Seattle PD Picked on the Wrong Folks
From the Post-Intelligencer:
“A drunken street golf game with foam balls has led to a serious civil rights issue, pitting computer geeks against police practices.
Eric Rachner, a Seattle cyber security expert and one of the golf players, wasn’t satisfied when the city dismissed charges against him after a possibly illegal arrest for refusing to provide identification.
Rachner discovered through sleuthing that police had withheld video-recorded evidence in his case.”
*****
Cops claimed that 1) they lost the recording and 2) they arrested him for reasons other than not identifying himself. Both claims are proved to be false by the video — which indeed was still in their possession.
Maybe we should start suggesting to people that they refuse to identify themselves. It might be my next step…