Audra Harmon, Mother Tasered During Traffic Stop, Files Notice To Sue (VIDEO).

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In his 1975 release Hurricane, Bob Dylan sings about New Jersey cops, “If you’re black, you might as well not show up on the street, unless you want to draw the heat.” Well in today’s Jersey police state, anyone can draw the heat for showing up on the wrong street, even a white music legend.

The AP is reporting that on July 23 Bob Dylan was picked up by the police in the Jersey Shore town of Long Branch at 5 p.m. when a resident reported that “a man was wandering around a low-income, predominantly minority neighborhood several blocks from the oceanfront looking at houses.” Apparently in Jersey “wandering” a black neighborhood is a no-no, if you’re white. “So Patty calls the cops and they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’ in the hot New Jersey night.”

An officer drove up to Dylan and this classic exchange ensued:

“What is your name, sir?”

“Bob Dylan.” Dylan said.

“OK, what are you doing here?” the officer asked.

“I’m on tour,” the singer replied.

The name didn’t ring a bell, so the officers asked for ID. But Dylan explained he didn’t have any because he was just walking around looking at houses trying to pass some time before his show later that evening.

That should have been enough for the police. The skinny 68 year-old was not bothering anyone or doing anything illegal.  He was just a man out for a stroll.  But no!!! The officers asked Dylan to accompany them back to his hotel.  Dylan made the smart move and politely complied.  Only after the police found a tour staff member who vouched for Dylan did they leave the old man alone.

The Long Branch business administrator Howard Woolley praised Dylan for his compliance with the police, “He couldn’t have been any nicer to them.”  No doubt. This summer I’ve recounted for True/Slant several examples of the bad stuff that happens when someone isn’t sweet-as-punch compliant even if the police are bothering you for no legally justifiable reason.  Real glad Bob didn’t join the list.

Fox and G.E. Reach Deal to End O’Reilly-Olbermann Feud – NYTimes.com.

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Huffington Post reports that on Saturday a lawyer named Pepin Tuma got arrested in Washington DC for loudly chanting ”I hate the police, I hate police.” Tuma had been complaining to friends about the Gates arrest when he spontaneously broke into his chant. Unfortunately for Tuma, a few nearby cops took exception.

As Huffington Post reports: “One officer reacted strongly to Tuma’s song. ‘Hey! Hey! Who do you think you’re talking to?’ Tuma recalled the officer shouting as he strode across an intersection to where Tuma was standing. ‘Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?’ the police officer said, according to Luke Platzer, 30, one of Tuma’s companions.”

Tuma being a smart-ass lawyer replied , “It is not illegal to say I hate the police. It’s not illegal to express my opinion walking down the street.”

According to Tuma, the officer pushed him against an electric utility box, continued to ask who he thought he was and said he couldn’t talk to police like that. Within minutes, the officer arrested Tuma for disorderly conduct, of course, just like Gates and the deaf, mentally disabled guy I wrote about earlier this week.  Tuma spent a few hours in a holding cell and was released early Sunday morning after surrendering $35 in collateral to the police.  

(Maybe next week Ill be able to write about politics .)

via Disorderly Conduct: Conversation About Gates Arrest Precedes Arrest.

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Fresh on the heels of Gatesgate, the AP reports another instance of police stupidity and our creeping police state. Last Friday Alabama police used pepper spray and a Taser to remove a deaf, mentally disabled man from a store bathroom. What was his crime?  He was on the toilet for too long — and he had an umbrella. 

“A spokesman for the Mobile Police Department said the officers’ actions were justified because the man was armed with a potential weapon – an umbrella.”

The deaf victim Antonio Love, in a written statement and in a television interview given in sign language said he had an upset stomach and went into a Dollar General store to use the restroom.

A police spokesman said store workers called officers complaining that a man had been in the bathroom for more than an hour with the door locked. Officers knocked on the door and identified themselves, but Love didn’t respond. Officers used a tire iron to open the door, but the man pushed back to keep it shut.  

According to the deaf man’s mother, he has the mental capacity of a 10-year-old and didn’t realize that it was the police who were trying enter the bathroom. “He thought the devil was out there trying to get in to get him,” she said.

Ok, up to this point we have an understandable misunderstanding. But things now take a dark turn.

Having opened the door a crack, officers noticed an umbrella and felt threatened. Out came the pepper spray which they sprayed through the crack at Love.  After being hit with pepper spray,  the victim’s mother said her son splashed water on his face and fell to the floor 

When the police finally got inside the bathroom they shot Love with a Taser– no doubt fearing that the deaf (and now blind) man would show them the business end of his scary umbrella.

Officers finally discovered Love was deaf or had mental problems when he showed them a card he carries in his wallet. But of course they arrested him anyway on a charge of disorderly conduct!!  When a magistrate refused to issue a warrant, officers released him and took him home.

Does any of this sound familiar?

Police spokesmen of course said officers were justified in using force against Love.  “The officers really worked within the limits of our level-of-force policy,” he said. “We had no information about who this guy was.” And he solemnly promised, “We’ll make whatever efforts we can to resolve this situation, hopefully so this man will be able to trust police in the future so we can help him. Obviously, it’s going to be a rough road,” he said. 

Rough road indeed.

The Associated Press: Ala. police: Taser use on disabled man justified.

Bill Maher Discusses Palin, Gates Arrest, Health Care Reform On CNN (VIDEO).

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Yesterday Sarah Palin blamed the media for her decision to quit her governorship.  Today NY Mets GM Omar Minaya blamed the media for his firing of assistant GM Tony Bernazard.  In a Palinesque press conference, Minaya repeated the word ‘investigate’ 26 times by my count. Do they think we are so stupid that all they need to do is repeat a mantra like “politics as usual” two dozen times and then we will march off believing it?

Then Minaya used innuendo to squirm out of any responsibility   by accusing Daily News reporter Adam Rubin — who broke the stories about Bernazard emotional outbursts including a meltdown in front of the Mets minor league team in Binghamton NY which featured a shirtless Bernazard challenging the two dozen 19 and 20 year-olds to a fight. 

But like Palin, Minaya shot the messenger: “I’m saying that I scuffled a lot as I made by decision because I had known that the person that had been writing this had been lobying myself and others in the organization for a position in player development,” Minaya said.

Rubin who was at the press conference had the guts to ask Minaya if he was accusing him of writing the stories to take down Bernazard in an effort to get his job.   But like any bully Minaya backed down when confronted and said that wasn’t what he was implying.

Rubin accurately called Minaya’s accusations “despicable.”

via Omar Minaya says decision to let Bernazard go was his – SILive.com .

via talkradionews

Barack Obama was wrong to apologize for his remarks about the Gates arrest. Backing down and calling for a group-hug with the officer is another dangerous example of our surrender to the police state.

In 1644, the great English jurist Sir Edward Coke proclaimed “A man’s house is his castle.” This has been a foundation stone of Anglo-American law ever since.  Once the Cambridge police officer established that Gates did indeed live in the house, he should have turned his back and walked away.  According to the police, Gates said some offensive things like “I’ll speak with your mama outside.” Even if we are to believe that, it doesn’t matter. Sure the officer felt disrespected. (When did cops become so damn sensitive?)  But Gates was in his own house and a man’s house is his castle.

I understand why the incident has been framed by race.  Fresh out of jail, Gates immediately began promoting a new PBS special about racial profiling– hosted by him of course.  But by framing the Gates arrest as only a problem of racial profiling, we risk missing an opportunity to confront a deeper threat to our liberties– the creep toward a police state.

Last month a cop tasered a white 72-year old great-grandmother because she supposedly threatened him.  Watch the video to see how much of a threat the old woman posed.  Like Gates, this woman was the victim of a cop behaving stupidly.  And like Gates, police brass blamed the victim. Where was the national outrage?

A week before that, Oklahoma highway patrol stopped an ambulance carrying a sick old woman because the ambulance driver supposedly gave them the finger.  (Again, when did cops become such shrinking violets??) Watch how the cops rough up the EMT while the old woman screams from inside the ambulance.

I understand being a cop is tough and I’m truly grateful for their service.  But every time an incident of police brutality and stupidity happens, the public seems to look the other way.  We’ve been taught to automatically ‘respect the badge.’ But we must also protest every time the police violate the rights of our fellow citizens, regardless of whether or not racism is involved.

Today’s NYT reports that Dick Cheney wanted to use the military to perform police operations — clearly violating the Fourth Amendment and the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act.  Like the CIA hit squads, Cheney’s plans for domestic military operations probably won’t generate much public outrage.  And that’s a terrible shame.

Every American must understand that the police are both defenders of and threats to our rights.  Does that sound too harsh?  Take a look at the Bill of Rights and count how many of the first ten amendments specifically target the cops and military.  The founders understood the importance of public vigilance against the police state.  I only wish today’s Americans felt as defensive.

Just because to cops or the government do it dosent make it right. And you can exect to see more of the creeping police state unless there is some public outrage.

“Lawmakers flock to 133 C St. SE  for cheap rent, weekly dinners, Bible studies and spirituality sessions that serve as a sort of group therapy for some of the country’s most powerful men. But now the stately brick house is becoming known for something else: It’s ground zero for Republican sex scandals.”

via Republican sex scandal meets spirituality on C Street – Lisa Lerer and Kathryn McGarr – POLITICO.com.

Another day, another criminal complaint against the CIA.