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Loading ...Fundraiser hosted by lesbian couple disrupted by arrests
06.30.2009 6:00pm EDT
(California) A fundraiser for Congressional candidate Francine Busby in Encinitas, California, was disrupted after several guests were sprayed with pepper spray and the host was arrested.
The fundraiser was being held at the home of lesbian couple Shari Barman and Jane Stratton when deputies showed up in response to a noise complaint.Barman, 60, was arrested and jailed on suspicion of battery on a peace officer, and resisting, delaying and obstructing a peace officer. The host was arrested by Deputy Marshall Abbott after she refused to give him her birth date so he could file a noise complaint.
According to Sgt. Thomas Yancey of the Encinitas police station said that Barman tried to walk away from Abbott after he made the request, and he grabbed Abbott, then began using pepper spray on guests at the party after they pulled Barman away from him.
“He was pepper-spraying the faces of anyone who tried to talk to him,” Busby said. “People were stunned. It was something that none of us has experienced.”
Busby said she plans to meet with the Sheriff’s Department to find out why the event occurred and find out who made what she claims was a false noise complaint. Police received a call at 9:33 PM from a man saying that a loudspeaker from the party was keeping him awake.
Barman said that a man on the property behind her house had made “disparaging remarks” about Busby and gay people during the party, but Busby says the reception was not loud like the noise complaint claimed.
“It was a quiet home reception, disrupted by a vulgar person shouting obscenities from behind the bushes,” Busby said.
Read the full Sign on San Diego story here.
Menstruator,
You never fail to capitalize on a bad and unfortunate situation, do you?
While I call for a huge multi-million dollar lawsuit against that police department and that town and my heart goes out to all who were victimized by that police department…you are busy taking your man-hating to another new repulsive and divisive low as you never fail to do.
Menstruator,
You never fail to capitalize on a very bad and unfortunate situation, do you?
To all unforturnate victims of this aact of police brutality or any true friend of these brave and policticaly active women who reads this blog:
I know yu may tempted to do so but there must be no class action law suit. You must all file seperate law suits. Having to defend each case indiivdually will hurt California Sherif’s Dept. even more(financialy and publicly).
In times like these my thoughts and my prayers go you. Fight the good fight and make them pay mightly for their callous and disrespectful actions.
(NECESSARY DISCLAIMER IN THIS DAY AND AGE):
I am not a lawyer. I live in Citronelle, AL and have NO relativeswho live in California. I just know good strtegy when I see it. I am almost certain that some of the victims themselves are lawers so finding inexpensive representation won’t be that hard.
Sue early and sue often.
As always GWG.
@Richard – GREAT IDEA and thanks for the link. I just made a donation as well. If those outraged by this vile behavior would actually do something to help support these women that would send a message instead of just bitching about it. It seems to me we are good about talking about issues but where are the solutions? While this doesn’t take away the heinous violence against these women, it is a way for us to show solidarity and to turn this situation around. Again, great post Richard – actions not just words!
I hope 365 is going to follow this story!!
You know it is a sad day for America, when some police officers respond with their prejudice….I have witnessed it”firsthand” myself..
I used to live in LA and the one thing that I learned was that you never cross a CA police officer, no matter what town or city. They seem to take pride in the fact that the police departments were fashioned after German SS Storm troopers.
An interesting not for the comment below: “We don’t like people standing behind us”
I say, are the “WE”, a little paranoid?
Can you imagine a group of police officers apparently intinadated by a group of politicall savy apparently middle age women!!!
From the article SD Union-Tribune: “seven deputies, a sergeant and a helicopter were dispatched to the neighborhood”
For: “a man who said someone was talking on a loudspeaker and a crowd was cheering, keeping him awake.”
How come nobody from the party called to report someone in the bushes shouting disparaging remarks?
Why did the host refuse to cooperate with the police instead of cooperating, then explaining that there is a problem with the neighbor. Supposedly the host referred to the neighbor using a derogatory term just as the officer approached her.
With these two points covered, the party host would certainly gain some credibility, & likely would have avoided arrest.
Allen, only one deputy & a ride along responded to the noise complaint.
It wasn’t until the host was detained & refused to give her dob, then resisted arrest , followed by the crowd intervening & pulling her free from the officer, that backup was summoned & arrived in force.
Even the worst cops rarely manhandle a cooperating suspect & she would have simply received a warning. She could then dispute the warning & report the officer & neighbor to higher authorities.
Are there protests planned outside the Police station?
I live down the street but was not there. From local news, it appears that Barman asked why the sheriff needed her birthday as she had already identified herself. Sheriff was illegally inside her home, walked right through an open door as guests were leaving. Sheriff acted like an asshole because she questionned his right to information about her birthday…threatened by mostly middle aged women — give me a break.. sheriff abbott escalated a situation and created a crime…. Having called the sheriff myself to complain about noise in my neighborhood in Encinitas (kids with firecrackers not on the 4th) they do not respond if no injuries, say will send someone if they can. this really really really stinks. if the heckler was actually making threats and/or disparaging remarks about gays, then he could be charged with a hate crime by calling in a false report and utilizing the police as the instrumentality to perpetuate the crime. The district attorney should be looking into this.
Some people may remeber the days of the peaceful protest policy of the Civil Rights Movement in our country led by Dr. King and the model it was based upon called ahimsa put into place my Mr. Ghandi in India and South Africa. We once again must use this policy in our efforts to secure our rights as Homosexuals(male and female). No matter what they do with pepper spray, bombs on little girls, hoses, billy clubs at Stonewall. We must try to maintain our cool and protest peacefully. Do not fear for Justice from above will prevail.It is sad and sick that the police or any other law enforcement agency would act in such manner as this but it has, it does, and will continue to happen; especially with the educational level of some them.Hold on help is on the way.
Southernhemisphere Said: “…the days of the peaceful protest …in our country led by Dr. King and … Mr. Ghandi in India”
Don’t you love how the pacifists always tout peaceful (and wholly negligible protests) after having gotten what they want only when the pacifists leaders that they revere so much end up being shot to death by opponents with less patience for bullshit?
If you really want hetero America to wake up to the new era and take your “rainbow” flag seriously,-
Burn it right in front of them and their cameras. Let it sink in.
It will get them thinking about other things that burn, and probably be the most assertive leadership we’ve had in several decades.
>if the heckler was actually making threats and/or disparaging remarks about gays, then he could be charged with a hate crime
I’m pretty sure that it doesn’t work that way. You have to be committing another crime–assault, destruction of property, or some such–while you are shouting out hateful comments about the victim. Purely hateful comments alone are protected under freedom of speech. (This is not the case in other countries, where hate speech in and of itself is illegal.)