Thursday, November 10, 2011
Law and Order State Will Drop Charges in Occupy Nashville Arrests
Posted by Jim Ridley on Thu, Nov 10, 2011 at 3:41 PM
A spokesman for Gov. Bill Haslam said today that on Monday the state will ask Tennessee District Attorney Torry Johnson to drop charges against those arrested during the Tennessee Highway Patrol's crackdown on Occupy Nashville protesters Oct. 28 and 29.
Haslam spokesman Dave Smith cited the temporary restraining order issued last week by U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger, who banned further arrests of occupying protesters on Legislative Plaza until both sides can reach an agreement that reconciles the ongoing protests with public safety. If they can't, the matter goes back before the judge Nov. 21.
In a media update, Smith told reporters, "We will proceed under the assumption that the temporary restraining order will be extended in one form or another. As the order provides, the state is not constrained in the interim from enforcing existing laws designed to preserve public safety and health."
Among those arrested was Scene reporter Jonathan Meador, on charges of criminal trespass and public intoxication. Witnesses as well as a video taken by Meador at the time of his arrest just after midnight Oct. 29 rebutted the THP's claims that he was drunk, disorderly and refused to identify himself as media, while capturing an unseen officer saying to book him for resisting arrest as he was clearly subdued. That charge was never filed.
The announcement arrives amid media reports detailing the THP's behind-the-scenes communications leading up to the raids, drawn from public information requests. WTVF-Channel 5 reported that a top THP official expressed concerns that the crackdown might distract state troopers from lowering fatalities during the hectic Halloween weekend. It also cites a THP commander's assurance that the troopers on the plaza wouldn't cost the state extra money in overtime.
Earlier this morning, The Tennessean's Nate Rau wrote that state troopers and Metro police went undercover on the plaza to infiltrate the protesters, purportedly to investigate complaints of lewd public acts and drug sales. Perhaps the best quote came from a memo from THP Lt. Preston Donaldson, evidently hoping that the protest would disintegrate into chaos and make his job easier.
“If they start camping, I’m confident that a public health issue will soon develop,” Donaldson wrote. “Then the Health Dept. can shut it down and we all look like the good guys.”
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Comments (19)
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That's fine and appropriate, but all of those charged should be sure and get their records expunged as well. Dropping the charges will not necessarily expunge their records, and a record of an arrest--even if it was an unjustifiable arrest--can follow them the rest of their lives. Their attorneys should insist on expungement as well.
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Mic Check MIC CHECK Mic Check MIC CHECK especially those people ESPECIALLY THOSE PEOPLE who already have real long rap sheets WHO ALREADY HAVE REAL LONG RAP SHEETS although some of them are so long ALTHOUGH SOME OF THEM ARE SO LONG one little arrest won't matter much ONE LITTLE ARREST WON'T MATTER MUCH (wiggle fingers!) So why bother SO WHY BOTHER (wiggle fingers!)
This is neither here nor there (whatever that means), but it is good to be aware it doesn't take much resistance/lack of cooperation to be charged with resisting arrest. This is why organized/professional agitators are taught to go limp, with no muscle resistance at all.
Donna, I did that and they said I was resisting. Somehow the message didn't make it to the guy writing it down, and I certainly said nothing. It was all bogus. If Meador was drunk I'm the King of Siam.
Well, meanwhile in Vermont and Oakland, the OWS'ers were shooting it up. Guns I mean.
In Oakland the guy was shot over a bag of "weed."
I suppose Jim Ridley could find the bright side of all this.
I apologize for my poor research skills but I've not been able to locate the interpretation of the Constitution that expands "free speech" to include permanent squatting on public property and setting up living accomodations on War Memorial Plaza.
Emmett, we are not on War memorial we are on legislative plaza, and because it is public property and was/is 24 hours, there are/were no restrictions against us doing so
I can. The bright side is that the Nashville protesters have behaved themselves, and the Tennessee Highway Patrol officers were professional and cool-headed enough in executing their orders that we had none of the ugly violence that has marred other cities.
Also, here's what I found when I looked up this gun-crazy OWS rampage. From Reuters:
"OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) - A man was shot to death on Thursday near a downtown Oakland plaza where hundreds of anti-Wall Street activists have camped out for a month, stoking renewed calls by some city officials to evict the protesters.
"Recent unrest surrounding the Oakland encampment has helped rally supporters of Occupy Wall Street nationwide, a movement launched in New York in September to protest economic inequality and excesses of the financial system.
"But spokesmen for the so-called Occupy Oakland demonstrators were quick to deny that the shooting, which occurred at a public transit station at the edge of the plaza, had anything to do with the protest movement.
"The Oakland police issued a brief statement saying only that officers responding to a report of a shooting adjacent to the plaza "found a victim suffering from a gunshot wound."
"The acting police chief, Howard Jordan, later told reporters at an impromptu news conference that investigators were "still trying to put the pieces together," adding, "Obviously, for someone to lose a life, that's a big deal."
"Protest organizers said the shooting was an example of gun violence that flares routinely in the city and accused municipal officials of adding to a sense of fear and insecurity by leaving street lights off around the plaza after dark over the past two nights.
"' This was another case of violence in the streets of Oakland, and it's going to be blamed on the occupation,' said Tim Simons, one of several protesters who speaks for the group. 'But if the city really wants to make it a safe occupation, they wouldn't shut off the lights.' "
Oh, and the "shooting it up" in Vermont was a veteran killing himself. Definitely something to gloat about on Veterans Day. Take a bow, John.
Mr. Burns you really should try to get facts straight before posting. The Legislative Plaza is the office building below the area where the squatters are living which, according to the legislation naming it, is called War Memorial Plaza.
Emmett, I hope that whenever you hear someone say they're going to get a Coke and come back with a Dr. Pepper, or says they're going to make a xerox copy when they are, in fact, using a Toshiba copier, you do not flag in your zeal for accuracy.
Fuckhead.
Followup Mr. Burns - Copy of the legislation naming the current squatter's village War Memorial Plaza.
http://blogs.tennessean.com/politics/files…
Thanks bubba...you appended the correct appellation to your post. That is what you are regularly called, right?
And, noone has yet supplied the legislative or judicial authority for the squatters to claim moving them would be violating their right to "free speech". Maybe f-head bubba is holding that back.
Mr Pink, I do not appreciate your suggestion I "gloated" over those 2 deaths.
Still, 2 shooting deaths have occurred, rapes, ""sex fiends" running about, probably more outrages that I don't know about. but I find it a bit strange to read about the OWS'ers aims of peaceful and tranquil gatherings to spread the word whatever the word is..
BTW, normal skeptics should be quick to question any press reports about the OWS. This is the price today's journalists pay for their long record of spinning the news particularly when dealing with appealing activities (to them) like OWS.
Sorry. How could I possibly mistake the tone of, "Well, meanwhile in Vermont and Oakland, the OWS'ers were shooting it up. Guns I mean," for anything other than the proper way to commemorate a veteran's suicide.
"This is the price today's journalists pay for their long record of spinning the news particularly when dealing with appealing activities (to them) like OWS."
And you don't do this John? I think you were the one spinning furiously in really, really bad comparisons the other day between the Tea Party and OWS. Oh, but you're not a journalist so it's ok.
I an not a journalist for Heavens sake, Chris. I do not think I opened my mouth about the TP vs OWS.
Mr Pink is correct about the tone, but gloating is not the same. To drag Veteran's Day into this is unnecessary
I know you're not a journalist John. You still spin like a top. And I'm pretty sure it was you who cut and pasted a City Paper letter to the editor making ridiculous comparisons between the TP and OWS.
