Pittsburgh became a six-week stay in the psychiatric ward of the county jail.

As he was reboarding the bus, Tewolde inadvertently brushed against a female passenger who happened to be the bus station’s night manager. "The lady right away complained about something which I didn’t understand," Tewolde said. Moments later, an agitated driver ordered Tewolde off the bus, a request he complied with. People in the crowd took some of his words as terroristic threats, although the FBI later decided they were not.

Back in the terminal a cop arrived. Saying Tewolde was threatening him, the cop attacked and beat the 125-pound man, disarming him of his "weapon"--a pen he was holding. Tewolde was charged with making terroristic threats, causing and risking a catastrophe, and aggravated and simple assault. Because he was beaten by the police, he was considered to be "undisciplined" and was placed on Disciplinary Housing Status at the Allegheny County Jail. In addition, he was placed in the Mental Health pod and given eight pills a day in 24-hour solitary confinement with no psychiatric examination.

The "simple assault" charge was dropped at the preliminary hearing on March 15. By the time of Tewolde’s formal arraignment on May 20 the "causing and risking a catastrophe" charge was dropped and a second "terroristic threat" charge was added.

The Free Getu Coalition which organized the press conference was able to arrange bail for Tewolde after getting him the Behavior Clinic exam he needed to be cleared for release.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home