Free speech:
A property owner in Bridgeport, Michigan was addressing his grievances at the monthly township board meeting when he went over the 3 minutes allowed for public comment. At 2:40 into the video you can see when the police go to remove him from the meeting and when he doesn't comply in a fast enough manner for them, it sounded like they said he was under arrest for disturbing the peace. When he reached to get his coat is when several officers then grabbed him. Once they removed him from the meeting room it sounds as if he was slammed to the floor in the area outside the main room. You can hear it on the video tape. Outside as he was being put into a police vehicle they said he was charged with resisting arrest. I am not sure if that will be the only charge. He was going to the Saginaw County jail for the night I think and then he would be arraigned the following morning.
This man has had a 3 year ongoing legal battle with this township board. It involves the violation of his property rights, continual harassment by the township officials. The Bridgeport Township board has a history of recalls, legal battles, court cases, this is not a one time occurrence for this township. This video is just another example of the abuse of power by this township and the police force.
UPDATE: A poster asked for more details about this meeting. It was the regular monthly scheduled board meeting. This was not a special meeting being held for any particular reason.
UPDATE March 7th, 2014 This man was arrested for resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer. He spent 2 nights in jail and was released pending "further investigation". No charges have been filed at this time. It is up to the Bridgeport Police Dept / Township to take their evidence now to court and press any charges they think they may have. I am not a legal scholar so forgive me if I don't have this worded correctly.
UPDATE March 8th, 2014 The latest news I have heard is that Bridgeport Township is planning on meeting with the Saginaw County prosecutors office early next week to discuss them prosecuting the charges against this man.
UPDATE March 13th -- I have just gotten word that Mr. Mark Adams, the man that in this video, will be arraigned on Friday March 14th at 10 am at the Saginaw County Courthouse. The charges will be # 1 - Assaulting, resisting, obstructing police officers - a 2 year felony and # 2 - Disturbing The Peace.
UPDATE March 15th: Mr. Adams plead not guilty to the trumped up charges. The pretrial hearing has been scheduled for March 19th at 3pm at the Saginaw County Courthouse. I believe it will be heard by Judge Jurrens.
If anyone is looking for more information about Bridgeport, the township board, a little history on some of the problems in the past in our small township, you can go to MLive.com and go to the Saginaw section (we are a small township outside of Saginaw) and use their search function. http://www.mlive.com/saginaw/
Our local newspaper is The Saginaw News, which you can access through MLive and our local television station is WNEMTV5. http://www.wnem.com/
Not so free as we were led to believe, I guess.
Let us, indeed, speak out, my Tea Party friends. But realize and understand that there may be a cost to doing so. And that cost is going to get steeper and steeper as the Age Of The One steamrolls on.
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