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from the St.-Louis-still-misses-you,-Baton-Bob dept.
"Baton Bob" (wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baton_Bob) is a street performer in Atlanta, Georgia. In June 2013, Atlanta police arrested Baton Bob during the middle of a street performance, after a verbal altercation Bob had with mall security guards.
Baton Bob has now filed a
federal lawsuit accusing Atlanta police of violating his constitutional rights, assault, discrimination, privacy violations and identify theft.
What makes this SoylentNews-worthy is that Atlanta Police forced Baton Bob to post a pro-police statement on his Facebook page before officers would allow Bob to be released on bond. According to the lawsuit:
At approximately 3:40 p.m., while Plaintiff sat handcuffed and without an attorney, he was told to dictate a public statement to Officer Davis, who then typed and posted the message to the Baton Bob Facebook account. The message read:
First of all, the atl police officer that responded to the incident thru security has been very respectful and gracious to me even in handcuffs. So, the situation escalated from a complaint from a security officer in the area and for some reason she rolled up on me like she didn't know who I was and like I had not been there before. For them to call police to come to intervene was not necessary. So, out of it, because of my fury, the Atlanta police officer did not understand the elements of the situation, so he was trying to do his job, respectfully and arrested my ass!!!!!!!!! I'll be out tomorrow so look out for my show at 14th and Peachtree. So now I'm waiting to be transported so I can sign my own bond and get the hell out of here. I want to verify, that the Atlanta police was respectful to me considering the circumstances. See you when I see you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
As promised, Plaintiff was then given a signature bond and released from jail.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MrGuy on Tuesday July 01 2014, @02:17PM
Under the CFAA. By holding an individual under duress, they gained access to a system (Bob's Facebook account) they were not authorized to access.
Yeah, yeah, I'm an idealist for expecting the law to work both ways.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by mendax on Tuesday July 01 2014, @04:36PM
I was thinking along more basic grounds. It may be a bit different in Georgia (it would't surprise me) but at least in California, for most crimes, you are entitled to bail if you can pay it or meet whatever obligation the COURT stipulates. The police can hold you for questioning but they cannot withhold your right to bail. So, let's see what has been done here. False imprisonment, of course. Perhaps even federal kidnapping charges if the local U.S. Attorney wants to be creative. Certainly unlawful acts under color of authority. Most certainly there are a few cops in Georgia who are shitting in their pants today because they may find themselves in jail or prison on felony charges. A long prison term may be inappropriate but given the wreckage a felony conviction would do, such as destroying forever their careers, that may be enough.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 01 2014, @09:11PM
The police can hold you for questioning but they cannot withhold your right to bail
"We aren't finished questioning him."
As long as prosecutors remain in cahoots with the cops, the gang wearing blue will get away with this sort of shit.
As long as citizens continue to elect those corrupt D.A.s, nothing will change.
Same deal with the self-professed "Tough on crime" judges (in places where those are elected).
-- gewg_
(Score: 3) by mendax on Tuesday July 01 2014, @10:20PM
Yeah, but access to an attorney can end that quickly in most cases. Most cops don't want to waste their time when they know that the person they arrested is not going to say anything on the advice of his attorney. However, you are right, when the police, the DA, and the judges are in cahoots, all bets are off. It wouldn't surprise me if this is going on in Georgia, and that the cops, the DA, and the judge are all named Bubba and they're all cousins. (Can you tell that my contempt for the Deep South is showing?)
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: 2) by quadrox on Wednesday July 02 2014, @06:21AM
Why? The police needst to know that whenever they themselves step away from the law that the hammer will hit them hard, very hard. The guys have power, and with power comes responsibility. If they cannot handle that properly, they should not be in the police force, and they need to know that.
(Score: 2) by mendax on Wednesday July 02 2014, @05:16PM
Why? Because the vast majority of prison sentences handed out by judges in the United States are too long and are not in the interest of society or justice in the long run. Long prison sentences tend to "institutionalize" a prisoner, traumatizing him and creating life-long mental illnesses such as Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, and exasperate existing ones. Once released, these can make it difficult for the prisoners to reintegrate into society. You underestimate, perhaps, the effect a year of incarceration will have on most people. Losing one's freedom is not trivial. Long prison sentences should be reserved only for those who need to be kept out of circulation because they are dangerous.
Our European brethren are far more enlightened than we are on this subject. We should learn to them.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.