Suit Turns D.C. Arrests Into Free Speech Victory

The officers allowed her to keep $50 in case she chose to pay the fine and leave. But she declined that option, fearful that it would amount to an admission of guilt that would go on her record, which she hoped to avoid with a job application pending at the Justice Department.

Around 4 a.m., she and some demonstrators were transported to D.C. Superior Court, where they were placed in a crowded holding cell. The U.S. marshals, she said, ordered her and three others to strip for a search. That afternoon, after a friend, a former public defender, came to help her, Abbate was released -- about 35 hours after her arrest.

"I was exhausted and hungry," she said.

For his part, Mayer refused the police officers' offers of food -- a bologna sandwich, a cookie and juice. And he refused to pay the $50 fine to win release. A couple of officers, he said, belittled him when he told them the arrest had been unconstitutional. "They made a reference to my being too old for doing this stuff," he said.

While his daughter and Eidinger fell asleep on their floor mats, Mayer remained awake through the night, restraints binding his wrists to his ankles so he couldn't stand up or stretch out.

By 4 p.m., they were released.

Mayer said he still goes to demonstrations, although he said he skipped last week's inaugural protests at least in part because "I feel intimidated."

But he said the District's willingness to settle the case and to alter its police procedures was reassuring. "When this happened, it felt like the end of the world," he said. "I never dreamed that this is the way it would turn out."