In response...

This posting is in response to the comments left on my previous entry. This will be a very long entry. Apologies to those who hate reading.

I am not going to address anything that is considered rumor. I have not seen any video from prior to the videos I referenced previously, nor have I seen any video showing Meyers being social with the officers after being arrested and removed from the auditorium, but before being lead down to the lobby.


There is no doubt that Andrew Meyers was going on a bit longer than needed to ask a simple question. The uniformed officer behind him interrupted him after he had been speaking for about 30 seconds. That is far too long a time to ask whether Kerry wears boxers or briefs, but maybe a bit short for any deeper question.

For whatever reason, the officer acquiesced and allowed Meyers to continue speaking.

Meyers finishes his first question after about one minute, then says he has another two questions (was he answering someone? I couldn't hear anyone else). Apparently Meyers believed he should have been able to get in another couple questions. A bit excited and maybe obnoxious, but he is a young college student. Nothing illegal here.

Cutting the microphone to silence him should have been nearly the end of the ordeal. But due to the overly aggressive actions of the police officers, it was still just the beginning.

The officers had no need or reason to grab Meyers and pull him through the auditorium up to the main exit, then down some stairs to the lobby; perp-walks or parades can come later. You can easily see Meyers reaction to being grabbed by the officers. The officers actions were obviously offensive to Meyers. Their actions are a classic example of battery and not any reaction to anything Meyers had done up to that point.

Instead of grabbing Meyers, the officers could have surrounded him and tried to calm him down a bit, they could have directed him to a seat or to leave via the multiple doors behind the Q/A podium. In either case the officers would have maintained a relatively peaceful environment.

Despite the many other actions the officers could have taken, they elected to try to gain control of Meyers. Meyers being already excited and jumpy, became understandably frantic when the police were trying to wrestle and wrangle him up toward the exit. They kept up attacking him even when he stated that he just wanted to hear the response from Kerry.

This also would have been a good place for the police to stop attacking Meyers. While Kerry spoke more officers could surround Meyers and then slowly guide Meyers out through the nearest exit. Or place Meyers in restraints and remove him from the event.

As for Meyers yelling for help...So what would you do if you are being attacked by others that are well armed and supposedly well trained? Yell 'fire', or 'rape'? No, that is ridiculous, and stop with the strawman arguments, would be your answers.

Obviously, by yelling for help, and while surrounded by police officers, Meyers is simply trying to drive more attention to himself. Meyers cannot expect almost total strangers to try to fight the supposedly well trained police officers. If he had wanted to fight with officers then he should have made and brought more friends to the event. But then he and friends should expect a few decades-long stays in some state prisons.

As for resisting arrest, I firmly believe in the US citizens rights to habeas corpus. That is, our right to challenge our government and its agents against unlawful detainment, arrest and/or seizure of person and/or property. As such, if you are not knowingly doing something illegal, such as being allowed to speak at an event, and are then attacked by law enforcement officers without you having provoked the attack, you should certainly be able to defend yourself until either party calms down enough, or is incapacitated but sill able, to explain their actions.

How about an example – You and some friends went out to see a movie, afterwards all stood outside chatting for a few minutes. Just as you turned to leave you caught sight of a quickly moving object before it struck you in the gut. You double-over in pain and collapse on the ground. As you hit the ground someone grabs you from behind and pushes you face-first into the ground, starts twisting one of your arms and shouting “stop resisting arrest!!” and “he's fighting, call for backup!” Do you assume it is the police and go into castrated-citizen/limp-&-compliant mode, or do you curse, yell for help and start trying to fight your unknown attacker(s)? If it is the police you already have a charge of resisting arrest, possibly with violence, but an unknown primary charge. Yelling for help will get you another additional charge of inciting a riot, with still no known primary charge.

Lets say you are a typical guy and decide to fight your unknown attacker(s), because it could just be a couple of muggers or even friends playing a prank. You manage to fight off the one on top of you (battery on a police officer = loads of prison time) and just barely see the badge on the other officer before the taser probes hit and shock you. You have a bad heart so you pass out as your heart has trouble keeping a rhythm with the taser hit. When you come to, you are well beaten and bloody in the back of a cruiser – apparently the 'backup' saw you unconsciously twitch and thought you were going to 'resist' some more. You manage to ask the driving officer why you were arrested and he spits out the one-word charge - “loitering”.

Sure, a little exaggerated, but basically following the same route – you were attacked/arrested for committing an offense that most would say is very marginally to very much non-criminal (loitering or being obnoxious while speaking in public), without being notified of the charge. You yelled out for attention from others to notice your plight, and were rewarded with another ridiculous charge. You were tasered for failure to comply & resisting, even through the primary charge certainly wouldn't cover that level of reaction. Now you may have a lifelong criminal charge for an activity that barely warrants a warning.