They tried to destroy my camera, but then I ran and got away. The camera is only slightly damaged that I still got the tape. Then I got my revenge. By that night I had the tape on CBS and NBC and by the end of the week it made every channel and every broadcast. Nothing has been the same ever since, I've been getting death threats, I've been hounded by photographers, newscrews and newspapers, I've been doing testimony for the Grand Jury, getting complaints all over the place. I had the FBI involved. It's a real trip, man! The whole thing about the riot is that it got exposed through the media 'cause of my tape. The mayor and the police commissioner were denying everything, but on my tape I had police beating up people with their badges covered. Video is a tool, it's a weapon and it's a witness. With all things happening around us these days, if we bury our heads in the sands, we're gonna get our arses cut off.

Paul Garrin