#excessive enforcement

[generalinjusticeblog]

Frames that cover a small portion of the lettering of a license plate are not illegal in Illinois under a ruling handed down Wednesday by the Seventh Circuit US Court of Appeals. A unanimous three-judge panel overturned the conviction of Rodolpho Hernandez Flores that stemmed from his being pulled over on April 4, 2014 on Interstate 55 in Madison County for having a frame around the license plate on his silver 1999 Dodge Durango. At the time, Illinois State Police Trooper Nate McVicker noticed Hernandez Flores was driving under the 65 MPH speed limit. The officer's suspicions were aroused because, he claimed, Hernandez Flores was "very stiff and rigid" and "holding the steering wheel very tightly." So the trooper decided to pull the 46-year-old man over for the crime of driving with a frame on his license plate. The plate frame in question barely covered the letter "B" in "Baja California (view plate). The actual plate details were otherwise visible, and Trooper McVicker admitted that he could easily read it once he pulled closer to the Durango.

[generalinjusticeblog]

Woman said safety was reason she didn't pull over for police

Portage resident DelRea Good said she did not immediately pull over for the flashing lights behind her because, as a 52-year-old woman traveling alone at 11:21 p.m. on a dark county road, she was concerned for her safety.

Assuming the car behind her was a police officer, Good said she slowed her vehicle, put on her emergency flashers, waved her arm out the window to acknowledge the pursing car and continued for less than a mile where she pulled over into the lighted parking lot at the Kohl's department store in Portage.

The decision not to immediately stop resulted in her being handcuffed and taken to jail by Porter County Sheriff's Department Patrolman William Marshall on a felony charge of resisting arrest. It may also cost her her job, because a nurse cannot work after being convicted of a felony, she said.

"I felt I didn't do anything wrong," Good said. "I got to a safe place and I told him that."

Porter County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Larry LaFlower said, "The sheriff's office supports our officer's decision in this matter."

Defense attorney Bob Harper, who is representing Good, said her concerns about pulling over along a dark county road are not unwarranted.

He referred to a case in 1991 where a woman pulled over in Valparaiso for a car with flashing red lights and was attacked by a man pretending to be a police officer.

Portage police issued a warning two years ago after someone using flashing red and blue lights, possibly impersonating a police officer, tried to get a woman to pull over.

Portage Police Sgt. Keith Hughes said at the time the woman used good judgment by not stopping for the man.

He recommended drivers call 911 if they question who is attempting to pull them over and if unable to reach a dispatcher, acknowledge the officer by waving at them and then drive to a well-lit public location before stopping and tell the officer about your concern.

[generalinjusticeblog]

Julie Del Agua was home on Feb. 7, 2014, when her son ran inside yelling that his dad was getting arrested. When she asked the officers for an explanation, she said they told her Martin Del Agua's music was too loud.

"I couldn't explain it to my kids because I didn't know why he had been arrested," Julie Del Agua said. "I didn't know why he was being held."

On Friday, the couple filed a lawsuit against Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones, accusing deputies of unlawful arrest and excessive force.

According to Martin Del Agua's lawyers, the officers claimed the father of two was drunk in public, but surveillance video shows he was at home.

"They should have just knocked on the door and told us it was too loud," Martin Del Agua said in Spanish.

He said he would have complied had they asked him to turn off the music. But instead, the video shows officers arresting Martin Del Agua in his driveway. He was kept him in jail for three days on an immigration hold, putting him at risk of deportation.

Martin Del Agua feared being separated from his kids, "not being able to take them to school, to daycare, or play with them."

"My biggest fear was that he would be separated and I wouldn't be able to see him, and my kids wouldn't be able to see him," Julie Del Agua said through tears.

The lawsuit accuses the sheriff's department of violating the Trust Act. Martin Del Agua's lawyers said deputies broke the law by holding him for ICE officers even though he did not commit a serious crime.

[generalinjusticeblog]

For some of the more than 100,000 travelers who use the Port Authority Bus Terminal each day, a second-floor men’s room is their first or last stop in New York City. The facilities are what you might expect: toilets, urinals, hand dryers.

But above the row of sinks, a posted sign offers an atypical note of caution: “Restrooms are patrolled by plain clothes officers.”

It is not an idle warning.

Port Authority police officers have arrested more than 60 people this year in the bus terminal on public lewdness charges, a sevenfold increase over the same period last year. Most of those arrested were accused of masturbating in the second-floor bathroom. According to court records, they were observed by plainclothes officers, who were often standing next to them at an adjacent urinal.

At least a dozen of those arrested are represented by the Legal Aid Society, whose lawyers say their clients — some of whom say they were merely urinating — were victims of aggressive and intrusive police tactics.

The effort by the Port Authority police is part of a crackdown on quality-of-life crimes at the bus terminal.

The bathroom is hardly a hotbed of sexual activity. Capt. John Fitzpatrick, the Port Authority police commander who oversees the bus terminal, acknowledged that complaints about sexual behavior in the men’s room “are few and far between.”

Nonetheless, an average of two arrests on lewdness or exposure charges are made each week, leading to the puzzling, recurring sight of men being handcuffed as they leave the bathroom.

“Sometimes they are nicely dressed people,” said Dolma Tsering, 39, who sells hats and shawls from a kiosk near the men’s room. “I don’t know the reason.”

The Legal Aid Society argues that the police are overzealously enforcing laws against lewdness and exposure and, as a result, are arresting innocent men.

[generalinjusticeblog]

Do you have a permit for that free speech?

Outside the post office in Ephrata today I waded into a debate with a city official who was telling a woman handing out anti-Obama literature that she needed a permit. I challenged him on the Constitutional authority of such a statement and addressed it’s conflict with the 1st amendment and our right to free speech. None of his answers made the law sound any less ridiculous.

Some may chastise me for taking on this debate. For being too excited or passionate. But liberty matters. It should always held up in front of us – I am a conversation starter. I want officials to know they are accountable. I want to help citizens become more aware of their liberty. I have recorded videos like this for some time and I won’t be silent as a Congressional candidate. Who better to take a stand for our liberty and the Constitution than the people’s representatives?

We need to hold every level of government accountable and if they will not be accountable, we the people are responsible to remove them. I’m running for Congress because we have government lawlessness in America. I can’t run for every office, but I can start conversations about liberty and if you send me to congress, I will keep the conversation going.

– Gav

[generalinjusticeblog]

I didn’t do anything wrong!!!

Four Austin Cops Participate in Arrest of One Jaywalking Jogger for “Failure to Identify”

Who will be the last person to get arrested on a bs charge? An arrest in Austin for “failure to identify,” via the Daily Texan:

“I was sitting at the Starbucks at 24th and San Antonio,” [witness Chris] Quintero said. “Then I hear a cop shout at an innocent girl jogging through West Campus with her headphones on.” When the woman did not stop, the officer grabbed her by the arm and quickly placed her in handcuffs, Quintero said. “She repeatedly pleaded with them, saying that she was just exercising and to let her go,” Quintero said. In footage of the incident that Quintero filmed, the woman can be seen attempting to get up from the ground and being kept down by police officers. “I was doing nothing wrong,” the woman said from her position sitting on the sidewalk. “I was crossing the street.”

Two more cops on bikes showed up to help get the woman into the squad car. A police spokesperson insisted Austin police don’t specifically target jaywalkers. The jogger was instead reportedly charged with “failing to provide identification,” a charge that seems like the kind largely on the book to give police the leeway to arrest someone not doing anything sufficiently illegal.

hat tip: Price of Liberty

UPDATE:

http://generalinjusticeblog.tumblr.com/post/77501058767/after-video-goes-viral-austin-police-defend

After Video Goes Viral, Austin Police Defend Jaywalking Jogger Arrest

Austin Police arrested a woman jogging by the UT Campus Thursday morning for not providing identification after being stopped. The incident was caught on video by a UT student, Chris Quintero, who witnessed the woman being taken into custody.

According to police, the woman disregarded traffic signals at the intersection of West 24th and San Antonio streets as she was running. After failing to provide identification, Amanda Stephen was detained and arrested.

"This person absolutely took something that was as simple as "Austin Police – Stop!’ and decided to do everything you see on that video," Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo at a press conference this afternoon. "And quite frankly she wasn’t charged with resisting. She’s lucky I wasn’t the arresting officer, because I wouldn’t have been as generous."

Sounds legit. That makes me feel so much better. They were ‘justified’. How did I even doubt them?