Brawley Departs for Convention to Seek Dukakis’ Aid

NEW YORK — About 500 supporters cheered Tawana Brawley on Saturday as she and her advisers, handcuffed together, departed by bus for the Democratic National Convention to urge expected nominee Michael S. Dukakis to investigate what they called racially motivated police misconduct in New York.

The Rev. Al Sharpton and attorney C. Vernon Mason handcuffed themselves to the black teen-ager, her mother, Glenda, and her aunt, Juanita, outside a Brooklyn church before boarding a bus to lead about 50 people to the convention in Atlanta to protest the handling of the girl’s case by New York state authorities.

Supporters planned to hold daily protests outside the hotel where New York Gov. Mario M. Cuomo is staying for the convention.

Tawana Brawley, 16, of Wappingers Falls, has said that she was abducted for four days last November and raped by six white men, one of whom had a police-type badge and holster.

Brawley’s advisers have recommended that she not cooperate with investigations of her allegations, charging that State Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams and Cuomo are tolerating a police cover-up of the case. Cuomo appointed Abrams as a special prosecutor after Brawley’s lawyers requested one.