One of the most ridiculous instances of a heavy-handed plain clothes officer harassing young people and then arresting one for not following nonsense orders to leave fast enough at his behest was uploaded to youtube and liveleak on April 27. It has spread especially far today, with many sites featuring articles with the revealing video. You observe a dishevelled white man in sordid clothing approach a group of black youths and he demands to be given possession of a can that one is drinking from. The young people ask the man to identify and he says ‘police’, continuing to insist that he be given the can. The iced tea/lemonade fusion drinker, X, holds the can out to display the label and reads it to the man. He begins reaching for the can, and his intentions are questioned. He then goes into arrest mode, doing a quick ordering of X off of the property, drops the ‘T’ word a few times, and then arrests him for trespassing. It’s worth noting that the iced tea/lemonade can was not taken by police as evidence, yet displayed in its entirety for the camera, and clearly not a beverage worthy of any ‘reasonable suspicion’ of a crime.
This tactic is the same as taken by city bureaucrats in response to the Keene City Council Drinking Game in 2010. Charges in that case were dropped, and Round 2 of the consumption escapade went off without further police action. Since the entire incident revolved around suspicion of an otherwise legal drug, should this senseless arrest be counted as another casualty in the war on drugs?
A disorderly conduct charge was dropped against Ian Freeman, the New Hampshire man arrested last fall outside a public auction of town-owned properties at the Town Building.
Now he plans to fight the accusation that he violated a municipal ordinance before the event.
A hearing will be held May 22 in Palmer District Court on a motion to dismiss the ordinance violation of being disorderly before the public auction. Freeman is being represented by William C. Newman, Western Massachusetts director of the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I didn’t do anything wrong . . . It shouldn’t be a crime to record video in a public place,” Freeman, 32, said Wednesday. “I’m willing to go all the way to help protect people in a similar situation.” (more…)
The fourth Occupy New England regional convergence was held this past weekend at the University of New Hampshire’s main campus in Durham. The gathering brought together dedicated activists from around the Northeast to spend time workshopping, networking, and strategizing. In a twist of fate, riot police would descend upon the surrounding area as outdoor presentations on street medic effectiveness and bullhorn mastery occurred on the campus green.
Presidential candidate Vermin Supreme was about midway through a session on de-escalating tense situations when chants of ‘UNH, UNH’ were audible from down the street directly across from the audience. Moments later, riot police appeared to be blocking the road off as students poured out of the area, many bearing cell phones in a manner suggesting that they were video recording. I wandered down for a closer look, and was surprised to see multiple officers carrying paintball guns, and others holding large canisters of pepper spray, most wearing helmets with face shields, gloves, and other protective gear (short of physical riot shields). Students were compliant with requests to stay out of the area, but were clearly agitated by what had previously occurred, several students reporting to have been hit and bruised by rubber bullets (likely pepperballs). From across the road, Vermin’s voice amplified through his bullhorn, reminding everyone to stay calm, that this was only a test, and to ignore the man with the megaphone. The mood lightened lightly as the police froze momentarily and onlookers responded with laughter and applause. (more…)
This is not an uncommon scene – police harassing people who may have been drinking. What is uncommon is Antonio Buehler and the rest of the Peaceful Streets Project who come on the scene and wield cameras and questions.
The whole video has some excellent exchanges, but the embedded video will skip you to a highlight where a cop actually admits he is a thug:
Ultimately, Buehler and friends are able to help the lady that owns the car escape the clutches of the uniformed gang, but not before the gang members jacks her car and arrests her friend.
Peaceful Streets’ activists are doing good work. (more…)
Helena, MT—A Cheshire County, New Hampshire jury convicted local marijuana and liberty activist Rich Paul today on five felony counts of victimless drug charges. Paul had disputed one of the charges on the facts and had openly pursued jury nullification on the other four charges, which involved the sale of small amounts of marijuana. The buyer turned out to be an FBI-paid informant who had entrapped Paul in exchange for leniency for his own heroin offense.
In 2012, New Hampshire passed HB 146, a fully informed jury bill, which guaranteed defendants the ability in court “to inform the jury of its right to judge the facts and the application of the law in relation to the facts in controversy.” The measure took effect on January 1 of this year.
While the defense did make the case for jury nullification, the judge undermined the intent of the law through misinformation in the instructions he issued to the jury. An attendee at the trial reported on the Free Keene Facebook page that, “Judge John C. Kissinger is reading jury instructions, where he is emphasizing the word “I” in his claim that the jury “must follow the law as *I* explain it”.” (more…)
he says ‘police’, continuing to insist that he be given the can. The iced tea/lemonade fusion drinker, X, holds the can out to display the label and reads it to the man. He begins reaching for the can, and his intentions are questioned. He then goes into arrest mode, doing a quick ordering of X off of the property, drops the ‘T’ word a few times, and then arrests him for trespassing. It’s worth noting that the iced tea/lemonade can was not taken by police as evidence, yet displayed in its entirety for the camera, and clearly not a beverage worthy of any ‘reasonable suspicion’ of a crime.
In 
