Jill Porter | A night in jail, for a song

IN THIS SEASON of rampant lawlessness and runaway murders, you'll be reassured to know that police are cracking down on scurrilous behavior that threatens the very fabric of our society:

Singing.

Yes, singing.

Just ask Anthony Riley, a polite and soft-spoken 20-year-old who hoped his voice would get him a spot on "American Idol" - but got him a night behind bars instead.

His offense? He was singing in Rittenhouse Square and wouldn't stop when a police officer told him to.

The official charge is disorderly conduct, a summary offense equal in gravity to a traffic ticket.

But Anthony Riley got a night in the 9th District lock-up, with the companionship, he said, of roaches.

"I felt horrible, like it was wrong. I shouldn't be in here for singing," he said.

It happened on Tuesday night in Rittenhouse Square, where Riley and two other band members, Drew Gillis and Robby Torres, had spent the day playing music.

Their band, Stone Soup, plays on Friday nights at a city restaurant, and Riley and Torres play at Suburban Station every day.

Riley once auditioned for "American Idol," but didn't make it.

It was shortly after 9 p.m. when Officer Greg Wilkinson came over and told Riley to "shut up," Riley said. Gillis and Torres had already put their instruments away.

Riley believed that the curfew for public music was 10 p.m. He said he asked Wilkinson what the law was.

Wilkinson answered, according to both Riley and a witness, "I am the law here."

When asked, "Isn't this America?" the officer allegedly replied, according to witnesses, "No. This is Afghanistan."

So Riley kept singing.

And when Wilkinson again threatened to arrest him, Riley held out his wrists.

Wilkinson slapped handcuffs on them and then called for backup. He claimed in his police report that a crowd had gathered and that he feared for his safety.

Then police cars roared into the park, sirens blaring, to come to Wilkinson's aid.

"It seemed a ridiculous overreaction, all these cops showing up and jumping out with their nightsticks," said David Heeke, who also witnessed the incident.

"There was nothing going on that warranted that."

Heeke, a South Philadelphia banquet waiter, said he can understand residents of the square wanting quiet in the park, and thinks Riley should have stopped singing if he was violating a curfew on public music.

"If the cop told you to be quiet and you refused, then you're just asking for trouble. But I don't think he should have been arrested."

When he was put in the back of the police car, Riley said, he kept singing.

"I was furious. I kept singing, 'A Change is Gonna Come,' by Sam Cooke."

During the long night behind bars at the 9th District station, at 20th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, he said, he was given two cheese sandwiches, two bottles of water and one phone call.

He didn't get much sleep.

"I was kind of scared. I didn't know my cell mate - I didn't know if I should sleep."

"I was just singing the blues in there," he joked.

A Fairmount Park official said park rules prohibit any "musical presentations" in the park without a permit.

But he acknowledged, and everyone knows, that people play music in Rittenhouse Square all the time - as does Stone Soup.

"Last summer, we played there until 3 o'clock in the morning," Gillis said.

Jessica Worrell, of Northern Liberties, who also witnessed the incident, said that's what she loves about the square.

"It's in the middle of the city and kids are there and people are playing music and doing art work, and I think that's what the city is supposed to be about.

"I thought it was a terrible thing," she said of Riley's arrest.

So. With city residents in an uproar over serious crime, why was Anthony Riley arrested for singing?

And why was he held overnight for the equivalent of a traffic ticket?

At first, police claimed Riley had been processed and let go and was "back in the park by 4 a.m."

Then I faxed them Riley's police citation, showing he was released closer to 4 p.m. - after 18 hours in jail.

Sgt. D.F. Pace of public affairs then said Riley had been held because he was initially charged with a misdemeanor for disorderly conduct and failure to disperse. But the District Attorney's Office, which makes final decisions on charging, downgraded the charges to a summary offense.

"I think the Police Department acted properly," Sgt. Pace said.

"He wasn't arrested just for singing. He was arrested because he was creating a disturbance. Police asked him at least six times to stop singing and disperse. It was late at night, in the park. He refused."

So.

Should Anthony Riley have listened to the police officer and stopped singing? Of course he should have.

Should the police have handled it differently?

I'll say.

I respect what the police are up against in this city. But an incident like this makes them look ridiculous.

Oh, and by the way:

When Riley was finally released, he met a man named Felix Welker outside the police station who'd just been released, too.

Welker's offense? Refusing to stop playing the flute at 18th and Walnut streets. *

E-mail porterj@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5850. For recent columns:

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