Rich Shapiro, 46, is passing out fliers, talking to pedestrians, and holding a sign that reads: "Sunnyvale: You have a rogue, violent, perverted cop on your hands: enquire with me." The sign also gives the name of the officer that Shapiro says abused and assaulted him.

But Jay Boyarsky, supervising deputy district attorney for Santa Clara County, says it's ironic that Shapiro is claiming police treated him cruelly, because the charges—two counts of possessing illegal weapons and one count of resisting arrest, could have been far more severe, including sex-crime offenses.

Shapiro's account of his encounter with an officer differs dramatically from reports filed by two Sunnyvale Public Safety Officers.

Shapiro says he was sitting alone in his car in the back corner of a parking lot at Sunnyvale Baylands Park, where he says he frequently goes to relax before going dancing.

He says a police officer stopped his car in front of Shapiro's bronze 1987 Toyota Corolla and approached the car, asking if Shapiro was masturbating or taking drugs.

According to the police report, the officer approached Shapiro's car because it was illegally parked. The officer reported seeing a pink towel draped over the lower part of the driver's body and the steering wheel. Motion under the towel led the officer to believe that Shapiro may have been "engaged in a lewd and lascivious act."

When he confronted Shapiro, the officer said he was met with a stream of defiant profanities, which would continue for the duration of the encounter.

In contrast, Shapiro said he was subjected to a prolonged salvo of accusations from the officer. He claims he then told the officer, "You will treat me with dignity and respect," which, he says, made the officer even more disrespectful.

Shapiro says the officer reached into the car and tore away a towel that Shapiro says he was using to keep himself warm. Underneath the towel however, Shapiro's pants were unzipped. and Shapiro admits he wasn't wearing underwear and says he hasn't in 30 years.

Shapiro says the officer continued his verbal assault, so he told the officer to handcuff him and place him in the officer's squad car if it would make him feel better.

Shapiro says the officer handcuffed him and bent his left wrist forward, causing him great pain in his arm. He was then placed in the police car while the officer—joined by another who had just arrived—searched Shapiro's vehicle, eventually finding a bear-repellent spray that Shapiro said he was used as protection in Yosemite, and two wood bars, each almost 2-feet long, he says were used for self-defense.

"I've been attacked by a few crazies over my lifetime," Shapiro said.

He said he was then locked in the Santa Clara County Main Jail for three days and his car was impounded.

Shapiro was charged with possession of billy-club type weapons and tear gas and resisting an officer. Boyarsky said Shapiro tested negative for—and was not charged with possession of—any drugs, although the police report claims that he told officers "yeah, I use Meth, Coke, all those drugs, I'm high right now," while being arrested.

Boyarsky also said that legal technicalities saved Shapiro from being charged with indecent exposure or committing a lewd act in public because although it appeared so to officers, there was no direct proof that anything lewd was going on in the car.

In addition to filing complaints with the department of public safety, Shapiro says he has sent letters to the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, listing grievances including lack of nutritious food in jail and lack of special meals for vegetarians.

Capt. Byron Pipkin, public safety spokesman, said he received letters of complaint from Shapiro, but that the complaints would not be addressed for several months, because the department has only one supervisor to look into such matters. He said the department is given a year to investigate these kinds of complaints, but typically it is able to address them within six months.

In the meantime, Shapiro—who says he has worked with Amnesty International to fight for human rights—said he would continue to protest each weekend outside the library.

"This has kind of awakened a sleeping giant in me," Shapiro said. "I'm just going to be a fixture in the city until something is done."