It is funny how easily you can be accused of something you didn’t do. And it’s frightening to feel helpless when they treat you as if you have no rights.

How It Begins

It all began on May 26, 1981. It was Tuesday around 2 p.m., and I was walking along the street in Pasadena when a police officer stopped me. The thing is that there was a bank robbery, and I fitted the description of the man who committed it.

Although I was not that man and told the policeman that, he kept asking the same questions again and again when another police car arrived. Three or four police officers surrounded me, and they wanted to know where I lived. I could not remember the exact address, but it was not far, so I said I could show them. They ignored it, and one of them started the same questions again.

I told them I knew nothing about that robbery and answered their question again. That was the moment when the threats began. This continued until one of the officers, who was obviously the leader, told them to arrest me. I was brutally handcuffed.

Yes, they did it in a brutal way. They pushed my hands way up behind my back, so the metal of those handcuffs was torn into flesh. I was pushed into the police car, but I could not move to let them close the door. That was when one of the policemen pushed it so hard that my right knee (as I learned later) became blue and black.

Bobby Fischer Arrest

At some moment, when the policemen were leading me into the car, I saw the one who approached me first, showing the leader a picture. It was a photofit of the person who committed the robbery. The only resemblance was that we both had beards, which means the rest did not look like me at all. The leader did not agree that it was me in the picture.

While on the way to the police station, we heard an announcement over the police radio that the robber had been caught. After that, these policemen insulted me several times. They said hadn’t I been such an asshole, they wouldn’t have arrested me.

As soon as we got to the police station, I asked what they wanted from me because the robber was already caught. One of them said they just wanted to talk to me inside. There they started asking the same questions, and I was sitting with my hands handcuffed behind my back.

I could not give them more information, so that’s when the leader of the pack grabbed my throat and started choking me. “We want to know what this all is about! Talk!” he shouted, putting his face close up to mine.

The choking episode finished after 10 or 20 seconds. I did not say anything, so the leader told another policeman to book me and left the room.

Police Lawlessness

Afterwards they took me upstairs. As I refused to answer more questions, they took all my personal belongings. Moreover, they made me take all the clothes off, including my underpants. They did not even allow me to make a phone call. So, I stayed in a cell naked. I was suffering, and it was unbearable.

After a few hours of this torture, they told me I would have got my clothes back if I had given them more information. They also said that it was necessary to fill out the arrest form before I could talk to the judge. I reminded them the policemen had choked me by the neck, so I had nothing to tell them. The only person I wanted to talk to was the judge.

What Happens Next?

Finally they allowed me to make a phone call, so I called someone and let them know what the situation was like. Then, they said they needed my fingerprints, so all the fingerprinting, palm printing, and thumb printing were done. Also, they gave me around ten documents to sign. I wanted to read them before signing, but the police officer did not let me do that. I could not even see half of those papers because they were covered with his hand. At the end, they let me go. Two weeks later, I received no written accusation or clear command to appear anywhere. All I got was two receipts for a 500-dollar bail each.