This is a reprint from my Occupy Public Transportation in Saint Louis blog on my arrest-- actually an illegal kidnapping by the Berkeley police department, as they were in violation of First Amendment, and had no authority to arrest me-- on September 10, 2014 at Hanley and highway 70.
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/optinstl-illegaly-arrested-by-berkeley.html
OPTINSTL was one of the 35 people arrested at the 10 September
demonstration at Highway 70, however, I was simply trying to get passed
the illegal roadblock (violating the First Amendment)
to get to do the protest. I had no plans to go out on the highway. But
I wanted to to be there because I knew, even before I saw the illegal
roadblock, that First Amendment rights were going to be violated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/11/us/police-block-highway-protest-over-ferguson-mo-shooting.html?_r=0
http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/10/us/missouri-ferguson-michael-brown-protest/index.html
http://fox2now.com/2014/09/10/live-updates-michael-brown-protesters-plan-to-shut-down-i-70-during-rush-hour/
I also had this leaflet to hand out:
http://optinstl.blogspot.com/2014/09/vote-for-michael-brown-november-4th.html
I
am going to be writing a lot more in this blog, and to the media, and
of course, in preparing to fight my case, but I am hoping that one of
the 10 or 12 cell phone videos, and one news camera, of my arrest will
be sent to me. If you know anyone at the demo, I was on the other side
of the highway, the Express Scripts side, trying to get across the
illegal police blockade. I am a white woman. I was wearing a grey
t-shirt and purple skirt.
Please send me an email if you have video. optinstl@gmail.com
Since
I had been encouraging people that had been arrested for "failure to
disperse" or any of the other many illegal violations of the First
Amendment rights by the police, it is interesting that simply by losing
my temper (I challenged the police line about their illegality, crossed
their "line" and was arrested for "Trespassing" and "Failure to
Comply". They also accused me of "assaulting an officer" for taunting
them for being fascists. Wisely, they did not file that charge.
However, even without that, they made many, many mistakes, and I have
good grounds for challenging the violation of the First Amendment, which
more of us are going to have to do to protect this most important
freedom that we have in this country. It was not just MY rights that
were violated, every citizen of the United States is having their First
Amendment rights violated at almost every protest since Brown's murder.
Again, more on that later.)
I will also be
encouraging media, lawyers, and citizen rights advocacy groups to
investigate the many illegal and inhumane practices of the Berkeley
Police Department. The jail conditions (900 calories a day, which are
three bread and meat microwaved sandwiches, not allowed to use a
toothbrush, no water except during the three "meal times"), setting bond
without any trial and then detention until bond is paid, with little or
no access to a lawyer, etc. And I was in a cell with a woman that was
facing thirty days in these conditions, because she can't afford to pay
the $1400 bond (and the non-refundable $25 administrative fee tacked on
top of it!)
One thin blanket, very cold temperatures,
metal beds, lights on all the time, no visible clocks, only allowed one
shirt, one pair of pants, and someone has to bring you new clothes, and
they have to return the clothes you were wearing to that person. I also
was not allowed to wear my glasses. One of the officers BRAGGED that
each inmate only costs $3.71 a day to house! I wouldn't treat Darren
Wilson that way! Absolutely inhumane.
There have been
many articles recently about the high amount of tickets that are issued
to drivers in the north county area, not just for "Driving While Black"
but because the main source of income for small municipalities is
traffic fines. The response from the police is always "If you don't
break the law you have nothing to worry about."
http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/black-st-louis-suburbs-hit-ticket-blitz-n185061
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-watch/wp/2014/09/03/how-st-louis-county-missouri-profits-from-poverty/
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-10/arrests-form-financial-bedrock-across-st-louis-county-towns.html
But
that is patently not true. Let's not even get into the many times cops
turn on their sirens to speed through a yellow or red light. I've
worked for law offices and attorneys in another state, and one attorney
here, and all of their traffic tickets were fixed or dismissed due to
their privilege of being lawyers and knowing so many judges, etc. (They
broke the law and had nothing to worry about, RIGHT? ) I am hoping that
an thorough audit of ALL traffic tickets is conducted to see just how
often tickets are dismissed for lawyers, their families and friends,
etc.
Ironically, while I was only jail for two days,
the County sells the arrest records to all the lawyers so that they can
send out advertising to the arrestees home address. The lawyer I worked
for sent one to me. One of my jobs was to fold up these letters and
put them in envelopes. What is even more insulting about this obvious
scam-- where lawyers profit from these tickets, too-- is that these
lists are sent out IMMEDIATELY, but I can not get a copy of the incident
report for SEVEN TO TEN DAYS, AND I HAVE TO GO DOWN TO THE STATION TO
GET IT.
I call shenanigans on this entire operation.
Keep checking back, but please, if you have any video of my incident, please forward it to me.
Conversations, musings, and multiple viewpoints both worldly and otherworldly. Welcome to the Age of Avatars, and the New Age of Electronic Fire! Welcome Macro Family! Welcome Witches, Magickal Peeps, Immortals, Worldwalkers, Lightworkers, Jedis, Shamans, and Inter-Galactic and Inter-Dimensional Aliens! Welcome Faerie, Sidhe, Deva/Devi, Elemental and Orisha! I am a Witness to the crumbling Dystopia, and the emerging Utopia. Welcome to my world. Also see: https://supernaturalstl.blogspot.com/
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I'm glad you are out..I were working on coming up with the $750 to bail you out..
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