No bond in sight for activist arrested outside mayor's home

Feb. 14—Alainah Dailey, an outspoken critic of Decatur city and police leadership in the wake of Steve Perkins' death at the hands of police, will remain in jail through at least March 5 for allegedly screaming obscenities outside the mayor's home and failing to disperse on Friday evening, a city judge ruled Monday.

Should Dailey be freed from jail in March, the Madison County district attorney will be waiting for her. The DA filed a motion Monday to revoke Dailey's pretrial bond for a felony third degree escape charge last year related to a DUI arrest.

At the time of Dailey's arrest for disorderly conduct Friday, she was also on unsupervised probation with the city of Decatur for a misdemeanor fourth degree theft charge, court records show. Dailey claims she was arrested because, at a Walmart self-checkout kiosk with a full buggy and two small children, she forgot to scan diapers and a box of wipes. Her probation was revoked following the disorderly conduct charge.

On Monday, Municipal Judge Takisha Gholston via teleconference set Dailey's hearings for the disorderly conduct charge and the probation revocation for March 5 at 1:30 p.m.

Attorney Carl Cole, who represented Dailey on Monday, likened her legal situation to the one civil rights activist Garrick Rawls faced in October. Rawls was arrested by Decatur police twice in two days and charged with disorderly conduct while demonstrating against the police killing of Perkins. The second charge landed him in violation of his bond for the first charge, and he remained in jail 15 days.

"That's the difficult aspect of this, because the city simply needs to prove she's been arrested," Cole said of Monday's hearing. "Now, whether or not the arrest eventually is proven right or wrong is inconsequential at this point. But they're still punished."

City prosecutor Nicole Harden is handling Dailey's case.

Dailey spoke with The Decatur Daily from the Morgan County Jail on Monday. She said she believes she was deliberately targeted by the arresting officer, Sgt. Sean Mukaddam, because his brother, Christopher Mukaddam, was disciplined for his involvement in Perkins' death. Three officers were fired in December for violating policy the night Perkins was killed, and another officer was suspended.

"They're just trying to break my spirit and bring me down, and all I want is justice for Steve Perkins," Dailey said. "If they're going to make an example out of me because I care about what's right, then alright."

Decatur police Chief Todd Pinion said multiple residents near Line Street Northeast and Walnut Street Northeast called to complain that a woman was in the area screaming and yelling.

"Dailey was found to be violating multiple subsections of the disorderly conduct code by causing unreasonable noise and failing to disperse," he said. "She was given a warning to disperse with reasonable time to do so. She never did and continued to make unreasonable noise and, at that point in time, she was placed under arrest."

Dailey's mother, Melissa Maze, said Dailey is a full-time college student with two small children.

"I feel like I've lost my child to a corrupt system," she said. "I feel like they are taking her and keeping her away from me for no reason, and it's heartbreaking. And it's wrong. It's all I can do to keep from crying." — Police allegations

According to the Decatur Police Department, Dailey arrived at City Hall shortly after 6:30 p.m. Friday and began yelling and banging on the glass entryway. At around 7:20 p.m., she allegedly decided to head toward the mayor's home with a few other protesters.

At 7:36 p.m., Morgan County dispatch received a call complaining about a woman playing loud music in her sedan and screaming, and a minute later another caller complained of a woman on the mayor's property yelling obscenities, according to DPD.

Meanwhile, an officer in a patrol vehicle claimed he could hear Dailey yelling from a block away, according to DPD. Sgt. Mukaddam arrived at the scene at around 7:46 p.m. and addressed Dailey over his patrol vehicle's loudspeaker.

At the same time, Dailey began using her phone camera to livestream to Facebook. A recording of the interaction just under five minutes in length remained on Dailey's social media page on Tuesday.

"It is against the law to engage in disorderly conduct by blocking the sidewalk, blocking a public street, or making unreasonable noise, unless you have been permitted to do so in the city of Decatur," Mukaddam warned Dailey. "It is also disorderly conduct to engage in violent or tumultuous behavior. This is your only warning that if you do not cease your actions and disperse within three minutes, you will be arrested."

Mukaddam then set a three-minute timer on his phone, according to DPD.

Dailey's recording shows that a male officer approaches her. She argues that she is exercising her First Amendment right and that the city's noise ordinance is not in effect until 10 p.m.

According to Alabama Code 13A-11-7, a person commits the crime of disorderly conduct if, "with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm," she, among other actions, "makes unreasonable noise."

After a brief back-and-forth with the officer, at the two-minute mark of the video he tells Dailey: "I tried to explain it to you. You've been told. OK? We'll leave it at that."

Dailey begins walking down the sidewalk away from the mayor's home, according to the video. She continues speaking at intervals, saying things like: "I'm speaking in a normal, unamplified voice."

At the three-minute mark, the recording's audio becomes muffled and unintelligible. It's clear that Dailey continues to speak, but it's impossible to determine the volume of her voice.

After Dailey crosses the street and walks down the sidewalk opposite the mayor's home, the male officer approaches her again. The audio quality is restored at the 4:22 mark.

"Put your hands behind your back," the officer says. "You're under arrest for disorderly conduct."

The recording ends.

Mayor Tab Bowling said he did not see a police presence on Friday evening when he returned home with his wife from an event, although he noticed some neighbors outside.

"We heard Alainah's voice very loudly, and then we didn't," he said. "I assume that was when she was placed under arrest. I'm glad we weren't home." — 'Little protester'

Dailey claimed that after her arrest, Decatur police officers jeered at her and called her "the little protester that thought she could."

In booking at Morgan County Jail, she said she had a panic attack.

"I threw up on the floor, and I was shaking," she said.

Dailey was distraught following her hearing on Monday.

"My kids are suffering now, and I'm going to lose my scholarship for school because I'm a full-time college student," she said. "Now it's me that's got to suffer because they (city officials) don't want to do the right thing."

Madison County's deputy DA Maggie Wallace filed the motion to revoke Dailey's pretrial bond roughly an hour before Dailey's hearing on Monday.

"The defendant's repeated arrests and charges, and furthermore the nature of those arrests, are affirmative evidence for her forfeiture of bail and her lack of respect for this Court and the laws of Alabama," the Madison County motion reads.

At Monday night's City Council meeting, some residents spoke out in support of Dailey.

"I get a call out of Atlanta two-and-a-half hours ago telling me this story, and what do I do? The same thing everybody should do when they find out — jump out of your chair, go to the jail, and do something," said Decatur attorney Laura Terry Powell.

"When Decatur city puts a hold on her for a month over a disorderly charge, it's wrong."

Dailey joins a growing list of demonstrators who have been arrested and charged with disorderly conduct after protesting the actions of the city and the Police Department following Perkins' death on Sept. 29.

"I don't know how to put it in words — the fact that you can put a protester in jail for a month, but they couldn't find a way to keep Mac Marquette in jail for much longer than 30 minutes," said Standing in Power co-founder Terrance Adkins. "Decatur has a problem respecting its citizens."

Marquette in January was charged by a Morgan County grand jury with murder for his role in Perkins' death. He has pleaded not guilty.

— david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438. @DD_DavidGambino