Police arrest North Carolina man for distributing voting rights leaflets

Love the way the NC legislature carved out a special exemption for abortion clinic lunatics (I’d call them protestors or picketers, but they call themselves “counselors”).

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And suspecting that something might be illegal isn’t “reasonable suspicion”, no matter what the cop might think he can get away with.

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Uhm, did you notice the scare quotes around “everyone knows”? It ain’t what you don’t know that hurts you. It’s what you do know that ain’t so.

And Article II “administrative law judges” aren’t judges under Article III of the constitution, but Executive Branch employes - that is to say, cops - and do convict and deport people. Including US citizens who have failed to produce their papers. The practice is illegal according to the Supreme Court, but that illegality appears not to matter.

Uhm, since citizens cannot be deported, I suppose it would be more correct to say they were banished.

:slight_smile: As always, thanks for reading. Just didn’t know if you’d seen the ordinance. I haven’t seen a single link to the additional footage.

I don’t think the directive gives Turner a pass, mainly because it’s an out-of-date directive. The PDF material comes from 1996 - 18 years ago and well before Moral Mondays started. Since then police/public communication in Charlotte has broken down, and Moral Mondays have involved regular arrests. I’d be interested to know what their current directive looks like. (That “hold off unless there’s a complaint” line may no longer exist.)

Also, it’s important to know that the PDF is a list of instructions handed down to the local police at that time from their leadership, not an interpretation of law. It’s basically a “how to behave” sheet from that time. The reason I posted it was to show that 15-1 (b) (flyers on cars) was already considered a more serious problem than 15-1 (a) (flyers on private/public property) in 1996.

I just happened to find it, and because the information shows that the police force considered one a misdemeanor worth pursuing, while the other was to be ignored, I thought it was worth putting the information up here. If I’d found contrasting information, that’d be up too, but I haven’t found anything.

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Hi Elusis - The directive quotes come from 1996, 18 years ago. At that point, they probably included “counselors” in a direct political response to the 1995 passing of the Access to Abortion Services Act in British Columbia, Canada. (Gits.)

BTW - I’m not saying I agree with these laws, just that they are on the books, and that the officers were trying to deal with someone committing a misdemeanor. When I originally posted, it was to stop the speculation about whether or not Turner had, in fact, broken a law at all.

This is the controlling precedent; John Bad Elk vs. U.S,. 177 U.S. 529, 44 L.Ed. 874, 20 S.Ct. 729

“In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread.”

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But you’re much less likely to die for doing that if you’re white.

You can, but you face a citation. Or several of them.

A violently provocative arrest by under trained officers is not listed among the penalties.

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yes you can. Call 911 and tell them the situation and that you will be proceeding slowly to a well lit public area. This is legal, allowed, and encouraged.

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Is it the disobedience that is setting people off?

I think it is.

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That was someone else that I was quoting, actually. I made some snarky comment about how if a white person does this, they are far less likely to get shot… Certainly, you know my sort of comment by now. We’ve both been around enough to know each other’s commenting style and tone, right?

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Calling 911 while driving is legal?

Wasn’t there a story a while back about someone who was getting pulled over by the police, and rather than stop immediately, she drove to a well lit nearby parking lot, and then got arrested for it?

My Google-fu is weak today.

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Only if you’re white…

No, that’s why I asked the question.

In most cases, exclusions are written in for making emergency calls. Here’s a link to the CA DMV page on our anti-distraction law. VC 23123 © allows for emergency use.

If you ever feel unsafe pulling over immediately, you need to show the officers that you recognize they’re there. Turn on your emergency flashers, and slow down (waaaay down). That way you won’t be considered evading. Most state laws are written to allow people to pull over where they feel it’s safe, because some roads have no shoulder, or traffic is bad, or the road is dark and isolated. Check the law in your state to see if it says “pull over when you FEEL it’s safe”- but don’t push it.

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The guy was caught breaking a law and refused to identify himself when approached by the police. For better or worse, and no matter what color your skin is, that gets you arrested in America.

He was in violation of a local ordinance. Other violations of local ordinance can include letting your grass grow too tall, having cracked sidewalks, allowing shudders to hang at jaunty angles off your home’s windows and setting your trash out too early. If you believe any of the above is worthy of an arrest, then I fear you may be suffering Stockholm Syndrome.

May you never find yourself on the wrong end of authority’s truncheon.

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You’d probably be pulled over for actually breaking a traffic law… not that this comparison isn’t wildly, uh… off.

It’s just unlikely to happen if you’re white. I’m sure the cops would be right on the scene if a white soccer mom was leafleting for some neighborhood kid’s fundraiser at Whole Foods…