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Thursday, May 13th, 2010- Ryan Frederick denied by the Virginia Court of Appeals.
- The hills are alive….
- Mistaken drug raid sends elderly woman into cardiac arrest. In Georgia. Same state where Kathryn Johnston was killed. And Jonathan Ayers. They just don’t learn.
- British police state overreactions: Part one. Part two.
- Mountain biker gets injured before race, transfers her non-transferable entry to another mountain biker. Naturally, the local DA charges both with felonies.
Ride a bike, go to jail.
is colorado loaded with over-reacting douchebags? this was a woman’s over 35 race- not an olympics trial or pro event… the da (who naturally has political aspirations) and the administrator of the race are so over the top… these bureaucrats are making me change my skiing itinerary this year- I’d hate to get my lift ticket mixed up with my daughter’s and be charged with fraud by some colorado wuss.
hopefully, the backlash in columbia, mo will benefit ryan frederick.
US Police Overreaction: Part 3,122,675.
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvg/story?section=news/local&id=7433661
Ottawa Hills, Ohio police officer shoots a motorcyclist in the back, with dash cam video showing the rider cooperating with him. The man was left paralyzed for life from this incident.
Just when I was starting to look forward to the weekend, Radley posts 5 downers.
How about some pre-Sunday Dog-blogging to cheer us up?
The comments on the Frederick article will make you want to kill yourself.
I’ve said it before, but it needs reiterated. The only person responsible for Detective Jared Shivers’ death was Detective Jared Shivers, the cop who led and authorized the raid and who almost certainly instigated the illegal break-in at Ryan Frederick’s house to procure the tainted and illegal evidence upon which the raid was justified.
Frederick seems to be a decent person, and like any decent person shows true remorse in the fact that he had to take another person’s life – particularly seeing as it was so needless, though again that was entirely through the fault of the police themselves. But it is also true that the person he killed was a monster, and because of Ryan Frederick, that monster is no longer able to use his state-sanctioned power to harass and terrorize and suborn crimes and physically and violently invade the homes of other innocent people.
Frederick’s remorse has clearly weighed heavily upon him, and it speaks to his empathy for others as a human being – even others who wronged him and who were seeking to do him physical harm. But given the severity of the penance he is now paying, the solace to be found in the fact that Jared Shivers is off the street and cannot similarly terrorize others is not insignificant.
Is there some kind of law regarding a wanton disregard for life and public safety? I think it’s clear that Georgia’s SWAT teams ought to be charged with this.
Re: David Cameron=Wanker
bollocks
Wow on that dash cam video. I didn’t have sound on, but just watching it silently I can’t even see a furtive gesture to explain why the cop suddenly pops him the back. Because I didn’t have sound on so to me he literally gets shot out of the blue for me.
Is it true the cop is only being charged with assault? How is that not at minimum attempted manslaughter/murder?
Re: Mountain biker story-
The prosecutor is certainly a raving asshole, but as we regular readers here know, that is hardly unusual.
What gratified me is the evidence that “serious” cyclists are by-and-large douches themselves. The organizer of the race feeling the need to call the cops for “theft”, and worry about the “integrity” of his little race is just pathetic. You engage in a children’s activity while dressed ridicuously. Get over yourselves.
Funny aside, my mom was checking in to a hotel a few years ago without reservations. The counter lady was looking in the computer for a room and noted that it was extremely busy because there was a bikers convenetion in town, to which mom replied “You mean like Hell’s Angels or the geeks in spandex?”. The counter lady stifled a laugh while looking behind my mom, who looked around to see one of these twerps standing behind her in line in his full spandex little outfit. And it was someone my mom knew.
British police state overreactions: Part one. Part two.
Love the warnings they post for the video and sound clips.
WARNING: contains explicit language
Do they print that because they actually believe someone is going to suffer actual trauma if hey hear offensive (to some) language?
Remember the saying: “Sticks and stones…”? Does that mean anything to people anymore? Instead they seem to believe “the pen is mightier than the sword”, so they need actual protection as if “bad words” constitute some kind of physical threat (like, for instance, a sword would do).
Our grandchildren will someday be taught to look back upon our era as a time when the world was so uncivilized that people could verbally offend someone and not even be punished. Because, thanks to utterly moronic rationalizations like “You can’t shout FIRE in a crowded theater”, people have become perfectly accustomed to restrictions on speech.
I’m watching “Saving Private Ryan” which just came out on Bluray. At the beginning they have a warning that the movie is rated R in part because of because of “language”. Oh yeah, there’s also “Intense prolonged realistically graphic sequences of war violence”.
In the documentary “World at War” the History channel fuzzes out the nudity when they show actual footage the victims of the Nazi concentration camps. It’s one thing to show the bodily remains of mass genocide, but for God’s sake, cover the genitals. I mean, there are limits!
If we can’t handle the word, Fuck!, how the hell can we handle the job of electing people who have the power to start a nuclear war.
Mencken was right and we are, in fact, getting it “good and hard”.
Here’s a clearer shot of the raw video with the motorcyclist being shot. The speed at which it happened is chilling.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POWconmYerk
The blue lights go on at 3:47 on the dashcam timer.
The motorcyclist is at a complete stop at 3:58.
The motorcyclist is shot at 4:09.
22 seconds from flashers going on to a bullet in the back. What you just saw was not assault. It was an attempted murder by a highwayman who lurks by the roadside and preys on innocent travelers.
Is it just me, or does DA Mark Hulbert look an awful lot like Woody Harrelson?
When your 36 year old friend is racing for you in the 40-49 year age bracket and takes second place, you really are cheating and not just “transferring your entry”–especially when you take home the prizes and trophies.
#10 is right. I’d go even further though. Cycling is just about the douchiest sport out there, and what you have here is a competition between a bunch of douchy cyclists. One douchebag cheated to get herself a trophy she didn’t earn. And instead of simply disqualifying her, another douchebag called in the professional douchebags – the cops – to prosecute her.
There is something about getting on a bike that is strangely similar to donning a police badge in that both make people act like complete assholes. There’s a place near my residence where a bike trail crosses a major roadway. The road has the right of way with a “caution” sign, and the bike trail has a yield sign on it. But I cannot tell you how many times I’ve seen cyclists blow through the intersection without yielding as if they own the place. Every now and then one of them will even stop in the middle of traffic and angrily shake a fist or flip the bird as if to prove a point to the cars that they have no legal right to make. Part of it makes me wish they’d just shut the whole damn bike trail down…except that would force more of them to seek other routes and almost instantaneously double the number of douchebags on the road.
In Georgia. Same state where Kathryn Johnston was killed. And Jonathan Ayers. They just don’t learn.
I live in Georgia and I can state with confidence that the simple truth of the matter is that the folks here do not care. I am surrounded by folks who are of the opinion that the drug war is fully justified and if we lose a few innocent folks along the way then that is just the price you pay for a civil society. And you will be pissing into a strong wind to try and reason with the majority of the Georgia residents on the issue.
Folks around here have no problem at all telling you that if Jonathan Ayers had not been messing around with whores he would still be alive.
The people around here fly a “Don’t Tread On Me Flag” while at the same time advocating for the strongest police state they can get.
It is the damndest thing you have ever seen.
It’s a fucking mountain bike race for cryin out loud.
The DEA took my grandma away…
@ #14 | Matt D | May 13th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
When your 36 year old friend is racing for you in the 40-49 year age bracket and takes second place, you really are cheating and not just “transferring your entry”–especially when you take home the prizes and trophies.
Yep. And the way we address cheaters in sports is to put them in jail.
…
Or put them in the Hall of Fame.
YEAH! Throw the book at em! Throw em in the Pen for life!
Regarding DA Scott Hurlbert:
If Dilbert’s creator used more politics in his strip, he could have Dilbert read an article about overzealous prosecutors, and he would be so disgusted, he’d get nauseous and do a Hurlbert on the rug.
The comments after the article are interesting, some claim that the bike race coordinator routinely overlooks such things for friends. I wonder what would have happened if the two racers were also police officers, judges, or lawyers.
#15 I share your opinion of most cyclists, although some are decent folks. My favorite are the cyclists who ride on the sidewalk at 15mph and expect to be treated like pedestrians in the crosswalk or at driveways.
It sure as hell shouldn’t be a felony, but I have to agree with Matt D that racing outside of your age division, (apparently) actively deceiving organizers on race day to circumvent identity checks, and taking home prizes when you finish in the money are stupid things to have done.
This wasn’t handing over your Fun Run bib to a buddy; it was purposeful deception.
#11 | Dave Krueger
Sorry, OT, but you should return your Saving Private Ryan Blu-Ray:
http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/05/13/paramount-recalls-saving-private-ryan-blu-ray-discs/
a local inspector told him over the phone that “any reasonable person” would find his poster “alarming, harassing or distressful”.
Meanwhile the police had no problem with actually harassing the guy with the poster in a manner that was alarming and distressful. I guess the irony was lost on them.
I saw Bill O’Reilly yesterday on the Tonya Craft story and WTF, he just completely glossed over the whole prosecutor misconduct and judging bias and said that she got off cuz there wasnt enough evidence.
Radley’s post about this yesterday was the first id heard about it, so after I heard it on BillO’s show I wasnt sure what to believe, but after reading all the William Anderson posts, thats unbelievable how BillO and his guests just glossed over the details. Thats similar to the Stephanie Kirkland story, except at least there the prosecutor showed some common sense in dropping the charges.
So South Carolina and Georgia. I guess corrupt justice is to be expected in the South.
#25
As opposed to all those good, honest decent judges and police in the North, West and Midwest? Please.
#25–As a Southerner I have to say it’s not just the South, it’s corrupt everywhere. Sheriff Joe, the Philly rogue cops, NYPD’s stop and frisk, the LAPD’s pioneering SWAT efforts, the Chicago machine, etc etc.
#24 – It’s kinda like a watered down version of the old cop excuse line whenever they shoot somebody: the cop thought he saw a gun that would put him in harm’s way, and had a split-second to make a decision.
Never mind that the person using that excuse actually DID have a gun and actually DID put somebody else in harm’s way by pulling his own trigger. It’s always “officer safety” uber alles. Even when it is clear that the cop himself is the real danger to everyone else.
I like the juxtaposition of the Frederick case with the motorcyclist shooting. Frederick can very plausibly argue that he fired his weapon in fear of an attacker in his own home – that’s first degree murder (we’ll accept lesser included crimes to get a conviction though). Meanwhile the video of the motorcycle chase appears to show an unarmed and fairly passive motorist shot in the back with no real plausible excuse. Apparently that is only an assault.
I’m not really sure how a jury could possibly get past reasonable doubt on Frederick, and the White case looks like reckless disregard for life at a minimum. Really the only way you talk yourself down on attempted first degree murder is the lack of motive to specifically target this guy. Yet our system metes out punishment in a completely reversed manner on these cases. Strange world we live in…
Edmond@#9
To answer your question, I don’t think those charges apply to cops. They’re authorized to do those things.
The cycling case is elevated to a criminal case because they took the prize money. The proper charge would be some form of theft – probably a misdemeanor because of the low dollar figure involved. But they did defraud the contest organizers and other contestants of the contest money.
It was definitely best left to the organizing body to exact discipline – I could certainly see banning them from competitions. If they hadn’t accepted the prize money they’d probably be in the clear from a legal point of view and they would have maintained my outraged (and utterly useless) support. If she had simply declined her finishing prize and fessed up before the awards then I would be on board 100%. But since they took the prizes and money they were clearly moving beyond a simple rules violation.
In fact, they will be lucky if they don’t get to trial… with the facts as stated they will have a very hard time avoiding a conviction on conspiracy charges since they did in fact conspire to defraud the contest. It is a colossal waste of our time and money to prosecute these idiots, but unlike a lot of other cases we get worked up about around here it actually does look like they committed a real crime. The only disagreement should be about our shared opinion that it doesn’t rise to a level that should be pursued by law enforcement. Kinda like petty vandalism or first time shoplifting offenses… if you apologize and make full reparations all should be forgiven (from a criminal point of view).
Mountain Bike: First, thanks so much to Radley for linking to my blog post, and to all the readers from my favorite blog.
Just so its’s clear, mountain bikers distinguish themselves big time from road cyclists, and would agree with the douche bag characterizations themselves. One of the reasons so many are PO’d about about this race in general, is that it has too much pavement and easy graded-dirt road, and no technical singletrack. (It’s all too hard for me – 14,000 vertical feet of climbing).
The fact is, in sports, the usual remedy is intra-sport – racing bans, suspensions, loss of ranking points, etc. This Kobe Bryant DA is a disaster. He pursued a case for over a year over a guy who threw a snowball (then whined when he lost). Then he lets obviously guilty rich boys charged with attempted murder off on misdemeanors with no jail.
The examples go on and on, from Kobe in 2003 through the present. He is a major RINO of the worst sort, a statist who’s fiscally unconservative. He’s increased his budgets every year during the recession, though becaue its a resort community (Breckenridge, Vail), residents have moved out, visitor numbers are down, and case filings are down about 25 percent.
Here’s a link to the prior post, that gives more background on the case and on Mark Hurlbert. http://wp.me/pzqev-jC.
I live in Los Cabos, MX. Believe me, no one in Hurlbert’s judicial district would dare criticize him publicly in a blog or in the MSM (except anonymously), because he’d scour the Colorado Code to find something to charge you with.
A lot of locals do think he looks like Woody Harrelson. Note that the race organizer, Chlouber, is a former GOP state legislator. (WARNING: The characterization of him as a “conservative/libertarian” is his own, not mine. He’s a former silver miner, and is very pro-union and opposed to right to work laws).
RE: Shooting of Motorcyclist. Depending on the state, the penalties for aggravated assault are often as severe as for attempted murder, and the proof element can be less (intent to injure vs. intent to kill).
Mistaken drug raid:
“Police did end up making seven drug arrests relating to the two year investigation, but the DEA is investigating to see how this mix-up happened.”
I want more transparency. What were the 7 arrested for, what contraband was seized, and now effective was the investigation itself?
2 years is a long time to be spending our tax dollars on an investigation that, if similar investigations are an indicator… didn’t accomplish squat.
Law enforcement has a problem. It justifies itself through results, and it’s masters higher up demand those results. But the results are a sham, derived from padding the books with crap arrests.
@ 26, 27
Sorry, maybe Im being stereotypical, but the whole Craft case does have a good ole small town feel to it, complete with boys club corruption, affairs, homophobia and racism.
Those British Cops are Wankers.
Thanks, J. I had no idea it was screwed up. Fortunately, I got it from Netflix rather than buying it, but I do have it on my Amazon wish lost, so I will probably be buying it soon. I consider it to be the best war movie ever made, although I have to watch it when my wife isn’t home. She doesn’t like the fact that I like to have the volume control on the sound system set to “Realistic” during the beach landing.
#25 – There is police corruption in every corner of this country. That said, it’s my general experience that the absolute worst and most egregious cases seem to come from those progressive liberal big city Obama voting machines of the north.
Police corruption in those places is systemic. Look at Chicago where cops routinely let other cops off the hook for DUIs and bar beatings. Look at Philadelphia where an entire rogue narcotics squad with full fledged union backing basically went around robbing convenience stores under the pretext that selling plastic ziplock bags constituted drug paraphernalia. Look at just about anything that happens in New Jersey.
It is just so much easier to say corruption is only in [not my area] than to actually confront it. I’m guilty of the same thing.
#34
And as we all know, those things ONLY exist in the southern portion of the United States. Invented there, patented there and practiced exclusively there. Nowhere else in the history of the United States, or for that matter the world.
I return to my earlier comment: Please.
Cyto:
I was writing my post before yours came up. Your legal analysis is spot on throughout your posts. Hurlbert claimed the felony criminal impersonation was the only law that “fit.” I read the theft statute and it “fits” as a misdemeanor. My take is that now, after all the “extrajudicial punishment” they’ve suffered as a result of the abject humiliation, pain and suffering of dealing with felony charge, etc., case should be dropped.
Looks like thanks to public pressure like this, that will probably happen. There was not prize money, it was trophies and a special belt buckle – a total estimated value of $225.00 These have all been returned. They already received lifetime bans and humiliation, and one has lost her private school teaching job. I agree that the misdemeanor charge fits, but not every charge that fits needs to be pursued (and I can tell that you agree).
I think the sports context is unique because of the internal discipline available and already utilized. We really don’t need government to go down that road.
What’s next, cops hiding in the bushes or going undercover as foursomes at the local golf club championship? They give away a lot more booty than $225.00 usually. Then we can charge a crime for imrpoving a lie, or cheating on a score card. Maybe having more than 14 clubs in the bag. Believe me, with this idiot DA, it would not be a stretch.
Instead, you’re publicly shamed, and kicked out of the golf club or the league. It works pretty well without DAs getting into the act.
SO I guess in the UK, expressing ones hunger with phrases like “I would kill for a kebab right now” or “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse” will now lead to arrest and prosecution for death threats and planned animal cruelty respectively. Welcome to 1984.
@39 Easy, I changed it to small towns, you know what I mean by the conservative areas…Anyways your more likely to have stuff like that happen to you in small towns and as 37 pointed out you’re more likely to get hustled by cops or have drugs planted on you in the big cities. Its a case of pick your poison I guess, but if i really had to chose, Id take a false drug conviction over the other sh** any day.
@41 You would imagine how bad it is in England with the anti-social behavior laws. Ya you read that right.
In fact its worse than that, you can get charged for just about anything over there now. (An old lady was charged by the cops for firing a cap-gun at burglars in her house, a guy was charged with possession of a pocket knife while out on a picnic, its that ridiculous)
The only consolation there is that the sentences are also lenient (probably no jail time as long as you dont kill someone) so everyone there (law abiding or not) is a suspected criminal now and you just do WTF you want and its all a big joke.
cont’d
So I dont know why the guy in the article is all traumatized over the conviction. It doesnt matter, the way it works over there now is everyone is a potential criminal lol.
“The cycling case is elevated to a criminal case because they took the prize money. The proper charge would be some form of theft – probably a misdemeanor because of the low dollar figure involved. But they did defraud the contest organizers and other contestants of the contest money.”
There are still more appropriate remedies than criminal charges. I compete in amateur motorsports on a national level, and I’m not a fan of cheaters. As much as we hate to admit it, cheating is an element in any competitive environment. The elements of a crime are there, but the criminal justice system, as we see so often here, is a rather blunt instrument. In most forms of competition, justice can be served just as well without involving the criminal justice system.
An appropriate response would have been as follows:
1. Correct the competition results to remove or disqualify the offending individuals.
2. Ban the offenders from the sanctioning organization either permanently or for a set number of years or events.
3. Request an immediate return of or compensation for all prizes awarded to the offenders. If the offender refuses, sue for damages in civil court.
I can see how some people might see that as a “slap on the wrist,” but as someone who competes in amateur sporting events, I can say that it is a pretty serious punishment. You are effectively taking someone’s hobby away – something they probably have several thousand dollars into, if not more. Time to find something new to do with your weekends, because you won’t be racing mountain bikes again anytime soon. All those friends and acquaintances you used to race with? Now they know you’re a douchebag. If you’re ever allowed to return, you’d better make sure you do everything by the book, because once you’re known as a cheater, it’s hard to shake the reputation. If I were caught cheating like that, I would almost certainly lose most of my friends, and being unable to compete would be very hard for me to deal with.
I’d call that sufficient punishment.
No need to call in the SWAT team.
Shot fired as police serve warrant
“Members of the Council Bluffs Police Emergency Services Team encountered a gunshot Wednesday when they were attempting to serve a search warrant.”
From http://southwestiowanews.com/articles/2010/05/13/council_bluffs/news/doc4bec1accc88de392537626.txt
6 AM, they knock and then break in.
Rune – No, although PETA have suggested it.
Look, he made a threat to blow up an airport, in “fun” or not this has to automatically trigger a police response. Personally I’d favour a law billing people for the police time involved rather than a criminal conviction, but you can’t just let that sort of thing pass.
#45–
Agreed that a simple DQ would have been a more appropriate response. But, I mean, it’s still kinda stupid that we’re looking at this as some sort of outrage when, you know, if they’d just outright stolen a couple hundred $ from the race organizer, nobody would be bitching about the fact that he wanted to see them prosecuted for it.
http://www.dailypaul.com/node/134439
More Obama continued drug war, this time calling for drugged driving charges. Read the articles and figure out the details for yourself.
From #46:
As is often the case, the only charges are related to the raid itself, and the Southwest Iowa News simply regurgitated the police press release without bothering to ask obvious questions about the warrant.
One of the things I have yet to see pointed out in the dash cam is how fast a second patrol unit showed up after the stop. If that is a true version of the time it looks to me that the police were already arranging a felony stop. They were riding Harleys, so they must be Pagans.
Yep. And the way we address cheaters in sports is to put them in jail.
…
Or put them in the Hall of Fame.
Well, I don’t think jail time is appropriate; my point is that this wasn’t a case of, as another commenter put it, a bib swap for some recreational ride. I mean, I get that maybe the one woman was just trying to give her friend the opportunity to ride in a pretty exclusive race and maybe just didn’t want her entry to go to waste. But at the same time, it’s totally bogus to go swapping identities to enter a 36 year old into the next higher age bracket so she can sandbag her way to the podium in a pretty prestigious competition. That spoils the experience for everyone, diminishes the whole race, impugns the credibility of the promoters, sponsors, and organizers, and probably creates all sorts of insurance headaches for them since they are no doubt responsible for having a signed waiver from every participant.
“Mountain biker gets injured before race, transfers her non-transferable entry to another mountain biker. Naturally, the local DA charges both with felonies.”
I am disappointed with myself. I never fail to be amazed by the psychopaths that claw their way into power. Scary motherfuckers.
Autistic Boy Charged With Making Terrorist Threats Over Stick-Figure Sketch
In the Ottawa Hills, Ohio case, the cop is charged with felonious assault with a gun enhancement. I’m amazed he was charged with anything at all, seeing has the blue gang usually get a pass on murder. Much more on this case is available at the The Aging Rebel. http://www.agingrebel.com/?cat=3
[...] incursion on cheating in middle-aged, female, amateur mountain bike racing, at his popular blog, The Agitator. Radley’s link, as well as links from many other blogs, including Paterrico and Colorado [...]
[...] incursion on cheating in middle-aged, female, amateur mountain bike racing, at his popular blog, The Agitator. Radley’s link, as well as links from many other blogs, including Paterrico and Colorado [...]
[...] anticipate after the filing of a felony charge. As we first reported, in a piece that gained national attention, this result should be considered a victory for grassroots activists and ordinary citizens to get [...]