Patterico's Pontifications

8/7/2009

Six Arrested In St. Louis Townhall Event

Filed under: Government,Obama,Politics — DRJ @ 9:36 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

In a related story to this post, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 6 people were arrested in connection with last night’s events outside the Carnahan townhall meeting:

“– Two men were arrested for misdemeanor assault for allegedly punching, pushing and holding a man who was handing out American flags and fliers outside the school.

One woman was arrested for misdemeanor assault and destruction of property for allegedly pushing another woman who was recording the events on her cell phone, then grabbing the phone and breaking it.

One woman was arrested for interference and resisting arrest. One officer used pepper spray on the woman, police said, when she did not comply with officers’ demands. That woman “just would not leave,” when asked by officers to back away from the scuffles, said spokesman Rick Eckhard said. She also passively resisted when an officer tried to handcuff her, he said.

One man was arrested for peace disturbance when he entered a circle of people who had gathered near the pepper-sprayed woman and refused to comply with officers’ demands to leave.

Post-Dispatch reporter Jake Wagman also was arrested for allegedly interfering..”

No charges have been filed and all suspects have been released.

— DRJ

36 Responses to “Six Arrested In St. Louis Townhall Event”

  1. Barack Obama called for violences and bam we has violences. I wish he would call for more jobs.

    happyfeet (42470c)

  2. The Carnahan volunteer, the pink lady who was maced, was trying to record violence so that it could be edited and used to slime ‘tea baggers’ (her term).

    That’s what she was doing. Record all scuffles, and only release the Tea Party protestors defense, without context. The unions have used this tactic for 100 years. Just making tea party protests associated with violence, even violence perpetrated by democrats upon them, is probably enough to hurt their image in some people’s eyes. We all know what the papers and broadcast news will be saying. they will be asking the tough questions about those ‘violent tea party scuffles’ as ‘democrats ask for civility’.

    Juan (bd4b30)

  3. speculation, of course

    Juan (bd4b30)

  4. Strangely, an email from Moveon.org appeared in my inbox. These people aren’t kidding around. SEIU or MoveOn, they’re all of the same ilk, and they are working toward a common destruction.

    “Dear MoveOn member,

    It’s getting ugly out there.

    All across the country, right-wing extremists are disrupting congressional town-hall meetings with venomous attacks on President Obama’s plans for health care and clean energy.

    We’ve got a plan to fight back against these radical right-wingers. We’ve hired skilled grassroots organizers who are working with thousands of local volunteers to show Congress that ordinary Americans continue to support President Obama’s agenda for change. And we’re building new online tools to track events across the country and make sure MoveOn members turn out at each one.”

    If the shouts of the right-wing mobs are the only voices our senators and representatives hear over the recess, we’ll have a hard time passing health care and clean energy legislation.

    (emphasis added)

    Dana (57e332)

  5. Guess they didn’t get their “teachable moment” from the beer summit.

    Patricia (48ec63)

  6. I want to make me some giant papier mache heads – Obama, Pelosi and Reid. I think those would go over big at some of these meetings.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  7. This has the potential to make Chicago-68 look like a garden-party.

    AD - RtR/OS! (7ba5f7)

  8. How does one “passively resist”?

    Newtons.Bit (f4099e)

  9. It looks like Hitler and his stormtroopers are out of the closet now. Showing their true colors of who they really are. I guess he used up all his nuance, and needs to rely on just brute force to bring his enemies to their knees.

    Chris falcone (527cc2)

  10. Misdemeanors?
    If any of these thugs attack/punch a Senior Citizen in Texas, it is a felony.
    I believe that will be the best thing that will happen to them.

    Paul Albers (1fa160)

  11. THIS IS A GODDAMN DISGRACE ON BOTH SIDES. THE FUCKING IRAQIS ARE DOING A BETTER JOB WITH THEIR DEMOCRACY THAN US.

    JEA (a53b46)

  12. ALL CAPS is cruise control to cool.

    These arrests should bring out the anarchist Balkobots, you bootlicking authoritarians.

    JD (a26403)

  13. Hey, Jea – please show us the proof of the “goddamn disgrace” on the healthcare protestors, pretty please? After all, if I were a union thug, I’d be plenty terrified of senior citizens and soccer moms holding up handmade signs. The horror! The horror!(h/t Joesph Conrad/Marlon Brando).

    BTW, where were you when we first started hearing about Bush as Hitler? That was oh, about…8 years ago? Were you on the lefty sites screeching about the “goddamn disgrace?” Can you say “projection?” Sure, ah knew yew could.

    Dmac (e6d1c2)

  14. RB: that doesn’t explain, “She also passively resisted when an officer tried to handcuff her, he said.”

    How does one passively resist a police officer handcuffing you? Was she telling him that he was being naughty or something? I just don’t get that line.

    Jea: Iraqis quite literally blow themselves up over political differences. Americans just blow up metaphorically.

    Newtons.Bit (f4099e)

  15. Until now “Americans just blow up metaphorically”.

    Alinsky tactics have polarized us to the point we now see. Sending lib enforcers to town halls may be intended to intimidate and silence conservatives, as well as smear them.

    I don’t think it will work, because we feel threatened in too many important ways, and we aren’t cowards.

    This could easily escalate. What a great result of “hope and change”. Obama can be proud of igniting all this, what an accomplishment.

    jodetoad (059c35)

  16. These goons think that they are going to silence the generations that fought WW-2, and the Cold War, and went to the Moon?
    I don’t think so.

    AD - RtR/OS! (5231f1)

  17. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has now disappeared this part of the original report:

    The event was winding down when Majors said she saw a police squad car turn its lights on and went to see what was happening. As she approached it, her eyes started to burn.

    “And that’s when I realized I’d walked through remnants of pepper spray,” Majors said. She turned her attention to taking pictures.

    She said she saw a woman in handcuffs who was complaining about the pain of the spray and asking to wash her face and eyes. The response of the officer who was arresting her was, “I warned you,” Majors said.

    Majors said the woman had been speaking very loudly and passionately in support of health-care reform earlier in the evening.

    “She made herself very visible,” Majors said.

    Karl (ade276)

  18. How does one passively resist a police officer handcuffing you?

    This usually means just going limp.

    Mars vs Hollywood (f062b9)

  19. #19: This usually means just going limp.

    so, handcuffs aren’t a turn on for you, i take it?

    /white smoke

    redc1c4 (fb8750)

  20. I see daleyrocks is over tilting at windmills at Wash Monthly. I am just so damned amused at the tone there. These guys WON THE ELECTION ! You’d think they were worried or something.

    Now, back to the new WEB griffin novel that just arrived.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  21. Mike K – I don’t think they liked me over at Washington Monthly.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  22. A cautionary note:

    In the June, 2009, issue of The New Criterian (h/t Powerline), Mark Steyn reviews the book
    Soft Despotism, Democracy’s Drift: Montelquieu, Rousseau, Tocqueville, and the Modern Prospect,
    by Paul A. Rahe; Yale University Press.
    In that review he concludes with a quote from the author:
    We can be what once we were, or we can settle for a gradual, gentle descent into servitude.”

    Prophetic, and Disturbing!
    The choice is ours to make.

    AD - RtR/OS! (5231f1)

  23. Was she telling him that he was being naughty or something?

    You know, I usually have to pay extra to be told that…

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  24. daley, I think i’d like a link to what yer talking about, please… 🙂

    Scott Jacobs (d027b8)

  25. Sorry…It’s The New Criterion!
    All those damn vowels look alike.

    AD - RtR/OS! (5231f1)

  26. The Democrats call in the unions and then violence breaks out. Why am I not surprised?

    Charlie Davis (77e89b)

  27. #20: Brilliant!

    /applauds

    Mars vs Hollywood (f062b9)

  28. Scott – They began by deleting my comments. I called them chickenshit and now they are leaving them up.

    http://www2.washingtonmonthly.com/mt/mt-comments.cgi?entry_id=19411

    daleyrocks (718861)

  29. Who wants to bet that in a day or two, some local government official (D) will announce that no charges will be filed?

    Doug (f45db8)

  30. We’ve Only Just Begun
    The Carpenters

    There’s only Just So Much
    To Do,
    Soft soap and promises
    A stimulus which we cannot pay
    And yes, we’ve just begun

    Before the boomers start
    To die,
    So many more deserve
    We start our helping with mercy kill
    And yes, we’ve just begun

    Sharing the healing with constituents,
    Likely to vote but cannot pay,
    Telling the rest that they should just shut up,
    Building our power day to day
    Forever.

    And when the seniors die we smile,
    So many costs we saved
    We’ll pick the ones that we want to grow,
    And yes, we’ve just begun.

    Suppresing freedoms guaranteed to us,
    Watching the signs along the way,
    Talking it over will be treasonous,
    Building state power day to day
    Forever, forever.

    And when the evening comes we smile,
    So much more wise are we
    We’ll pick the ones that we want to grow,
    And yes, we’ve just begun.

    trentk269 (ce2dd2)

  31. daley, I think I prefer to call them Wash Monthly. When Kevin Drum was running it, you could have a reasonable debate although we rarely agreed on anything. Now, they will not respond except with personal obscenity. I do read the threads almost every day to see what they are thinking. It was a revelation to me that the Democrats were going to treat all the protests as astroturf. I don’t think they understand how much real concern there is in the country. The irony for me is that I support health reform and even a form of single payer as I have described on my blog.

    This Democrat program, though, is not reform. It is a power play with no explanation of what will actually be done. They are trying to get something passed that is a mystery, a blank check. They really think people will give Obama and Pelosi the power to decide what to do without explanation.

    I thought they were smarter than that.

    Mike K (2cf494)

  32. Scott and Mike K – Now they banned me over there. Oh well. So much for truth to power.

    daleyrocks (718861)

  33. This usually means just going limp.

    Not usually, often that behavior will get a pass. A fair number of people have a stress reaction to the process and will hyperventilate/cry/faint/lose their lunch anyway. If you want to sit down or lay down that’s usually ok. Sure beats having someone take a header into the pavement. Nobody wants trips to the hospital and added paperwork.

    What passive resistance typically refers to is purposeful uncooperativeness – twitching your wrists, repeatedly turning to face/address the person trying to cuff you, holding your arms stiff to your sides, or just about anything that interferes with the process – but does rise to the level of a struggle.

    Alias4 (1659da)

  34. Erm, doesn’t rise to the level of a struggle.

    Alias4 (1659da)

  35. […] at the St. Louis townhall meeting where Kenneth Gladney was assaulted. Earlier posts on this here, here, and […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » SEIU: We Are the Victims (e4ab32)


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