Scientist Lashes Out at FBI Surveillance Steven J. Hatfill appeared at a traffic court hearing

The Associated Press ^ | 08-15-03 1706EDT | JENNIFER C. KERR

[Princeton]

WASHINGTON (AP)--An attorney for the bioterrorism expert identified as a ``person of interest'' in the investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks lashed out at the FBI Friday for its round-the-clock surveillance of his client.

The scientist, Dr. Steven J. Hatfill, appeared at a traffic court hearing to contest a $5 ticket stemming from an accident involving a federal agent who was tailing him. Hatfill lost the case and will have to pay the fine.

Hatfill declined to comment afterward, but his attorney, Thomas Connolly, told reporters the ticket was the result of the ``unrelenting campaign of harassment the FBI has imposed on Steven Hatfill day in and day out.''

Connolly said his client is being badgered by the agency for ``no legitimate reason.''

FBI spokeswoman Debbie Weierman declined to comment.

The accident occurred May 17 as Hatfill ran errands with his girlfriend. He noticed he was being followed by a green sport utility vehicle, parked his car in Washington's busy Georgetown neighborhood and got out to take photos of the SUV.

Connolly said Hatfill wanted pictures to document the harassment.

Hatfill was struck and knocked down as the SUV drove off, according to the police report. Hatfill suffered a bruised foot and abrasions. He did not seek hospital treatment and refused attention from paramedics at the scene.

The police officer who testified at the hearing said he didn't see the accident, but viewed videotape footage taken by the FBI agent driving the SUV. After that, Officer Clyde Pringle said he decided to give Hatfill a ticket for ``walking to create a hazard.''

At the hearing, Pringle said Hatfill would not have been hit if he had stayed on the sidewalk, instead of getting in the street to snap the photos.

The hearing examiner upheld the violation and ordered Hatfill to pay the fine.

Connolly called the whole matter ``silly to the extreme.'' He also questioned why the agent who struck Hatfill received ``no ticket, no citation and no violation.''

The Washington FBI office is leading the probe of the October 2001 attacks in which anthrax-laced envelopes were sent to government and media offices. Five people were killed and 17 others sickened.

Hatfill, who has been described as ``a person of interest'' by Attorney General John Ashcroft, has denied any involvement in the attacks.

Hatfill once worked as a researcher at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick in Frederick, Md. The facility housed the strain of anthrax found in the envelopes sent to the victims.

AP-NY-08-15-03 1706EDT

[agitator]

Your tax dollars at work

[John Beresford Tipton]

"He also questioned why the agent who struck Hatfill received ``no ticket, no citation and no violation.''"

Simple, the Government are out masters,
we are their peasants.

[StatesEnemy]

I think I would be slinging lead at this point.

[Princeton]

"The real anthrax killer

sends his condolences to Hatfill

over his crushed toe."


(posted on 05/18/2003 10:52 PM PDT by The Great Satan)

[Princeton]

Hatfill Ping.

[Chad Fairbanks]

The damn Feds that Hit him committed a major crime - Hit and Run is NOT a little thing you can just brush off. Even if you hit someone by acident, the moment you leave the scene, it becomes a CRIME. Hit and Run, Failure to Render Aid, etc...

[Princeton]

Ping.

[Crusader21stCentury]

I believe Mr Hatfills' life is endangered. It is obvious that the FBI are out to harm him. He should immediately take all measures necessary to protect himself. Including the use of deadly force to protect himself.
The feebs are total idiots and are run for purely political motives. They do nothing to protect the American People.

[blackdog]

Hatfill needs to hire some local talent to chain FBI tails to light poles, roll dumpsters into their path, ping pong balls in their gas tanks, and conduct some counter intelligence by hiring a pilot friend to tail their tail from above.

System screwers will do this stuff just for fun. Don't let the bastards get to you. Get even.

[doberville]

I have seen the Feds in action close up. They paw through every paper, every transaction and every record in hopes of finding something - ANYTHING - if one just looks long enough.

There is no recourse whatsoever, lawyer or not. One can only hope that some relief will come when they find something more interesting somewhere else and go away.

There is no aspect of "mistaken identity" or false arrest or any protections whatsoever.

It is legal rape.

[freepatriot32]

hit and run is an automatic felony even if the guy doing it is a fed and for the cop to givethis guy a ticket and not arrest the fbi agent is deriliction of duty they both need to be fired and arressted

[blackdog]

Every moment they spend tailing you can be fun. Explore the gay bar nightlife. Spend some time in Victoria's Secret's dressing rooms. Park at those gay service rest areas late at night. Take up bee keeping. Go do your laundry in the worst ghetto crime ridden area laundromat you can find at 2:00am.

The opportunities are endless.

[Will_Zurmacht]

That's the best Idea I've heard yet. A cross country trip into Mexico would also be nice. Just for a vacation, you know. Spend a couple days on the beach then come home.
Once home, spend a lot of time digging in the backyard....late at night.
Visit some embassies, just for the fun of it.
Hang out in predominately muslim areas pointing out the FBI car to all your new friends in the mosque...hehe.Be sure to let friends and family know exactly what you are doing though...or you could end up in a D.C. park.

[Chad Fairbanks]

ROTFL... I'd do that for fun, myself...

[Chad Fairbanks]

Once home, spend a lot of time digging in the backyard....late at night.

OMG heh heh heh

[Princeton]

" To: Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard

Nayland Nayland Nayland,

There you go again - making light of a colleague in dire straits.

One would think that since the two of you are ,

in effect, two peas in a pod,

except, perhaps for the biowarfare connection,

you would at least be a little sympathetic.

Don't you think you could at least help initiate a defense

fund for a co-microbiologist you know has been a scapegoat

and your deflector?

Where is your heart, man?"

(146 posted on 08/04/2003 2:20 PM PDT by Princeton (the knots of folly grow tighter)"




To: Princeton

"There you go again - making light of a colleague in dire straits."


Hatfill is a rank amateur, a mere dilettante.

As you know, I've always maintained murder is a crime for most men, but a privilege for the few.

Murder is an art, and as such the privilege of committing it should be reserved for those few who are really superior individuals.

I'd hang Hatfill from the highest yardarm.

But I'd hang him for being stupid, you see,
and that's the difference.


(147 posted on 08/04/2003 11:54 PM PDT by Nayland Smith of Scotland Yard")

[TaxRelief]

To all new Freepers-

We tend to indulge Uncle Princeton when he repeats his favorite, Freeper war stories.

Just smile and nod.

[TaxRelief]

How do the Feebies intimidate the local police into pressing bogus charges?

Back to the Sniper shootings, despite all the ridiculing of Charles Moose' handling of the crime. I have to give him credit for resisting the FBI pressure tactics.

[TaxRelief]

From Tribnet.com (RICHARD B. SCHMITT; Los Angeles Times, Aug. 16, 2003):

In a rare public appearance, the former Army biomedical researcher contested the ticket Friday before a District of Columbia Department of Motor Vehicles hearing officer. He brought two lawyers and a crowd of a dozen reporters. He did not speak at the hearing, other than to utter a one-word denial in response to a question from the judge.

At the hearing, the government stuck to its guns. Under questioning from Nick Bravin, a lawyer for Hatfill, the ticketing officer, Clyde Pringle, acknowledged that it was the first time that he had issued such a ticket to a pedestrian, although he said the circumstances fully justified it.

"The accident wouldn't have happened if Mr. Hatfill had walked on the sidewalk," declared Pringle, a four-year veteran of the city's force.

The officer also acknowledged that, while the FBI agent involved had captured the incident on videotape, he didn't obtain a copy for the hearing.

Bravin argued that the tape was "the best evidence" of what happened in the case and that without it, the city could not possibly establish the "clear and convincing evidence" needed to establish that Hatfill committed an offense. Bravin also introduced several photographs, including one showing his client's badly bruised foot.

After roughly 15 minutes' deliberation, the hearing examiner, Stephen Lawson, issued his ruling, saying that Hatfill had broken the law the moment he had stepped into the road, and that the issue of whether the FBI was justified in running over his foot was, essentially, irrelevant.