Posted on 11/28/2007 3:25:54 PM PST by topher
Georgia Cops Impound Anti-Abortion Billboard Truck, Jail Driver
Police action an egregious abuse of power
UPDATED Version
Atlanta, Georgia – Bob Roethlisberger was arrested and jailed over Thanksgiving weekend in a northern suburb of Atlanta, Georgia, on the charge of “Disorderly Conduct” for driving Operation Rescue’s Truth Truck bearing signs with photos of aborted babies. The Truth Truck was impounded.
Gwinnett County Police Department officers arrested Roethlisberger Saturday after telling him that signage on the Truth Truck was “vulgar and obscene.” Officers ransacked the back of the Truth Truck without a warrant and ordered Roethlisberger to change or remove the signs. When he refused, he was arrested and incarcerated for three days before being released on $1,000 bond.
The Truth Truck was released from impound late Monday, however both the signs and the mounting hardware on the truck were damaged when police forcibly ripped the signs off the sides of the truck. Monetary damage to the property is estimated to be in the thousands of dollars.
“It is obvious that these police officers, under the direction of Major Thomas Bardugon, engaged in a serious incident of unconstitutional content-based discrimination and illegal distruction of property,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “Bob fully cooperated with officers, but refused to compromise on his message, which is unequivocally protected by the First Amendment. The officers misused their authority to punish Bob for expressing a viewpoint that ran counter to theirs. The arrest was nothing less than an egregious abuse of power.”
Newman discussed the matter with Major Bardugon who refused to drop the charges and threatened to arrest Newman if he drove the Truth Truck through Bardugon’s jurisdiction.
The Truth Truck was in Georgia because of a recently introduced Human Life Amendment that is scheduled to be considered by the State Legislature in January. The Truth Truck’s mission was to help draw the attention of Georgians to the reality that abortion brutally takes an innocent human life, and emphasize the need to ban the grisly procedure.
Operation Rescue manages a fleet of Truth Trucks that have traveled tens of thousands of miles from coast to coast over the past seven years. The right to display those images has been upheld in courts across the nation, which have also ruled that obscenity laws do not apply to aborted baby images.
“We intend to vigorously fight these unjust charges, and will seek a remedy for our property loss,” said Newman. “We cannot allow the illegal use of police authority to bully us into silence, when such silence could cost innocent human lives.”
Please contact the Gwinnett County Police Chief and ask for:
o The immediate dismissal of charges against Roethlisberger
o The immediate reimbursement for damages to the Truth Truck
o An apology
Chief of Police Charles M. Walters
770-513-5000
Charles.Walters@gwinnettcounty.com
When I lived in Georgia, I knew of some corruption in the Atlanta Police Force (African-American Police Officer lying about incident with pro-lifer) as well the Fulton County Sheriff's Officer (off duty officer working as security guard at Abortion Clinic arresting people for being on the sidewalk)...
Just some corruption for the police in Georgia -- in my opinion -- though most cops in Georgia are good, honest people.
Time to get rid of the bad apples for the same of the other 99.99% of Georgia's law enforcement officers...
It’s no wonder they have a drought.
o The immediate dismissal of charges against Roethlisberger
o The immediate reimbursement for damages to the Truth Truck
o An apology
No way in hell I would do any of those things. The guy is a kook, broke the law and got arrested after refusing to comply with the law.
“The guy is a kook, broke the law and got arrested after refusing to comply with the law.”
How did he break the law?
So let’s say he did break the law: does that give the police the right to vandalize his truck?
You're not real big on that bill of rights thing when people apply it to people you disagree with politically are you. I take it you're a secret McCain staffer now.
/Fully deserved
Hmmmmm. Violation of the First Amendment.
If showing them what they are really doing to their unborn children won't do it, what will?
Only vandals can vandalize property. Those vandals should be charged and convicted of a felony if the vandalized someones property.
Like the Cops like to say, "Hey buddy, the law is meant for everyone!" Funny how they don't include themselves.
Must not have read...
"The right to display those images has been upheld in courts across the nation, which have also ruled that obscenity laws do not apply to aborted baby images."
“No way in hell I would do any of those things. The guy is a kook, broke the law and got arrested after refusing to comply with the law.”
He did no such thing. Abortion signs are constitutionally protected speech. “Local standards” don’t apply to this....he wasn’t operating a porn theater.
The city is going to get sued, big time, and they’re going to lose, big time.
Ban the pictures, not the procedure!
/sarc
” When he refused, he was arrested and incarcerated for three days before being released on $1,000 bond.
The Truth Truck was released from impound late Monday, however both the signs and the mounting hardware on the truck were damaged when police forcibly ripped the signs off the sides of the truck. Monetary damage to the property is estimated to be in the thousands of dollars.”
If the case hasn’t been settled, but the truck signage has already been destroyed, isn’t that beat cops already administering a sentence before the judge has ruled?
I think this gentleman deserves the gratitude and appreciation of all proponents of life everywhere. My hat is off to him and I hope he keeps doing it.
Pictures like that are precisely what changed my mind on abortion...precisely because they sickened me.
From the report (italics mine):
Operation Rescue manages a fleet of Truth Trucks that have traveled tens of thousands of miles from coast to coast over the past seven years. The right to display those images has been upheld in courts across the nation, which have also ruled that obscenity laws do not apply to aborted baby images.
City of Atlanta is going to get sucked drier than dry with the upcoming lawsuit ~ plus, most likely, a charge of unlawful detention (kidnapping), etc.
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