Ridgewood Anti-Racist Group Wants Charges Against Founder Dropped

RIDGEWOOD, NJ — More than 250,000 people have watched Thria Margareth Bernabe's arrest on Twitter. Now, a local anti-racist group is demanding that the Ridgewood Police Department drop the charges against her.

Bernabe, 22, of Ridgewood, was arrested during a July 4 protest when police say she refused a request to walk on the sidewalk instead of the street. She has been charged with obstructing a highway or other public passage.

Ridgewood for Black Liberation, an anti-racist group made up of Ridgewood High School alumni and Village residents, has posted an online petition calling for the charges against her to be dropped.

Bernabe is a founding member of the group.

Posted yesterday, but circulated on Twitter this afternoon, the petition has received over 300 signatures.

Bernabe's attorney, Gregory M. Jachts, penned a letter to Attorney General Grewal in which he requested that the AG's Office open an investigation into unconstitutional policing by Ridgewood PD.

"It is our contention that the arrest was unlawful and is an incident of unconstitutional policing," he wrote. "The face that this unlawful arrest was ordered by the police chief exemplifies the institutional authorization of unconstitutional policing."

The letter also details an account of Bernabe's time in custody, in which an officer was not wearing a face covering or mask, despite Bernabe's request for him to do so.

Bernabe, according to both the group and her attorney, is immunocompromised.

Video of the arrest was circulated widely by activist and Paterson educator Zellie Imani, who tagged Gov. Phil Murphy, as well as Grewal.

A second video shows another angle of the arrest, in which Bernabe crosses the street using a crosswalk, before briefly stepping into the street and signaling for fellow protesters to keep moving.

Once she leaves the crosswalk, she is almost immediately apprehended.

In addition to the online petition, Ridgewood for Black Liberation released an official statement on Thursday, which detailed their demands for change within both the Ridgewood PD and Ridgewood Public Schools.

In response to the arrest on July 4, Ridgewood Police Chief Jacqueline Luthcke said the department is in support of protests, but the request to stay on the sidewalk, and subsequent arrest, was done for safety reasons.

"The Ridgewood Police Department fully supports the right of citizens to protest peacefully and safely," Luthcke said. "We also support the rights of citizens to be free from others imposing upon their civil liberties."