Protester Denied Free Speech at Town Hall:
Protester: “Did you take an oath to follow the Constitution?”
Police Officer: “Yes I did”
Protester: “This used to be America”
Police Officer: “It ain’t no more”
The below video was taken on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at Rep. Jim Moran’s (D-VA) Town Hall meeting on Obama Deathcare (Howie Dean was there too) held at South Lakes High School in Reston, Virginia, in Fairfax County.
Many people were left outside when the school filled to capacity. Fairfax County School Police Officer Wesley Cheeks, Jr. did not approve of a protester’s anti-Obamacare poster (shown above) which used one of the “Joker” graphics.
Watch the video below and see what happens when Officer Cheeks sees the anti-Obamacare poster.
Good example of content based discrimination. Yes, the public school used for a public town hall may be a limited public forum, under First Amendment case law, and there may be regulation of the general use of signs (maybe) during the event, but any such regulation of how someone expresses their speech must be applied equally to all, and when you target a particular sign for its content, while letting others alone who also have signs, that is discrimination against that speech (the sign) based on its content, rather than simply prohibiting all signs. That is known as “content based discrimination” in legaleese, and it is unconstitutional.
It looks pretty obvious that this officer just didn’t like the message of the sign and was targeting the content of this protesters speech.
Update:
If you would like to file a complaint, go here:
He is a security officer employed by the Fairfax County Public Schools.
You may go to
http://www.fcps.edu to contact the School’s Department of Communication and Community Outreach concerning this matter. They may also be reached by phone at 571-423-1200.
The head of the security department at Fairfax County Public Schools is Fred Ellis. His email is fred.ellis@fcps.edu and his phone number is 703-658-3763”
Let them know that, contrary to what their officer thinks, this is STILL America, the Constitution has not yet been scrapped, the First Amendment still applies, and their oath requires that they respect the right to free speech of all Americans, even when the officer does not like the speech. The First Amendment does not just protect speech the officer on the scene agrees with, and he is not free to implement his own mini-constitutional suspension zone.
Be polite, but firm. Don’t use profanity, but let them know that as an Oath Keeper, you don’t appreciate the oath breaker they have on staff.
Stewart
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August 28th, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Oh my God this is unbelievable.
August 28th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Complaints and gripes against Officer Cheeks may be filed by contacting the following individual:
Major James A. Morris
Fairfax County Police Department
(703) 246-2918
August 28th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
As a law enforcement official, I would like to say that not only is Officer Cheeks an ignorant unprofessional idiot, he will most likely be a captain, or a commander, in Obama’s Nation Security Force.
August 28th, 2009 at 4:12 pm
I too am a police officer and this makes me ashamed. We are supposed to defend the rights of the citizens we are sworn to protect. This is something I have noticed, many of my fellow officers may not in the end hold up their end of the oath.
August 28th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Unacceptable. He has no business in law enforcement.
August 28th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
God help us if our police officers and Military take this attatude.
August 28th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I just called and left a mssg for the head of internal affairs, calling his attention to this Video, telling him cheeks should be fired. If enough of us apply pressure, at the very least someone should discipline him. This is outrageous. I would have demanded Cheeks try to arrest me and if he had, I would have sued for false arrest, and if he touched me, if he put cuffs on me, I’d sue him for Battery as well.
August 28th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
As a federal law enforcement officer, I can say that Officer Cheeks is a disgrace to our profession. There might even be a case made here that Officer Cheeks committed a felony crime under 18 U.S.C. § 242, where he, under the color of law, willfully deprived a person of a right protected by the Constitution of the United States.
For the purpose of Section 242, acts under “color of law” include acts not only done by federal, state, or local officials within the their lawful authority, but also acts done beyond the bounds of that official’s lawful authority, if the acts are done while the official is purporting to or pretending to act in the performance of his/her official duties.
Persons acting under color of law within the meaning of this statute include police officers and other law enforcement officials, as well as judges, care providers in public health facilities, and others who are acting as public officials. It is NOT necessary that the crime be motivated by animus toward the race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin of the victim.
The offense is punishable by a range of imprisonment up to a life term, or the death penalty, depending upon the circumstances of the crime, and the resulting injury, if any.
August 28th, 2009 at 5:50 pm
Is anyone suing this cop for denying their rights???
August 28th, 2009 at 7:01 pm
The more I look, the more I see civil unrest here within the United States of America.. I’m shocked at the intensity of the protest against this health reform, while at the same time, I am just as shocked to see the intensity for with it is trying to be past.
I have seen more and more Police harassment, which borders on Police brutality, while at the same time, I have seen a true hatred (with a passion) towards Law Enforcement Officers..
I have seen down right greed being committed by US Corporations, our banking institutions and oil companies are literally raping us at will… AND.. no one (with the power to stop them) really seems to care.. All the while, people are losing their jobs, having their houses, cars and other property repossessed..
The only thing I dont see is a solution to this mess… We are on the downward spiral my friends and if someone could tell me how to make it stop and allow me to get, I sure would appreciate it..