An update to the story of the band who got beat up by cops, the Fork gets the band members’ side of the story: “They were arresting anybody who asked a question,” Vogel said. “All these young kids who were at the show and just wanted to know what was going on, they got arrested.”
Remember kids, you have the right to remain silent. That’s pretty much it. I wish the Fork had asked what the charges were. My guess is “hindering and opposing a police officer.” I was charged with that once for simply asking a cop who invited him into a party I was attending. I spent several hours in jail until my posse rounded up the $500 bond to bail me out. I eventually spent $1,000 on a lawyer and the charges were dropped contingent on me waiving my right to sue for false arrest.
There’s a lesson there, somewhere. But all I got out of it was learning that cops can cost you a lot of money for no good reason at all. Sure, I could’ve taken it to trial, but my lawyer advised me not to; it would have taken a lot of time, and there was very little chance of me being awarded any damages since it really didn’t cost me anything (no missed work, no obvious pain and suffering, etc.).
But I’ll always remember officer Scott Ramburger, GRPD badge #367. And so will karma.
Update: The Houston Chronicle has some more details: “Vogel and Johnson were each charged with interfering with the duties of a public servant, while Kerwin and Kohler were each charged with resisting arrest or search, records show. All of the alleged offenses are misdemeanors.”
Also noteworthy: “No formal public complaints [against the officer] had been lodged as of Tuesday afternoon, according to HPD Capt. Dwayne Ready.” I never filed an official complaint against officer Ramburger, and I’ve regretted it ever since. It would’ve been a pain—you had to go to the police station, and I just never bothered. But I should have. These kids in Houston definitely should.
What’s for dinner? Ramburger!
Once again, the police go on a power trip and leave everyone disgruntled. Way to go!
Jake: File that complaint next time you’re in GR. Public servants like these need to be held accountable. Guess who is primarily attracted to careers in law enforcement? Lucky us… it’s psycopaths and sociopaths. If they tell you it’s too late to file the complaint, write a notarized letter to the chief of police and let him know that YOUR letter will be part of the public record. Not all cops are bad, and I happen to know some good ones, but the squeaky wheel principle was never more applicable. peece.
The site that sarah posted the other day has a phone number and street address to file a formal complaint against Ofc. Rodriguez.
I’m sure complaints have been filed. I just don’t know if someone who wasn’t there filing it qualifies as “official”. Guy’s ameathead, bully douche. This can’t be the first time he’s done something like this.
i covered the story for East Bay Express weekly newspaper here in Oakland, CA. our article comes out in our next issue on Wednesday 10/25. it sheds a lot of light on the story. i’ll try to remember to post a link here. in the meantime, you can check out this blog post I put up on the East Bay Express blog. it has some information you might not have heard yet.
You know what is especially creepy? The video that’s going around (the one that is blurry and happens right after the cop jumps on stage) is featured on YouTube. Look at the comments to be shocked. Why do so many people immediatly defend the police with no knowledge of what happened?
For the same reason people jumped on my shit when I dared to ask Apple Computers why it was acceptable for them that their $400 product consistently fails within 18 months of purchase–more and more this country is full of sheep. We’re taught from early on to respect authority, and that’s one thing, but the new trend is to not QUESTION authority, and that apperently extends to corporations too.
Fuck tha police. Black folks, minorities, or just anyone who doesn’t look like they belong still get harrassed by the pigs in East Grand Rapids, Michigan. What is this, 1940’s Alabama?
I couldn’t drive through there without getting pulled over and issued ‘repair & reports’ until I got a new car.
‘Serve & Protect’ my ass. Cops smell funny.
Update: Charges were dropped.
The fr0k talks to the dude: “In some ways I wish that we could [press charges against the police officer], and I feel sort of defeated in that sense. I mean, it’s great that I don’t have to go back and I don’t have anything on my record or anything like that, but it seems somewhat wrong just to let it go. The thing is that with the state of my life at the moment, too, on top of the actual money that it would take to do something like that, I just can’t do it. But also I don’t think, if there was a proper case to build behind actually bringing something back to the police, I don’t know if there is proper evidence or anything, you know? It’s all speculation. There’s no bruises, there’s no pictures, there’s just accounts, eye-witness accounts. I don’t know, I wish that that were enough, but I feel like that would, again, take months. It’s so frustrating, you know?”
I know how you feel, brother.
I know this thread is really dated, but a similar situation happed with me in 05 with the same officer. The result was two pins in my wrist, several thousand dollars and countless amounts time, energy and emotion. The bogus charges against us were not pursued, but we ended up pressing charges. The process took years. The civil trial was in 08. The trial itself lasted 5 days and resulted in a not guilty verdict for the police. The lies spewed by this man and his cohorts during the trial were repulsive. The judge did everything in his power to mitigate the obvious inconsistencies to the jury. On the last day, during deliberation, the jury foreman addressed the court stating the jury members could not agree on a verdict. The judge stated the jury must agree by 5pm, which was one hour later. They decided in favor of the police. I’m still dealing with the physical consequences from that encounter, and even though the charges were not pursued for our case, the record of the arrest, “hindering and opposing a police officer”, still appears on my record and have been brought up during interviews for positions I have not received.
With recent events shedding a light on the true state of affairs and culture within the grpd, I couldn’t help but searching the name and ford this post. I still remember that douche and his partner arguing about wether or not to take me to the hospital after waking up from being unconscious on the back floorboard of a cruiser.
I fled GR many years ago. Word to the wise, if you sue the cops, be prepared for retaliation, I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if we won. The only reason I feel safe posting this now is I have no ties left in GR, no property, no relatives, nothing.