Dumbest. Arrests. Ever.
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Dumbest. Arrests. Ever.
I never understood why Occupy Philadelphia protesters who voluntarily left their encampment on Dilworth Plaza and then were chased all over Center City and ended up on an empty sidewalk at 5 a.m. were arrested by the city cops.
After hearing from the lone prosecution witness, police Capt. William Fisher, watching video of the protest and hearing arguments from lawyers on both sides, Municipal Judge Karen Y. Simmons concluded that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to bring their case to a jury and declared a judgment of acquittal. The same ruling was handed down Feb. 23 when 10 other Occupy protesters were tried for blocking traffic outside the police department’s administration building.
“Social justice and the struggle for social justice finds its protection in the First Amendment,” said Center City attorney Paul Hetznecker, one of 14 defense attorneys representing the defendants. “Certainly this is a perfect example and expression of the court’s recognition of how important our rights are.”
The prosecution/persecution of the Occupy protesters was a) a major overreach by Big Government and b) a waste of taxpayer dollars. For those reasons, I'm sure the conservative commenters of Attytood are just as outraged as I am that this time-wasting case was ever brought.
Gotta admit these folks are way more committed to their cause than the Tea Party.— chasing history- Please tell me where I can find a text book on social justice. And chasing history, they committed were ciminal acts, defacating and urinating in public, and inumerable other criminal charges nationwide.— georgel
- I have guests coming into town in July, and everyone is hoping to get a glimpse at the Occupy Philly wildlife, like they are going on a leftist safari.— Mr. Smith
- Will is probably scared of the female judge in this story.— Timo3004
- Will is actually the guy being caried in the picture. Unfortunately, the police dropped him (on his head).— cb54
- Will, instead of this gibberish how about an article on the 30 percent increase in foreclosures in Philly. Of course that would not be very flattering to your idol the Kenyan. Anybody but the man child in 2012.— MilesLong1
- "The prosecution/persecution of the Occupy protesters was a) a major overreach by Big Government and b) a waste of taxpayer dollars. For those reasons, I'm sure the conservative commenters of Attytood are just as outraged as I am that this time-wasting case was ever brought".
LOL, persecution???...how is protecting regular citizens from having their lives disrupted, keeping sidewalks open so regular folks can pass and get where they need to go on time without any worry, keeping public areas clean overreaching??? That is what "Big Government" really was forced to do! Going to court, while at least attempting to make these idiots pay for the havoc they wreaked, isn't a waste of time and the least of the worries to taxpayers. Especially when compared to the hours of overtime pay to cops and sanitation workers who had to control and clean up after those nuts. And that doesn't even take into account the potiential tax money lost from small businesses in downtown areas all across the nation who lost tons of business and cities who lost the sales tax revenue from the lack of those transactions. Talk about "outrage"!! The case was a very small part of the overall losses and the only folks who would think differently are Libs trying to stur up their hate again!!!
Folks like "Bunch of B. S." really don't get it and have a very distorted view of reality, distorted no doubt by their crazy Libby mind set which seems to be closed to anything that doesn't fit that crazy mind set!!!— sarah89 - Will, it's easy to see how passionate you are about the First Amendment. Is there a reason why you're not as passionate about the Second?— DonQ
Comment removed.- Comment removed.
- Tea Party: "Keep your government hands off my medicare"
Occupy: "We are the 99%"
Isn't it obvious which movement makes more sense and is factually correct?— mick-of-the-moment - I am outraged that these kiddies had to waste the time of my brothers in blue. I'm outraged that an activist judge, without regard for the law, wasted their time even more. And while I don't want Big Gov't in my life it's just not reasonable for our city to do nothing in this incident. There's one caveat about the 1st Amendment, it doesn't say that there aren't consequences for one's speech(and failure to move when blocking a public area). Clearly there was probable cause to arrest these children and too bad they went in front of a cowardly activist judge.— Crazybrave1
- I also hate our judicial system and wish the police had more power to keep people locked up without stupid judges interfering. — St3w
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"The prosecution/persecution of the Occupy protesters was a) a major overreach by Big Government and b) a waste of taxpayer dollars. For those reasons, I'm sure the conservative commenters of Attytood are just as outraged as I am that this time-wasting case was ever brought."
Actually I'm more outraged by Solyndra. You are a socialist clown.
— blackhawk90
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