Last September, Derrick J Freeman held a dance party in Central Square. As many of you know, the party was quickly shut-down with the arrival of Keene PD. This year to commemorate the infamous “Live Free or Dance” Party, I will be hosting “Live Free or Dance II” at Ashuelot Park on Sunday September 9 at 10pm.
I ask that anyone planning to attend remain peaceful and respectful of the rights of others.
Using a portable battery-powered radio (and battery-powered party lights) – we shall have a dance party this year, hopefully without any arrests!
If the KPD shows up, I will take full responsibility and if arrested for any (bogus) reason, I ask that bail NOT be paid.
This is a follow up to the Live Free or Dance Party on September 9th 2011, which led to the arrests of Ryan Maddox, Roz, Nick and Derrick J. Freeman. While several events transpired that evening, this video’s focus will be on Derrick and his arresting/pepper spraying officer, Copcha (Michael). After handcuffed Derrick cooperates by walking to the police car. Rather than assisting Derrick, like he had for the 150 meter walk to the cruiser, Copcha asks Derrick “are you going to get in the car.” Derrick verbally refuses, he states “I feel as though I’m being kidnapped”. He warns Derrick with pepper spray if he doesn’t comply, Derrick repeats his reasoning. Copcha proceeds to pepper spray Derrick, then assists him in the cruiser (This part of the video is included).
On December 21st Derrick speaks with Copcha & asks him several questions in reference to the incident, including an apology request… Copcha Declines. Also a few days after the Sept. 9th occurrence, Jason Talley asks Copcha several questions about the incident.
I’ll give a briefing on the entire incident to those who are unfamiliar. (more…)
On September 9, at approximately 10:15PM, members of the Keene community gathered for “Live Free Or Dance” at Central Square, for the 2nd week in a row. The dance party was short lived however, because not a minute into the fun, police showed up and instead of protecting and serving what they did was entirely different, as you’ll discover below.
Ryan & Roz being attacked by Keene Law Enforcers. Photo by dooms-day-device.com
They said that they received a noise complaint (that they seem to have fabricated) and made numerous assertions such as: we need to obtain a permit, that the music was excessively loud and disturbing, and that we couldn’t use the openly-available power.
Then they asked who owned the sound equipment. No one stepped forward. After some time multiple individuals independently claimed ownership of the equipment. The police took the word of an individual that they had in their custody for an unrelated incident which the cops claim was an assault. They chose to arrest him after he indicated he owned the sound equipment used that night. The police knew that the sound equipment didn’t belong to him. After kidnapping him they went back to the gazebo with the intention of stealing the sound equipment. Although they were notified and aware that they had no means to know with certainty who the equipment belonged to, they maintained that they were going to take it by force. As is typically the case when law enforcement is involved, violence ensued. One officer began aggressively tugging on the equipment, attempting to steal it. Derrick J Freeman and Roz tried to hold onto the property, and then that officer violently assaulted and kidnapped Derrick [video].
While that occurred, Roz too was assaulted and kidnapped by another officer. I saw the assault and ran over to Roz to grab her away from the violent man with a badge. He pushed us to ground (at which point I suffered a mild head injury) and kidnapped us. Roz suffered bruises on her arm as a result.
Minutes later, they took Derrick to a vehicle and pepper-sprayed him while he was standing cuffed in front of the car door. While preparing to spray him, another officer deliberately blinded video journalist Jason Repsher with a flashlight to obscure the recording of the cruel and sadistic application of force.
The three of us were transported to the House Of Corrections where Derrick, in the spirit of the event, spent the rest of the night dancing without stop. We were all eventually liberated on bail. Roz and I were both charged with obstruction of government administration and resisting arrest, while Roz received an additional charge of obstruction of apprehension. We have a scheduled court date of October 4 at 8:30AM.
It’s really unfortunate that those who purport to protect us are often indistinguishable from thugs and gangsters in their actions. Perhaps when innocent dance parties are a threat to the police it is an indication that we are living under a tyrannical state.
