New London - Downtown business owner Richard L. Martin, a leading figure in the city's arts community, was arrested Sunday evening after a confrontation on Bank Street with Patrolman Todd Lynch.

Martin, 45, of 41 Tilley St. was charged with disorderly conduct and interfering with an officer after he said Lynch nearly struck him and his two friends with a police cruiser as they walked in the crosswalk at the intersection of Bank and Golden streets.

Martin said when he threw up his hands in disbelief and told the officer he had nearly hit them, Lynch asked him if he had a problem, refused to give Martin his name, then told him twice, "Move along, sir."

Martin said he asked Lynch again for his name, and Lynch got out of his car and aggressively handled him while handcuffing him and placing him under arrest.

Martin said he "had every right to ask for that officer's name given his disregard for both the stop sign and my friends' and my safety in that crosswalk."

One of two friends with him videotaped the incident on his cellphone, Martin said, but Lynch seized it as evidence and the police returned it only after the cellphone owner erased the video. Martin said police instructed his friend, whom Martin declined to identify, to erase the video.

Martin said he and his friends had dinner and watched football at Hot Rod Cafe and that he had four or five beers over the course of about four hours. He said he was held in the police lockup for 4½ hours before the police released him on a $5,000 nonsurety bond. He did not have to provide any cash to secure his release but could be required to pay the full bond amount if he does not appear in court Oct. 3.

Acting Police Chief Peter Reichard said a witness to the incident provided police with a statement indicating that Martin was intoxicated. He said a third party jumped in to assist Lynch until backup arrived.

"The cellphone was returned because it had no video of the incident," Reichard wrote in an email. He declined to comment further, since the case is pending.

Civilian use of cellphones to record police activity is legal in Connecticut, and the seizure of cellphones by police as evidence is an evolving area of the law. Under state law, police are required to obtain a search warrant before accessing the phone's contents.

Lynch, a retired state police sergeant and a New London native, joined the city police force in 2007 and serves as a K-9 officer. He is president of the police union and has been an outspoken critic of Police Chief Margaret Ackley.

Reached by cellphone Tuesday, Lynch declined to comment on Martin's arrest.

Martin, who is the managing director of the nonprofit Hygienic Art galleries and owns The Telegraph music and book store, chronicled the incident on his Facebook page Monday, knowing his name would be published in The Day's police logs.

"I figured I would put all of this out there before my good name shows up in the police logs and have to answer all the rumors anyway," he wrote.

The detailed status update on the social media site sparked a flurry of responses, with some friends advising Martin to hire an attorney and file a civilian complaint and others recommending that he let the matter go. Martin, who said he has no criminal record, would likely be granted access to a pretrial diversionary program that would lead to the removal of the charges from his record.

During a phone interview Tuesday, Martin said he is getting advice on how to proceed. As the organizer of art shows and music festivals, he said he deals with police all the time.

"I consider them peers and partners in the community, so it's really frustrating," he said.

k.florin@theday.com

Twitter: @KFLORIN