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Baruch College instructor arrested after Saturday march – Metro US

Baruch College instructor arrested after Saturday march

PHOTOS: No justice, no peace – the NYC Millions March
Miles Dixon

A Baruch College English instructor was arrested Sunday for allegedly assaulting two NYPD lieutenants on the Brooklyn Bridge after a civil rights march turned violent late Saturday night.

Eric Linsker, 29, was charged with robbery, assault on a police officer, riot, resisting arrest, reckless endangerment, obstructing governmental administration and unlawful possession of marijuana.

The alleged assault took place just hours after the peaceful end of an organized march that saw tens of thousands of people walk through Manhattan Saturday afternoon to demand justice for Eric Garner, Michael Brown and other men who have been killed by police. Police estimated 25,000 people — while organizers put the crowd at 60,000 — walked from Washington Square to Herald Square, then turned downtown to police headquarters.

Police say Linsker tried to throw a garbage can at two NYPD lieutenants on the Brooklyn Bridge roadway around 8 p.m. Officers trying to arrest him were blocked by protesters, who knocked the policemen to the ground, kicked them and tried to take their radios and jackets, said John Miller, deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism. Both officers were hospitalized, one with a broken nose.

Linsker, of Brooklyn, is an adjunct faculty member and teaches one composition class at Baruch, president Mitchel Wallerstein said in a statement Sunday.

“While we believe firmly in the exercise of free speech, we deplore violence of any kind and will support the official investigation of this matter,” Wallerstein wrote.

Linsker attended Harvard University and the University of Iowa, according to his author profile on Amazon. He co-edits an “online journal of fast poetry” called The Claudius App. A poem by Linsker on adult-mag.com called “Thwaites” includes verses such as “f* the police.”

“The readings we do in class are pretty weird,” one student wrote on the website Rate My Professors. “I mean if you love reading about sex in the most poetically disturbing way possible, go for it.”

Police said they found a bag with hammers and a mask in it on the bridge, but could not confirm the items belonged to Linsker.

A police department spokesperson said one other person has been arrested on disorderly conduct charges on Saturday.

“The Millions March ended at 1 Police Plaza,” said Millions March spokesperson Kate McNeely. “Everything that happened afterwards was organized by other loops, who were calling the shots.”