why was this man arrested?????????

[brettdale]

Link to tweet

[kas125]

1. I've seen cops do a lot of evil things in the last few days,

but that is bothering me more than most.

[Celerity]

3. +100000

[davekriss]

23. Un f*k believable!

That was awful. Whoever ordered that, whoever executed the order, they need to be removed from the force.

[Celerity]

4. wtf

[Hav]

5. That's easy. Talking in the presence of white dudes while black?

I'm definitely interested as well to hear about an update to find out what the police made up for his arrest.

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. They arrested him for saying he considers them brothers and prays for them?

WTF?

[Ohioboy]

7. How are they going to get to use their shiny batons to hit people if this guy's spreading love

[2naSalit]

9. +++++++++++++!!

[crickets]

32. This. Sad. nt

[Alacritous Crier]

8. Absolute...

jackbooted fascism. Thank goodness for smart phones!

[davekriss]

24. Yup

[Chainfire]

10. The term Gestapo

comes immediately to mind.

Perhaps the cops were trying to bait the crowd to violent action.

[jaxexpat]

11. They probably tested him for drugs.

To those guys, he was raving. Speaking in tongues about brotherhood and love. The voice that grates on conscience. Unacceptable, against all protocol and training.

[moreland01]

12. Inciting?

I'm sure these idiots will accuse him of inciting the others, which is absolute bullshit.

That young man was talking to the wind. I feel like each one of those cops is my adult nephew who loves dressing up in soldier/cop attire and playing cops and robbers with his AR-15 and other weapons. They NEED an enemy or their persona doesn't work.

[BaileyBill]

13. Do we know where this was?

[FakeNoose]

14. The Twitter thread says this happened in Charleston, SC

If that's the case, the police in Charleston mishandled the entire incident. There was no reason to arrest this man but the cops just stood there waiting for a reason to use their batons. At least they didn't draw their guns but still, no reason to arrest this guy. It was a peaceful demonstration until the cops showed up.

The way to handle this is to put down the sticks and have a preacher or civic leader (perhaps the mayor) talk to the guy, let him talk and then quietly disperse the crowd. The whole thing would have been over in a few minutes.

[Whiskeytide]

15. This needs to be kicked until we find out what happened. Shit. n/t

[spike jones]

16. I have seen this happen in Seattle and it usually means

there is an outstanding warrant for him. Perhaps a minor one. Being present at an event like that may be breaking probation.

[Jarqui]

18. Respectfully, that is not a good enough reason in these circumstances

Their actions could have triggered something ugly.

The guy was talking about caring for the cops - wanting to understand them, etc.
Nothing sinister was going on with him.

They want to arrest him for a probation violation or something?
There's a time and a place for that. This wasn't that time or place.
It was stupid, dangerous thing to do.

But we have no evidence that the guy had any such probation violation or warrant against him ..

[spike jones]

21. All I am saying is that I have seen it go down like that.

Of course the cops wanted to arrest him on any grounds.
I am not defending their actions at all. I have also seen friends arrested without resisting only later to find they are charged with resisting and assault on an officer. If you think the cops wait for "a time and place for that'' you are living in a dream world.

[Jarqui]

27. Some capable decent cops do wait for "a time and place"

Painting them all with a broad brush isn't fair, right or accurate.
Just like painting black kids with a broad brush isn't fair, right or accurate.
Some of them are upset about George Floyd and other incidents like it and some "joined the parade" yesterday.
I'm sure a number of them had mixed feelings facing the angry protesters they have while trying to protect property - wanting to do their sworn duty to protect people & property while uncomfortably standing beside some prejudiced officers who helped bring this on

[spike jones]

28. The blue wall of silence makes EVERY cop a criminal.

If you have 10 bad cops and 1000 good cops and the 1000 do not stop the 10, then you have 1010 bad cops.
The only way to reform the police force is for the police to do it themselves and for 200 years they have refused to do so. I've way enough of the few bad apples bull shit. Nothing disrespectful to you personally.

[Jarqui]

29. President Obama does not agree with you:

"The only way to reform the police force is for the police to do it themselves"

https://medium.com/@BarackObama/how-to-make-this-moment-the-turning-point-for-real-change-9fa209806067

Read it.

[spike jones]

30. Thanks, I will.

I spent the weekend in Seattle, slept in the back of my truck on the streets, cried myself to sleep every night. I am 75 years old and protested police brutality in Seattle and Portland since WTO 1999 and am just so tired of the same old shit from the cops. Sitting here now waiting for the virus to hit.

[Jarqui]

33. Thank you so much for your service

Stay well

[spike jones]

34. Thank you for your kind words.

I re-read my post and it seem more dramatic that it was. It was not like I slept in my truck under a bridge, I parked it in front of my nephew’s place on a quiet residential street in the U District. Typically, I would have stayed with them, but for the virus now.
For several years now I have been more of an observer of the Seattle protests. I no longer run in the streets. As you may know there is always an edge to these things, and you can be as close to, or as far away from the sharp end of the action as you want. Even when it gets chaotic, there is always an edge. And typically, you can just walk away any time you want. I wore a cloth mask all the time except when in close I wore my gas mask. Protesting in Seattle for twenty years, so yes, I have a biological warfare grade gas mask. So, I think I will be all right.
It is important for me to show up at demonstrations because the only way they get results is if a lot of people are there, (and unfortunately the only way they get press coverage is if there is violence), but the very least you can do is show-up. Resist.

[kacekwl]

19. So what certainly

not the time or place unless you want to stir shit up.

[spike jones]

22. Exactly, and there are many on the police force that want to do just that.

BTW Fuck the police.

[UpInArms]

17. That was appalling in every way

[Buckeye_Democrat]

20. He might demoralize our cause!

Arrest him before he causes some of us to lose our resolve! He's like a black male version of Hanoi Hannah!

[Alex4Martinez]

25. Marion Square, Charleston, SC. Charleston PD, call the crimestoppers number: 843-554-1111

Call their crimestoppers number and report this.

[phone]

Link to tweet

?s=20

[PatSeg]

26. That Tweet has gotten over 193,000 likes already

Someone(s) is going to regret that arrest.

[PTWB]

31. Is it possible he was wanted or in violation of probation / parole?

I see nothing in his filmed actions that would warrant arrest.