Charlotte police arrest LGBT activist, drive him to three locations other than jail

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/09/02/charlotte-police-arrest-lgbt-activist-drive-him-to-three-locations-other-than-jail/



Charlotte police arrest LGBT activist, drive him to three locations other than jail
By Arturo Garcia
Tuesday, September 2, 2014 22:13 EDT

An LGBT activist and former North Carolina state Senate candidate filmed a police officer trying to grab his phone during an arrest his department later described as a “detainment,” Think Progress reported.

The footage, shot by 33-year-old Ty Turner on his cell phone, shows the officer telling Turner to “put the phone down” while stopping him in a parking lot where Turner was distributing information on voters’ rights during a “Moral Monday” event at Marshall Park in Charlotte on Monday.

~snip~

Turner told Think Progress that the encounter escalated after he asked the officer to identify the ordinance he was violating. The officer allegedly refused to answer the question.

Instead, Turner said, he was held for a few hours before being released with a citation, but that he was taken to three separate locations, including an empty parking lot, and not directly to Mecklenburg County Jail.

[littlemissmartypants]

1. What a terrifying experience this must have been for him.

Thanks for the post, unhappycamper.

Love, Peace and the Righteous Fight!
~ littlemissmartypants

[Live and Learn]

2. I guess not bowing down and conforming is now called resistance. Very sad. nt

[Bohunk68]

3. I strongly suspect that in this case it had

more to do with him being black. As soon as the link opened, I saw that he was black and there was two white officers, and a black officer, it still struck me as being more racial than anti-LGBT. And, the info just said he was handing our voter rights info. I think that his being LGBT is more incidental. Doesn't make it any less egregious. The police are out of control and need to be dis-armed.

[theHandpuppet]

4. Harassment, plain and simple

I hope someone from the area will post some follow-ups on this case.

[Hoppy]

5. Should be worth about $10,000.

$25k if he were white.

[Snarkoleptic]

6. "distributing information on voters’ rights" few things frighten authoritarians more than the idea

that people may become empowered.

[heaven05]

7. lucky he wasn't 'disappeared'

from the face of the earth while being driven around. "oh, he produced a gun while his hands were handcuffed behind him and was an immediate threat and then shot himself in the back, oh wait, no, no, in the front from the back". Lucky black man and that "SA township" policeman there is a disgrace to justice and his community.

[secondwind]

8. WTF is going on?

[vlyons]

9. well we can't have a scarey black man in a parking lot

with all those unattended cars. Who knows what might happen? (snark)

[MNBrewer]

10. People think this isn't a police state we live in.

When the police officer's mere whim is law, it's a police state.