Posted on 02/19/2009 7:25:45 AM PST by peggybac
An Oklahoma City police officer wrongly pulled over a man last week and confiscated an anti-President Barack Obama sign the man had on his vehicle.
The officer misinterpreted the sign as threatening, said Capt. Steve McCool, of the Oklahoma City Police Department, and took the sign, which read "Abort Obama, not the unborn."
Chip Harrison said he was driving to work when a police car followed him for several miles and then signaled for him to pull over.
''I pulled over, knowing I hadn't done anything wrong," Harrison said in a recent phone interview.
When the officer asked Harrison if he knew why he had been pulled over, Harrison said he did not.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsok.com ...
I can promise you that a) the SS were fully aware of any and all "registered" firearms this man may have had prior to their arrival. and b)The SS will be "aware" of any future firearms purchases by this guy.
That's why I'm against the registering of ANY constitutionally protected weapon. We don't register books we by, do we?
Was the officer black?
Going after institutionalized corruption has to have a start, and that start is going after the obvious, which is the offending officer. The victim can go after the SS too, but he better know what the officer and his superior had to say to them. I haven’t worked with the SS, but I have worked with a lot of cops over the years, and I know they are sensitive about having citizens go after them in the courts. Most police officers have a very limited understanding of the law, and they prefer to stay away from the receiving end of it. But, I agree with your reasoning.
Whatever they wanna do. I’ve been around since 1998 and have seen a lot worse than what you and I just put on the board.........red
The issue is not whether they should have checked it out or not. The sign itself should have given them a clue and certainly a check of police files and lookout lists would have sufficed. The fact that they felt it necessary to have a walk thru of the individual's house to determine if he was a member of some undefined "hate groups" should send shivers through anyone who believes in the US Constitution. What the SS did is indefensible.
And who in the police department was responsible for reporting this to the SS? Is this a rogue officer or a flawed policy within the police department? This incident should never have been reported to the SS. It should have been squashed at the local level.
The guy gets pulled over due to a sing in his car window.
He is accused of expressing the intent to kill the president
His sign is confiscated.
He is informed that he is under investigation as a potential presidential assassin, or a potential member of a conspiracy.
The Secret Service is contacted, and told that this guy is a clear threat to the President.
The Secret Service contacts this individual directly.
The Secret Service demands access to his home, and executes a search of the premises.
The Secret Service conducts a personal interview.
The Secret Service and the local police department now have a file on this citizen.
And to all this, a local police official admits, this was all wrong, but the situation has been fixed.
The blatant shocking ignorance of those who abuse the law from a position of authority should be a concern to us all.
The officer should be fired. His supervisor should be fired. The Secret Service should file charges against them for filing a groundless report of a potential assassin.
And the Secret Service people who executed the search, and the individual who ordered the search should be fired and incarcerated for abuse of power.
Instead I’m sure everyone all around will get cerificates of congratulation for f-ing with another citizen who dared to disagree with genocide.
If the motorist had intended the sign to communicate a threat it would have said something like:
WHERE IS LEE HARVEY OSWALD NOW THAT WE REALLY NEED HIM?
It is a start, not an end. Who authorized reporting this to the SS? Does the police chief and department policy have any responsibility in how this incident was handled? An over-zealous police officer with an agenda overstepping his authority is one thing, but I also hold his superiors responsible for what transpired afterwards.
Most police officers have a very limited understanding of the law, and they prefer to stay away from the receiving end of it. But, I agree with your reasoning.
I think you seriously underestimate the police. I sat on a jury in a murder trial last year. The police impressed me with their knowledge of the law and its application.
Churchill was Obama's natural enemy. The great British Prime Minister opposed both national socialists and soviet socialists.
Paging the ACLU, paging the ACLU....ACLU, where are you?
Black fascism is the goooood fascism, doncha know?
I saw that sticker on an old truck the other day. I do love Oklahoma.
We’re looking at this the wrong way.
We should be having press conferences praising this cop for making it official police policy that abortion = murder, and that all American police forces should enforce this each time they see a pro-abortion sign displayed.
Or the books and movies about assassinating Bush? And the threads on DU?
Is this for real?
I mean there’s really an officer named “Steve McCool”?!
The hysterics on this thread are something else. The cop made a mistake, and it was rectified. The SS visit is a more serious issue, but what are they supposed to do? Should they NOT investigate potential threats?
Nevertheless, the driver was smart to consult a lawyer.
This incident should never have been reported to the SS. It should have been squashed at the local level. ...Absolutely. 100% in agreement with you.
What the SS did is indefensible. ...In general, I'd agree with you. However, we weren't there. I (and I suspect you) would define a "walk through" as walking through my house, peeking in the pantry, and looking in closets for stuff to find. However, this guy might have defined a "walk through" as sitting on the front porch drinking a cup of coffee with the agent while they go through the motions of following up on a specious travesty of a complaint. Or he might have said, "I've got nothing to hide, come on in!". Who knows.
I'd further offer that everyone on the thread is assuming that the reporter who wrote this got their facts right. It's entirely possible that they're partially right, completely wrong, or this guy was misquoted, taken out of context, and so on.
Unless further info comes out, I'm willing to cut the Sec Service some slack. The PD, not so much.
'The Secret Service called and said they were at my house," ...,the Secret Service called me and said they weren't going to ransack my house or anything ... they just wanted to (walk through the house) and make sure I wasn't a part of any hate groups."
not finding any evidence Harrison was a threat to the president,
they interviewed him for about 30 minutes and then left,
Grrrrrrrr.
I would NOT have been so 'accommodating'. The S.S. can take their "member of a Hate Group" and stick it where the Sun don't shine. And if they really want to find 'members of a Hate Group', they can start with Eric Holder and mrs Kenyan.
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