“Only guilty people say they do not consent”

Mike Gogulski — Tue, 12 May 2009 06:51:46 +0000

An anarchist friend who prefers to be anonymous with respect to this story called me last night, but I couldn’t answer the phone. I sent him an SMS back asking what was up, and he gave a very short reply. I tried calling him back, but his phone was dying.

He’s on something of a wanderjahr through Greater Cascadia, northern Aztlan and nearby regions, hitchhiking and walking. Tonight I asked him, again through SMS, was had happened. Here is his story, with minimal editing, straight off my phone:

2009.05.11 03:02	Didn’t know you had texting. Just realized cops had my ID.
2009.05.11 06:16	Basically: illegally searched and ID stolen. And cuffed and nearly tazed.
2009.05.11 06:17	Battery low
2009.05.11 06:19	Almost tazed…
2009.05.11 06:20	Battery is too low for me to talk…tomorrow maybe
2009.05.11 23:23	Yeah. I’m in Dallas now bumming around for several hours until a friend can pick me up after watching the Mavs. Trying to make my way to where JFK was shot. Cops deny having my ID, as usual.
2009.05.11 23:27	I got dropped off on interstate. I can’t be there. I was tired and it was hot so I took a nap about 20 feet from road. Some people reported me thinking I was dead. Rapides Parish deputy J. Little (dispatch 124) asked for my ID. I gave it thinking they’d check for warrants and get me off interstate like usual. Meanwhile, sheriff K. Hall drove up and asked to search me. I unemotionally said that I do not consent to be searched.
2009.05.11 23:30	He said he didn’t need my consent, but I repeated myself in a flat voice. I didn’t touch either officer as they put their hands down my pocket. I asked what their cause was and they would say they either didn’t need it or would find it afterward. They tried to remove my backpack but I didn’t adjust my arms to let them. They said I was being too aggressive and pulled it off me forcefully.
2009.05.11 23:32	I continued to state that I did not consent or asked what their cause was in an unemotional voice (which was not easy by this point). The sheriff pulled a taser on me as he simultaneously insisted I was being aggressive. He put it directly on my heart, then shoved me to the hood where he put it to my head and then to my back.
2009.05.11 23:35	Eventually he cuffed me and still wouldn’t answer my questions about cause. Told me to sit on hood and got pissed when I did and told me to sit on ground with legs crossed. Searched my bag some. Put me in back of car as detainment. Kept searching. Found nothing which was ironic because earlier they said only guilty people say they do not consent. Also mentioned that they were good people and could do what they want. Released me and shoved both my pocket’s contents into one pocket with the wallet on top.
2009.05.11 23:38	Later that day, I realized my passport/ID wasn’t in my pocket. It couldn’t have fallen out since wallet was on top and would have fallen out first. They asked me to search my bag even though they said they put it in my pocket, wasting my time. It wasn’t in my backpack. So now I’m IDless and fucked for future cop encounters. A former cop friend said they probably tossed it to avoid paperwork.

They were good people and could do what they want.

I’m sure the foot soldiers of the Khmer Rouge thought the same thing.

And people ask me why I left America… Ha!

Tags: assault, Gangsters in Blue, Louisiana, paperwork, passport, police state, probable cause, taser, theft

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“Only guilty people say they do not consent”