Police Comment on Arrests of Margaret Rague

Update 5:40 p.m., Jan. 10:

Capt. Frederick W. Komm, a spokesman for the Darien Police Department, said Monday that comments by Margaret Rague that her arrests had some connection with her Occupy Darien organizing are untrue.

The two arrests and the Occupy Darien event are separate events, he said, adding, "There's no linkage. All three incidents were mutually exclusive of one another."

He added: "We have a substantial amount of evidence to support each of the charges in which she was arrested."

Komm said he would have no further comment on the matter.

Original article, Jan. 7:

Margaret Rague, the organizer of the Occupy Darien event on Dec. 21 and 22, reportedly has been arrested a second time in just over a month, this time in connection with an incident at Papa Joe's restaurant in Noroton.

Darien Police said Rague, accompanied by her lawyer, Mark Sherman, turned herself in at department headquarters on Friday after she was notified that police had a warrant for her arrest.

Rague, 61, of 63 Dubois St., was charged with breach of peace and interfering with a police officer. Police said Rague refused to be fingerprinted, so they charged her with refusing to be fingerprinted, as well.

In a news release, police said the new charge stemmed from a Dec. 14 incident at a Darien restaurant. According to published reports, the incident occurred at Papa Joe's restaurant.

Rague's attorney, Mark Sherman of Stamford, told The Advocate of Stamford that Rague has a medically documented disability that led to her refusal to be fingerprinted. Darien police said they set a bond of $5,000 on the refusal to be fingerprinted charge, which Rague paid, and she was released.

Rague's statements on her arrest

Rague, a homeopathic doctor, said an ambulance was called for her fiance, and when paramedics were assisting him, she lost consciousness for a short time, according to a report in the Daily Darien. Rague said she told paramedics and police she did not want to be taken to a hospital, and would take a taxi back home.

On Jan. 3, Rague wrote this post (excerpted below) on the "Occupy Darien" Facebook page, describing her second arrest:

"The Darien police have falsely arrested me again. Imagine this—no arrest by the Darien police for 23 years, where I have peacefully resided in this town. I organize Occupy Darien and they arrest me twice. Fascism in action.

"Moreover, they are telling my attorney that if I do not let them fingerprint my painfully arthritic ridden fingers, they are charging me $5,000 bail.

"I am a doubly disabled person—I have arthritis in most of my joints and I am visually challenged. At no point have the police complied with the Americans with Disabilities Act—and they are not doing so now. I am in the process of retaining an attorney to sue them for a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"When they arrested me for the second time, they said you are under arrest for refusing to accept medical services. My doctor had just told them over the phone that they [sic] he had seen me hours ago and they should let me walk home. He then worked out a compromise with them that I could take a cab. I agreed to do this. When I got off the phone with him, I said I would take a cab home.

"At that point, the commanding officer said, arrest her. He specifically told me I was being arrested for refusing medical services. (My fiance, who also refused medical services, was not arrested. He witnessed this entire set of events.)

"They said this time we are manacling you in front—thereby referring to my previous arrest—they knew exactly who they were arresting. They shoved me against a wall [...]

"They forced me onto a stretcher and painfully cinched my body with belts, thereby exacerbating my arthritis even further. Before this even happened, they stepped on my new eyeglasses and broke them, thus blinding me, as they deliberately blinded me during my first arrest (for hours).

"They followed me to the hospital and even trailed me to the bathroom. All I had left was my twisted glasses, which I kept trying to get back into position so I could see something. This whole experience drove my heart rate to between 37 and 130, which was very frightening.

"The doctors finally sent them away. My eyeglasses disappeared, and the staff did not take them, which makes it obvious who did take them—trying to hide and/or destroy the evidence.

"People, this is sheer brutality and fascism. Fight it, with every last breath you have. I am 61, have two cardiac conditions and have had arthritis for 40 years. This country is in a state of a fascism. [...]"

Here's a timeline of Rague's police incidents and the Occupy Darien event:

• Dec. 3— near 1020 Post Rd.
• Dec. 7—In an interview with Darien Patch, of brutality and false arrest when they took her into custody on Dec. 3.
• Dec. 16—incident at Papa Joe's Restaurant
• Dec. 21-22— event ; few attend
• Jan. 3—Rague describes the incident on the "Occupy Darien" Facebook page.
• Jan. 5 (Thursday)—In a statement posted to Darien Patch, connected with the Occupy Darien and describes successful aspects of it
• Jan. 6 (Friday)—arrest on a warrant in connection with the Dec. 16 incident at Papa Joe's
• Jan. 9 (Monday)—next court date for Dec. 3 arrest
• Jan. 16—first court date for Papa Joe's incident arrest