Man arrested after dressing as bin Laden ('Rat lawyer!!!)

Herald Sun ^ | 1 November 2006

[Aussie Dasher]

A MAINE attorney who released information in 2000 about US President George W. Bush's drunken driving conviction was arrested today after he dressed up as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and waved a fake gun at traffic.

Police in South Portland, Maine, arrested Thomas Connolly, 49, of Scarborough, Maine, and charged him with criminal threatening. He was released on bail, local officials said.

Lieutenant Todd Bernard said the police department received calls about a man wearing Middle Eastern garb and a bin Laden mask and carrying fake dynamite standing along an interstate highway. When police arrived, they saw Connolly holding a gun.

"They ordered him to drop the weapon several times and he eventually complied," Lt Bernard said. It turned out the gun was fake, Lt Bernard said.

In a phone interview, Connolly said he'd been trying to protest a planned change in local tax rules.

"I didn't expect to be arrested," he said. "Obviously I touched a post-9/11 nerve."

Days before the 2000 presidential election, Connolly released information about Bush's 1976 drunken driving conviction.

[Aussie Dasher]

I thought ALL 'Rats dressed like that...

[SevenofNine]

Hey one of my neighbors daughter dress as Nancy Peolsi for Halloween but AD her father told me that reason why witch constume were gone at CVS Store LOL!

[Tamar1973]

Maybe he should have dressed up like this.

More fem for the dem.

[RacerX1128]

"Obviously I touched a post-9/11 nerve."

Obviously you're a lib f'n idiot

[battlegearboat]

Last call, you've had enough.

[FlingWingFlyer]

"They ordered him to drop the weapon several times and he eventually complied,"

America would have been "a better place" had they fired a couple warning shots into his head. He obviously hates the country that allows him to satisfy his greed.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Too bad he didn't point at the officers.

[wodinoneeye]

Too bad they didnt shoot the azzhole.

Tards like this deserve a dose of 'Evolution in Action'
(and it would stop alot of wannabees and crackpots from thinking such behavior will get them attention...)

[Crim]

Wait a damn minute....that 1976 "conviction" was another person named george bush in the same county...but with a different middle intitial...george W Bush was never convicted of drunk driving...

Why didnt anyone catch that yet?

damn...Now I need to dig up the thread...it was posted here on FR...

You peeps are slipping....and the media is getting away with it again....

That story is a flat out lie...

[xc1427]

Oh my God!!! The gay (happy, not perverted) Darth Vader.

[Vanders9]

"I didn't expect to be arrested," he said. "Obviously I touched a post-9/11 nerve."


What an utter idiot. What a complete moron. They should lock him up and throw the key away on a charge of total stupidity.

[Vanders9]

That actually looks rather cool.


Perhaps I need therapy...

[mware]

Even more the idiot, he was standing on the side of a freeway when he was arrested.

He is damn lucky he did not cause an accident.

[Elsie]

"I didn't expect to be arrested," he said.

"A man has GOT to know his limitations."
--Harry Callahan

---

(Read Unintended Consequences)

[DesScorp]

Ladies and Gentlemen....the loony left.

[fight_truth_decay]

The rest of the story. This was all about TABOR on the ballot. He is Anti-TABOR.

CLIP

South Portland police were notified around 9 a.m. that a man wearing a rubber Osama bin Laden mask was standing on top of a berm along the highway carrying a sign that said “I Love Tabor,” and waving what appeared to be an assault rifle.

Four South Portland officers and two state troopers converged on the man. They drew their guns when he did not respond to their demand that he drop his weapon. (the traffic noise was high as he stood by an overpass in a new construction area and was waving a what was found to be a toy assault weapon), holding a sign in regard to TABOR).

Police said instead he walked toward them dropping plastic hand grenades. His costume included fake dynamite and bandoliers, police said.

He eventually did drop the rifle, which turned out to be a toy and was arrested, at which time the man was identified as Connolly. He was taken to the Cumberland County Jail.

"The whole thing is just incredibly bizarre," said South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins. "It just crossed the line."

Connolly met with reporters briefly after posting bail to secure his release. Criminal threatening is a misdemeanor.

"There was a First Amendment this morning when I woke up. I don't know how it evaporated with the dawn," he said.

Connolly, a Portland attorney, has been known for wearing costumes to make political statements, typically donning a George W. Bush mask and dancing herky-jerky style for passing motorists. His wife has described him as "marvelously eccentric."

But he took it too far with the terrorist outfit, Googins said.

Connolly was carrying a sign that said "I love TABOR," a reference to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights on the ballot a week from today. (however he is Anti-TABOR-Taxpayers Bill or Rights) But at least one of the people who saw it thought it said "I love the Taliban," Googins said.

Officers who arrived on the location of a future ramp at the Westbrook Street exit didn't know what they were dealing with. "There's no way of telling from a distance whether the gun is real or a fake," Googins said.

Police want to make sure charges are pressed. "For someone to think this is an innocent prank, this is not the case," he said.

So as Sen. Kerry has said it was a poorly executed JOKE, after all it was Halloween and don't most adorn themselves with in terrorist attire and stand by a highway waving an assault weapon. Another joke the elite find funny, but dumb Americans don't get it.

Source of additional information:
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20681663-5005961,00.html

[hellinahandcart]

That guy?

Damn. Why didn't he go protest at an airport...

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

A MAINE attorney who released information in 2000 about US President George W. Bush's drunken driving conviction was arrested today after he dressed up as al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and waved a fake gun at traffic.

Is this guy working for the GOP GOTV effort?

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

Tards like this deserve a dose of 'Evolution in Action'

Great line from Oath of Fealty. Niven and Pournelle said that it just hopped out of the Petri dish and instantly turned into a running gag.

[70times7]

No, that is Darth Vader's swishy cousin, Derrièrein Vader