Posted on 05/30/2005 6:54:31 PM PDT by SmithL
BRIGHTON, Colo. - An activist arrested during a raucous meeting to discuss embattled University of Colorado professor Ward Churchill must stand trial on a charge of assaulting an officer, a judge ruled.
Shareef Aleem, 36, was arrested Feb. 3 during a meeting of the university regents to discuss whether to fire Churchill for comparing some Sept. 11 victims to a notorious Nazi.
A judge ruled last week prosecutors have enough evidence to try Aleem on a charge of second-degree assault on a police officer. He faces up to 16 years in prison if convicted.
Aleem and university police scuffled when the officers removed him from the meeting. Prosecutors say officer Greg Barthlome suffered nerve damage to his elbow and cuts on two fingers when Aleem pushed him into a railing.
Aleem's attorney, Wazir-Ali Muhammad, said a video shows that Barthlome fell into the railing when officers converged on Aleem from behind.
University officials eventually decided they could not fire Churchill for his Sept. 11 comments. However, they ordered a faculty committee to review allegations that some of his academic research was faulty or plagiarized and that he falsely claimed to be an American Indian.
Churchill has denied the allegations.
The review is still under way.
"An activist . . . "
Good thing he wasn't a "militant"; then he might have been holding a suicide belt.
Since he's only an "activist", I guess attacking a police officer is within his job description.
I don't know what the proper term is for someone who passes around petitions or who participates in a sit-down demonstration.
(But if he had been an Israeli hoping to move to Bethlehem, the city of David, with his family, then he'd have been a "fanatic"; and that's a whole different story. . .)
Nuff said ??
Yep, good Christian boys....
.. color me biased.
I'm assuming this 36-year-old "activist" is not a student at CU so therefore I'm wondering why he got involved at all. Jerry Springer showing a rerun that day???
Me Too
Well, it's just those ol' Mohammedans being "peaceful"! I wonder if he is in the US legally?
Obviously not a FReeper :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.