Barry and Candi Cooper speak out about their arrest
More: Barry Cooper to sue Williamson County for $30 million
For the first time since their arrest by the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department, Barry Cooper and his wife Candi are speaking out about their attempt to catch an officer in Liberty Hill, Texas stealing money and the police retaliation that ended in officers raiding their home and carting away all their computers, files, digital media and Barry, who stayed in Williamson County jail for two days — for an alleged misdemeanor.
He’s back in the second episode of “BackTalk,” being promoted via Cooper’s Web site. It’s just Barry’s way to interact with fans, but he has some worthwhile comments and revealing insights into what happened and why.
I do want to make it clear to readers — almost 30,000 of whom clicked on my three prior reports for True/Slant on Cooper’s exploits (thank you, seriously) — that I’m not angling to cast myself as Barry’s mouthpiece and I pretty much turn a skeptical eye toward everything.
Rule number one for journalists: dig into your source.
I’ve been sporadically writing about Barry Cooper for almost 18 months and the narrative keeps getting stranger. Thing is, much as I’ve dug into Cooper’s case and background, or just checked out little details about events he’d relayed to me to judge the accuracy of his recall, he’s thus far proved every bit as legitimate as one would hope.
I add that cautionary note because Cooper fund-raises a bit in the video that follows and it’s not the intent of your humble narrator to use my space or your time for advertising of any kind. That said, the most pertinent part of the video, in my opinion, fall between 1:12 and 21:10. Everything else is pot-flavored butter.
For every bit as flamboyant and seemingly ADHD-fueled as his stunts are, Cooper is coming from somewhere real, tapping into a pain that’s rife across America, which imprisons a greater percentage of its population than any other industrialized nation — an incredible number of those prisoners being charged with drug offenses.
Perhaps his arrest, atrocious as it may be, is karmic in a way. Some would say, observing the series of events on its face, that he brought it on himself. Maybe, but I don’t think he did anything illegal, and the chief of police in Liberty Hill called his actions “a service.”
Arresting hundreds of fellow Americans and throwing them into the cold, violent, freedom-less reality of prison for victimless crimes is a thing that can stain a the soul of a repentant man like Barry. Perhaps it has. But did he deserve it? I can only pontificate; we mortals don’t see that much detail in the fabric of it all. Who’s to say?
But still: armed men wearing similar clothing did raid Cooper’s home and take all his shit. That’s reason enough for me to bring you this. Just watch.
Post Your Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment
T/S Members
Log in with your True/Slant account.
COOPER 2012!
[...] Cooper recently spoke out about the experience of being toted off to the Williamson County Jail for two days over allegedly making a false report to a police officer, even though all they’ve got on him is one person who believes they made out his voice in the background of a call. More on that here. [...]
[...] Barry and Candi Cooper speak out about their arrest – Stephen C … [...]
This guy is awesome. He is a real American hero. I love how the police don’t like having an eye on them. The officer stole drug money and then they arrest Berry Cooper. WOW. I’m 27 and believe I will see the end of prohibition of weed in my life. I just hope to many people aren’t arrested in the mean time. Why do Americans love to put so many of our own people in prison it just doesn’t make sense. We have a higher percentage of our people in prison than any other country in the history of the world. Just think about that. Even the Evil Soviet Union.
I have heard two reason for why weed was made illegal to begin with. The first was because it was a way to discriminate against Mexican immigrants a long time ago. Because weed was their drug of choice. Second was that the cotton industry didn’t like the idea of hemp competing with them. So they made them both illegal. Hemp is still illegal today even though you can’t get high off of it. Maybe they are both wild theories, or maybe they have some truth. Either way should we really be spending our tax money to put people in jail for it.
I also suspect that the liquor and pharma lobby would be against it for their self interest not ours.
[...] Barry and Candi Cooper speak out about their arrest – Stephen C. Webster – Brave New Hoo… [...]
[...] (55) Barry e Cooper candidati parlare chiaramente il loro arresto [...]
[...] March 11, 2010: Barry and Candi Cooper Speak Out About Their Arrest [...]