Coerced Blood Draws by Pima County Sheriff Coming Under Fire

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A story recently published in the Arizona Daily Star caught my attention the other night. Titled, “Blood draws by officers in DUI stops questioned“, the article indicates a recent victim of this barbaric police practice has filed a Notice of Claim with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department.

The claim references a persistent blood infection, centered around the needle entry point, that still exists months after being forced to endure a blood draw by a minimally trained sheriff’s deputy during a traffic stop under unsafe and unclean environmental conditions. A Notice of Claim is the first step necessary in order for an individual to file suit against a government official/agency in Arizona.

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Motorcycle Safety Latest Excuse to Violate the 4th

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After following a few links the other night, I came across this biker’s blog linking to a news article published by the North Country Gazette in East Fishkill, New York.

The article highlights a so-called motorcycle safety checkpoint that was conducted along Interstate I-84 on October 7, 2007 by the New York State Police, the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, the Kent Police Dept., the East Fishkill Police Department and the Dept. of Motor Vehicles Field Investigations Unit.

While the stated purpose of the checkpoint was to increase motorcycle safety, it’s clear from reading the article, the operation was just another suspicionless dragnet fishing expedition designed to specifically target the biking public. It should also be noted the article referenced a seatbelt checkpoint being coordinated with the motorcycle checkpoint at the same time and in the same geographic area.

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Cops Continue To Harass Law Abiding Motorist

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A Missouri motorist who recorded a St. George cop’s threats to falsify charges against him in order to throw him in jail & teach him a lesson, is now being hounded & harrassed by other area cops after his videotape resulted in the first officer’s firing.

I first heard about Brett Darrow in 2006 while conducting online research regarding sobriety checkpoints. At the time, Brett was a 19 year old teenager who had already had a troubling run-in with an off duty cop who had assaulted him a year earlier. The cop, who turned out to be drunk at the time, lied about the incident and falsified charges that were later dropped by a grand jury. When Darrow threatened to sue for violations of his rights, the City of St. Louis settled to keep the lawsuit from going forward.

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Circuit City Customer Arrested For Failure To Show ID

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The story of a man arrested in a Circuit City parking lot for refusing to provide his driver’s license to a local cop caught my attention the other day.

From the link above, it looks like Michael Righi was accosted in the Brooklyn, Ohio Circuit City parking lot by store employees after refusing to allow store security to randomly search his bag or inspect his receipt absent reasonable suspicion prior to leaving the store. The employees blocked his family vehicle and refused to allow him to leave after following him outside the store.

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California Conducts Illegal Fireworks Checkpoint

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A reader recently brought to my attention a radio show by American Radio host David Champion. The show centered around a discussion of a fireworks checkpoint conducted in San Bernardino County, California in June of this year. Since this was the first time I had heard of police checkpoints being premised on the interdiction of fireworks, I did a little digging to gather background information.

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Rogue Airport Cops Taze Law-abiding Bicyclist

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Some time ago, I came across the story of a Minnesota bicyclist who was tazed by airport police while riding home from the Minnesota airport after a recent trip. By all accounts the bicycle rider, Stephan Orsak, was in compliance with all pertinent airport regulations and Minnesota law at the time he was stopped by airport police.

During the encounter, the police were rude, hostile and gave conflicting orders to Mr. Orsak regarding his perfectly legal bike riding activities. When Mr. Orsak questioned the police regarding their behavior and confusing orders, the police became more belligerent and ultimately tazed Mr. Orsak and stomped on his glasses.

After the encounter, the police charged Mr. Orsak with multiple criminal misdeamenors to cover up their own egregious behaviour. They also posted no bike riding signs after the fact in strategic locations and erased footage from airport surveillance cameras that could have been used as evidence to exonerate Mr. Orsak of the charges levied against him.

Mr. Orsak has documented the incident, including legal documentation associated with his case on his blog.

Tomorrow, Mr. Orsak is scheduled to appear in court where several motions will be heard and jury selection for the trial will begin.

I encourage those who are interested in this case to checkout Mr. Orsak’s blog and lend him your support if you feel it’s justified.

Sheriff’s Dept. To ‘Help’ Us Celebrate Independence Day

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The Pima County Sheriff’s Department will be helping us remember what Independence Day is all about by improving on the historical excesses of the writ of assistance as used against the colonists prior to the revolutionary war.

The Sheriff’s Department will be conducting sobriety roadblocks on July 4th and 6th of this year while augmenting roadblocks with saturation patrols throughout the upcoming weekend. The department will be conducting these roadblocks absent any reasonable suspicion, general warrant or writ of assistance – hence the ‘improvement’ over the old British system where agents of the state were burdened with carrying a piece of paper authorizing their excesses.

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Cop Attacks Non-violent Skateboarders

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Earlier today, I came across a disturbing video on Radley Balko’s blog of a police officer assaulting a group of nonviolent skateboarders

While the skateboarders in the video were more likely than not in violation of city ordinances regarding where they could skate, the police officer’s response to the situation appeared to be wholly inappropriate, needlessly escalated the situation, and recklessly placed several individuals in danger.

Unfortunately, these types of incidents appear to be occurring at an ever increasing rate. If a police officer is unable to conduct himself in a professional and measured manner when confronting a small group of unruly thirteen year olds who were obviously no threat to anyone, how will this police officer conduct himself in a serious situation where lives and property are actually at risk?

Something to consider…

Maine Cops Conduct Illegal Roadblock With Federal Funds

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It appears that illegal multi-jurisdictional dragnet roadblocks are no longer just a phenomena of Southwestern Arizona. These intrusive suspicionless enforcement operations continue to proliferate in communities across America at an alarming rate. Worse yet, many are being paid for in full by so-called ‘Homeland Security’ grants designed more to commandeer local law enforcement for federal purposes than safeguard local communities.
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Car-seat Inspection Policy Under Review

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In follow-up to my May 19th post, it appears the city council in Boulder City, Nevada is reviewing the police department’s checkpoint guidelines and policy regarding the use of checkpoints to conduct child safety seat inspections. Unlike other child safety seat programs conducted around the country, the Boulder City Police decided to make their checkpoint program mandatory and physically enter stopped vehicles absent reasonable suspicion or a warrant in order to inspect child safety seats without a parent’s consent.
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