Haymarket police out of control?
Haymarket police out of control?
(Click above link to read full article.)
Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
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1. Haymarket police out of control?
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A longtime VCDL member is being put through the wringer by what
appears to be a vindictive police officer in the Town of Haymarket.
The problems began when the member was stopped at a sobriety
checkpoint. The member had not been drinking. He did refuse to
answer some of the questions he was asked, as is his right since he
was not under suspicion for breaking any laws. As a courtesy he did
tell the main officer at the scene that he was legally armed.
The member's gun was taken away at that point and unloaded.
The police told the member that he could go, but that the police were
going to keep his gun to run stolen checks against it.
The member asked for a receipt for the gun in that case, but the
police refused to give him one (!).
The member then asked for his gun back, saying that he would not give
them permission to hang on to it.
He was finally given his gun back, unloaded and in an evidence bag
and the member continued on his way.
A week or so later, the member was stopped by the same officer while
driving through Haymarket. The officer said that the member was
driving with his blinker on. The member was - he was exiting the
freeway!
The member was again cut loose without charges.
The member was fed up at that point and called the non-emergency
Haymarket Police number later that night. He was forwarded to the
senior officer in the field, you guessed it, the SAME officer as
above! (I thought I had bad luck.)
During the course of the discussion, the member asked the officer if
a Sergeant on the force was still beating his wife (there had been an
article in the papers about the officer having a restraining order
filed against him by his wife in 2005).
The next morning the member filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request with the Town Clerk asking question about the Town's
checkpoint program.
The night that the FOIA was filed, the officer went to a magistrate
and the magistrate issued a warrant (not a summons, which is
customary for misdemeanors) for the member's arrest. The member was
arrested in front of his family, taken to the court and immediately
released by a judge on his own recognizance.
The charge? I mentioned the law last week in the VCDL update:
"18.2-427. Use of profane, threatening or indecent language over public
airways.
If any person shall use obscene, vulgar, profane, lewd, lascivious, or indecent
language, or make any suggestion or proposal of an obscene nature, or threaten
any illegal or immoral act with the intent to coerce, intimidate, or harass any
person, over any telephone or citizens band radio, in this Commonwealth, he
shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor."
The only problem is that the officer said that the member asked if
the Sergeant was "screwing his wife" instead of "beating his wife" in
the warrant.
The member denies that, and having known him for years, I believe
him. Besides, case law emphasizes that there must be a THREAT for
the law to apply (http://www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opncavtx/0664032.txt).
The officer's report indicates no threat. And even if one accepts the
officer's rendition of what was a said, "screwing" is NOT profane in
Virginia in and of itself, and certainly not in the context claimed
by the officer.
Sounds like the officer was looking for any opening to maliciously go
after the member, punishing him for using his right to free speech
and redress of governmental grievances.
The member is already out $2,000, even if the case is dropped (as I
expect it will be).
VCDL plans on doing some Freedom of Information Act requests to
Haymarket to find out if other legally possessed guns were
confiscated under similar circumstances and how many times.
Haymarket police out of control?
(Click above link to read full article.)
