HUDseen: Michael Madison, The Wretched Wrecking Ball of Hudson

If you've been wondering why things have been quieter in and around the 7th Street Park for the past few days and why the park seems to be less full of litter, beer cans and vodka bottles, I have good news for you. Michael Madison, the one-man wrecking ball of Hudson, is back in jail. Yesterday morning, as is usual every few months, he was led into Judge Roberts' court in a striped jail uniform and handcuffs and given a seat next to his two attorneys (one public defender and a private attorney likely provided to Madison by the city, county or state).

According to my notes, Judge Connor sent Madison to jail last November for, I believe, about 90 days. There were a few charges against him, including petit larceny and burglary, and, of course, a slew of violations committed in and near the park. Prior to that, in August, Connor and the County Assistant DA were trying to figure out what to do with Madison when I saw him in court in jail garb. His bail was set at $3,000 while the court was trying to determine his competency. There was a menacing charge, a weapons possession charge, 5 felony counts of stolen property and, yes, a slew of violations, mainly from trespassing on the Citgo property across from the park. It never fucking ends with this guy.

When Madison is in jail, he's taking up the court's time (and we pay for it). When he's not in jail, we are paying the Hudson police to regularly issue him useless violation notices, mainly for trespassing, which he continually does on the Citgo property (now known as Lucky's). He staggers around the lot or on the sidewalk and asks anyone passing by for money. The workers at Lucky's never chase him away or call the police.

Yesterday morning, 3 or 4 months after being released from the county jail, Roberts read the current charges against Madison: 29 violations and 2 misdemeanors ("actions injurious to a child and public lewdness"). To this, Madison spoke up: "I'll plead guilty to peeing in the park." After about 10 minutes of back and forth, Roberts adjourned the case to June 6th to give Madison's attorneys and the DA's office time to confer and come up with a plan on how to proceed (how much jail time, primarily). No doubt, Madison will receive a sentence of no more than 2 or 3 months and be back in the 7th Street Park in July or August at the latest. Which means that, if his liver does not give out, he will likely be back in jail and court sometime in November, same as last year.

As I understand things, Madison is not allowed in the liquor store or the laundromat on Green Street, nor is he allowed on Speedway's and Lucky's property. Apparently, sometime last year, Madison and an accomplice were caught attempting to flee with the change machine they had removed from the wall of the laundromat. I remember Connor reading Madison's list of violations last year during a court date, and I think the total was around 48. It only took Madison a few months to accumulate them all and it took Connor at least 5 minutes to read them all out loud in court (Roberts did not do this yesterday). Madison's violations are always dismissed, and he gets jail time for his misdemeanors and felonies only. In Hudson, crime pays if you have absolutely no money, I guess.

Here are some photos of recent interactions our police officers have had with Madison, all but one of them the result of calls I made to HPD.

(If you want to read any of the 6 or 7 previous Hudseen articles about Michael Madison, just type Madison in the search bar.)

Two HPD officers trying to get Madison
to pull his pants to his waist. He could
barely stand on his own. April 25th

The first words I heard from the officer were
"Michael, are you okay?" Then, "You can't
stay here." April 30th

May 9th

"You can't stay here, Michael, get up
and go somewhere else."

Madison had been drinking a beer in the park,
but he received no ticket and was only ordered
to "clean up your mess." May 6th.

A police detective eventually came and
sent Madison walking.

Trespassing ticket issued and ambulance called. Off to
the hospital. Saturday, May 11th at 7:15 pm.
2 officers, 2 vehicles. Then the Greenport Rescue Squad.