I wonder if the cops who pushed her and hit her in the back will apologize too?
http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/news/21118413/detail.htmlPITTSBURGH -- Lauren Wasson, who was seen on video Thursday night throwing a bicycle at police during a G-20 protest, was released from the Allegheny County Jail after posting $10,000 dollars bond.
Slideshow - Woman Charged After Throwing Bike At Officers
Video - 'Bike Girl' Explains Her Side, Apologizes
Wasson, who was charged with of aggravated assault against a police officer, she told her side of the story to WTAE Channel 4 Action News on Saturday.
“A girl got knocked down in front of me and I had my bike with me, so I was trying to go around the girl and help her up. I was yelling at the cop, 'Please, let his girl up. Please stop, let her up.' And, they were just yelling, 'Move,' and taking their bikes and physically hitting people with their bikes," Wasson said.
[A spectator hits a police officer with her bike while police clear out Schenley Plaza in Oakland]
A spectator hits a police officer with her bike while police clear out Schenley Plaza in Oakland
WTAE Channel 4 Action News video shows Wasson appearing on her bicycle in the midst of a smoke-filled melee at Schenley Plaza and getting shoved off the bike by a police officer, then shoved again by another officer.
In the video, Wasson picks up the bike and tosses it at police, who immediately wrestle her to the ground and handcuffed her.
Wasson said she wasn't resisting, but she reacted fast when she said she was hit with a nightstick.
"My thoughts weren't entirely in tact. I reacted very, very abruptly, but that's basically what happened," she said.
Team 4 asked the Pittsburgh Police Bureau why officers shoved Wasson while she was moving in sync with the rest of the crowd.
'Bike Girl' -- Woman Throws Bike At Pittsburgh Police During G-20 Protest
"If I did hurt anyone with my bike -- which I hope I didn't -- I apologize."
- Lauren Wasson
Police spokeswoman Diane Richard said Wasson was "asked to disperse repeatedly and ignored the warnings. She was obstructing traffic at the intersection of Bellefield and Forbes."
Pittsburgh Police Chief Nate Harper said it's hard to talk about individual arrests, but that police followed crowd-control protocol.
"We do not take action until after we give at least several orders to disperse, which gives them plenty of time to leave the area. If they decide to stay in the area, then we will arrest them for failure to disperse," Harper said.
Wasson called it excessive force by police, saying her arm went backwards and her face was shoved to the pavement. The district attorney called what Wasson did aggravated assault.
Wasson said she doesn't want to return to jail.
"If I did hurt anyone with my bike -- which I hope I didn't -- I apologize," Wasson said.
Team 4's Jim Parsons reported that Wasson became known as "the bike girl" among employees at Municipal Court downtown who saw the WTAE Channel 4 Action News video from Oakland.
Video:Watch Parsons' Report And See The Bike Throw
Mark Dunn -- Wasson's supervisor at Double Wide Grill on the South Side -- said on Friday that Wasson took off work Thursday night so she could check out the G-20 protests.
"I told her it wasn't a good idea to go down there, to stay away," said Dunn.
"I mean, she's a good person. I don't know why she would throw a bike," Dunn said. "Good person, but she has an attitude. Everybody liked her."
"She's just that kind of person -- like, since I've met her, if she believes in something, she's going to stand up for it," said Wasson's coworker, Julie Chewar.
Vic Walczak, of the American Civil Liberties Union in Pittsburgh, said Wasson should have never thrown the bicycle at officers but they also should not have shoved her.
Wasson now awaits a court date on Wednesday.
Josh Berman, a freshman at the University of Pittsburgh, was also arrested during the Schenley Plaza gathering and spent the night in jail. He said police officers didn't allow him to follow their command to disperse.
"I look up the street, up Forbes. There's a wall of cops coming at me this way and another that way. There really was no way you could get out of there. You move and you get taken down," Berman told Team 4.
