Friday, July 08, 2011

Yet Another Arrest For Contempt Of Police



An Arkansas man is arrested by police after he recorded them conducting a traffic stop of a woman from the front yard of his home. While the man clearly goads the police officers by calling them Nazis, they escalated the matter by entering his property and coming into his garage to demand his identification. He was told by the police officer unless he provided identification to him, he would be arrested on any number of charges, including disorderly conduct and obstruction. While the man complies, albeit rudely as he raises 4th Amendment concerns, and provides his identification, the police still arrest him for disorderly conduct. The police even suggested he would be cited for a code violation for not keeping his grass mowed. Absolutely unbelievable. Don't these guys have anything better to do than pick fights that can't possibly win in the eyes of public opinion?

According to the Arkansas Blog, Jonesboro police searched Matt Harden's garage after arresting him and found a handgun, resulting in charges being brought against him for being a felon in possession of a handgun despite the fact that he had a license to carry a gun. He was held in custody for 24 hours before being released. A local prosecutor later dropped the bogus charges against Harden with an agreement by Harden not to bring civil litigation against the police department for violating his constitutional rights.

8 comments:

Paul K. Ogden said...

"A local prosecutor later dropped the bogus charges against Harden with an agreement by Harden not to bring civil litigation against the police department for violating his constitutional rights."

I think that actually would be an ethical violation in Indiana... a prosecutor trading the filing of criminal charges for an agreement by the defendant not to pursue a civil case. In Indiana, it happens but they are generally careful not explicit about the trade.

Downtown Indy said...

This happens a lot:

Photography Is Not A Crime blog

mphill109 said...

Not sure what this has to do with Indiana but ok...while we're showing arkansas videos could you please play the video of the two west memphis arkansas police officers being gunned down for not being aware of their surroundings...

Cato said...

Arkansas is the place where the cops flat-out murdered John Morneau.

Keep worrying about Obama, conservatives.

Cato said...

Just bumped into this on Drudge Retort (mind the first 't'):

http://dailycaller.com/2011/07/08/the-governments-war-on-cameras/

We're really not a free country. The cops work ceaselessly to make our cells a little smaller.

mphill109 said...

Im not saying take it or leave it because this country is not by any means perfect but at the same token I love my country...in some countries, doing what we're doing right now is illegal. And being free doesnt mean you can do whatever the hell you like...I guess you could say northern mexico is free right now...no police, no government officials, or authority what so ever...just drug dealers and hitmen...if that is the type of freedom people want, by all means move there but I think I'll stay right here.

Cato said...

So it's either tyrant cops or Somalia?

When the evil of cops is doubtlessly exposed, we always hear "it's not as bad as elsewhere."

That's deception.

Glenn said...

The ONLY reason cops don't want to be recorded, is because they don't want anyone to be able to prove how criminal they really are.