Disabled protesters arrested at Sen. Cory Gardner's Denver office after 2-day
sit-in.. Ten protesters - most with disabilities - were arrested in U.S. Sen.
Cory Gardner's Denver office Thursday, two days after they began a sit-in to
demand that the Republican lawmaker pledge to oppose the GOP's plan to repeal
and replace Obamacare. Protesters, some in wheelchairs or lying on the floor,
chanted "Rather go to jail than die without Medicaid! while Denver police
stood in the doorway of Gardner's downtown office and ordered them to leave.
The demonstrators live-streamed their own arrests on Facebook while the chanting
continued. Police also used video cameras to record the arrests. "Stop
fighting," a police officer told one of the demonstrators as officers moved in.
"We're not fighting," one responded as an officer restrained a fellow
demonstrator and began carrying him away. Police picked up some protesters,
restrained
them, forced them into their wheelchairs and wheeled them out of the office.
"You're under arrest," an officer said. "Sen. Gardner, shame on you!
demonstrators
chanted as the first person was removed from the office. Protesters initially
took over Gardner's waiting room Tuesday when the office opened at 9:30 a.m.
Nine protesters stayed the night Tuesday, turning it into what resembled a dorm
room with blankets and food. Eight more spent the night Wednesday. Nine
were intending to spend the night again Thursday. The action was organized by
ADAPT, a Colorado-born organization that works nationally to promote disability
rights. Protesters said they've been arrested multiple times doing ADAPT
actions. Dawn Howard joined ADAPT in January and said she had been arrested
three
times before Thursday. Protesters said they want Gardner to commit to protect
Medicaid spending, including assisted-living services that help many with
ability issues live independently. Advocates say those services would be cut in
the proposed Senate health care bill, which the group wants Gardner to
oppose. Before the arrests, Gardner's state director read a statement to the
protesters saying building management informed the office that it was in
violation
of its lease and both staff and the protesters had to leave. Two of the 11 - a
mother and her 16-year-old daughter - left. Police responded to a signed
complaint from a representative at the senator's office that people were
trespassing, said Denver Police spokesman Sonny Jackson. "The top priority
throughout
this protest has been allowing these individuals to exercise their First
Amendment rights in a safe environment," Casey Contres, a Gardner spokesman,
said
in a statement after the arrests began. "In order to allow this, staff have
slept in the office for two nights and assisted and aided these individuals
with several matters to ensure they were comfortable and safe. Earlier this
evening, Denver police asked the individuals to leave. When they declined to
leave, the police were forced to remove them due to several factors, including
serious concerns for their health and safety. Protesters Lonnie Smith, Dawn
Russell and Kalyn Heffernan, an MC with the rap group Wheelchair Sports Camp,
were taken by Denver police to a sheriff's van with a wheelchair lift. The
hands and ankles of all of them were zip-tied by police. The rest of the
protesters were held inside the building's garage and could be heard chanting
"Free our people" and "Rather go to jail than die without Medicaid. Other ADAPT
protesters chanted outside the entrance and exit to the garage. One of
those protesters, Jordan Sibayan, was arrested while trying to go into the
garage. Late Thursday afternoon, a crowd gathered on grass outside the private,
downtown office building at 1125 17th St. About a dozen Denver police officers
arrived shortly before 7 p.m. with some SUVs and a black bus. "We're not
going to go down without a fight," said Carrie Ann Lucas, one of 11 protesters
inside the office Thursday before the arrests began. She was among the final
protesters to be arrested, and she continued to live-stream the event even as
she was taken away. "I'm not resisting, but I'm not cooperating," Lucas told
officers. She uses a motorized wheelchair and a ventilator. Denver's sit-in was
one of similar actions across the nation. ADAPT national organizer Bruce
Darling said he is no longer keeping track of how many people have been
arrested nationally, saying, "There's enough that it's gotten confusing. The
biggest
so far has been in Rochester, N.Y., where 25 people were arrested. Gardner
staffers said building management told them Thursday that the other tenants
had begun to complain and that the protesters no longer could remain there.
They said they offered to help the protesters with transportation. They also
said they have taken time to listen to their concerns, including at least 16
meetings or phone calls with ADAPT activists since the start of the year.
ADAPT joined more than 80 other Colorado disability services in signing a
statement urging Gardner to vote no on the health care bill. Coloradans with
disabilities make up 7 percent of Medicaid participants but 27 percent of the
program's costs, according to the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy
and Financing. ADAPT had been talking to Gardner for a year and a half about
creating a national program to mirror Colorado's home and community-based
services that assist people with bathing, using toilets, cooking, cleaning and
more. But with those services now on the cutting block, activists said the
situation became "critical. Gardner's state director spoke with protesters
Wednesday morning to hear what they had to say. At that time, Russell said she
was hopeful that more progress would be made. The arrests prompted an outcry
from liberal activists, who echoed the protesters' demand that Gardner oppose
his party's efforts in Congress to repeal the Affordable Care Act. "This isn't
a game to the people being dragged out of his office," Alan Franklin, political
director of ProgressNow Colorado, said in a statement. "Gardner can't spin his
way out of this. It's his choice to make to serve (President Donald) Trump
over Colorado. Denver Post staff writer Kieran Nicholson contributed to this
report.