Posted on 03/31/2006 8:54:36 AM PST by MikeA
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Capitol Hill police plan to issue an arrest warrant today for Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.).
The warrant is related to the incident Wednesday when McKinney allegedly slapped a Capitol Hill police officer.
Charges could range from assault on a police officer, which is a felony carrying a possible five year prison term, to simple assault, which is a misdeamenor.
McKinney has canceled a news conference that she had scheduled for this morning to discuss the incident.
McKinney issued a statement yesterday saying she "deeply regrets" the confrontation with the police officer.
The six-term congresswoman apparently struck a Capitol Police officer when he tried to stop her from entering a House office building without going through a metal detector. Members of Congress wear identifying lapel pins and routinely are waved into buildings without undergoing security checks. The officer apparently did not recognize McKinney, she said in a statement.
Asked on-camera Thursday by Channel 2 Action News whether she intended to apologize, McKinney refused to comment.
"I know that Capitol Hill Police are securing our safety, and I appreciate the work that they do. I have demonstrated my support for them in the past and I continue to support them now," she said in the statement on her Web site.
Democrats and Republicans, meanwhile, engaged in a rhetorical scuffle over the incident.
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday labeled it "a mistake, an unfortunate lack of recognition of a member of Congress." She added that the police officer was not at fault.
"I would not make a big deal of this," said Pelosi, D-Calif.
Ron Bonjean, spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., responded: "How many officers would have to be punched before it becomes a big deal?"
The dustup is the latest in a series of tangles for the roughly 1,200-officer Capitol Police department.
The department faces a difficult task -- protecting 535 members of Congress and the vast Capitol complex in an atmosphere thick with politics and privilege.
The safety of its members became a sensitive issue after a gunman in 1998 killed two officers outside the office of then-Republican Whip Tom DeLay of Texas.
More recently, police obeyed an order by an angry House Ways and Means Committee chairman, Rep. Bill Thomas, R-Calif., to remove Democrats from a hearing room. Thomas later tearfully apologized on the House floor.
This year, during President Bush's State of the Union address, police drew criticism for first kicking antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan out of the House gallery, and then for evicting the wife of Rep. Bill Young, R-Fla.
Merle Black, a professor of politics at Emory University, says that while the scuffle was rare for an elected politician, it's unlikely to cost McKinney more than a few votes. Black says McKinney is in damage control -- cutting her losses by not insisting on right or wrong.
If the mistake is an unfortunate lack of recognition of a member of Congress, that mistake was made by the police officer. Therefore the police officer was at fault.
You can't have it both ways, Nancy.
Unless she was trying to say that Cynthia McKinney does not recognize she is a member of Congress, and therefore does not act appropriately. I guess an argument could be made for that. I don't think that was Pelosi's point, however.
Good catch.
Nothing will come of this except her being a bigger hero in her district.
WASHINGTON — Capitol Hill police are expected to seek an arrest warrant next week for Rep. Cynthia McKinney of Georgia, who was involved in a physical confrontation with a Capitol police officer Wednesday, police and legal authorities said Thursday.
Officially, the police investigation into the incident, in which the DeKalb County, Ga., Democrat allegedly struck a police officer who tried to stop her from going around a security checkpoint, is ongoing, Sgt. Kimberly Schneider, spokeswoman for Capitol Hill police, said.
However, police have notified the federal prosecutor's office in Washington that they will be seeking an arrest warrant after the investigation is complete next week, said police and legal authorities, who spoke on the condition that they not be named because the investigation was not yet complete.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/0331metmckinney.html
"Hmmm. So cops are better and more important than the people who hire and pay them."
So are postal employees. There have been a few times when I wnted to do something to those down at the post office.
Damn skippy he wasn't, Nancy. Cynthia was.
"Of course you wouldn't-- liberals hate authority, law enforcement, civil order, national security...."
Your wrong Liberals LOVE authority law enforcement and civil order, just they want to be exempt.
Mort Kondrake and Fred Barnes were talking about this the other night. It seems there was a congressman (I don't know if it was fed or state) who brought someone onto the floor with him who pulled out a gun and shot people!
Congress should be forced to go through the EXACT same security measures that Joe Sixpack does. Their expectations of better treatment because they're elected officials reeks of classism.
A felony conviction means we'll never get her out office, even after a jail term.
Nothing questionable about wife-beating, child-beating, check-bouncing Moran's, but Alexandria keeps sending him back to the House anyway.
ok .. who's go the popcorn??
A perp walk would be great! I think the perfect attire for this evening would be an orange jump suit.
Which is why Nagin of NOLA will be re-elected. Count on it.
Let us note how much coverage this gets, and imagine if any Rep. had done the same.
I'm not sure I get your drift, but yes, assaulting a police officer in the performance of his duty is worse than assaulting an average citizen, for obvious and correct reasons.
If a basketball player hits a referee, the fine will be much greater than if he player hits another player. You have to have additional protections for those who enforce the laws.
I am very much in agreement with your very good post on her.
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