Austin, TX. – -(Ammoland.com)- Between September 13, 2013, and April 17, 2015, Region VII DPS troopers falsely arrested and violated the rights of Terry Holcomb, Scott Smith, AJ Postell, Justin Delosh, Gary Hays, CJ Grisham, Jacob Cordova, Travis Kuenstler, and Joseph Walker.
The troopers initiated trumped up charges of everything ranging from “disorderly conduct” to “criminal trespassing” and “resisting arrest” in an effort to prevent citizens from exercising lawful activities in and around the Capitol.
These arrests were blatant violations of their 1st Amendment rights. All but two of the charges were dropped by the district attorney and those other two charges are still pending a hearing.
On August 24th 2015, a civil lawsuit will be filed against the arresting officers and Region VII DPS.
Plaintiffs will hold a press conference August 21st 2015, outside the entrance to Travis County Courthouse at 4pm, near the flagpoles at the intersection of 10th and San Antonio St. to discuss the lawsuit and take questions.
About Open Carry Texas: Our purpose is to 1) educate all Texans about their right to openly carry rifles and shotguns in a safe manner; 2) to condition Texans to feel safe around law- abiding citizens that choose to carry them; 3) encourage our elected officials to pass less restrictive open carry legislation for all firearms, especially pistols; and (4) foster a cooperative relationship with local law enforcement in the furtherance of these goals with an eye towards preventing negative encounters. www.opencarrytexas.org
Sue them as individuals for tort violations of your rights. Sue their institutional sponsors for not training and supervising them. When $100 comes out of every cop’s paycheck for the next 20 years, and the bureaucratic supervisors get big dollars diverted from their budgets, then you will have their attention. Until you make that happen, all you will get is excuses and cover-ups.
NRA and TSRA where are you in support for this? HIDING out until the fights over again? Both organizations need look in the mirror before they come around begging for donations. GO OCT and TEXAS CARRY, real defenders of the 2nd Amendment.
Good question. The TSRA and NRA have done nothing in ANY of the false arrests, even though we sought their help early on when these were happening. The NRA isn’t about protecting gun owners and defending our rights anymore.
The problem most of the time is that officers don’t know the law themselves. They might read a small portion of the law and that’s all. Sometimes they don’t read the exceptions to the law. One of the biggest problem is interpretation. Most laws are not clear and the state’s definition might not be the same as real world definitions. I had one of my Sargents tell me I had to arrest everyone for public intoxication that was drunk. The problem is just being intoxicated is not a crime. The same problem is with domestic violence laws. If you’re an… Read more »
Sure there is a DARK force in the U.S. that would like to see all law enforcement go down the tubes. But then againthere some if not most cops who think they are above the law because they have a badge and gun, andthe courts support this thinking.
Legal IS Legal. it’s NOT complicated…
Sad how some American police abuse the rights of other Americans, who they have sworn to protect. Hypocrisy at its finest.
Have you read any of the arrest reports? Do you know what went on at any of the arrest? If not don’t judge the officers. Cases are dropped all the time. I can’t say nothing wrong happened because I was not there. Remember there is always three sides of a story. What the arrested said what happened, what the officer said what happened and the truth. Most of the time the truth and the officers side are about the same. No one is perfect.
Good grief Brian, have you NOT watched some of the videos? Peaceful, law abiding citizens are stopped, usually after a call by a “concerned citizen,” and harassed until the Officer finally arrests him. It’s all BS and usually they fall back on outdated and overly broad Disturbing the Peace statutes when the only “Peace” being disturbed is that of the citizen with the LEGAL firearm.
Brian, every false arrest was captured on video. There are no three stories.