Can Government Officials Have You Arrested for Speaking to Them?

[alabasterjar]

Despotism at its worst.
Can Government Officials Have You Arrested for Speaking to Them?

"Hargrave is a language arts teacher in Kaplan, Louisana. She was arrested Monday after she questioned school-district policy during public comment at a school board meeting. She asked why the superintendent of schools was receiving a five-figure raise when local teachers had not had a permanent pay increase in a decade. As she was speaking, the school-board president slammed his gavel, and a police officer told her to leave. She left, but once she went into the hall, the officer took her to the ground, handcuffed her, and arrested her for “remaining after having been forbidden” and “resisting an officer.”"

 

[NyleRN]

Not saying that couldn't happen but I'd say there's more to that story

 

[Cameramonkey]

What a joke. Cop needs fired. Serious abuse of power. Kick her out and send her packing. If she refuses to leave and is belligerent THEN arrest her.

 

[GIJEW]

What a joke. Cop needs fired. Serious abuse of power. Kick her out and send her packing. If she refuses to leave and is belligerent THEN arrest her.

Kicking her out for asking pointed questions is about hiding another abuse of power. That community needs to throw those bums out!

 

[churchmouse]

Not saying that couldn't happen but I'd say there's more to that story

My thoughts. Has to be more but again, in light of recent facts about school boards exceeding their mandates this comes as no real surprise.

 

[BugI02]

Number three
You have the right to free speech
As long as
You're not dumb enough to actually try it

Know Your Rights by The Clash

 

[MarkC]

Not saying that couldn't happen but I'd say there's more to that story

I agree that there has to be more to the story. Unfortunately, the "more" might be a very compliant officer who, without any independent thought, did what the school board president told him to.

However, I would hope that isn't the case, and that there was some unreported behavior that caused her arrest.

 

[Leadeye]

A state employee with a club and a gun can arrest you for anything, whether that constitutes a lawful arrest is another matter. The latter is sorted out in court with other people's money as far as leadership is concerned.

 

[HoughMade]

I agree that there has to be more to the story. Unfortunately, the "more" might be a very compliant officer who, without any independent thought, did what the school board president told him to.

However, I would hope that isn't the case, and that there was some unreported behavior that caused her arrest.

One would hope.

I’ll take my standard “we don’t know enough to make conclusions yet” stance.

 

[churchmouse]

One would hope.

I’ll take my standard “we don’t know enough to make conclusions yet” stance.

 

[Alamo]

Is it too early in the thread to Switch this to a sort of but not exactly really like it similar instance, or do I have to wait until after page four?

 

[Lwright]

Commies never have liked dissent.

 

[IndyDave1776]

Let's see...

The original offense and response open serious questions. Expelling someone, anyone, from a public meeting for raising a relevant and appropriate question that someone in a position of authority happens not to like is a serious problem, assuming that there was no unreported disorderly conduct or threat in the course of doing so. None has been presented.

As for the stated charges, one wonders whether the individual refused to leave, which seems unlikely if the incident happened as reported in the hallway, which, presumably, is the conduit leading to the exit. Walking and not sprinting to the door is not refusal to leave, nor is it 'resisting'.

While I concur with the position of waiting for more comprehensive facts, and acknowledge that it is possible that the news was reported by someone who felt the inclination to present a slanted view, unless the report contains a great deal of both fiction and omission, it isn't looking good for team.gov.

 

[SnoopLoggyDog]

I have seen this type of intimidating behavior displayed during a school board meeting. Superintendent opened the meeting with a statement that there would be no questions or comments allowed from visitors. Only the board members would be allowed to speak. Local police were on hand to enforce this ruling. I was one of 30-40 people who attended the meeting. We wanted to ask about a multi million dollar proposal to put a large wind generator on school property. All it did was galvanize the opposition to the proposal. In the end, the wind turbine never got built and the Superintendent resigned a few years later.

 

[hopper68]

Forgive the sources.

[video=youtube;oga7-mGi69A]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oga7-mGi69A[/video]


[video=youtube;EXS5TrJYaHc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXS5TrJYaHc[/video]

 

[edporch]

Teacher handcuffed after questioning superintendent?s pay raise during school board meeting | WGNO

 

[alabasterjar]

Not saying that couldn't happen but I'd say there's more to that story

Could very well be, but there are two parts to the story... The first is that she was kicked out of a school board meeting because she was asking a legitimate question in what appears to have been proper order and insisted on an answer. The second was the arrest. In all honesty, I don't care as much about the arrest - the real abuse of power was the squelching of a peasant questioning the ruling class. How dare a mere teacher question the raise for the superintendent when (according to the article) teachers had not been given a permanent raise in ten years?

"Under the Eleventh Circuit’s rule (which some other circuits also use), police or officials can arrest and silence a Deyshia Hargrave when a politician wants to silence her—if, after the fact, some earnest lawyer can find a such a law, however obscure, that police at the time might have thought she was violating, even though they weren’t thinking about that." Let that sink in...

Politicians silencing citizens because the questions are uncomfortable to the politicians is a direct and alarming violation of first amendment rights. The situation is different, but smells much like the issue our legal eagle friend, Kirk Freeman, is fighting in Lafayette.

 

[alabasterjar]

City attorney distancing the officer's employer (the city of Abbeville, LA) from the arrest.
[video=youtube;yOd9qKtfwq4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOd9qKtfwq4[/video]

 

[churchmouse]

City attorney distancing the officer's employer (the city of Abbeville, LA) from the arrest.
[video=youtube;yOd9qKtfwq4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOd9qKtfwq4[/video]

Id this a huge "CYA" move.

 

[dudley0]

Woo hoo... the city and the school board will not press charges.... I bet the same can't be said about the teacher.