This is a perfect example of the unavoidable nature of Statement Analysis. You (or I) will read this article and you will, inadvertently, have an opinion on whether Samantha Rosembaum is truthful, or, she has embellished her account and is after money her hands have not earned (or notoriety).
Let's look at her words to see how she speaks of what happened to her.
If, as alleged, she was attacked by police, we will find commitment to what happened. Commitment to truth uses the pronoun "I", and will be connected with a past tense verb: it is how we speak truthfully.
Is Samantha Rosebaum telling the truth?
Please read her statements carefully.
Statement Analysis is in bold type, with emphasis added in the quotes. We have only a limited number of quotes.
Is Samantha Rosebaum telling the truth?
Please read her statements carefully.
Statement Analysis is in bold type, with emphasis added in the quotes. We have only a limited number of quotes.
College student Samantha Rosenbaum sues NYPD over frisking in Williamsburg
EXCLUSIVE
Here’s someone who might agree with Mayor Bloomberg’s controversial comment about whites being subjected to stop-and-frisk “too much.”
A white, vegan, 22-year-old Bard College graduate is suing the NYPD after cops allegedly violently stopped her on a Williamsburg street last year — and then frisked her to the point of a semi-strip search.
“My face and stomach were on the hood,” environmentalist and animal lover Samantha Rosenbaum told The Post, who claims in a Brooklyn federal court lawsuit filed this week that she was thrown against an unmarked police car in broad daylight, for no apparent reason, on July 17, 2012.
"My face and stomach were on the hood": we note that she speaks in the past tense, which is good, and "face" comes before "stomach" which is also expected, as the face might be more important or sensitive to the subject. She has connected this to the past, and there is nothing within the statement to think that she is deceptive. Note that the main part of the story is in the past tense, making it appropriate.
“I don’t think anyone, no matter what color you are, deserves to be treated like that.”
The word "think" reduces commitment. She did not say "No one deserves, no matter what color you are, to be treated like that." The word "think" reduces commitment. She likely feels that some people do deserve to be treated like "that" (and not the closer "this", as she creates distance with the weaker assertion.)
The case comes less than a week after the mayor drew heat by claiming whites are stopped and frisked at a higher rate than minorities relative to the number of offenders of each race.
“She thought she was getting kidnapped,” her lawyer, Michael Goldstein, said of the confrontation, which the suit alleges also involved a female cop opening Rosenbaum’s clothing and peering inside her bra and her under pants.
At the time, Rosenbaum, of Essex County, NJ, was interning at Vaute Couture on Grand Street, a vegan clothing store .
On her way back from a work errand at the post office, she noticed a kitten behind a gate in a nearby alley.
The 5-foot-1, 110-pound woman was squatting to coo at the kitty when all hell broke loose, according to the suit.
“Hey, stop!” a strange man yelled from inside a gold sedan.
Was the strange man:
1. in a police vehicle?
2. Wearing a police uniform?
“He was really aggressive,” Rosenbaum recalled. “I had no idea who he was, so I just kept walking.”
Here we find that being "aggressive" is sensitive with the word "really" but next we see the phrase "I had no idea" which, when someone says, is very difficult to believe because we all have ideas on just about everything. Rather than having "no idea", didn't she think he was a stranger?
Next note the highest sensitivity: the need to explain, as we add this emphasis to our color coding with blue. The need to explain why she kept walking is, itself, sensitive. She was squatting but now "kept" walking. This may suggest a gap of missing information.
A man and woman ran from the car, threw her against it, and demanded to know why she hadn’t stopped and whether she had drugs, the suit alleges.
“This whole time, I didn’t know who these people are,” she told The Post. “Finally, after a few minutes, they tell me they are police.”
We note the emphasis of "this whole time" is added to the negative, what she "didn't" know, and refers to them as "people."
"Finally, after a few minutes" is a skip in time.
Now notice that she, in recanting what happened, changes from the past tense version to the present tense: "tell me they are police." This is not reliable.
Objection: Can't PTSD from an event cause someone to re live it in the present tense?
Answer: Yes it can, but regarding the 'assault', Rosenbaum used past tense but now has switched it during the sensitive part of the story which has everything to do with the lawsuit.
They weren’t having any of her “just stopping to look at a kitty” story, she said.
If they did not identify themselves as police, nor look like police, the lawsuit likely goes forward. Notice here she returns to past tense description:
“I offered to show them the cat,” she said. “They had two people on top of me, and my arm was really hurting.”
notice that she not only speaks past tense of this part of the story, but she continues to call them "people" even though they have been identified as "cops." Since we know (and she knows) that they were cops, why not refer to them as such?
Next note the pronouns. She said "I offered to show them the cat. They had two people on top of me. If "they" had two people on top of her, this indicates that there were others present also at the time. This is an issue that NYCPD should explore, and the others present will have statements to give.
Next note the pronouns. She said "I offered to show them the cat. They had two people on top of me. If "they" had two people on top of her, this indicates that there were others present also at the time. This is an issue that NYCPD should explore, and the others present will have statements to give.
One might ask if she has been coached by her attorney.
SCAN, the brain child of Avinoam Sapir, teaches us to listen to what someone tells us and what someone does not tell us.
"my arm was really hurting" does not state that they hurt her arm.
SCAN, the brain child of Avinoam Sapir, teaches us to listen to what someone tells us and what someone does not tell us.
"my arm was really hurting" does not state that they hurt her arm.
It got worse from there, the suit claims.
As passers-by gawked, the female cop lifted up Rosenbaum’s tank top, pulled back her bra and peered inside, the suit claims.
The officer then pulled open Rosenbaum’s jean shorts and took another intrusive peek — inside her underwear, the suit claims.
“Multiple times, the defendant officers threatened to take plaintiff down to the police station and write her up for [a] felony,” the suit says.
“At this point, I’m just sobbing,” she said.
She started in the past tense, went into the present tense (unreliable), then returned to past tense, but now, regarding impact, turns present tense again. Impact is part of the suit as she seeks "damages" or a settlement from NYPD.
Finally, she said, “they told me they didn’t want me to have a bad impression of cops so they were going to let me go.”
Note the past tense again.
“This is a very nice young lady,” said her lawyer. “This was a false arrest and imprisonment. It’s assault.”
Note the attorney's need to portray her character. If she was falsely arrested and imprisoned, one might ask why the attorney feels the need to touch upon character.
City Law Department spokeswoman Kate O’Brien Ahlers said, ”The city will evaluate the claim,”
Perhaps Kate O'Brien Ahlers will read this analysis before making a decision on the claim.
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