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September 27, 2012 || CopBlock.org

At Baldwin South Intermediate School in Quincy, Illinois a school official called the police to deal with a “meltdown” of an autistic 9-year-old boy named Roger Parker, Jr this past Friday. Roger was sent to a specific area to calm down by school officials. When Roger decided to climb a dividing wall, instead of calling a parent to come and pick up the child, the school officials made the decision to call the police. Calling the police almost always makes situations worse.

The officer who arrived, Officer Bill Calkins, pulled Roger by his arms and legs, in an attempt to physically remove him from the wall. The officer pulled him in a manner which caused Roger to hit his eye against the divider.

After causing injury to Roger’s eye, the officer tried to restrain him. In response to the natural instinct to get away from an attacker, or someone inflicting harm, “Roger swung around and kicked the officer in his nose,” according to Brandi Kirchner, Roger’s mother.

Roger was pulled to the floor, handcuffed, and taken to the police station where his mother was told that he was being fingerprinted, photographed, and booked for aggravated battery to a police officer.

Quincy Public School District interim superintendent Cal Lee said the school is conducting an investigation, but that details of that investigation or actions taken will not be released to the public.

Kirchner stated that she recently discussed a plan on how to handle her son if he has an outburst, and is upset that it was not followed and that her son was placed in handcuffs before she was ever contacted.

Roger’s mother plans to request an investigation by the Quincy Police Department, although unfortunately it will probably be stated that the officer’s actions were justified; they certainly were not.

Quincy Police Chief Rob Copley shared more details on Tuesday:

It took several attempts before Calkins unnecessarily restrained and handcuffed Parker.

Roger was, according to Copley, not fingerprinted or photographed, but paperwork was filled out and sent to the juvenile probation office.

As they ought to, many parents have questioned the actions of the officer against the child with special needs.

Lee, the superintendent, said that the school has plans in place for students with special needs, and in many classrooms, teacher assistants called “Star Guides” who are also there to help. There were Star Guides in the room during the interaction on Friday.

The arresting officer, Bill Calkins remains on duty and faces no repercussions. Meanwhile, Kirchner removed her son Roger from the Quincy Public School system and is investigating home schooling options.

A strange man walking into a classroom and using physical force in an attempt to coerce a child who is not harming others into complying with demands is absolutely not an appropriate way to deal with the situation. Also, to arrest a child for acting on his logical instinct to prevent someone from further harming them by running – or kicking – is completely absurd.

I strongly advocate not sending your children to any place that handles situations in such a manner. As I said, calling the police usually makes the situation worse, and calling the police is what most public schools resort to when they don’t know how to handle a situation. If your child decides to climb up on something that teachers would prefer he or she does not and is feeling a little bit uncooperative, they could be assaulted, arrested, and face criminal charges – all before their tenth birthday.

Published: 08 August, 2012, 00:14 || RT.com

The journalist behind a popular activism site is facing 21 years in prison for publishing conversations with law enforcement officials that he says were on-the-record while investigating a police brutality case in the state of New Hampshire.

Adam “Ademo” Mueller is awaiting trial after being charged with three felony counts of wiretapping; if convicted, he could be sentenced to 7-years in jail for each instance.

Mueller, a journalist who is also the founder of CopBlock.org, is maintaining his innocence in a case that has quickly garnered the supports from fellow activists who say the defendant has been targeted for trying to hold members of law enforcement accountable.

By running CopBlock, Mueller has created an online outlet to release information about law enforcement officers that may not make it to the mainstream media. His attempt at showcasing what incident in particular he found a problem with his put the next two decades of his life in question, though.

Mueller was indicted following a report he filed in response to an incident at a Manchester, NH high school last year that ended with 17-year-old Frank W. Harrington being slammed face-first into a table and detained for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. Video footage of a school police officer picking up Harrington and assaulting him were leaked to Mueller, who followed up on his own and attempted to interview a Manchester police captain, the Manchester High School West principal and a school secretary as part of his investigation into the incident. Mueller later used samples of those recorded phone interviews in a video report of the incident that he published to his website, and although he says he identified himself as a member of the media when approaching those officials for comment, he has been charged with felony wiretapping for allegedly putting those conversations on tape without expressed permission.

“Why am I in jail with a guy who beats up his wife and gets a one-year sentence from the state, but I’m facing 21 years for filming somebody?” Mueller told Judge Kenneth Brown while appearing in court last week, CNN reports.

The father of Harrington tells reporters with CopBlock that he opposes the charges as well. “No matter what, nobody’s child should be abused like that in school,” he says.

Mueller has been offered a two-year suspended sentence as part of a plea deal, but he tells his supporters that he refuses to cooperate with them by agreeing to play games.

“Here’s how I see the offer: it’s a stellar deal if I actually thought what I had done was wrong,” Mueller writes on CopBlock.org. “First, I can’t go against my principles and sign a deal that says I acknowledge my actions as wrong or illegal. Second, I’m not a hypocrite. How can I advocate refusing plea deals and sign one myself? I don’t judge anyone who has taken pleas because each case/charge is different. Third, I am confident I can show a jury, with facts and logic, that I shouldn’t be caged for my actions…. Let the circus begin!”

The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that around two dozen protesters surrounded the Hillsborough County Superior Court on Monday to show their support for Mueller. Fellow activists informed potential jurors reporting to the courthouse that under a just-passed jury nullification legislation, jurors can find defendants not guilty based on their own conscience rather than established laws.

:::land of the free:::

:::land of the free:::

Experiencing the failure of centralized planning on a massive scale (in this case for the area of police “protection”) Detroit residents are arming themselves, getting guard dogs, forming neighborhood watches and hiring others to help protect their home or person to proactively mitigate crime. Good for them.

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