Keene State Student, Wrongfully Arrested During Pumpkin Fest, Takes Plea Deal

by Ian | Jul 8, 2015 | 43 comments

Pumpkin Fest 2014: Dozens of Staties Attack Three Innocent, Teen Students

Ryan McLellan and his friends never hurt anyone or destroyed any property on the night of Pumpkin Fest 2014. However, that didn’t stop dozens of state police from swarming and attacking the three young men as they attempted to go to the Campus Convenience store on the corner of the block where their dorm was located.  Earlier in the day and night there were riots in the neighborhood, but by the early morning hours when Ryan and his friends were attacked, there was nothing happening.

Well, I shouldn’t say nothing.  Their neighborhood was being occupied by a very large group of armed men who were in a mood to order around and kidnap anyone they darn well wanted.  Here’s the original video I released at the time, which shows the arrests and surrounding scene in full.  Just minutes prior to their attack, but before the huge throng of state police had been brought in, I had been in the exact same place as the young men.  Though the cops who were there at the time prohibited me from crossing into Winchester St., (for no apparent reason other than arbitrary control), they did not tackle and arrest me, like was done to Ryan and his friends.

Sadly, despite his being a clear case of police abuse and having an attorney willing to take the case to trial and beyond, Ryan took the plea deal, having a nonsense “resisting arrest” charge conditionally nolle-prossed in return for his guilty plea to “disorderly conduct”.  These are two of the police’s favorite charges to throw at someone who they don’t like, but has otherwise done nothing wrong.

They were going to the convenience store.  It was past midnight and they were hungry.  When told to “GO HOME!”, they seemed confused – after all, they had committed no crimes, and further, there were other normal people walking down Winchester St, so why were they allowed to walk somewhere but not Ryan and friends?

When they didn’t turn immediately and high-tail it out of there, the thronging mass of state police officers pounced and violently took the young men to the pavement.  A parent of one of Ryan’s friends said:

“My son has had 2 MRIs bad concussion lives with headaches everyday, dislocated his shoulder, sprained ankle and bruised the inside of his mouth from kneeling on his face.”

During sentencing, judge Edward J Burke fined him $1,000 suspended for two years on condition of good behavior, gave him 50 hours of community service, and lectured him as though he were somehow as bad as the people who had committed violence or property destruction, despite him never being accused of doing any such thing!

Here’s the full video of the sentencing hearing, with a brief recap at the beginning:

It was sad to watch.  If you’re ever facing criminal charges, especially in the case of police abuse – please consider not taking the plea deal.  Taking the plea only encourages more bad behavior from the police and “justice” system like this and ensures you’ll never be able to challenge what they did to you.

Finally, before you accuse me of being anti-police, remember it was my video I gave to Keene police that led to the capture and conviction of people who actually committed violent and property crime during the Pumpkin Fest riots. I am fine with the police going after real criminals, but not peaceful people like Ryan and his friends.