Comments on They Serve and Protect...

Sue. Sue sue sue sue SUE.

This type of shit above all else is what people should dislike police officer actions for. not because they told you to stop drinking in public, or to turn your music down, or because you jaywalked; but because they are invoking non existent laws in places that don't even make sense because of political reasons.

Time for lawsuits.

Unfortunately, in this case I don't think suing Rossi or the SPOG will have much of an effect.

Akers certainly has the moral high-ground here, but the press conference was held on private property, and the owners of said property DO have the legal right to restrict access.

Which just proves the point here: if Rossi is so afraid of criticism that he has to surround himself with cops on their own turf, where they can subsequently engage in this kind of assholish, but nevertheless legal behavior in order to shut out anyone who might be critical of Rossi, it certainly calls into question both his confidence, judgement, and willingness to engage in open, public debate.

So why should I trust the SPD again?

The footage shows Rossi to be an embarrassingly wooden public speaker. The 2-second too long pause for applause after he says, "What do you think?"

Neither candidate can take the moral high ground here.

@4: After reading the article again, I think you are right. Since the event was on private property, the cameraman likely does not have legal recourse. However, the Democrats have a huge opportunity to skewer Rossi with the ethical implications of this dust-up.

@5 - well, you shouldn't trust the PI, they didn't even report it.

Even if Rossi is boooooring.

Also, the cameraman got crappy footage of the event before he was kicked out. Dude, can't you frame the back of that guy's head out of the shot?

We reserve the right to harass and threaten and arrest any democrat with a video camera because they show us for the cranky tools that we are.

Why do Democrat mayors, city council members, and city attorneys kiss SPOG's ass again?

Going after the cops is not going to be a winning strategy for Gregoire.

The Seattle Police Guild obviously mistook him for a Hells Angels cameraman.

@6- That was a painful Dino pause.

Rossi Nazi Posse.

There's no such fucking thing as an "official press". This doesn't improve my impression of cops in general. Who could possibly imagine that they would get to decide who is "press" and who isn't? Power trip. No doubt they support Republicans.

The press corp has traditionally been known as, essentially, anyone who represents a known source of information.

Cops are well within their legal rights to remove an uninvited guest from private property.

And it would seem that a cop must question the different parties involved separetely, as their points of view are demonstratively too different to allow for a single, coherent, account.

And, I agree, that to surround himself with all of these legal precautions, the candidate is showing us the very dark vision he is afraid we will see.

And, dude, cops really don't like people getting all up in their grill. Serious.

while i'm not in the habit of defending cops who appear to overstep their bounds, i'm not sure they were completely out of hand here.

the rossi thugs should have:
1. not removed the guy forcibly, but waited for the on-duty police to arrive
2. not touched his camera

the cops should have:
1. been more polite (though they were nicer then some i've seen)
2. seemed non-biased until they gathered all the information (it sucks to have them totally dismiss you because an off-duty cop happens to be around -- and off-duty cops never break the law!)

the guy should have:
1. quite saying, "i'm not doing anything!" he was doing something, and he knew it
2. answered the police officer's questions
3. once the "investigation" began, he really should have followed legal instructions by the police

infrequent @18, thanks; that's pretty much what I was going to say.