Police tackled DeSousa after he allegedly hit another officer with a full soda bottle. Photo by Andrew Bossi

Though DCist and other news organizations reported Saturday that an Occupy D.C. protester arrested Saturday evening as U.S. Park Police swept through McPherson Square was taken into custody after throwing a brick at an officer, court documents released Monday say that wasn’t exactly the case.

Yesterday afternoon, the 11 people arrested at McPherson Square and one person arrested at Freedom Plaza during the Park Police’s enforcement last weekend of a federal ban on camping in the downtown parks, were arraigned in D.C. Superior Court. Of particular interest was the matter of one protester, Jeremiah D. DeSousa, who was arrested about 5 p.m. Saturday after allegedly throwing an object that struck a Park Police lieutenant in the eye.

While it was initially said to be a brick, a police statement entered today says that DeSousa hurled a full Coca-Cola bottle at the officer, who suffered “visible swelling to his right eye and blood coming from his nose immediately after the assault.” Other officers, in another frantic scene on what was already a day of occasional shoving matches between police and demonstrators, quickly pounced on DeSousa, who was stunned with a Taser and arrested. The lieutenant was flown to a hospital where he was treated for his injuries and later released, though the police statement says he is still enduring blunt force trauma and “seriously compromised” vision in his eye. The police statement was first reported by Andrew Metcalf, a contributor to the website Crooks and Liars, and later independently obtained by DCist.

In court Monday, DeSousa was charged with felony assault on a police officer and ordered to remain in jail until a preliminary hearing Thursday.

A second protester, Nathan Gorecki, is being held on similar charges. Gorecki, whom other demonstrators have nicknamed “Shangry”—a portmanteau of short and angry for his small frame and impassioned vituperation—was arrested after throwing a bamboo stick that struck an officer’s helmet, a police statement to the court says. Gorecki was injured during his scuffle with police and was treated at Georgetown University Hospital for injuries to his right arm and head before going to jail.

The other people arrested at Occupy D.C. over the weekend were charged with misdemeanors ranging from crossing police lines to lesser degrees of assault on police officers. Among those arrested was Jerry Nelson, an independent photojournalist who has been living among various encampments affiliated with Occupy Wall Street since the protest movement began last September.

Both Gorecki and DeSousa will return to D.C. Superior Court on Thursday for preliminary hearings.

Read the U.S. Park Police statement on Jeremiah D. DeSousa:
USPP – DeSousa