Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Funds raised for arrested homeschoolers
worldnetdaily.com ^ | 2 23 05 | Ron Strom

Posted on 02/23/2005 2:39:15 AM PST by freepatriot32

A homeschool group in South Carolina is beginning to raise funds to help defend two of its members – a teenage boy and a mother – who were arrested after a confrontation with a plainclothes police officer at a park.

The incident occurred at Simpsonville Park in Simpsonville, S.C. last Wednesday. A group of mothers and children from Upstate Homeschoolers Unlimited were socializing and playing in the park – a common activity for homeschool support groups.

After a call came in to police about someone in the park having a knife, a plainclothes policeman rushed into the picnic shelter where some of the homeschoolers were gathered.

According to parents who witnessed the event, the policeman began shouting at two teenage boys, pushing at least one to the ground. When he went to grab one of the boys, a mother, who at the time was holding another woman's baby, stepped in to stop him, not realizing he was a police officer.

Priscilla Adams and Jan Blanchard were two of the other moms present.

"(The intervening mother) turned to Jan and said, 'Call the police.' That's when he told us that he was the police," Adams said.

The 16-year-old boy was arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, a small hunting knife on his belt, and the mother was arrested for assaulting a police officer, even though witnesses say the man's badge and gun were not in a place where they easily could be seen.

Continued Adams: "The plainclothes officer was incredibly belligerent and angry right from the moment he rushed under the shelter. He could so easily have stopped as soon as he came up to us, announced that he was a police officer and needed to talk to the boy with the knife, but he didn't do any of that. Instead he shouted, shoved, verbally abused, intimidated. He acted so horrible it never occurred to me, or to any of us, that he was a police officer. He just seemed like a crazy man."

At that point, a uniformed officer came on the scene and confirmed that the plainclothes cop was indeed with the Simpsonville Police Department.

"The plainclothes guy told the woman holding the baby to put him down, that she was going to be arrested," Adams said. "I asked him what he was arresting her for since she hadn't done anything wrong. He told me for assaulting a police officer. I protested that she hadn't known he was a police officer. He told me to shut up or I would be arrested too.

"So not only can he arrest a boy for carrying a knife that was not concealed, and charge him with carrying a concealed weapon, not only can he assault a woman holding a baby, then arrest her for assaulting him, but apparently he can arrest people just for arguing with him."

The mother of the boy arrested was in the restroom during the altercation, returning just as her son was placed, handcuffed, into a police car.

Commenting on the action of her friend who tried to intervene, the woman said, "She was driven up to the police station and placed in a cell, all because she protected my son from a strange man."

Continued the mother: "One [uniformed] officer said he was about to draw his weapon. He had already unsnapped it and was pulling it out to draw and aim at my son, because he thought he was about to pull the knife on the plainclothes investigator. This same officer said there was no telling how many people could have gotten killed – in other words, he was prepared to shoot toward the shelter with all the small children around."

According to a report by local TV station WHNS, the plainclothes officer is on administrative leave pending an internal investigation.

"Whether it was an overreaction to a response, we'll find that out when we do the internal affairs thing," Police Chief Charles Reece told the station.

Responding to the parents concern about the reaction of the baby-holding mother, Reece said, "I can't say how I would have reacted. I'm a parent also and I've got children too, and I understand she was trying to protect the child. I understand that."

The police chief says the homeschooling group is welcome at the park and should not be afraid. But the parents say they will not be returning because they are scared of what could happen.

"We've felt very safe there before, and having the police station just beside the park seemed to be an advantage," Adams said. "We felt like nobody too bad would bother our kids with policemen so close by. We never thought it would be the police themselves that would be the frightening ones, the ones who would make our kids feel unsafe, who would make them have nightmares or keep them from even being able to sleep."

Adams told WND there are efforts under way to raise money for the costs of defending the teenager and the mother who were arrested. She also said that while one parent filed an official complaint against the plainclothes officer with the police department, further protests are not planned at this time.

Reece said his department's investigation should be completed by week's end.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events; Philosophy; Politics/Elections; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: angermgmtdropout; arrested; assault; badcopnodonut; banglist; cop; donutwatch; for; funds; govwatch; homeschool; homeschoolers; homeschoollist; knife; leo; manicepisode; physcho; raised; simpsonville; students; thuggangbangerinblue
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-95 next last
Im sure the cop will be arrested himself for assault for pushing the first boy to the ground before he ever identified himself.(yeah right then pigs will fly.)This cop is darn lucky it was only homeschool moms meeting and not the second amendment sisters when he pulled this jackboot crap.
1 posted on 02/23/2005 2:39:17 AM PST by freepatriot32
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

Agreed. BTTT


2 posted on 02/23/2005 2:41:21 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar; homeschool mama; don-o

BTT, where is the address to send funds? Did I miss it?


3 posted on 02/23/2005 2:43:15 AM PST by MarMema ("America may have won the battles, but the Nazis won the war." Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: MarMema

I didn't see it either.

SC ping list needed for more info.


4 posted on 02/23/2005 2:47:00 AM PST by Jet Jaguar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

They should SUE, SUE, SUE the bastards. Since when is it illegal to just have a knife? This ain't England you know.


5 posted on 02/23/2005 2:50:32 AM PST by jocon307 (Vote George Washington for the #1 spot)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

I'm fairly pro-LEO but it's stuff like this, if true as described, that give good cops a bad image.


6 posted on 02/23/2005 2:51:55 AM PST by Texas_Jarhead (Islam is religion of piece established for profit by Muhammad, piss be upon him.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: MarMema

I just emailed the group that is in the link in the story to see if they are the group that is raising money for the defence when I get a responce I will post it here


7 posted on 02/23/2005 2:52:06 AM PST by freepatriot32 (Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan, a pantomime horse in which both men are playing the rear end. M.Steyn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Jet Jaguar

I'm guessing if we email at the link provided, we can find out how to help. I'll do it in the morning...


8 posted on 02/23/2005 2:52:14 AM PST by MarMema ("America may have won the battles, but the Nazis won the war." Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

Ok thanks!


9 posted on 02/23/2005 2:52:49 AM PST by MarMema ("America may have won the battles, but the Nazis won the war." Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Annie03; AntiBurr; Baby Bear; BJClinton; BlackbirdSST; BroncosFan; Capitalism2003; dAnconia; ...
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
10 posted on 02/23/2005 2:53:28 AM PST by freepatriot32 (Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan, a pantomime horse in which both men are playing the rear end. M.Steyn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

Agreed agreed. BTTT


11 posted on 02/23/2005 2:56:36 AM PST by freeplancer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: bd476; 2Jedismom; SC Swamp Fox

one for your ping lists ?


12 posted on 02/23/2005 2:57:34 AM PST by freepatriot32 (Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan, a pantomime horse in which both men are playing the rear end. M.Steyn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Texas_Jarhead

It's stuff like patrol cars flying passed me and then five minutes later I catch up with them sitting at a lunch counter that gets me. I thought speed limits were a safety issue.


13 posted on 02/23/2005 2:59:07 AM PST by freedomfiter2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

Who the hell is this cop, Buford T. Justice?


14 posted on 02/23/2005 3:29:57 AM PST by NRA1995 ("Yew jes' go and lay yore hand on a Pittsburgh Steelers fan & Ah think yer gonna fin'lly understand")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

"Plainclothes" means he left his jackboots at home.


15 posted on 02/23/2005 3:33:47 AM PST by Wormwood (Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Squantos; Jeff Head; Alas

We have home schooled for close to 20 years. We used to think nothing of taking off and going to a local park for a noon time picnic. Now, we stay closer to home as it seems more and more of John Q. Public want to get into my business.

We are going on a field trip to the new police station here in town on Friday. Maybe I need to retain an attorney before going?

Actually the local home school community and the LEO community get along very decently right now. My daughter in grad school worked for the city on an intern program last summer and spent the majority of the time in the police station so the chief knows first hand the results of home schooling.


16 posted on 02/23/2005 3:34:05 AM PST by SLB ("We must lay before Him what is in us, not what ought to be in us." C. S. Lewis)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32
..."Whether it was an overreaction to a response, we'll find that out when we do the internal affairs thing," Police Chief Charles Reece told the station.

I am sure they will find the officer over-reacted, and fire him immediately...

17 posted on 02/23/2005 3:41:31 AM PST by pageonetoo (Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32
..apparently..This "so-called" COP, was absent during proper use "color of law" discussions..."eating donuts, while day-dreaming of COPS, Starkey & Hutch, CHiP, S.W.A.T., Car..54, Where are you., Dagnet"
18 posted on 02/23/2005 4:07:50 AM PST by skinkinthegrass (Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you :^)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: freepatriot32

I don't believe police who act this way are at all atypical, though I'm sure there will be many who disagree with me. I would enjoy seeing a survey regarding police and government employees' attitudes toward state intrusion and gun control, as compared to those of the the public.


19 posted on 02/23/2005 4:19:19 AM PST by LibertarianInExile (The South will rise again? Hell, we ever get states' rights firmly back in place, the CSA has risen!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: NRA1995

20 posted on 02/23/2005 4:31:04 AM PST by fredhead ("It is a good thing war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it." General Robert E. Lee)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-95 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson