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Monday, June 29, 2009

Authorities Respond to a Routine Noise Complaint In San Diego...

Posted by Dan Savage on Mon, Jun 29, 2009 at 5:28 PM

...by sending out eight squad cars and a helicopter and pepper spraying the crowd and arresting the host and a guest. The event was a fundraiser for a Democratic candidate running in a Republican district, a party hosted by a middle-aged lesbian couple.

Busby, 58, a Democrat seeking the 50th Congressional District seat in 2010, said she will meet with Sheriff Department officials today to find out who made what she called a “phony” noise complaint. The Sheriff's Department received the complaint at 9:33 p.m. from a man who said someone was talking on a loudspeaker and a crowd was cheering, keeping him awake.

From about 8 to 8:30 p.m., Busby said, she used an amplified microphone to talk to guests, whom she described as middle-aged supporters.

During Busby's speech, Barman said in a statement yesterday, a man on the property behind her house shouted “disparaging remarks” about Busby and gay people. Barman lives in the house with her partner, Jane Stratton, 55.... Neighbors on three sides of the house said yesterday there wasn't much noise from the party. One man said he slept through it.

“We didn't hear anything until the sheriff came, with eight patrol cars and a helicopter,” said Natasha Cortina, 43, who said she and her two children were home with the windows open.

Since when do noise complaints bring out eight squad cars and a helicopter?

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Comments (24) RSS

Oldest First Unregistered On Registered On Add a comment
Keyboard Gat 1
I love reading your posts. It's always

...wait for it....wait for it...TEH GAY, WAIT FOR IT!

with e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.
Posted by Keyboard Gat on June 29, 2009 at 5:30 PM
2
I'm glad some police are not afraid to enforce quality of life laws. I hope they'd do the same to a Republican heterosexual bellowing into a bullhorn in a neighborhood.
Posted by Massive Attack on June 29, 2009 at 5:36 PM
3
Since 9/11. Duh. The justification for the police state.
Posted by JW on June 29, 2009 at 5:36 PM
4
hey,
the bitches should thank the stars they don't live in TEXAS-
otherwise they'd be bleeding from the brain in ICU
Posted by GOD BLESS TEXAS !! on June 29, 2009 at 5:37 PM
COMTE 5
The apparent answer to our question Dan would be: When they're made by a straight, GOP-leaning douchebags from San Diego who have to be in bed by 9:30 p.m. on a freaking FRIDAY NIGHT.
Posted by COMTE http://www.chriscomte.com on June 29, 2009 at 5:41 PM
laterite 6
The environmental climate of San Diego is magnificent and beautiful, like today but all year round. The cultural environment of San Diego is abhorrent and closeminded, like Texas with palm trees. It's a military company town and toes that line with pride.
Posted by laterite on June 29, 2009 at 5:43 PM
Fnarf 7
Yeah, I'm pretty sympathetic to noise complaints generally, but this guy's trying to sleep at 8:30? I wouldn't even dream of complaining before 10, when the law (in Seattle, dunno about SD) says you have to shut up, and even then not unless it was an ongoing problem.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on June 29, 2009 at 5:46 PM
Fifty-Two-Eighty 8
Fucking San Diego. Parts of that town are more right-wing than anything you'll find in the South, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty http://www.nra.org on June 29, 2009 at 5:47 PM
Original Andrew 9
Wow, they're really bringing Teh Krayzee in the comments. Not even really related to the article, it appears some people are having a total racist meltdown. It's almost as bad as the comments at the PI.
Posted by Original Andrew on June 29, 2009 at 5:51 PM
10
fnarf, why does noise only impinge on quality of life when one wants to sleep? And who's to say when sleep is OK or not? The man might be ill, he might work a strange shift. He may be exhausted after a long week and want to turn in early. You -- nor I -- have the right to set that condition for the man who called the police. He should not have used alleged homophobic language, but he was well within his rights to call the police and the police were well within their rights to respond with the level of force they found advisable.

If you're going to comment on every thread, at least bring some quality to the table.
Posted by Massive Attack on June 29, 2009 at 5:56 PM
11
This is San Diego, where they shoot people for stuff like brandishing a trowel. Or masturbating. Or, if you're an 8 year old kid, having a drunk mother. There's trigger happy, and then there's San Diego.

A phone call reporting a party with a loudspeaker? And only eight patrol cars and a helicopter? Homeland Security must not have come through for the SD police yet, because that is clearly a "drone fired missile kills 60" offense. It's a wonder nobody was killed.
Posted by also on June 29, 2009 at 6:23 PM
Gus 12
Aren't helicopters kind of noisy?
Posted by Gus on June 29, 2009 at 6:27 PM
Fnarf 13
@10, I don't know where you live, but in Seattle it's not noise unless it's after ten PM. And you're a fine one to talk about bringing the quality. You think this was appropriate. Uh, right.
Posted by Fnarf http://www.facebook.com/fnarf on June 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
14
Middle aged white people are learning what minorities have known for years.
Posted by MikeB on June 29, 2009 at 6:35 PM
Renton Mike 15
Do they think this will somehow make less people vote for Democrats?
Posted by Renton Mike on June 29, 2009 at 6:39 PM
16
@10

one (maybe two) patrol car and a talk with the host is appropriate response for a noise complaint.

unfortunately, suburban southern California is riddled with goon-squad police cowboys who spend their money on things like helicopters and armored cars and have to find excuses to use them.
Posted by emor on June 29, 2009 at 6:40 PM
Jason74 17
8 cruisers? They either finished rousting all the teenage kids in Cardiff, or they're all in Cabo for the week. The ASTREA copter may have just been on its way back from a refueling trip to Montgomery Field. Friday night, all the action is in Vista.

I live in Poway, which like Cardiff contracts its law enforcement to the Sheriff's Department. Unsupervised teens throwing parties in our ritzy northern neighborhoods don't draw this level of response. This wasn't just any BS noise complaint, it came from someone politically connected. I guarantee we'll never find out who.
Posted by Jason74 on June 29, 2009 at 8:02 PM
18
Stay classy, San Diego.

Posted by Ron Burgandy on June 29, 2009 at 8:09 PM
memorex 19
Let's not all hate on SD. I live in Uptown (Hillcrest- within spitting distance of 'The Flame' and 'Numbers') and I love it here. Rainbow flags, wine bars and "No On 8" signs are abundant along University, Washington, 30th, Richmond, 5th, Adams etc. etc. etc. And the Pride Parade goes right past my apartment. Cardiff and Encinitas are a long way from here-literally and figuratively.
Posted by memorex on June 29, 2009 at 9:50 PM
20
Thanks, Seattle, you stay classy too! Love you and your winners like Ken Hutchinson and Tim Eyman!

(Yes, Redmond and Mukilteo aren't Seattle. And Cardiff isn't San Diego! Darn facts! They so get in the way of a story!)

Kisses!
Posted by SDooDad on June 29, 2009 at 9:55 PM
Bonefish 21
I think of stories like this every time I hear or read a cop going on about how hard it is being a cop and how hippies and college kids shouldn't hate on cops so much.

The problem isn't the hippies and college kids. It's the huge numbers of the type of cops that garner this reputation with behavior like this. Any honest cop should take their objections to the shitty cops that ruin their reputations, not to the people who point out the over-abundance of shitty cops.
Posted by Bonefish on June 30, 2009 at 1:02 AM
Carollani 22
If Busby works this right it should help her win the seat. That amount of force is ridiculous.
Posted by Carollani http://www.carollani.com/wordpress on June 30, 2009 at 8:51 AM
Greg 23
Motherfucking pigs.
Posted by Greg on June 30, 2009 at 9:19 AM
24
Maybe the neighbor said, "the dykes are making a lot of noise" and the cops thought they were on their Harleys.
Posted by Byke under Dyke on June 30, 2009 at 2:48 PM

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