#67 pam

the expected utility of what this minister did probably wasn’t worth the risk, but you have to give him credit for going out on a limb.

Looking at the link posted n #51, there’s a stunning lack of sympathy in the comments from those who think the government is your friend. In fact, simply the number of those who think the government is your friend is stunning. No wonder history keeps repeating itself.

http://www.freedomsphoenix.com/Feature-Article.htm?Info=0054501

He’s been charged with two criminal misdemeanors under Arizona law. While I don’t know the exact cites, they include disobeying a lawful order from a peace officer and blocking traffic.

You’ll note the lack of any federal charges….

I just think about how easy it would have been for these people to destroy this man’s life. How easy it would have been for them to plant drugs in the vehicle after he was gone. He’d be on his way to Parchman basically. His word against the cops. A no win.

A PCR attorney I know is has been helping a guy doing 60 years in Unit 32- Parchman whose life was totally destroyed by a pound of planted weed. He was a family man with children and a seafood delivery business. The CI the cops used has oddly had two girlfriends on seperate occasions come up dead. He’s been in and out of prison for years.

The dude in Parchman went from running a busines and supporting a family to living like an animal in solitary confinement whose wife and kids have basically given up and don’t even visit any more.

I wonder if this minister had any real clue what could have happened to him. He should consider himself lucky under the circumstances. The guy in Parchman would have rather been beaten to a bloody pulp any day over 60 years in Parchman.

#57 MassHole

The dogs by design issue “false positives”.

Yup. After a bit more digging, I think you’re right. The dogs serve no other purpose than to justify a search where no search is justified. The behavior of the dog and the interpretation of that behavior has little to do with any evidence of a crime.

Anderson said that there were cameras all over the checkpoint, which should have gotten everything on film.

So sooner or later we will know whether the dog actually “alerted,” and whether Anderson did anything that could have been perceived as an offensive action leading to the beatdown.

Anderson also had a video camera in the car, which was seized at the time of his arrest and has not yet been returned. I haven’t been able to find any information on whether he recorded all or part of the encounter, as he had with previous ones.

So, the truth will come out, unless the videos conveniently get “lost” or “destroyed,” or their release is prevented on “homeland security” grounds.

Why at, or near the border to Mexico are most of the agents of Hispanic ancestry? Don’t you think it is more likely they have a cousin in Mexico then a black guy from Ohio, a white from Maine?

I mean myself I may not help white man over a brown man, but my brother or cousin that is completely different.

#51 Sukoi

He got an earlier encounter on film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFS7oZtE8Ks&feature=related

I don’t know much about this guy, but in this clip he’s a hero as far as I’m concerned. It takes a set of balls to stand up to the harassment of a bunch of macho guys with guns. They immediately lost sight of their official mission the moment he refused to cave into their unConstitutional demands. From that point on their egos were calling the shots.

If there had been no cameras, you can bet things would have turned out a lot different. As we all know, cops (of all kinds) are limited only by what they think they can get away with.

If I were to slip through the screening process that eliminates us stupid people and actually managed to get on The Court, I would probably be of the opinion that you need probable cause to pull the car over to begin with because, in reality, that’s when the search begins. When they bring out the dog, they are already searching no less than if they were viewing your house with an infrared camera hoping to find evidence of grow lights (which I believe is not legal without probable cause).

Law enforcement is no longer about investigation. It’s about random checkpoints, drug tests, and a whole arsenal of interrogation, entrapment, and prosecution methods all cleared by the smart guys on Supreme Court as being exempt from 4th and 5th Amendment prohibitions.

And, his being a dick is completely immaterial.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFS7oZtE8Ks&feature=related

On the other hand, they had obviously told this guy to get out of his car, even called in a state trooper to tell the guy to get out of his car, and he continued to refuse. Toss in that apparently this isn’t the first episode between him and border patrol and he appears to be a bit of a dick, are we really surprised they took the opportunity to rough him up a bit?