PrintMay 25, 2010
DC Police escort SEIU thugs to banker's house (updated)
From Big Journalism and via Power Line:
Big Journalism reports that the union demonstrators at the Bank of America lawyer's house outside Washington, D.C., had a police escort. The escort comprised DC police offers; the primary role of the Washington cops in this event was to protect the protesters. Big Journalism observes:So, who ordered the D.C. police to escort the "demonstrators"? And why weren't the Montgomery County police informed? Will the SEIU be prosecuted? Andy Stern certainly won't. That may be why he stepped down as SEIU president -- so that he can pull the strings from the shadows without putting himself in prosecution's way. Right?A caravan of SEIU buses receive a Metropolitan (D.C.) Police Department escort to a private home in Maryland where the protesters, from all appearances, violate Montgomery County law by engaging in a stationary protest. The Montgomery County police were not informed by their cross-jurisdictional colleagues of the impending, unusually large protest pending in their jurisdiction.
What's up with that? Had the mob decided to torch the house, the D.C. police would not have been authorized to intervene. Not their jurisdiction. They're just escorts. Meanwhile, a teenage boy is home alone [at the Bank of America lawyer's house], frightened by what's happening outside his front door.
If this business doesn't absolutely infuriate you, you may want to question the depth of your "interest" in politics. This is where the rubber meets the road as far as the "progressives" are concerned. I know. I've had some very personal experiences in this department.
But then, you have to wonder about the commitment of Montgomery County to protecting the safety of peaceful citizens in their own homes when officers of the law keep themselves entertained erroneously drug-busting Mayors and shooting dogs : Maybe the Montgomery Poletzie were informed, but were asked and agreed to stay out of it. Ya think?
Update:
My prior post does unfairly tar Montgomery County police with St. Georges feathers. For that I apologize.
However, that still doesn't explain why the Montgomery gendarmes didn't disperse the "demonstrators" nor why the County is not pursuing legal action against the SEIU -- if what they did is, in fact, a crime in that locale. They sure seem quiet about it.
The legal system's abuse of the ordinary individuals and small businesses is totally out of control. Perhaps less in Montgomery than St. Georges, but rampant all over the U.S. We just had a seven-year-old girl killed during a no-knock, stun grenade bust-in by Detroit police. True, they did have a warrant for a murder suspect who was found in the home, but were the commando tactics really necessary?
Unfortunately, the little guy gets run over and no one ever hears about it. Here's an email I sent to Radley Balko of Reason after my daughter saw a never-to-be-repeated-nor-posted video clip of a February 2008 drug raid in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn Heights:
Sir,I'm familiar with your Cato white paper, "Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America." Yesterday, February 13th, one of these raids took place in Dearborn Heights, Michigan. My daughter happened to catch a segment last night on Fox 2 News. We spoke of it today and I attempted to get more information. As of this writing, I was unable to find any reference to this "incident" on Google news, Yahoo news, Detroit news, Detroit free press, or Fox 2 News Detroit. We know that the segment was shown at 10:02 last evening as confirmed by FOX 2. My daughter's description of what she saw on the segment and the impression of her contact at Fox is given below. I'm sending this to you so that this latest example of the American police state doesn't totally go down the memory hole.Thanks. And keep up the great work. It's greatly appreciated.Dennis SevakisFrom my daughter --Here's what I remember:
Detroit Fox 2 News at 10:02 pm ran a story describing a drug raid that took place in a home in Dearborn Heights, MI. 3-4 people were in the house and I believe they were all family members. I remember seeing on the news two middle aged men and one younger (maybe mid-20's, early 30's) woman. The police had a warrant to raid the home on suspicion of marijuana trafficking. They completely trashed the home, shot their dog and roughed up family members, one of which was described by the young woman as disabled. The cops were only able to recover a small amount of pot and about $1,900 in what the residents said was savings. Those who were interviewed were visibility upset and confused about what had happened, especially over the fact that their pet had been shot in the raid.
After failed attempts to search for information about the story online, I called the Fox 2 News video library to confirm that the story ran. K. from the Video Library Dept. found and read the transcripts and expressed to me how disturbed she was with the incident. K. can be reached at. . .
That's it to the best of my memory!!
For a description of the most recent inductee into the pantheon of police-powers abusers, read about Richard Blumenthal's record as Connecticut AG in the WSJ.
For me, anyway, what seems to least distiguish Democrats and Republicans is their apparent lack of disdain for the abuse of police powers at the national, state or local level. Now the SEIU is getting in on the act with seemingly little concern for the image of themselves that they may be imprinting upon the public psyche.
As I am not infrequently inclined to exclaim, "Whachya gonna do when they come for you?"
