Popular YouTube First Amendment Auditor, “Press NH Now” aka Marc Manchon has moved to Keene and has already made an impact on the streets of Keene, catching KPD officer Michael O’Donnell with a bait bottle of non-alcoholic beer:
O’Donnell approaches Manchon in a apartment building parking lot and seizes his beer, then after Manchon refuses to show ID, O’Donnell puts him in cuffs. All the while, Manchon is explaining to O’Donnell that he’s going to have to let him go, pointing out O’Donnell should have conducted his investigation of the beer prior to cuffing Manchon. Once he does look at the bottle, O’Donnell looks embarrassed as he uncuffs Manchon and lets him go.
The whole incident reminded me of the Keene City Council Drinking Game over a decade ago, where activists were wrongfully arrested over fake beers. They dropped my charges in that case a year later, just prior to trial, because they knew it was an illegal arrest.
The City Council Drinking Game was a protest of Keene’s “open container” law that we won in two ways – first them dropping the charges. Second, subsequent iterations of the City Council Drinking Game went unmolested, including one that happened at the next Council meeting after the arrests.
Despite having backed down on enforcement within the Council chambers, Press NH Now’s video shows the enforcement of this victimless “crime” of “open container” continues unabated on the streets. Thank you to Press NH Now for his service to police accountability.
