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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."
Okay, so there are two sides to the story; and the only thing published is a fiction writers. Judging from his blog, there are a lot of people looking for an excuse to be sorry to be American. Here I get to play the other side, who won't say anything because that's the appropriate thing.
He got out of the car during a border crossing, obviously without instruction from law enforcement. That he was half-naked suggests something of the state he was in before he precipitated the altercation. Without video, there's nothing to say he didn't take a swing at the law enforcement, who responded in kind. You never get out of the car when stopped by law enforcement without their explicit say so. There was a time when you could do that; but we've had enough criminals who have attacked that the cops can't take chances. By getting out of the car and refusing to return, he precipitated this event.
Sorry, no sympathy.
What those who want activist courts fear is rule by the people.
Um, yes.
Stand up for your rights to ignore police orders all you want, but don't be pissed when your ass is locked up in a cold cell for a night.
I'm not saying that tapping an officer on the shoulder is assault, but it probably isn't a good ideal to initiate physical contact by surprising them with a tap on the shoulder from behind when they might have a (quite reasonable) expectation of being attacked. Also, cursing at an officer isn't assault but why be a jerk? Cops have a difficult job and in my experience are pretty friendly even under adverse conditions. Certainly there are exceptions though.
Uttering the phrase "I won't answer your questions; I want to speak to a lawyer".
Come back when you've researched "threshold inquiry." If police have reasonable suspicion that you're up to something criminal, they can investigate. That includes interviewing you. If you don't cooperate, and they still suspect you of a crime, they can arrest you while they further investigate, for a limited time, until they must charge you.
Given that everything there is legal, if you resist it, yes, you are committing a criminal act. And, whether you are required to present state ID varies state-to-state, but most only require that if you're driving. If you're not driving, you're not required to carry ID.
In MA, you are only required to ANSWER as to your identity- name and address, chiefly, if asked.
Please help metamoderate.
p.s. I'm diggin' your +1 troll, man.
It's always been my dream to get a +5 troll. Hasn't happened in 9+ years of posting to /. Maybe some day.....
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
Seriously, I know that it's kneejerk to assume that cops are wrong. Generally all you have to do at customs is answer questions and get on with it. No one gets beaten up without at least some plausible reason. That's like 3rd graders complaining that they got a bad grade because the teacher doesn't like them. Considering that simplest answer is probably the one that's correct, Peter Watts was probably an asshole and got what he deserved. Of course when it's some uber nerd all you /. pussies get your panties twisted because there's no WAY he could have deserved it.
Mod me down now bitches but you know I'm right.
It's crazy stuff that Homeland Insecurity does that has me nervous to fly into the USA in January for a vacation. I also don't want to go to Mexico, not because I wouldn't enjoy it, but because it'd mean another trip past thugs at DHS at the American border.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
And you think fighting back and attacking the cops is going to stop that? You truly live in a fantasy world utterly unconnected from reality.
Had the OP suggested that, you'd have a point. Instead you're just an aggressive and ignorant asshole who thinks fighting cops doesn't make you look like an aggressive and ignorant asshole.
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.
OK, you have redefined some of the words. Fine, I accept your definition -- "beating" means "using more force than necessary to achieve compliance". Now, we can get to the question of whether the suspect was "beaten", under your definition. You've just moved the debate up one level in language without resolving anything.
We are no better off than when "beat" meant "use physical force" and "excessive force" meant "more beating than necessary to achieve compliance".
I would be fine with calling it all back, and letting the next 10 or 20 years get spent letting everyone sort out a new power structure, both economically and militarily. if this were to happen, I dont want to hear a damn word about how it is all the US fault.
There are times when I think this would be a fabulous idea. We still have two oceans and a few thousand nuclear warheads to defend our homeland with. Slice the majority of the military down to size and maybe we'd have some money left over to invest in our aging infrastructure at home.
Problem is, we'd just get called in to clean up their mess again. European attempts at keeping the peace have never been successful. The only other alternative (China) isn't worth contemplating, given their record on human rights.
I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
" I love my adopted country, but since my name isn't John Sheridan, I'm tired of it and ready to just walk away and leave it to the Nightwatch "
Don't let the door hit ya, where the lord split ya....
--- Relax, that mass muderer is just trying to reduce our carbon footprint, one fetus at a time...