Sci-Fi Author Peter Watts Beaten, Charged During Border Crossing

Posted by Soulskill on Friday December 11, 2009 @12:50PM from the canadian-writers-are-a-threat-to-freedom-eh dept.

JoeGee writes "On December 8th, Canadian sci-fi author Peter Watts, author of the Rifters trilogy and Blindsight, was crossing the US/Canadian border at Port Huron, Michigan when he was involved in an altercation with US Border Patrol agents. According to Watts, he was beaten, left half-naked in a cold cell, and finally dumped on the Canadian side of the border with no coat. A legal consultant from the Electronic Frontier Foundation was successful in helping a civil rights lawyer in Michigan free Watts. Watts faces US charges of assaulting a federal officer. Based on the accounts, one can assume Watts did so by hitting the officer's hand with his face. If convicted, Watts faces two years in a US Federal prison."

4 of 1,079 comments (clear)

first reports are often wrong by Presto+Vivace · 2009-12-11 13:00 · Score: 5, Funny

on the other hand, this may be another victory in the war on tourism.
Re:Charges... by ddegirmenci · 2009-12-11 13:04 · Score: 5, Funny

That actually gave me the idea that I might, somehow, be able to cause a stack overflow in the police. I guess I'll be trying that the next time I'm arrested...
Re:Searching for 'Watt, charged' pun by Ginger+Unicorn · 2009-12-11 13:15 · Score: 5, Funny

watt charged with resistance

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(1.21 gigawatts) / (88 miles per hour) = 30 757 874 newtons
Re:Searching for 'Watt, charged' pun by DurendalMac · 2009-12-11 13:20 · Score: 5, Funny

Maybe they thought that he'd stolen some precious joules.