Artist Resolves To Fight Disorderly Conduct Citation Based On Leaving Backpack Unattended

Enrico Miguel Thomas, an artist who uses subway maps as an inspiration for his work, is fighting a summons for disorderly conduct issued because he left his backpack unattended for several minutes in Grand Central Terminal while he spent some time some distance away drawing. The judge in the case offered him a deal (a day of community service). Mr. Thomas’s attorney says nothing in the state’s penal code makes leaving a backpack (baggage) unattended a crime. The police argue that after 9/11, a fear of bombs in public areas justifies handing out such a summons. Mr. Thomas will go to trial on the disorderly conduct summons later this year. More here from the New York Times.