Asheville is the closest North Carolina comes to San Francisco – the mountains, the culture, but that is where the similarities end. There is a very belligerent and ultra sanctimonious right wing in Asheville. Years ago, there was a rally to pray to boot out “paganism.” Last year my wife and I happened visited town while a horrific anti-gay protest was in progress sponsored by local area “churches.” This past week, Asheville saw one of it’s own arrested for holding a protest sign.
On Wednesday August 15, I was standing alone with my sign for about 10 minutes, when I was approached by Police Officer Russell Crisp. He asked me how long I was planning to stay there and I told him just a few more minutes because I had to go to work at 8:00. He asked for my ID and I obliged. I asked him if I was doing something wrong, and he said that his Sergeant was on the way and he was going to wait for him. SO, I went back to my sign holding over the interstate.
A few minutes later Sergeant Randy Riddle showed up with a paper in his hand. He spoke briefly to Crisp, then walked over to me and told me to put down my sign, put my hands behind my back, and that I was under arrest! I was shocked and almost thought he was joking until he told me again to put down the sign and put my hands behind me and I was under arrest. So I peacefully agreed and he cuffed me. I asked him why I was being arrested, he told me I was in violation County Ordinance 16-2, (the print out in his hand that he didn’t bother to read to me or show me.) He told me I was obstructing the sidewalk. I told him I was not and that officer Crisp had witnessed a guy walk by me moments before.
Riddle yelled at me, “You were obstructing the sidewalk!” and “I’m sick of this shit!” then he said, “Here’s your 15 minutes of fame buddy!” I looked back to see his name plate and he said in a mean condescending tone, “Yea, that’s ‘Sergeant Riddle’ get it right!” He then put me in Officer Crisp’s police car. Riddle took my sign with him and I was taken downtown and booked by Crisp. I was never read my Miranda rights.
Someone needs to call Mayor Bellamy and ask her when Civil Rights will be reestablished in Asheville? Or does she intend to allow the gestapo to operate freely in his city?
The below is PUBLIC information:
Mayor Terry M. Bellamy
Contact Information
Office of the Mayor
Mayor Terry M. Bellamy
Mailing address:
P.O. Box 7148, Asheville, NC, 28802
Location: Asheville City Hall, Second Floor, 70 Court Plaza
Phone: (828) 259-5600
Fax: (828) 259-5649
E-mail: mayorbellamy@ashevillenc.gov
mayorbellamy@ashevillenc.gov mayor
whogan@ashevillenc.gov police chief
jrichardson@ashevillenc.gov assistant city manager
gjackson@ashevillenc.gov city manager
Another Day In Asheville
click to enlarge Asheville is the closest North Carolina comes to San Francisco – the mountains, the culture, but that is where the similarities end. There is a very belligerent and ultra sanctimonious right wing in Asheville. Years ago, there was a r…
[...] Town Called Dobson, Storm Bear relates the case of Jonas Phillips, arrested on trumped up charges after he repeatedly [...]
O_o
Wow…
So I guess the general policy there is “Vhat? Hyu disagree vith Fhurer Bush?!? Git in die OVEN!!!”
No…serously… I mean, I have only heard of places like this. You know, where they are complete and total throwbacks to some long-forgoten age when such activity was viewed as ‘reasonable’. These are not those times.
Why was he not read his Miranda Rights? Hell…what happened to the First Amendment?
You know what? Nevermind. I do not want to know. If I were to receive the answer, it would most likely make my head hurt…and it is way WAY too early for the stupid today.
Oh…and I found this as well:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asheville%2C_NC#General_information
Interestingly enough, this city receives fairly high marks as ‘the place to go and live’ or something to that degree from various institutions. Now…either this is an isolated incident (but reading the article in its entirety, it may not be) or this is the standard that folks are ascribing to…
Whoa, I’m shocked! I’ll send an e-mail, Stormbear.
Press Release by Asheville Police Department:
The Asheville Police Department is a professional, well trained, and accredited agency that is committed to protecting individuals’ Constitutional rights. Our Department has assisted with untold rallies and protests to protect citizens’ opportunity for free speech while maintaining the safety of all individuals present. The press release attached below describes the facts surrounding this case. Expressing one’s opinions must be done in a manner that does not infringe upon the rights and safety of others. In this case, the actions of Mr. Phillips was impeding the flow of traffic and endangering motorists by holding a sign over Interstate 240 during rush hour traffic which could have caused a serious traffic crash. It is unfortunate that this event and the motives of the officers have been misconstrued to represent an act by the Asheville Police Department to deprive someone of their Constitutional rights.
Chief Bill Hogan
For Immediate Release
Aug. 20, 2007
Asheville Police Department
Contact: Police Chief Bill Hogan
Phone: 259-5901, or 552-1900
E-mail: whogan@ashevillenc.gov
APD responds to concerns about charges against West Asheville man
ASHEVILLE – The Asheville Police Department has received several inquiries about the Aug. 15 arrest of an Asheville man who was holding a sign on the Haywood Road Bridge over Interstate 240, and was subsequently charged with impeding the flow of traffic.
A review of the incident including interviews with the officers discloses the following:
Shortly before 8 a.m., during rush hour on Aug. 15, a person flagged down APD Officer Russell Crisp, who was in his police car on Haywood Road, to inform him that a man was standing on the I-240 overpass and obstructing traffic.
The department had received multiple complaints over a two-week period last month about individuals holding up signs at that same spot.
Officer Russell Crisp arrived to find Jonas Phillips, 35, was holding his sign over the I-240 overpass. When Officer Crisp arrived at the location, Mr. Phillips walked across three lanes of traffic on the bridge, thereby impeding the flow of traffic on Haywood Road.
After Officer Crisp caught up with Mr. Phillips, he asked Mr. Phillips how long he intended to be there. Mr. Phillips replied that he would be there until he had to go to work.
At this point, Officer Crisp called his superior, Sgt. Randy Riddle, who came to the overpass and informed Mr. Phillips that he was in violation of Sec. 16-2 of the city’s municipal code pertaining to “Obstruction of streets, sidewalks by persons prohibited.”
Sec. 16-2 reads in part:
It shall be unlawful for any person, singly or in a group, to:
(1) Obstruct or cause to be obstructed vehicular or pedestrian traffic on the streets or sidewalks or in parks or other public areas within the corporate limits of the city.
Mr. Phillips was charged and arrested for being in violation of that code, and the department is also examining whether he may also be charged for violating an N.C. Department of Transportation law that prohibits hanging signs on an overpasses, which poses dangers for motorists passing below.
The officers can attest that as Mr. Phillips held his sign over the edge of the bridge, drivers on the interstate were slowing down and honking their horns, which also created a traffic hazard and impeded the flow of traffic. Interstate 240 on the west side of the city is often congested, especially at rush hour, and this congestion heightens the potential for accidents.
“This city and this police department pride ourselves on protecting people’s right to free speech, as long as they don’t infringe on the rights, safety and freedoms of others,” Police Chief Bill Hogan said. “It was not the content of the sign, but the risks posed to drivers that precipitated our actions.”
More or less he was cuffed, arrested, searched, booked, interrogated and had his tattoos photographed and cataloged for jaywalking – the Chief describes it as crossing the street thus obstructing traffic.
Chief Hogan, with all due respect, your press release and explanation makes no sense.
You claim members of your department are well trained, so why did Officer Crisp not arrest Phillips when he arrived on the scene? If a crime had been committed in front of an officer of the law, why then did Officer Crisp fail to do his duty? Was Mr. Phillips brandishing a gun? Was he holding a hostage?
You also claim that you have aided in “untold rallies and protests” so why during the 3-11-07 anti-gay rally in downtown Asheville was the side supporting gay rights the ONLY ONES video tapped by your alleged well-trained officers? I was in the crowd for the entire time and the camera never once video taped the side bashing the city’s homosexual population. That is not exactly supporting the Constitution is it, Chief Hogan?
You also claim he crossed three lanes of traffic, do you often arrest people for jaywalking? If so, please supply a list of jaywalking arrests you have performed over the last year. Do you typically interrogate individuals who jaywalk? Do you deny you photographed his body to catalog his tattoos?
Do you deny the statements of Mr Phillips that Officer Riddle swore at Mr. Phillips during his arrest? Do you also deny not reading Mr. Phillips his Miranda rights BEFORE you questioned him on his organizational relationships? Has the city ordinance of sidewalk protesting been repealed? If so, when.
Your explanations are full of holes, discrepancies and I expect are nothing but a pack of lies.
Face it Chief, you have a fun new tool called the Patriot Act and you love using it.
Now that you are arresting people jaywalking, interrogating them and cataloging their tattoos, when will you amp up your program to just flat out just start murdering them?
Ich wußte nicht, daß du Deutschen so gut lesen könntest.
>_
In case the Ashville “authorities” need more First Amendment targets to arrest: http://www.FreewayBlogger.com
This has to be one of the most insane violations of a person’s free speech I’ve ever heard of, and the excuses off the press release are pathetic. Apparently, the Constitution is no longer considered valid.
This is absolute bullshit. You should see the crowds of people that stand on the I-5 freeway overpasses at Fort Lewis, WA with pro-war signs and waving flags…they’ve tied hundreds and hundreds of yellow ribbons to the fence. Yet no one has manhandled them and told them to get off the bridge for obstructing traffic. I guess you are only allowed to carry signs if they tow the party line.
What crap. This is typical of the totalitarian mentality.
Crush any dissent by whatever means necessary and then release a press statement that’s so transparent you can read a newspaper through it.
Please, do not assume Germany equates immer mit Faschismus
My gosh, this is so bizarre. Just reading the police press release, without even making reference to anything Phillips may have said, the arrest is clearly not only inane, it is quite likely actionable. For example, I believe that it has long been established in federal court that cars slowing down to read your sign is not “obstructing traffic.”
If they’re suggesting that Phillips crossing the road was “obstructing traffic” then unless they can show a pattern of arresting jaywalkers it would appear to be a clear admission of discriminatory enforcement.
No evidence or example of pedestrian traffic being hindered was offered. If that is the basis for the arrest, a claim of false arrest would seem to be in the cards.
I suspect that the police did in fact have complaints from people griping about the presence of a protester and they just decided that arresting Phillips was easier than dealing with the complaints. Hopefully the ultimate result of that wrongful action will be a sharp financial lesson in the Constitution for the city and some sort of personal job-related consequences for Chief Hogan and Sgt. Riddle.
Hans,
I will not speak for anyone else, but I know that the Germans and Germany of today is not the same as it was 60 years ago.
However, the atrocities and actions that those who followed Hitler committed are a deep scar still, and they most likely always will be.
The Nazi Regime and the SS are symbols of hatred and of a cruel, evil totalitarism the world over. Nowhere else have there been such cruelty been committed on such a scale.
Stormbear, I am more than certain, was comparing actions taken in Asheville to quite similar acts that the Nazis and their supporters took in their early stages.
The cops aren’t always right and they are certainly not above the law or the people. Our legal system along with some of the laws that represent the radical rights attempts to legislate morality or opinion (IE..abortion & prohibition)call out for anarchy because people feel their quality of life and liberty are threatened.
But an asshole is still an asshole.
And this asshole also sounds like a bully who needs a blanket party thrown in his honor.
This is a parody site, right? Is this the Onion or maybe The People’s Cube? You people can’t be serious.
Fascist goon pig vs. dirty hippie traitor, episode 3,627,984…
This somewhat shocks me for Asheville but when Political Issues are being voiced (holding a sign) that others dont agree with Idiots have been known to abuse there so called “Authority” and it looks like Officer “Krispy Kream” and Sgt “Rosco” used a city code Im sure hasnt been enforced in years. Seems like “Boss Hogg” is another one of those Corrupt Police Chiefs as well.
“The cops aren’t always right and they are certainly not above the law or the people.”
This is more true than you think. I have noticed first hand and there was a study done some time back, that most Police Officers are unaware of many actual “Laws” and go mainly by what they learned during training or told by those above them.
I guess I am somewhat lucky as I go to Political events and protest in NC and have yet to be arrested. I have been Threatened several times as i am always taking pictures of everyone and Police dont seem to like having there pics taken while harassing people for some strange reason.
I did have an Officer tell me to stop taking photos or he would take me to jail once. He got ticked off when I told him “Bring me a copy of a law I am breaking and I may allow you to arrest me, hurry now I will be waiting right here”. Years ago I would concider what I said to be way disrespectable but now I will challenge anyone who tries to violate my rights.
I still seem to maintain my clean record or lack of one… for now anyways. I will remember to bring my law books with me to Asheville in the future cause I will be taking photos.