Florida police arrest reporter for "trespassing" on public sidewalk

[KBCraig]

http://www.local10.com/news/14411684/detail.html

Local 10 Reporter Arrested While Covering Story
Police Search Uncovers Concealed Weapon, But Reporter Had Permit

POSTED: 9:55 am EDT October 24, 2007
UPDATED: 12:49 pm EDT October 24, 2007


MIAMI -- A Local 10 reporter was arrested at Miami Central Senior High School while he was on assignment covering a story about school violence.

On Tuesday, Miami-Dade Schools Police told WPLG-TV's Jeff Weinsier he was trespassing and that he needed to leave.

He was not inside the school or inside the fenced-in area that surrounds the school. School board police told him to leave and go across the street from the school, but Weisnier said he was on a public sidewalk.

(more at link above)


One of his colleagues blogs about it, including her own similar experience:
http://html.local10.com/sh/blogger/2007/10/cant-we-all-just-get-along.html

[EthanAllen]

The police officer is clearly in the wrong.

This is similar to when Russell was arrested in Manchester when President Bush was in town. They asked him to move to the other sidewalk across the street and he refused.

[miamiballoonguy]

http://www.local10.com/news/14411684/detail.html

Local 10 Reporter Arrested While Covering Story
Police Search Uncovers Concealed Weapon, But Reporter Had Permit

POSTED: 9:55 am EDT October 24, 2007
UPDATED: 12:49 pm EDT October 24, 2007


MIAMI -- A Local 10 reporter was arrested at Miami Central Senior High School while he was on assignment covering a story about school violence.

On Tuesday, Miami-Dade Schools Police told WPLG-TV's Jeff Weinsier he was trespassing and that he needed to leave.

He was not inside the school or inside the fenced-in area that surrounds the school. School board police told him to leave and go across the street from the school, but Weisnier said he was on a public sidewalk.

(more at link above)


One of his colleagues blogs about it, including her own similar experience:
http://html.local10.com/sh/blogger/2007/10/cant-we-all-just-get-along.html

Oh God why is all the news coming out of Florida...  Cop Killers, Bank Robberies, Store Robberies, Tourist Rapes...  Man...  I gotta get the hell out of here...  I can't wait for the supposed traffic Jams that Mark Edge is always talking about...

[dan_sayers]

Third time I've heard of this. First time I realized the guy was only on a sidewalk. Apparently the long arm of the law means beyond even their own rules.

[miamiballoonguy]

Third time I've heard of this. First time I realized the guy was only on a sidewalk. Apparently the long arm of the law means beyond even their own rules.

The cops down here are out of control....  Unfortunately, sometime I agree with the wackjob Tom from NH...  The Police are out of freaking control...  I got pulled over for the first time in 6 years, and the cops were literally at my door with their guns drawn, yelling at me, before I could put my parking brake on...  Sigh...  Where the hell is Ice-T when you need him?  (Remember that song from the early 90's called Cop Killer?)

I don't justify it, but I sympathize with it...

so now are the feds coming after me?

[kola]

I had read somewhere where Florida has been chosen as the state to experiment with police state tactics, especially Miami.

It is going to get worse before it gets better. Maybe people will start to wake up. We know we cannot rely on the mainstream media to report the truth so we must use underground means to get the real facts.

courage for all,
Kola

[miamiballoonguy]

I had read somewhere where Florida has been chosen as the state to experiment with police state tactics, especially Miami.

It is going to get worse before it gets better. Maybe people will start to wake up. We know we cannot rely on the mainstream media to report the truth so we must use underground means to get the real facts.

courage for all,
Kola

Let me tell you this...  I grew up with cubans, and I have many Cuban friends...  but the majority of these cuban politicians are corrupt...  Even the Libertarian Candidate that I helped out in the 2004 campaign showed his true colors trying to get the Ron Paul Candidate in district 21 down here to pay for him to get on on the ballot....  It's just crazy...

Hell, when I speak spanish to my family in Puerto Rico, they always give me crap because I sound like a cuban when I speak spanish.... 

[EthanAllen]

The police officer is clearly in the wrong.

This is similar to when Russell was arrested in Manchester when President Bush was in town. They asked him to move to the other sidewalk across the street and he refused.

This is also similar to when Dada was stopped for an open carry "check" where he refused to give anything other than his name and that he lived in Manchester.

The police officer got it wrong. There is no 500 yard restriction for people that want to use the common right of way contained within the sidewalk.

I don't know if he could just stand there though and interview people without having to keep on moving so as to not infringe on anyone else's common right of way use of the sidewalk.

[error]

This isn't the first time the police have done things like this. Consider "Bong Hits for Jesus" and the mere concept of "free speech zones."

It won't be the last.

[coffeeseven]

This isn't the first time the police have done things like this. Consider "Bong Hits for Jesus" and the mere concept of "free speech zones."

It won't be the last.

Sad but true. Then there's the internal passport that's been whispered about over the last 10+ years. http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=11566.0

Coming into focus at an airport near you. Then to a tollbooth. Then to a library.

[miamiballoonguy]

I had read somewhere where Florida has been chosen as the state to experiment with police state tactics, especially Miami.

This Is true...

It is going to get worse before it gets better. Maybe people will start to wake up. We know we cannot rely on the mainstream media to report the truth so we must use underground means to get the real facts.

courage for all,
Kola

It isn't going to happen...  at least not in Florida.  If you saw the republican debate where Ron Paul was boo'ed at you would understand...  Why do you think FTL left to join you guys, and why do you think that I've started making plans to check out the area to move there? 

The only things florida are good for nowadays are the following: the tax your property to the hilt and then when people start to complain the local governments start crying because they are going to have to cut much needed services...  There is going to be a major tax revolt down here if these idiots in Tallahassee don't do something about it next week , make you pay insurance premiums that are probably the highest in the country, to take away your civil liberties and to Attack and rape tourists (This just happened literally 15 blocks from my apartment a couple of weeks ago)....  Oh yeah, don't forget about the sunshine! 

[EJinCT]

Oh God why is all the news coming out of Florida...  Cop Killers, Bank Robberies, Store Robberies, Tourist Rapes...  Man...  I gotta get the hell out of here...

The insects, alligators, sink-holes and hurricanes don't provide enough incentive? 

[miamiballoonguy]

Oh God why is all the news coming out of Florida...  Cop Killers, Bank Robberies, Store Robberies, Tourist Rapes...  Man...  I gotta get the hell out of here...

The insects, alligators, sink-holes and hurricanes don't provide enough incentive? 

Those are the least of my worries...  The overgrown Iguana and Monitor Lizard Population here is interesting though...  The former are harmless, but they leave turds all over the place, and the latter will eat you pet cat, or your young child, but I never see a turn from them....

Oh yeah, lets not mention the pythons that are EATING the alligators.   

[Raineyrocks]

Oh God why is all the news coming out of Florida...  Cop Killers, Bank Robberies, Store Robberies, Tourist Rapes...  Man...  I gotta get the hell out of here...

The insects, alligators, sink-holes and hurricanes don't provide enough incentive? 

Those are the least of my worries...  The overgrown Iguana and Monitor Lizard Population here is interesting though...  The former are harmless, but they leave turds all over the place, and the latter will eat you pet cat, or your young child, but I never see a turn from them....

Oh yeah, lets not mention the pythons that are EATING the alligators.   

I lived in Ft. Lauderdale for a few months and I remember riding my bike down the road with tons of lizards all over, I didn't mean to but I ran one over so I just stopped riding my bike.  When I would mow the lawn all the lizards would jump onto the house, it would freak me out. 
My husband took my hand and pulled me over to him to show me a frog, (I thought ), and I said, "okay it's a dead frog...", just as I said that a gigantic black snake came out of the bushes and ate the frog.  It was horrifying!   After Rick did that to me he had to carry me piggy back to and from the car into the house. 

[KBCraig]

http://bob.wjla.com/headlines/1107/472295.html

No Gun Charges for Reporter Near School
Tuesday November 13, 2007 3:04pm

MIAMI (AP) - Prosecutors have dropped the case against a TV reporter who was arrested carrying a loaded gun near a high school while working on a story on school violence, authorities said Tuesday.Jeffrey Weinsier of WPLG, an ABC network affiliate, was arrested last month after police said he carried a weapon onto the grounds of Miami Central High School and refused to cross the street when asked by an officer.

A cameraman caught the encounter on videotape, which the state attorney's office used in deciding not to pursue the charges, Assistant State Attorney Maggie Gerson wrote in a memo released Tuesday.

Weinsier had been charged with armed trespass on school property, possession of a weapon, violation of carrying a concealed weapon and resisting arrest without violence. But he was not on school grounds when police approached him and ordered him to leave, Gerson said.

"Since the defendant was not trespassing, anything that was found on the defendant after he was arrested will be suppressed as a matter of law," Gerson wrote.

Weinsier's actions did not appear disruptive and students had been dismissed from classes when he was arrested, Gerson said.

The reporter began carrying a gun after he received death threats stemming from a series he did about unsanitary conditions at restaurants, according to the station. Weinsier has a concealed weapons permit, police had said.

"From day one, I knew that I had been on the public sidewalk outside the school," Weinsier said Tuesday. "I knew the law clearly. This is false arrest."

The reporter said he has filed a formal complaint with the Miami-Dade Schools Police Department and is considering legal action.