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Sci-Fi Author Peter Watts Beaten, Charged During Border Crossing
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."
What most people don't realize is ANY "unwanted" contact with any officer or agent of a government entity is assault. Tapping them on the shoulder when they're yelling at your friend would constitute assault on an officer. Something as innocent as brushing the agent's hand away would provoke that charge, which I suspect is the case here.
Wake up people, our laws are broken.
I got a tweet about this earlier today.
I can't wait to hear what really happened here. It's wouldn't be so outlandish if Watts' version of the story is entirely true, especially with the number of police beatings that get online where the exact same thing has happened (i.e. someone not resisting at all, getting beaten up, and then charged with resisting arrest).
Over 10 years ago now, Indianapolis had the infamous "police street brawl" incident where a group of off duty drunk policemen went around picking fights with guys and harassing women in down town Indianapolis. Everyone that tried to protect women in that situation ended up in jail with a bunch of bruises on resisting arrest charges. I don't believe even one of the cases ever made it to court. Still the police union backed their boys to the very end. I believe they even called the mayor a commie at one point...
http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20091211/NEWS01/91211010/1002/Science+fiction+writer+charged+after+bridge+struggle
"Jones said Watts was crossing into Michigan from Point Edward when he was selected at random for a secondary Customs inspection. Watts exited his vehicle "angrily" and border officers began checking the black sport utility vehicle he was driving, Jones said.
Border officers ordered Watts back into the vehicle, and when he refused, officers attempted to handcuff him, Jones said. At that point, Watts began to resist and pull away from the officers "and became aggressive toward officers," Jones said.
Jones said a border officer used pepper spray to subdue Watts. Jones said Watts "choked" an officer during the struggle. "
I saw the video of that. The guy being arrested was drunk and belligerent and was holding his hand out when it hit the glass. It wasn't his head but his hand that hit the glass. Did you see the video someone recorded of it and put online? The guy was picking fights with people on the train. When the officer pulled him off the train, you could hear everyone in the train car clapping. It was pretty clear that the officer didn't do anything wrong.
Cory Doctorow talking about cloud computing makes as much sense as George W Bush talking about electrical engineering.
That's exactly my impression. Crossing from US to Canada was fine, crossing back very strongly reminded me of crossing from Poland to East Germany in mid 80's.
AccountKiller
http://www.lrwc.org/documents/Civil.Disobedience.Guide.November.20.2009.F.pdf This "protesters guide to civil disobedience" was discussed recently on CBC Radio. Interesting tidbits about assaulting a police officer. I suspect career criminals don't have this trouble - they figured out at 14 how to deal with law enforcement :-7
Given that everything there is legal, if you resist it, yes, you are committing a criminal act.
In most states there is no right to resist unlawful arrest. I happen to live in one of the states that recognize this right.
SSC
Well contrary to modern day practices, beating is not necessary to arrest someone. Even people that physically resist arrest should not be beaten. The amount of force required to arrest someone is what is required. Beating someone because your pissed off that they resisted means your in the wrong job. Everyone gets pissed off when someone doesn't do what you tell them to, that does not mean that beating them as punishment is ok. Cops are not, and should not be, in the punishment business. (that's a different department)
waiting for ad.doubleclick.net
Don't be a douche bag, know something about what you are talking about.
This year, 115 police officers have died in the line of duty. Half of those deaths were accidental or medical.
In terms of deaths on the job, police officer doesn't even make the top ten.
I stand by my statement. Police officers *are* rarely killed on the job. 50 people died as a result of tazering this year, and that's just *tazering*. Police kill more people that don't need killing than they themselves are killed. From a strictly numerical point of view, an innocent citizen being confronted by the police is more likely to be killed than a police officer is to be deliberately killed by an assailant.
Yet, in spite of this, we are supposed to bow down to the police who have chosen such a "dangerous" occupation, but when they attack an innocent citizen, no big whoop, they probably had it coming because they asked a question or something.
When an unarmed man alone gets into a fight with multiple armed people, it's a rare case where the unarmed man is the aggressor.
I'm not so sure about that:
EL MIRAGE, Ariz. -- Three firefighters were assaulted while responding to a late-night medical call on Dec. 5, according to The Arizona Republic.
The crew found a teen -- reportedly suffering from an overdose -- running around. They were able to calm him down to check his vital signs and insert an intravenous needle, but officials told the newspaper that the patient become violent when firefighters tried to place him on a gurney.
The 16-year-old began punching, kicking and scratching the first responders.
Police were called for assistance and were able to subdue the teen, who was on probation and wore an ankle bracelet monitor.
The firefighters suffered only minor injuries.
According to the report, a recent survey conducted for the Arizona Fire Chiefs Association show that 55 percent of responders in the state said they had been assaulted at least once while on the job. Ariz. Firefighters Assaulted by Patient
____
Daniel A. Noble, of Moscow, Wash., was allegedly driving erratically Monday morning on the Washington State University campus and struck two pedestrians - one in a crosswalk, the other on a sidewalk. The victims were taken to the hospital.
At the scene police said that Noble was uncooperative. "He was combative at the start, when we tried to take him into custody," Lt. Steve Hansen of the WSU police told The Spokesman-Review. Police used a Taser to subdue Noble.
Mark Moorer, Noble's lawyer, said Tuesday that his client was known to consume large amounts of energy drinks and Starbucks coffee. Moorer said in court that the caffeine could have accounted for Noble's strange behavior.
Noble's wife told investigators that he started acting strangely about three days earlier, was not sleeping at night and seemed confused. During Tuesday's hearing, Noble got up and tried to walk away from the defense table, but his lawyer pulled him back to his seat.
Following in the footsteps of the "Twinkie defense" , The Oregonian has dubbed this the "The Starbucks Defense." Lawyer: Driver Had 'Caffeine Psychosis'
My father has been on the Maine border for the past 20 years.
From my memories as crossing 10 years ago, things have definitely changed- and there are many reasons why. One of the biggest is that since 2001, the number of border gaurds has increased by a factor of 4. There used to be high standards, with lengthy training. You had to learn spanish, and generally become reasonably educated in detecting lies, noticing suspicious people, etc. The handgun training weeded out a lot of people, and my father had to practice every 3 weeks, because if he didn't, he might not pass the handgun qualification test, which seemed to be at least 4 times a year. A lot of that went away when some politicians decided they needed to stack the border in the name of "Homeland Security". Immigration and Customs (2 separate groups 10 years ago) were rolled into Homeland Security after 2001. Instead of ambitious folk who didn't mind learning spanish, passing rigorous handgun tests, remaining current in their education, etc, you got the bottom of the barrel uneducated Joe. The kind who saw a cushy government job for little effort and took it.
Joe is not a fun guy. Joe does the bare minimum and nothing extra, collects his paycheck, and sits in the booth following his script.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
I remember when it was civilized, polite and courteous. That gradually changed.
It soon became openly hostile.
Several people I know well had incidents, and, I trust when they tell me it was without provocation.
I have seen several conflicts at US border crossings, and many were without cause.
Please bear in mind I am a white, balding, 53 year old guy who is about as "white" and grandfatherly looking as you may find.
This is not some paranoid fantasy on my part.
Maurice W. Hilarius Voice: (778) 347-9907
It seems the citizenry, officers, and/or agents of the U.S. gov't have forgotten a few, really pertinent, things...
e.g. A police officer and his partner (and/or dispatch)
My Favorite:
It's from a sci-fi series called Babylon 5. One of the sub-plots involves the ambitious Vice President of the Earth Alliance assassinating the President so he can advance his own agenda. That agenda includes the suppression of civil liberties and extreme xenophobia towards non-Earth influences/culture. He sets up an organization called the Ministry of Peace which runs another organization called the Night Watch. Night Watch is primarily made up of regular citizens whom are encouraged to inform on their neighbors if they notice any "subversive" activities.
It's a great show if you are into the genre. Worth checking out just for that storyline alone. It shows just how many people are willing to be co-opted into such a system but provides the occasional glimmer of hope as others see what's happening and refuse to go along with it.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Peter Watts has put up a new post on the event. All emphasis mine:
"I'm at the point now where I can't talk a whole lot about ongoing proceedings. I am seeing a few common misrepresentations making the rounds, though, that I'd like to set straight:
That's it for the technical items. I have only two more things to say. Firstly, I am absolutely flabbergasted by the online reaction to this story, and by the support (both moral and financial) that's inundated me over the past few hours. I don't have a hope in hell of answering even a fraction of the incoming traffic at this point, so for the moment let me just say I'm humbled and a little bit scared. I did not start this campaign; it actually started when I was still in jail, and had absolutely no idea what was going on. But to the catalytic folks who orchestrated it, know that I am looking into having my vasectomy reversed so that I can sire a firstborn son and sacrifice him to you.
Secondly, I'm going to bed.
You might think so, but it's not so. The jury will believe the cop unless evidence is presented beyond a shadow of doubt that the cop is lying. And sometimes even then. And if the judge will slant the instructions so the jury pretty much has to convict, e.g. "If he put up his arm to block a blow from a police officer, that's resisting arrest". The loss of the footage probably won't even be revealed to the jury.
SCOTUS disagreed, in the Bad Elk case, stating "If the officer had no right to arrest, the other party might resist the illegal attempt to arrest him, using no more force than was absolutely necessary to repel the assault constituting the attempt to arrest."
Expecting people to submit to kidnapping because the kidnappers have badges is not compatible with a free society.
I wouldn't expect courts to follow this precedent in our modern police state, but to my knowledge SCOTUS has not overturned it.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
Being homeless on public property may be a crime, but have you ever been homeless? I have. It sucks getting cops come up to you, handcuff you, search through all your shit for crack or whatever, then tell you you're not legally allowed to exist there for the night. This has happened to me on multiple occasions. When I asked the cop where I could spend the nigh, I was told not within the county border. Do you understand how shitty this is? Just because being homeless is a crime doesn't mean you can have zero compassion for "law breakers." Seriously, do you know how much it sucks to be homeless???
Now, the US simply doesn't ask for these laws to be put in place, they shoe horn, back door and in some cases force it.
Well said! Here is a recent example of US "coercing" of Spain into adopting IIPA's world view (i.e. police the internet for the US) - basically not inviting the worlds eighth largest economy to the world crisis summit(s), unless they bent over for IIPA. Same old same old, but at least more Americans at least appear to be becoming aware of why this kind of extremely arrogant foreign policy makes them so unpopular around the world.