Arkansas Blog

How in the hell could plaintiff post bond if there were no charges against him?

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Having had first hand knowledge of the Conway police, this does not surprise me. They have a long history of harrassment, especially of young college students. I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that it'll all be glossed over and the guy pressing the charge will have wasted his time and money.

Arkansas Code Annotated 5-73-124 makes the possession of tear gas or pepper spray illegal. However, it is legal to possess "**a small container of tear gas or pepper spray to be used for self-defense purposes only, but the capacity of the cartridge or container shall not exceed one hundred fifty cubic centimeters (150cc)".

Bevans was carrying less than this (118 ml = 118cc). Why was he charged using this statute?

Exactly which "body fluids" were they looking for and why?

Since Zelda is our Conway corredpondent I think I'll wait for her wit and wisdom to be posted on this before i offer a comment.

Good god...one more example of why so many of our police, especially Conway's, have such crappy reputations....and why every time there's a thread like this someone will inevitably try to lecture the rest of us about 'Blah blah.'

I still don't understand how someone is put in jail/posts bond without ANY charges being made; and I don't understand how someone had the 'authority' to pull someone over/handcuff them without being vested with the necessary authority?? I know it's my money...BUT I HOPE THEY SUE THEIR SORRY ASSES OFF AND WIN! (From what I've seen...Conway has a few officers who could stand the ass loss.)

Several years ago when my son was 13-14 he was skateboarding one afternoon in front of our house with a like-age friend. (I happened to be home, too.) A Conway officer stopped them /demanded ID and proceeded to interrogate them. Now, my son...well, being raised by 'zelda' was both respectful and FULLY ARMED with the appropriate knowledge that this was bullshit. (Plus this was well before Monkeyboy et al tossed the Constitution.) When I went to complain I was told that 'people who have nothing to hide don't mind answering questions.' Sadly, he was right...about 'most people.' 'Most' people I knew said there was nothing wrong with the officer demanding ID/information...as long as he didn't beat em...no harm done. Bullshit...in my country, people, especially defenseless children, have every right to play in their neighborhoods during the day (night brings a whole host of other issues) without the gestapo demanding that they prove they're innocent. The only 'sin' my son was guilty of was being a gangly long-haired pimpled pre-teen boy...which, I'll admit, is often not a pretty sight nor enjoyable company. (I love you, son.)

Uh, well, thanks Charles...now that I've seen your post I'll...go work on some wit/wisdom. :)

I've yet to see this story in the LCD...did I miss it?

>>I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that it'll all be glossed over and the guy pressing the charge will have wasted his time and money.<<

I must disagree with you A Traveler. At least they know there are people like the plaintiff who will not tolerate police abusing power. Some people will learn what unreasonable search an seizure means too.

Would like to say my first post was erroneous. Bevans was charged with violating the pepper spray law but as slydog points out he was not actually in violation.

But, enough police state tactics!

Was the search of Bevans vehicle lawful?

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I think I finally discovered what it takes for a cop to get arrested.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/14/BART.shooting.arrest/index.html
(CNN) -- The former police officer accused of shooting an unarmed man at a northern California commuter train station was arrested Tuesday in Nevada, authorities told CNN affiliate KGO-TV.
Former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer Johannes Mehserle was arrested on a fugitive warrant connected to the fatal shooting, KGO reported.

Mehserle is accused of the shooting of Oscar Grant III at an Oakland, California, station on New Year's Day. The incident was captured on video by several witnesses and spurred violent protests in the northern California city.

SNIP

Grant, a 22-year-old father, was killed on New Year's Day in a crowded BART train station. Police had been called to the Fruitvale station after passengers complained about fights on a train and took Grant and several other people off the train once they arrived.

Videos from witnesses show Mehserle shooting Grant in the back as another BART officer kneeled on the man. The shooting spawned public outrage and a string of protests that led to more than a hundred riot-related arrests.

Police have not said whether Grant had been involved in the fight.

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So police are safe until they lay a fellow flat on his stomach with two cops on top of him..and then shoo a him in the back, killing him... on video.

While the rest of us are accused (not necessarily charged) of any random whimsical crime... and still have to post bond. And that's if we are lucky enough to escape physical abuse or other egregious violations.

According to my reading, elwood, he wasn't charged until his release...but it's unclear when the charge was officially made. (And the charge is, according to Traveler's post, bogus.)

elWood, I hope you are correct but my dollar to a dognut bet still stands. In cases like this they circle the herd of jackasses as Zelda refers to them, drag it out for a long time, he'll get a slap on the hand, docked 1 days pay and all the folks cited in the charge will begin their whine that the cops be putting their large asses on the line every day chasing the pimply pre-teens round town tween stops at McDonalds or the Bar-B-Que joints. Better to be safe than sorry, they say, might be a terrist running 'round pepper spraying the cows. They be the thin blue line (thin blue line :)) keeping the speeders, petty criminals and innocent bystanders from overrunning Conway. Uh huh!

It's pretty obvious this police mindset has been bolstered by the Bush administration's actions and the "war" on terror, and the Patriot Act, and...it's endless.

Zelda, I'm glad your kid knew what to do in that situation. If we had Civics teachers worth a damn in public schools, they'd teach every child how to handle themselves in police encounters. But NO, we hire football coaches instead. It's simple the way I understand it, and correct me if I'm wrong: you don't have to talk to the police. That's what a lawyer is for.

Another thing I'm tired of seeing is police officers dressed like the military. Combat boots, fatigue pants, creepy sunglasses...that just encourages military behavior. Cops are not the military, and if you're a cop, you need to take that crap off. You have to follow the long forgotten Constitution, and hopefully we can find time to drag that document out and dust it off in the future.

I'm reminded of that idiot sherriff in South Carolina (?) who had his department purchase an armored personnel carrier or some damn thing like it. He took a picture of it surrounded by him and all his little minions. They should send him to Iraq and let him be in the real military.

The top 20 things not to say to a cop when he pulls you over.

20. I can't reach my license unless you hold my beer.

19. Sorry officer, I didn't realize my radar detector wasn't plugged in.

18. Aren't you the guy from the village people?

17. Hey, you must have been doing 125 to keep up with me, good job.

16. I thought you had to be in relatively good physical shape to be a police officer.

15. I was going to be a cop, but I decided to finish high school instead.

14. Bad cop. No donut.

13. You're not going to check the trunk, are you?

12. Gee, that gut sure doesn't inspire confidence.

11. Didn't I see you get your butt kicked on cops?

10. Is it true that people become cops because they are too dumb to work at McDonald's?

9. I pay your salary

8. So uh, you on the take or what?

7. Gee officer, that's terrific. The last officer only gave me a warning.

6. Do you know why you pulled me over? Okay, just so one of us does.

5. I was trying to keep up with traffic. Yes, I know there is no other cars around, that's how far they are ahead of me.

4. What do you mean have I been drinking? You are the trained specialist.

3. Well, when I reached down to pick up my bag of crack, my gun fell off of my lap and got lodged between the brake and the gas pedal, forcing me to speed out of control.

2. Hey, is that a 9mm? That's nothing compared to this 44 magnum.

1. Hey, can you give me another one of those full cavity searches?

It's sad that I tend to feel safer around a criminal element than I do around police officers, but at least criminals are fairly predictable.

My last run in with a Conway cop found me speeding (boy was I ever) and him writing me a ticket which I took and paid, knowing I was guilty. I was also wearing my seatbelt when I was pulled over. Cop left the box on the ticket blank, so I still had to pay the extra fine. When I contacted the police clerk about it, she giggled (seriously) and said I could "try" to contact the officer, but she was not allowed to give contact information for individual officers. I reminded her that they were public employees, and she reminded me that they were police officers. End of story. Cop never called back after a month of leaving messages.

I've pretty much abandoned all faith in police officers. They're underpaid and they make up for it by boosting their egos and being bullies. They dress like paramilitary goons and act accordingly. Pretty soon, we'll all need protection from our own BOYS in blue.

Well...according the thread above this these fine Deputy Dawgs will soon be able to stop and practice their love on you if they think you aren't wearing a seat belt. Oh yes...by all means let's help the Police State by giving them another arrow for their quiver.

You know....we have to get into the heads of our legislature that this is an old country and an old state and they can't prove they're earning their pay by introducing senseless reams of new laws that serve only to choke us a little closer to death!
Someone needs to compile a list of all the laws and all the new laws that grind so exceedingly fine on us poor beleaguered people who can't earn enough to pay the highway robbers in nice suits and lapels pins, and don't have enough time in the day to be in constant compliance with 40,000 little tiny laws that suck the life out of living. And to top it off, hardly an hour goes by that we don't hear of new outrages against the working people by the top class of Americans who couldn't wipe their own ass without undocumented nannies feeding their heirs, and drivers and yard workers and electric gate repairmen swarming around their many country estates.

Jesus H. Christ people! Are we so full of self-loathing that we encourage our own mistreatment? Do you not see that the thugs at the top employ the thugs at the bottom to crush the working people in the middle? Are the worst problems facing America the lack of seat belt use and cell phone yacking? If this golf playing cattle guy in his daddy's fancy pickup had been a black man in a Ford Escort....no telling what would have been done to him by this law enforcement agency manned my mental midgets and sadists. And you know no one would have ever heard a word about it.

But this dumbass Conway cop picked on the wrong person. A person who has a daddy who can afford a team of lawyers, who probably will win a large settlement from the city of Conway. There are criminals in the world and not all of them are in the Bush administration, but we've got to quit criminalizing everyday life. We've got to quit giving cops more power over people who are simply doing their business.

We've got to quit being distracted from the fact that a country that will invade another innocent country, a country that will torture, a country that will not punish the rich and powerful, that jacks the prices of gasoline and medicine around for fun and profit does not have our best interests at heart. We have to reclaim our country and get the jackboots off the back of our necks. If they'll stomp a poor person, they'll work up to stomping YOU. Wake up!

Sad to relate, it is often stated truthfully that many wearing the badge would be just as comfortable on the other side of the badge.

In a previous life I lived in Conway. At least once a week, coming home from LR I'd see Conway's Finest with some poor soul pulled over on the freeway, removing everything from their trunk. Driving while hispanic, or from Texas was reason enough to be pulled over in Cornhole. I guess even a blind, obese, ignorant pig will find the occasional acorn. Maybe the prize is to be printed up in the LCD (Lowest Common Denominator).

Once, on an early Saturday morning, my bud picked me up and we were off to the forest for a campout. On the way out of town, we pulled into a local fast food outlet. We got our grub to go, and he pulled back on to the highway, drove 5 feet, and stopped at the light. (All in a totally controled, and legal manner.) Cop pulled up behind us. The light changed, and we got on the freeway. Cop then turns on his lights and pulls us over. Buddy had his license, registration, tags, and insurance in order, much to the cop's dismay. His reason for pulling us over? He said that we weaved in the distance of 5 feet between the parking lot and stoplight! The real reason we were pulled over: My bud had a ponytail, and he had a camper shell on his pickup.

One more thing never to say to a policeman: Officer, I know that deep down behind that badge there lies a heart of pure pork.

It gets even better...

A few years ago, Conway PD sought (and received) a grant from Homeland Security so that they could buy a new radio system. Never mind that the new statewide AWIN system, used by 90% of all other police agencies in the state, was in place and working well to address the concerns of interagency communications. No, that wasn't quite good enough. Conway PD had to have double-SecretSquirrel *encrypted* communications. You know, so all them terr'ists couldn't listen in on them talking and know what they're up to.

Now, it seems to me as a normal, law-abiding citizen that the activities of the police shouldn't occur in secret. I understand the need for secret comms in a tactical situation (hostage rescue, drug raids, etc.), but I don't see why it's needed for everyday operations. In fact, it's counter to the idea of public safety. If I want to listen to the scanner and hear that some guy is about to run through my backyard after robbing a bank, I can't. My ability to keep up with what's going on in my area is curtailed by their paranoid desire for secrecy.

If the Arkansas State Police and other agencies can get by with talking in the open, I don't see why Conway is so special that they need to hide what they're doing.

As was said above... if people with nothing to hide shouldn't mind answering questions, then police with nothing to hide shouldn't mind having citizens listen to them.

I'm no lawyer, but it doesn't seem to me that stuff like that should be legal.

Who watches the watchers?

Oh I have lots of Conway police stories...one of my favorites (and speaks to Pollen's comments) is the Conway officer who trained his drug dog to 'signal' on his SecretSquirrel *encrypted* command (LOL Art). He was so outrageous that the feds took him to court where he lost the case when the dog's real training was brought out in court. (And, of course, Hispanics/out-of-state tags/long 'hippy hair were favorite targets.)

Another one: When our young son worked for a downtown business he was the employee the police often called when the alarm went off (not because he was officially designated...because he was the employee they could get hold of). When he arrived at the business, they sent him inside first 'cause he knew his way around and it was dark.' Now...I'm sure he's appropriately tough but at that time he was straight out of high school and weighed about 150 pounds (a true computer geek). I've never seen this tactic on any of the cop shows I've watched.

What is really sad about the proliferation of these types of police officers, like the ones I see cooping in West Rock parking lots instead of patroling when I go home after a late or all-nighter on a project; or like the one who arrested the guy on a bicycle in the Riverfront for commenting while the cop was speeding using his sirens and lights to get back to the station in time for role call when he over slept while cooping.

What is really sad is that there are good men who are police officers, who do the job well, who enforce the laws and protect and serve the public. One day one or more of those good police officers may need the assistance and protection of the public in a sticky situation and because of the others, they may not get it or it may be slow to come.