Manchester Cop Fired/Arrested After Hit and Run

Obama with unidentified Londonderry officerToday Manchester police sergeant Stephen Coco was fired from the force, where he was reported to have worked on undercover narcotics investigations. Though WMUR reports that it is not clear who was driving the vehicle that hospitalized two teens Friday evening in Bedford, it was confirmed that the car was issued to the MPD officer. Chief David Mara spoke to press to express his shock at the incident.

Bedford police determined that a Manchester police vehicle might have been involved in the hit-and-run, Manchester police said Monday. Manchester police launched an internal investigation and determined that the unmarked vehicle was assigned to Stephen Coco, a detective sergeant working in the Special Investigations Unit.

Manchester police said the internal investigation is ongoing, but based on its findings so far, police determined that Coco violated several departmental procedures. As a result of the findings, Coco was fired. (more…)

Welcome to our Newest Blogger, William Kostric of Manchester

William Kostric’s courageous activism has been featured before on this blog. He’s an activist out of Manchester and Free Keene welcomes him as our newest blogger. Here’s his bio from the Bloggers page:

William KostricWilliam Kostric – Growing weary of petty tyrants in Maricopa County, AZ, William determined to free range outside the confines of the United States. One night while researching the Iraq war, he happened upon the Free State Project forums and found that there were many like-minded individuals spread out across the continent. The idea of gathering in a localized area where a greater impact could be made struck a chord and he signed the statement of intent and made the move in 2008.
William’s current projects include Free State Now who’s goal is to complete the 20k signers before the end of 2014, The Quill – a libertarian community center in the Manchester area and working with Occupy New Hampshire to build a broad-based coalition of activists who are motivated to take local action towards measurable goals.

Full Video of Occupy NH “Trespassive Three” Trial

Three heroic activists from Occupy NH stood up for your right to peaceably assemble and speak out and were arrested for it, then convicted by a jury of their “peers”. This is an over five hour trial RAW footage – there are some real gems in here. I hope someone will take the time to make a highlight reel. Don’t miss the exclusive interview with one of the jurors at the end.

Occupy the Jury Trial

On March 21, the two-day trial began in the case of State v Edwards, Grunewald & Richards. The State claims the 3 defendants committed the crime of criminal trespass in a public park on the night of October 19, 2011.
The State began their case by saying “this case is about choices” and said the defendants had 3 choices:
1) remain in the park until 11pm then leave
2) stay in the park past 11pm, receive a citation, then leave the park
3) stay in the park past 11pm, receive a citation, remain then get arrested. (more…)

Jury Deems ONH Guilty of Trespassing in Public Park

manchesteronheviction1At just about noon today, a Hillsborough County superior court jury returned from approximately an hour of deliberation with a guilty finding against three Occupy New Hampshire activists who did not voluntarily retrieve a citation and were removed via arrest from the temporary intentional community established in Veterans’ Park in Manchester’s downtown. The three were sentenced to ten days of incarceration at the infamous Valley Street jail, which is deferred on the condition that each completes 90 hours of community service and observes one year of good behavior. One occupier who was cited for curfew violation, but did not receive misdemeanor trespassing charges during the eviction responded,

Dislike, but unshocked. We were essentially asking the jury to find you not guilty on constitutional grounds. They are not constitutional law experts, this is an issue for the supreme court, and hopefully we get to challenge it there… (more…)