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Bikers Jailed After Waco Shootout Say Court System Failed Them
NY Times ^ | June 10, 2015 | MANNY FERNANDEZ

Posted on 06/10/2015 10:26:37 AM PDT by don-o

Matthew A. Clendennen, one of the nearly 180 bikers who were jailed after the deadly shootout here last month between rival biker gangs and the police, said he had one weapon on him during the melee — a pocketknife with a two-inch blade that was a Christmas gift from his parents and that he uses as a screwdriver and box cutter at work.

Mr. Clendennen, 30, said he never pulled it out. When gunfire broke out in the parking lot of the Twin Peaks restaurant where hundreds of bikers had gathered, Mr. Clendennen said, he rushed from the restaurant’s patio area to a hallway inside. He said that he crouched as gunshots echoed and that he never left the hallway. Continue reading the main story Related Coverage

Mug shots of 51 people arrested in Sunday's shootout in Waco, Tex. Mass Roundup of Bikers in Waco Shootout Tests Limits of Court SystemMAY 19, 2015 A McLennan County deputy sheriff stood guard near a group of bikers in the parking lot of a Twin Peaks restaurant after gunfire erupted between rival motorcycle gangs on Sunday in Waco, Tex. 170 Bikers Charged in Waco, in a Rivalry Rooted in the 1960sMAY 18, 2015

“They just collectively labeled everybody there as a vicious gang member,” Mr. Clendennen, a Baylor University graduate who owns a landscaping business in the Waco area, said on Monday, days after his release from jail. “They arrested us because of what we were wearing and where we were at. Because I was wearing a certain color vest, automatically in their eyes I was guilty. So much for innocent until proven guilty.”

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: batf; waco; wacobikers
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1 posted on 06/10/2015 10:26:37 AM PDT by don-o
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To: don-o; Admin Moderator

Would you add this article to the Texas topic? I tried, but it isn’t working.


2 posted on 06/10/2015 10:30:12 AM PDT by justlurking (tagline removed, as demanded by Admin Moderators)
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To: don-o

Of course they forgot to mention that Clendennan’s club was a satellite club for the Banditos or Cossacks I don’t remember which but it was one of those.

It also omitted that Clendennan said he was not aware of any problems between the Bandito and Cossack clubs.

I guess if you don’t to tell investigators the truth they get suspicious.


3 posted on 06/10/2015 10:31:43 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

The proud American tradition of guilt by association.

Wait.

What?


4 posted on 06/10/2015 10:34:31 AM PDT by don-o (He will not share His glory and He will NOT be mocked! Blessed be the name of the Lord forever!)
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To: don-o
Join the club...


5 posted on 06/10/2015 10:34:32 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
I guess if you don’t to tell investigators the truth they get suspicious.

Still no reason to jail someone that DID NOTHING WRONG. Last I checked, it wasn't actually a crime to put on a jacket with certain colors. Might not be the smartest thing to do, but in the end, it's not illegal.

6 posted on 06/10/2015 10:36:33 AM PDT by dware (Yeah, so? What are you going to do about it?)
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To: BenLurkin

That looks like a happy Traitor.


7 posted on 06/10/2015 10:38:24 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

That would have been worth bringing up during the first 72 hours of detainment, but we are approaching a month now.

Many of us on this forum, would find ourselves homeless and without possessions, and in terrible debt, if we walked away from our lives for a month.


8 posted on 06/10/2015 10:38:41 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie
I want to know why all these big strong men met in a place where they could hide behind the skirts of innocent citizens in a public place with police protection all around (as they knew very well). In Canada they met on a farm:

Aravena is one of five men challenging dozens of murder convictions that resulted from the ruthless internal cleansing of the Bandidos motorcycle club in April 2006 at a farm near London, Ont.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/bandidos-member-convicted-of-murder-feared-he-himself-might-die-lawyer-says-1.2767905

9 posted on 06/10/2015 10:40:19 AM PDT by donna (Polls are mob rule - faked.)
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To: don-o

So according to this many of the deadly and threatening weapons seized required an extensive search to even locate.

Like a legal weapon in someone’s trunk. Maybe even their tire iron. So hard to come up with an arsenal for the press releases.

When the New York Slimes turns on a BATF operation the narative is collapsing.


10 posted on 06/10/2015 10:41:43 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

He should not have been arrested. He was not caught, nor ID’d as doing anything illegal.


11 posted on 06/10/2015 10:46:02 AM PDT by LibFreeUSA
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To: ansel12
Welcome to the party ... what changed your mind about the bikers? As I remember ... you and I were hotly debating this issue with you on the opposite side of the bikers.

In other news it has been reported that the ALR (American Legion Riders) WERE also at the meeting. I AM an ALR and a Patriot Guard rider. Had this been in Arizona and I do attend the CoC here ... I WOULD have been one of these bikers that are now in jail. Also I ALWAYS conceal carry when I'm on the bike. It is my LEGAL right to do so. Sometimes I open carry my .45 H&K to these meetings ... that also happens to be LEGAL in this state.

12 posted on 06/10/2015 10:47:02 AM PDT by clamper1797 (Ted Cruz for President ... all others are cheap imitations)
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To: justlurking

Done.


13 posted on 06/10/2015 10:49:20 AM PDT by Slings and Arrows (My music: http://www.hopalongginsberg.com/ | Facebook ID: Hopalong Ginsberg)
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To: clamper1797

You can not possibly attend COC meetings.

We have a Freeper who insists that all attendees are gang members. No exceptions.

He couldn’t be making stuff up could he?


14 posted on 06/10/2015 10:55:41 AM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: don-o
“It’s commonplace for arrestees to complain about being arrested. Our investigation is ongoing and continuing, and the justice system is working in the way that it should.”

This is an indicator of why our justice system has gotten off the tracks. The police have no idea if this individual has committed a crime, or not. They have no evidence and may never have any. They just rounded up everyone and locked them up, with no concern about the due process that must be followed.

The police and the prosecutors have decided that the law does not apply to them. If we allow it to continue, then there will be no limits on the power of the justice system. Bikers today, but church group or political gathering may be next.

15 posted on 06/10/2015 10:56:35 AM PDT by centurion316
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To: ImJustAnotherOkie

Sorry to see you, by constantly attacking the bikers, defending this Obama DOJ/BATF operation carried out by the local Waco government lackeys.

Some of us still stand with the CONSTITUTION.


16 posted on 06/10/2015 10:57:13 AM PDT by House Atreides (CRUZ or lose!)
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To: clamper1797

Don’t make up things, I haven’t changed any views nor have I commented on the events in Waco, and I’m not now.

I belong to a biker club and have for about 25 years, and I use to know the Bandidos pretty well, since their main house was only half a mile away, and I had a Bandido roommate and regularly spent time with them and running around with them sometimes.

If you look at my comments, they have only been to correct those idiots who don’t know about outlaw gangs, and my posts had nothing to do with Waco, nor does this point about this long term detention have to do with the events at the restaurant.

I have no idea what happened at the restaurant, that is why I don’t have anything to say about it, and haven’t had anything to say about it.

Why can’t people just read what posters are actually saying in their posts, without rewriting it into something entirely different, and trying to redirect everything into what they want to argue, or rant about?


17 posted on 06/10/2015 10:57:20 AM PDT by ansel12
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To: MrEdd

My congressman would have also been at the meeting as he is in a “3 patch” club out here


18 posted on 06/10/2015 10:57:24 AM PDT by clamper1797 (Ted Cruz for President ... all others are cheap imitations)
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To: LibFreeUSA
He should not have been arrested. He was not caught, nor ID’d as doing anything illegal.

Don't know what rock you have been hiding under for the last twenty years or so, but just because YOU aren't doing anything illegal won't stop you from being arrested if the folks you are associating with are. If you are with a group of friends, and one punches someone and kills them, and you do not intervene to stop them, you COULD be charged as an accessory, or if the attack was pre-planned, with criminal conspiracy. If discussed via phone or email, enter RICO, which I believe is what they are charging. In the modern era of gang task forces, they seem to arrest anyone and everyone present at "gang related activities", and let the courts sort out who is guilty or not, so this is not so uncommon. I don't think they have a case, not that it matters-- I think they are doing this for deterrence; if you wanna hang with thugs, you are gonna get treated like one.

19 posted on 06/10/2015 10:57:45 AM PDT by LambSlave
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To: ansel12

I WAS complimenting you on your opinions about Waco ... which I happen to agree with. Don’t mistake my confusion with “making things up” That’s not appreciated.


20 posted on 06/10/2015 11:00:22 AM PDT by clamper1797 (Ted Cruz for President ... all others are cheap imitations)
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