NEW YORK — Gbenga Akinnagbe went on trial Thursday. The actor who played Chris Partlow on HBO’s “The Wire” wasn’t in a Brooklyn courtroom for any of the crimes his character on the TV drama committed (murder, murder and more murder). Instead, Akinnagbe and three other men are accused of blocking a sidewalk.
The case, which they took to trial despite a prosecution offer of a conditional dismissal, is bigger than the charge suggests, according to the defense. The defendants are putting the New York City Police Department’s stop-and-frisk policy, and tolerance for free speech, up for judgment.
Akinnagbe, a Nigerian American with an easy smile and a dedication to social issues, has already been to court seven times for pre-trial issues by his count. Fifteen months have passed since Nov. 1, 2011, when he and more than a dozen others were arrested during a stop-and-frisk protest in front of the police 73rd Precinct house.
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