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Title: CHP arrests Hemet men for reading Bible at DMV
Source:
http://www.vvdailypress.com
URL Source: http://www.vvdailypress.com/news/hemet-27415-reading-arrests.html
Published: May 2, 2011
Author: ?
Post Date: 2011-05-02 16:07:05 by freepatriot32
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Keywords: california, DMV, bible, jackbooted thugs
Views: 109
Comments: 5
HEMET • An assistant pastor and two elders from Calvary Chapel Hemet were arrested for reading the Bible aloud outside a local Department of Motor Vehicles office. The three men went to the Hemet DMV Feb. 2 before it opened and one of the men started to read the Bible aloud. Less than 30 minutes later, he was arrested for “impeding an open business” under Penal Code Section 602.1(b), according to attorneys from Advocates for Faith & Freedom, an advocacy group. A security guard approached Mark Mackey as he was reading the Bible and told him to stop, according to a news release from Advocates for Faith & Freedom. The men believed that they had a First Amendment right to free speech as they were standing in a planter within the parking lot and were located on public property. Further, they were not interfering with any business of the DMV and were not yelling or disturbing the peace. Ten minutes later, a California Highway Patrolman approached Mackey as he read, took the Bible out of his hands, and arrested him. As the CHP officer was arresting him and putting him in his patrol car, the two men who were with him — Assistant Pastor of Calvary Chapel Hemet, Brett Coronado, and Ed Flores — asked the officer, “What law was he breaking?” Instead of identifying a legal violation, the officer asked, “Were you preaching too?” After continuing to ask the officer for the legal violation, Coronado and Flores were also arrested by another CHP officer who had come to the DMV and were also cited for “impeding an open business.” Neither Coronado nor Flores ever read the Bible out loud anywhere on DMV premises. “This is an abuse of power on the part of the CHP,” said Jennifer Monk, Associate General Counsel for Advocates for Faith & Freedom. “The arresting officer could find no appropriate penal code to use when arresting these men. The purpose of the arrests appears to have been to censor them.” The legal group has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of the men — who were subsequently released after their arrests — for violation of their right to free speech and for unlawful arrest.
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#2. To: All, *libertarians*, *Humor-Weird News* (#0)
after this ignorant copsucker get out of federal prison for kidnapping and false arrest he should get back to the cademy and read the rest of the law he arrested this man over notice the bold highlights (a) Any person who intentionally interferes with any lawful business or occupation carried on by the owner or agent of a business establishment open to the public, by obstructing or intimidating those attempting to carry on business, or their customers, and who refuses to leave the premises of the business establishment after being requested to leave by the owner or the owner's agent, or by a peace officer acting at the request of the owner or owner's agent, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for up to 90 days, or by a fine of up to four hundred dollars ($400), or by both that imprisonment and fine. (b) Any person who intentionally interferes with any lawful business carried on by the employees of a public agency open to the public, by obstructing or intimidating those attempting to carry on business, or those persons there to transact business with the public agency, and who refuses to leave the premises of the public agency after being requested to leave by the office manager or a supervisor of the public agency, or by a peace officer acting at the request of the office manager or a supervisor of the public agency, is guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in a county jail for up to 90 days, or by a fine of up to four hundred dollars ($400), or by both that imprisonment and fine. (c) This section shall not apply to any of the following persons: (1) Any person engaged in lawful labor union activities that are permitted to be carried out on the property by state or federal law. (2) Any person on the premises who is engaging in activities protected by the California Constitution or the United States Constitution. (d) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to supersede the application of any other law.
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