Santa Claus, also known by his friends as James Peterson, was arrested after spreading holiday cheer and chalk with young people in front of the Texas capitol building on the 21st. An occupy activist who was giving out chalk to children while dressed as Santa was well received in the plaza, but as he left, Texas DPS officers chased him down and handcuffed him. The crowd appears shocked, one woman yelling out in confusion, “You’re arresting Santa Claus?!”
The jolly red man asks numerous times, “Why am I being arrested?” After a minute, they tell him that he was chalking the sidewalk. A few in the crowd having filmed the entire time tell police that everyone was chalking, to which a female officer states, “You’re the only report that we got of chalking.”
Cory Williams takes a seat on the pavement behind his friend from the North Pole as he begins expressing his displeasure at being arrested “for being nice”. Recording the scene, Cory then chalks on the pavement in front of him, FREE SANTA. Shortly thereafter, DPS officer Ken Scheer, who had walked around the crowd videorecording faces of bystanders, stands Cory up and arrests him for chalking.
A press release from Occupy Austin notes that Cory was one of three people arrested earlier in the year for chalking and held in jail before being released without any charges. Following the arrests, the videographer calls out to the officers in disgust, “Have y’all read what they chalked up there? Stuff like PEACE, and HARMONY; JOY, COMMUNITY.”
One of the aspects of this video that makes it worth watching to the very end is to bear witness to the silly response by Texas DPS officers. More and more cops arrive on the scene as Santa sobs face-down on the sidewalk for the last half of the seven minute clip. One officer, who arrives wearing fancy boots and a helmet, runs near a bystander and waves a finger over his chest as he passes, ordering, “Step back, step back!” The man appears confused before complying, as he is several feet away from anyone else.
According to HuffPo, Santa’s charge is ‘evading arrest’, and Occupy Austin’s twitter feed indicates he and Cory also face a class B ‘criminal mischief’ charge. They were released from captivity late last evening.
Imagine this sort of scenario playing out in New Hampshire. While Manchester Police did not respond favorably to their building being chalked (arresting eight for an act of two), to my knowledge there has never been a chalking arrest by state or local police in Concord, with the only arrests being at the federal building presumably under federal rules/code/law. At the 2011 420 celebration, there was a capitol security guard who threatened a chalker with the state police, but ultimately there would be no police intervention at the peaceful rally.
Austin PD may lose their insurance coverage, because the settlement in this case may give economic stimulus to the North Pole.
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I have had all i can take! I live in a country where the police do as they please and ruin lives, in some cases like this basically kid nap people! Why wont anyone stand up and say NO MORE in other countries people stand up and fight back. Us americans sit back and do nothing!!
You are absolutely right!!!! People are standing up but police are larger number and people are still too afraid to do anything.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the people to Alter or Abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principals and organizing its powers in such a form, as to them… Read more »
“These principles apply as well to an officer attempting to make an arrest, who abuses his authority and transcends the bounds thereof by the use of unnecessary force and violence, as they do to a private individual who unlawfully uses such force and violence.” Jones v. State, 26 Tex. App. I; Beaverts v. State, 4 Tex. App. 1 75; Skidmore v. State, 43 Tex. 93, 903. “An illegal arrest is an assault and battery. The person so attempted to be restrained of his liberty has the same right to use force in defending himself as he would in repelling any… Read more »
they have Lost the Testicular Fortitude to do anything (The Sheep) “I” would have made my Arrest worth it!!!!!!!!!
As long as no buildings, walls, statues or so on was chalked, it would be fantastic if their was a nice settlement payout. What a great late Christmas gift.
What’s wrong with chalking statues? If they’re public funded statues outdoors, courts have ruled that they are fair grounds for non-permanent free speech.
There’s no allegation that Santa chalked a statue, but if he did, it is his statue to chalk as he pleases.
So use the Tech They have no LAWS for. Lasers “PAINT” a nice image (really big and visible) and there is no actual damage to be argued about. Lights don’t damage property, take the wind out of their sails. Try this one on. they are arguing about GUN CONTROL LAWS. They are silly, old fashioned and only apply to the sheeple still living in the world that they were indoctrinated in. What GUN LAW are you going to apply when my three Drones follow me everywhere, provide perimeter security around any place I visit. Drones with SOUND CANNONS, Stink bombs,… Read more »
Google 3-D printers
Google paintball gun attached to drone
Google Thought controlled drones
Google personal Drones
It takes that many tax feeders to arrest Santa? No wonder the country is going broke. Let’s send chalk to City Hall instead of taxes.
As long as the chalk isnt sharp. We do not want them to injure themselves do we?
[…] and some of his little helpers in sidewalk chalk at the State Capitol in Austin, Texas. More at the Free Keene site, New Hampshire’s on-line destination for liberty activism. Share […]
Idiots and more Idiots.Your country has been taken over by IDIOTS!
Especially the Cops! I’m surprise these PIGS didn’t taser the Guy!
wait a minute… don’t “the people” pay for those sidewalks and state buildings…?
Doesn’t matter; slaves have no rights…..remember?
USA is the most pathetic nation on earth, i´m sick of their police state shit and their conformist society, how can they get butt fu cked and do nothing?
This shit is so funny and STUPID!!! The female officer WAS EMBARASSED look at the way she was acting,,,,,,,,Clueless. ITS SO DISGUSTING THIS SHIT DONT HIT THE NATIONAL NEWS…..But a good cop doing good does…..Chalking the street WOW!!!! Be proud Austin……On christmas, kids around…WOW….use to be 90% good cops,,,,,,,,,,,Todays world, 10% good cops,,,,90% BAD………..God bless the USA…….All the protesters around the world. In the USA!!!! Those ppl have balls and stand up for there rights!!!!!
Germany seventy years ago under the reign of Hitler had nothing on this country. Land of the free is long gone into past history, Despicable and disgusting to defecate on our precious freedoms. Who are the REAL CRIMINALS HERE? I think we ALL know and it was not old Santa Clause and friends. SHAME ON ALL OF THEM!!
Murica, land of the free…yea right.
[…] Santa Claus Arrested for Chalking in Austin FreeKeene.com December 24, 2012 Picture from FreeKeene.com Santa Claus, also known by […]
Get chalk. Write; “No More!” In front of your home covertly. No body rats out. Leave chalk where people can find it and chance to express themselves in a dangerous world of the chalk police.
Put that sow and swine back in the filthy sty that they come from. Notice the heavy breathing of the sow in the opening minutes. The adrenaline was sure pumping then. Where have all the fit police gone? Have they been superseded by FAT police on steroids?
[…] Santa Claus Arrested for Chalking in Austin Excerpt: Santa Claus, also known by his friends as James Peterson, was arrested after spreading holiday cheer and chalk with young people in front of the Texas capitol building on the 21st. An occupy activist who was giving out chalk to children while dressed as Santa was well received in the plaza, but as he left, Texas DPS officers chased him down and handcuffed him. The crowd appears shocked, one woman yelling out in confusion, “You’re arresting Santa Claus?!” […]