Mexican Rock Star Profiled, Arrested By NYPD On Bogus Gravity Knife Charges
Mexican-born goth rock star Rafael Reyes was profiled and arrested by NYPD under the controversial and often challenged "gravity knife" statute.
Rafael Reyes Discusses NYC's Stop & Frisk, Racial Profiling as his Band Prayers Returns to NYC
August 18, 2014 should have been a Big Apple celebration for Mexican-born goth musician Rafael Reyes who was in New York with his bandmate Dave Parley to play a series of sold out shows. Their pioneering cholo goth band Prayers had been nominated for three San Diego Music Awards in his hometown, and Prayers’ most recent video, conceived by Reyes and promoting the title track of their second self-produced album, Gothic Summer, had cracked 100,000 views on YouTube.
But instead Reyes found himself handcuffed and arrested just hours before he was due onstage. A visitor to NYC, whose onstage appearance was providing jobs and tax revenue, a tourist who was spending close to thousand dollars a day in the city, Reyes was stopped and frisked because of his appearance and arrested for an archaic, frequently challenged and criticized New York law prohibiting the possession of a “gravity knife.” The heavily tattooed singer recounts, "Two guys rushed me on the subway platform. I thought I was about to get down with a pair of lames. Once I squared up to fight they pulled out their badges and said, “NYPD, put your hands in the air,” then they handcuffed me searched my pockets found my blade and said, 'This is illegal you're going to jail.' ”
The blade in question was a three-inch long folding knife, legal in California where Reyes lives. Growing up in San Diego’s Sherman Grant Heights Park gang, Reyes, who also goes by the stage name Leafar Seyer, knows the finer points of weapons legality in his home state and abides by them. But there were no warnings about knives when he landed at JFK Airport two days before. Reyes continued, "No one told me a knife was illegal in New York. My knife is legal at home in California and I use the knife onstage during Prayers shows. If had known, I wouldn’t have been carrying it. It would have been at the venue with our gear, which is where we were headed. It didn’t matter to the cops that I was performer going to a gig with a prop I use onstage. As a tattooed Mexican, I was profiled, then stopped and frisked. And my honest mistake, which was a tourist’s ignorance of the law, added to the NYPD's arrest records for the day."
In the past decade, over ,000 people—disproportionately people of color—have been arrested by the NYPD for gravity knives, 60">according to the Village Voice's extensive coverage. Since 2010, New York City has paid out at least $347,500 for false arrest and malicious prosecution claims related to the gravity knife statute. Passed in 1956, the law was designed to ban switchblades, but nowadays, when even Swiss Army knives can be opened with a swift flick of the wrist, the NYPD has been adding gravity knife charges to its stop and frisk policy—and more times than not the person arrested is simply a working stiff carrying a folding knife as part of his job, including visual artist John Copeland who was arrested for possessing a knife he uses to cut canvas, and acclaimed chef Nate Appleman who was arrested for a knife he carried to open cardboard boxes, reports the Village Voice. The arrests serve to make the city's controversial stop-and-frisk policy appear more effective, while clogging the courts and costing the city money in settlements. Joel Berger, a civil rights attorney in Manhattan who has successfully defended gravity knife cases, was quoted in the Village Voice as saying, "'There have been so many reports of people who possess ordinary utility knives, often for use in their jobs, and police officers literally just make up a claim that it’s really a gravity knife.' The goal is often to “get an extra collar on their record,” Berger said.
As his bandmate Dave Parley snapped photos of the arrest, Reyes was handcuffed, put in a squad car and processed into jail. Luckily, Parley was able to bail out his lead singer using a stash of cash they had for emergencies. Reyes spent five hours behind bars, but got out in time to make Prayers NYC debut gig in front of a sold out crowd.
As a then-two strike felon in California (his charges have since been expunged)but Reyes’ attorney assured him that at most he would get an adjournment in contemplation of dismissal, which is a standard in gravity knife cases. However he would have to return to New York at his own expense to attend the trial. "What was weird was that the whole way to the station one of the cops kept talking about how cool my knife was, playing with it, and asking me where I got it."
The singer—who with Parley, has recorded with Travis Barker, DJ Klever, Skinhead Rob and Christian Death—returned four months later for his trial. In Los Angeles, a high priestess witch was doing special spells for his court victory, while his friends, family and fans offered prayers and good wishes. When the case was called, the evidence—his knife so admired by the arresting officer—could not be produced. It had “gotten lost” in the evidence room. With no knife, there could be no prosecution. His case was dismissed, and on the advice of his witch, Reyes left an offering of rum, a cigar and other items at a crossroads in Brooklyn. He jokes, "I was worried I might get a ticket for littering! But seriously, I realize I was lucky. Not everyone has the luxury of being bailed out of jail, or being able to afford a return trip for their trial. Since this incident, I have been reading about New York’s gravity knife law and how it has been unfairly used to arrest people, especially non-whites. I hope that the state legislature repeals or modifies the law so that honest hardworking people—handymen, utility workers, stagehands, those members of IATSE who must show up with work knives or face penalties—can go about their business of earning a living without getting caught up into the jail system."
Despite his unpleasant encounter with NYPD, Reyes loves New York and New York loves Prayers. Along with their 2014 club gigs, Prayers played to a celebrity packed crowd at Rochambeau's Fashion Week show earlier this year. Prayers returns to New York, appearing at Santos Party House on December 4, almost a year after Reyes' court appearance, in support of their acclaimed, award winning third album Young Gods, produced by Travis Barker. Says Reyes, "While Prayers’ music comes from the streets of San Diego and the darker recesses of the Southern California dream, our themes of struggle, loss, betrayal, vulnerability and the aftermath of violence are universal. This city understands us, and the fans are our family. We can’t wait to deliver at Santos Party House."
Become a Community Contributor.
