Kadeem Arrindell-Martin leaves Judge John Brunetti court after being arraigned. He was shot by cops after police said he tried to run them over with a car

The lawyer for a Syracuse man shot by police during a confrontation said today that “police were wrong” when they stopped the man for suspected drug activity.

Kadeem Arrindell-Martin, 24, was shot once in the abdomen after three Syracuse detectives said Arrindell-Martin sped at them in a car after they approached him. A grand jury found the officers acted in self-defense and they were not charged.

But defense lawyer Charles Keller said the fact his client was not charged with drug crimes speaks volumes.

“In the first days after these allegations, we heard a lot about drug deals, things like that,” Keller said. “And I would say that, conspicuously, the indictment has not one word or mention of drugs. No one else is charged with possessing, receiving or selling drugs whatsoever. I think that speaks volumes about the credibility of the case here.”

His client was “talking to a friend, completely innocent” when the police approached him, Keller said.

Arrindell-Martin was arraigned today on charges of felony attempted aggravated assault of a police officer, accused of trying to hit the officers with the car. He also faces two counts of reckless endangerment and unlawfully fleeing a police officer in the July 22 incident on Columbus Avenue on the city’s East Side.

Arrindell-Martin was in-and-out of the hospital with complications from the injury in the weeks afterward. He has been out of jail on $100,000 bail. Today, he arrived at the courtroom with a slight limp, with his mother and others arriving a few minutes later.

“He’s around and about, as you see, but he’s still not without complications,” Keller said, declining to elaborate further.

Prosecutor Joseph Coolican declined comment after court. District Attorney William Fitzpatrick did not address the lack of drug charges in a news release Tuesday on the indictment. He did say that the officers were involved in a “drug investigation” at the time.

Keller said repeatedly that there was no proof Arrindell-Martin was involved in drugs.

“So no matter what, we know the police were wrong,” the lawyer said.

But Keller also wouldn’t say that police “botched” the investigation, or that officers stopped Arrindell-Martin for no reason.

“Whatever (the police) thought, whether appropriate or inappropriate, they were wrong,” Keller said. “And that wrong belief is how we get here today.”

Keller also didn’t defend the accusations of his client driving at the officers, saying he’s not going to litigate the case in the media.

Arrindell-Martin’s mother attended court today. She declined comment afterward, deferring to the lawyer.

Syracuse.com learned after the shooting that Arrindell-Martin’s arrest was part of a crackdown of East Side gangs in the wake of a Fourth of July homicide at Thornden Park.

There was an extensive grand jury presentation including dozens of witnesses that lasted two weeks.

Keller said prosecutors attempted to talk to another man with Arrindell-Martin that day. He did not know if they were successful and he isn’t allowed to see grand jury testimony.

Fitzpatrick described what Arrindell-Martin is accused of doing after being stopped:

“Syracuse Police Detectives Jason Eiffe, Jeffrey Ballagh and Edward Falkowski were participating in a drug investigation when Arrindell-Martin attempted to flee in a motor vehicle. As Arrindell-Martin drove at the officers at a high rate of speed, they opened fire striking Arrindell-Martin once in the abdomen,” Fitzpatrick wrote in his news release.

by Douglass Dowty for Syracuse.com

The Syracuse reports that  two men who police say helped organize a protest against the death of a Baltimore man in police custody have been charged with violating city law by not having a permit for the protest.

Rev. Lemorris Micah O. Dexter II, 45, and Derek Ford, 30, were each charged with violating the city’s general ordinances that require permits for assemblies or parades.

According to a complaint signed by Lt. Richard Shoff, who oversees the Syracuse police Ordinance Enforcement Division, Dexter and Ford were observed assembling, marching and congregating with about 80 other people in the middle of South Clinton Street.

The group was seen obstructing southbound traffic on Clinton Street and east-west traffic on Erie Boulevard, Shoff wrote. The incident occurred about 2 p.m. on April 30.

A lengthy afternoon of protests that day ended peacefully in Syracuse despite arguments, some traffic jams and virtually no police presence.

Protesters met at Syracuse University carrying signs that read “Black Lives matter,” “Stop police brutality,” and “We can’t breathe,” and, without warning, marched off toward Clinton Square. The group, which was protesting the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore police custody, easily numbered more than a hundred people and filled all four lanes of East Washington Street as it moved past City Hall.

During the protest dozens of people filed into South Clinton Street near the Jerry Rescue Monument and refused to move for traffic. Dozens of cars and trucks were forced to stop and turn around.

Syracuse police had almost no presence during the protest.

A marked Syracuse police car appeared to be tailing the protesters after they left Clinton Square. The officer driving blared his horn during one of the chants, but did little else. City officials said the protesters had no permit so police were not aware in advance.

The department’s Special Events Section, which coordinates staffing and traffic control for events, issued 123 legal assembly permits last year.

According to Sec. 16-35 of Syracuse’s general ordinances, “No persons, society or organization of any name or nature shall assemble, congregate, parade or march in or through any of the streets of the city,” without having a permit. The permit application must be submitted to the chief of police at least 48 hours in advance of the event.

The law does allow for an exemption to the permit requirement for “lawful assemblages, congregations, parades or marches solely upon the public sidewalks.” The city ordinance does not say what the punishment is for violating the law.

Dexter, of The New Salem Missionary Baptist Church of Syracuse, and Ford, an SU graduate student, appeared in court earlier this month for arraignment, The Daily Orange reported.

Lt. Eric Carr, a police spokesman, said in an email that Dexter and Ford were the only people who received summonses as a result of the protest because “they were believed to be the organizers of the protest.”

Dexter told Syracuse.com at the time of the protest that the event had come together with just a few days notice. It included the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the Syracuse Answer coalition and The General Body, an SU student coalition, he said.

Carr declined to say how police identified Dexter and Ford as the organizers of the protest.

“We also are not going discuss Police tactics on how the protest … was investigated or handled at the time, so that these tactics will not be exploited in the future by other protesters,” he said.

Published by Ken Sturtz