xxdr_zombiexx

Collateral Damage in the War on Marijuana
Couple's Trip to New York Like 'A Bad Hollywood Movie'

by Daniel Drolet | (27 Apr 2004) | Ottawa Citizen

New York Pair Arrested, Husband Beaten by Police, They Say

An Ottawa couple is officially complaining to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg today because they say they were arrested -- and the husband beaten -- by city police earlier this year while calmly munching on bagels in a park.

Paul Dehler, 45, a physiotherapy assistant at Saint Vincent's Hospital, says he was beaten by two undercover police officers who accused him of smoking marijuana. He says he was arrested, strip-searched, held in jail and charged with a series of offences.

Mr. Dehler's wife, Carol Gudz, 41, a Statistics Canada analyst, was also arrested and charged.


All charges against the couple have been dropped, but the process has left them shaken -- and out $5,000 U.S. in legal fees and travel expenses, an amount equivalent to one-fifth of Mr. Dehler's annual take-home salary.

"I don't drink, I don't smoke, we have an organic garden in the back. We're as clean as they come," said Mr. Dehler. "We met nothing but wonderful people until this incident, and then we thought we were in a bad Hollywood movie."

The couple flew to New York for New Year's. Jan. 2 was so warm, they stopped for a picnic lunch in tiny Cooper Square Park in Manhattan's East Village before going to the Museum of Modern Art.

While they were eating lunch, Mr. Dehler said he noticed a man in jeans and a turtleneck observing them.

"I thought that was a bit odd."

When they got up to leave, he said two men in jeans rushed at them.

"When they got within 10 or 15 feet, they said, 'Police, police!' and something I didn't understand, and then 'smoking marijuana'."

The men didn't look like police officers and the couple thought they were being mugged. Ms. Gudz started yelling for help.

Meanwhile, Mr. Dehler said the men grabbed him and punched him in the face. Only when he was on the ground, his face in the gravel, did he see their walkie-talkies and understand they were indeed police.

"I was frightened, but I wasn't belligerent," said Mr. Dehler. He said the couple was arrested and driven to Precinct 9.

"I got brought in front of this big bull sergeant who looks at me and says, 'Do you like to fight with cops up in Canada?' I said, 'I don't know what's going on. I'm willing to apologize to the arresting officer.' He interrupts me and says: 'If that was me arresting you, you would be in hospital right now.'

"He said, 'Take him in the back and strip search him and give him the whole nine yards."

Mr. Dehler and his wife say they were kept in jail for nearly 24 hours -- separately, each not knowing where the other was -- and denied access to a lawyer. He said police told them they could call a lawyer only if they knew the name and number of a New York lawyer, but police wouldn't give them a phonebook.

Ms. Gudz said she managed to get through to her sister in Ottawa, a police officer, and Mr. Dehler said he was able to hire "a jailhouse lawyer who was just a caricature -- he was a real cowboy," and who wanted $1,000 U.S. to represent them.

Meanwhile, a Good Samaritan who had seen the arrest and heard them say they were Canadian called the Canadian consulate. The couple said their time in jail was hellish.

Mr. Dehler, showing photos of his bruised face, said he was given a cursory medical examination by ambulance attendants five hours after his arrest and put into a cell with people smoking crack cocaine.

Ms. Gudz spent the night in a cell with 15 women -- and three mats.

"You don't go to sleep," she said.

Ms. Gudz was charged with resisting arrest and obstructing justice, but the charges were quickly dismissed. Mr. Dehler was charged with attempted assault, resisting arrest, harassment and disorderly conduct. He was released and returned to appear in a New York criminal court on Jan. 22.

At that time, he presented a negative drug test. His charges were later dismissed.

The couple won't condemn New York City as a whole. They say they are particularly grateful to the person who called the Canadian consulate.

"It's a beautiful city," said Ms. Gudz. "I love it. But I'm telling you, I don't want to go back there. I don't want to go back to that country."

"It was an awful experience," said Mr. Dehler. "We're collateral damage in the war on drugs."

Says their letter to Mr. Bloomberg: "Every Canadian who has heard our story has been horrified that law-abiding, well-intentioned tourists can suffer such a terrifying experience at the hands of NYC law enforcement authorities.

"My wife and I inform you of this incident with the expectation that your office will respond by taking the necessary measures to protect the safety and security of Canadians visiting your city."

The couple has also filed a formal complaint against the department. Last night, a police spokesman refused to confirm that, saying "I can't verify that for you because this investigation will be confidential."

[zombienote: I get to say it again - Reefer Madness is Job 1 with American Law Enforcement. It's more important than almost anything else.

None of the cops involved in this assault will experience anything similar to a "consequence". After all, these shifty liberal Canadians COULD have had mary-ju-wanna....Canadian Crack Marijuana at that!...even though they didn't. But they could have......]

__________________
Torture Good, Healthcare Bad, Marijuana Evil.

There's no money for your issue so long as we're squandering $50 billion a year on the DrugWar. Ben Masel

Herb Ninja

Collateral damage is just part of wars we "need" to "protect freedom." Peace, HN-

"Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence." Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize-winning economist-

__________________
"Truth is treason in an empire of lies." -Ron Paul

xxdr_zombiexx

[zombienote: Just so the Canadians know they were not simply singled out......

Handcuffing 97 year old woman for unpaid traffic ticket

HIGHLAND PARK, Texas - A 97-year-old woman was handcuffed and taken to jail in a squad car for failing to pay a traffic ticket, but her son is questioning police officers' treatment of the former teacher.

Harriette "Dolly" Kelton had an outstanding warrant for failing to pay a traffic ticket when Highland Park police stopped her last week for having an expired registration and inspection sticker.
[SNIP]


Even blind old ladies terrify the cops
Steve Duin | The Oregonian |Sunday, April 25, 2004

She was 71 years old.

She was blind.

She needed her 94-year-old mother to come to her rescue.

And in the middle of the dogfight -- in which Eunice Crowder was pepper-sprayed, Tasered and knocked to the ground by Portland's courageous men in blue -- the poor woman's fake right eye popped out of its socket and was bouncing around in the dirt.

How vicious and ugly can the Portland police get? Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner. This 2003 case is so blatant, the use of force so excessive, the threat of liability so intimidating that the city just approved a $145,000 settlement.

But all those gung-ho fans of the cops can relax. Nothing has changed. Nothing will upset the status quo.

The cops aren't apologizing.

The cops aren't embarrassed.

The cops haven't been disciplined.

And the cops are still insisting, to the bitter end, that they "reasonably believed" this blind ol' bat was a threat to their safety and macho culture.
[SNIP]

reggie_the_dog

Well it looks like these cops in NYC go a bit far. In New York State cannabis possession is just a ticket if you have under 28.5 grams. They do all of this just to write a ticket. I hate to see what they do to people the catch speeding...... Perhaps if enough middle aged people who do not use drugs get beaten by the police they will ask for an end to the war on drugs.

xxdr_zombiexx

I am unsure what to make of it, but the appearence is that cops are getting worse rather than better, something I would expect in a Police State.

The Police are so glorified and "Hero-fied" and as the case of the Oregon beating - they get no consequences for outright brutality.

I am alot more worried about interactions with cops than I am worried about being a "victim of crime". Crime will either hurt me or take something from me - a run-in with a cop can cost a lot of money for absolutely nothing.

I got pulled over for speeding 2 years ago in the night. 2 cops flanked my vehicle and kept shining lights through my windows to see the interior. They would leave for a moment, then come back. It was ridiculous. They were looking for any reason to search me. They dont really care about speeding here, except as a legitimate excuse to pull you over and find another reason to search.

I have had them actually open my vehicle door once and begin searching around WITHOUT PERMISSION. I told the ossifer he couldnt do that, and he was a total smart @$$ "Oh... is that so". I had to word the command exactly - YOU DO NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO SEARCH MY VEHICLE. only then did he leave.

We need police but jeee-zus we need a whole crop of new ones that respect people.

Niteshift

I get to say it again - Reefer Madness is Job 1 with American Law Enforcement. It's more important than almost anything else.

And yet again, you make the statement and can't back it up at all. You make the statement despite the fact that almost all the major operations by the DEA over the entire time Bush has been in office have been for drrugs OTHER than marijuana.

You make the statement despite the fact that MORE people were arrested for sale/manufacture of cocaine/heroin than for pot and that the amount of pot seized by the DEA is DOWN and that the amount of the other drugs are UP.


Keep making the statement........but it won't make it true.



BTW, what does the Portland story have to do with marijuana being "job #1"? Or was it nothing more than an attempt to link a totally unrelated event, 3,000 miles away to further an anti-police agenda?

__________________
A burning desire for social justice is never a substitute for knowing what you're talking about. -Thomas Sowell

Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is muzzle flash.

lilgrasshoppah

Defending cops maybe... defending the DEA....? Who the copulation do you think your gonna impress here?

The DEA are a pack of soulless, heartless beasts, the lot of them. There isn't a redeemable soul in the bunch. And you won't find anybody who frequents this site (except for maybe you) who will think that there little misunderstood angels. So give it a rest, would ya?

Plainsman1963

Nice of them to let them keep their crack and pipes though.
Riiiiiight.
Well, I'm not Niteshift but I will disagree with that.

Hiz Highness

Nah, I thinkk the original statement was correct. Of course, don't put much stock into the whole "soul" theory, much less redeemable souls.

-HH

WNB

Who's talking about Bush here? Quit campaigning for the guy already.

Yea, that's the DEA. How about local law enforcement, which the NYPD happens to be?

__________________
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength