Florida Cop Arrested for Refusing to Remove Anonymous Mask June 08 2014 My name is Ericson Harrell... I am the officer that refused to remove his mask when asked to by the police department... I am a 15 year veteran of the City of Miami Beach Police Department... 4 year veteran of the military... I did 4 years in the Marines... I have been thrown into the spotlight.. just exercising my 1st Amendment... the anonymous mask... I realize there is a group of people out there... there is a culture that recognizes the mask as a form of protest... as a form of activism... so I put the mask on... I was standing out on the corner one day wearing the mask... another gentleman saw me at the time... he pulled over... joined me... because he recognized the mask... he had a mask in his car... that was the point I am trying to make... it is the culture... I work the night shift... I had just gotten off work... I keep my mask in my truck... my cape in the truck... a flag... I decided to go out there that day... I put on my mask... put the cape on... grabbed the flag... stood on the side of the road... well off the roadway... I was not obstructing traffic in any way... no more than 15 minutes on the scene... a police officer showed up... she told me she did not want me standing there... she wanted me to leave... I refused... at that point I guess she felt like I was challenging her... she wanted to show me who was boss... I explained to her the statute under the Florida State law that 876.12... the statute she targeted... was not put into place for peaceful protest... individuals out on the side of the road expressing their 1st Amendment right... her supervisor showed up... I guess at some point they decided to arrest me for refusing to take the mask off... refusing to identify myself... I read a couple of articles where they thought I was part of this larger protest... I was alone at the time... I was a soldier of one... I identified myself as a police officer after the fact because I did not want to have the preferential treatment whereby they would not arrest me because I was a police officer... I wanted to demonstrate that I am just like you... I am just like everyone else... I want to be respected... I want my rights to be respected regardless of who I am... O: you can record all you want... I have to ask you to take the mask off... under what statute?... O: 8... there is a statute... I was merely exercising my 1st amendment right... the law was put into place in the late 1950s to combat the Klan when they were more public... trying to intimidate a certain race of people... the courts ruled that the statute was too vague... they amended it to add the 876.155 where it says a person is not guilty of that crime unless they have the intent to intimidate someone... I was recording the encounter because I knew this was something I might want to record... I was recording... the sergeant came on scene... I guess he did not like the idea I was recording... he snatched the camera out of my hand saying it might be a weapon... the 2 officers obviously did not think it was a weapon... I am currently on administrative leave... if I am found guilty of committing this wearing a mask in public crime my agency can terminate my employment... other disciplinary actions... the worst would be termination... R: would you do anything different... no... what I was doing... I still to this day I feel that law is not in place for our peaceful protests... since my awakening I have realized there is a much greater issue at hand... I have a daughter... I do not have the luxury of not being involved... there is a greater risk of not being involved... not saying anything... a risk to our freedom... our rights... if we do nothing... we are the frontline defenders to defend/ support the Constitution... our job is greater than arresting people for petty crimes like marijuana... our job is greater than writing tickets for speeding... our job is to protect the unpopular speech... the 1st Amendment... the 4th Amendment... I would implore other officers to get involved... to turn off the television... to turn off the sports... really live for the oath that they to the oath for... their city/ their country... I think fear keeps a lot of people back from doing what they know they can do... I have lost my fear... now that I realize there is a war coming... we are in the midst of that war... I no longer can be afraid... it is time to fight... https://facebook/photo.php?v=786553518029074&set=vb.605679046116523&type=2&theater 5.42
Posted on: Fri, 15 Aug 2014 22:50:41 +0000
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