Science Fiction writer Peter Watts beaten up and arrested by US border guards
This article is a few days old via Boing Boing, but I wanted to get it up anyway. This is horrifying and demonstrates out of control behavior by the border patrol.
My friend, the wonderful sf writer Peter Watts was beaten without provocation and arrested by US border guards on Tuesday. I heard about it early Wednesday morning in London and called Cindy Cohn, the legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She worked her contacts to get in touch with civil rights lawyers in Michigan, and we mobilized with Caitlin Sweet (Peter's partner) and David Nickle (Peter's friend) and Peter was arraigned and bailed out later that day.
But now Peter faces a felony rap for "assaulting a federal officer" (Peter and the witness in the car say he didn't do a thing, and I believe them). Defending this charge will cost a fortune, and an inadequate defense could cost Peter his home, his livelihood and his liberty.
Watts responded in the only way a great writer can, with words of gold.
There's more from David Nickle:
Hugo-award-nominated science fiction author Dr. Peter Watts is in serious legal trouble after he was beaten, pepper-sprayed and imprisoned by American border guards at a Canada U.S. border crossing December 8. This is a call to friends, fans and colleagues to help. Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him. At the end of it, local police laid a felony charge of assault against a federal officer against Peter.
I understand how difficult it is to work in law enforcement and engaging with the public at any level, but insane violence by those who are supposed to keep the peace should be met with immediate firings and charges being filed. I hope Peter finds justice.
if this story would make it to C&L in the light of the coverage given to Amy Goodman's horrible 90 minute inconvenience. I'm very glad to see it. The border point where this happened is the one I use most often when entering the States. There is a reason I am unfailingly polite and cooperative with customs officers anywhere.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
That's the reason I am polite to ANY armed, uniformed person wielding the power and authority of the government. The risk of running across the one idiot thug who should never have even made it through the academy is not worth the lumps.
I'm just superstitious enough to hedge my bets.
Even bus drivers. Wearing a uniform gives you the cover of acting as part of a group rather than as an individual.
Resisting arrest and assaulting an officer are common CYA charges the police use when they know they have behaved improperly.
Really, when this kind of case makes it to court how do the cops cover their asses with such a lame charge? It should only highlight their improper behavior.
Unless judges are appointed for utter gormlessness, that narrative isn't going to pass the laugh test.
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
Gormless. I had to look that one up. Gormlessness - I like it.
it would probably go more like this.
"I charged him with assaulting and officer your honor"
"And why did you do that?"
"He refused a lawful order to return to his car, so we felt he was either preparing to flee or attack, when we went to restrain him from doing so he resisted violently"
TJBB: An authority figure jock-sniffer? I, for one, wouldn't believe it for a second.
he states that he didn't get back into his vehicle after being told to, I wouldn't.
http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/dr-peter...
"Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on. I did not repeat that question when refused an answer and told to get back into the vehicle."
Along with the report that states that is what happened, yeah I'm pretty sure that is how it would go down in court.
And trust me I'm not an authority figure jock-sniffer. I just understand how the law works.
As I say below in my own response, look up what happened to Alex Lifeson in Florida six years ago. Same story, different thugs, and the victim cleared of wrongdoing but the pigs never punished.
Of driving while Canadian.
Welcome back to Soviet Canuckistan Pete.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
What are talking about? These are American border guards that beat up Pete
Border guards harass people all the time just because they can. The more innocent a person is, the more they protest being treated like a criminal. Which leads to cowardly aggression against a harmless person. This time they made the mistake of pepper-spraying a writer. I expect he will be incorporating this experience into his science fiction, should be interesting.
that the elites at the core of this and all our other problems are really the most vulnerable in the sense that they have the most to lose and are ill equipped to survive as civilization collapses. This “growth without limits” crowd with their contempt of boundaries, including the boundaries of other people’s well-being and right to live are really showing their true colors.
It can't happen here right?
He shouldn't have been jabbering away at the guard in Canadian. He should learn American if he wants to come here.
Yup, standard BS @sshole cop charge that pads the records of minorities throughout this great land.
Keeping in mind how serious this story is,I just grokked on the way Canadians are depicted on Southpark.Like Kyles little brother "Ike".
The way their heads split in half horizontally when they talk.
Funny stuff.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
I grew up 20min North of Port Huron and spent half my life crossing the Blue Water bridge and in that corner of Southeast Ont., Canada. Years ago you could cross with zero problems. Hell, going to Canada was like driving to the grocery store. Now it looks like even the Canadian customs agents got bit by the tough guy bug. WTF?
US border guards? They were the ones beating up Pete
The Bush regime has turned the United States in to a third world shithole. We have fascists beating up innocent people all across the country and getting away with it under the guise of the fascist regime's "war on terror."
It took Germany over 50 years to recover from their fascism, it's going to take the United States at least as long.
Time for a very, very messy revolution to restore our rights, freedoms, and liberties, in my opinion.
You can't even get the population to exercise their right to VOTE, what makes you think anyone can get the population to take up arms?
..do you get the population to take up arms?
- "Uprising" the latest, and very popular i-Phone app?
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
Violence isn't the only way to revolt.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
..that the phrase, "take up arms" was a direct quote from the post I was replying to. I am not so insane to suggest that tactics of physical confrontation would work against history's most perfectly developed police state. Maybe you missed my reference to Apache helicopters in my other post.
At any rate, I don't take the stance that taking up arms should be ruled out absolutely. I just think that it should only be used in circumstances where 1) there is no alternative and 2) there is some chance of it working. Even Gandhi reluctantly recognized that non-violence could not be an absolutist position.
-- Mohandas Gandhi
-- John F. Kennedy
The enduring and inescapable question is at which point one decides that peaceful revolution has been rendered impossible.
~~~~~~~~
And by the way, my post was a weak attempt at humor, nothing more. The reference to the i-Phone was a subtle dig at people who are more concerned with the acquisition of more toys than they are with defending their own 'guaranteed' rights.
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
Meant that as a reply to JohnF.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
"The enduring and inescapable question is at which point one decides that peaceful revolution has been rendered impossible."
It is my hunch that for most people they don't make that decision. The decision makes them..if that makes any sense. Things seems to snowball and develope their own momentum and increasing inertia. After a point, the momentum and inertia do the deciding for most of the people who subsequently participate.
Yeah, it kinda does. More accurately, TPTP want to arrange things so that the decision is made for them. Like all the other decisions.
If the people in power get their way it goes like this:
By the time people realize that the government is the enemy it'll be too late. Fighting back can mean risking imprisonment or loss of life after all. People usually won't do that until they've seen a child die from starvation or lack of medical care. It takes a lot of anger and desperation to overcome one's natural instinct of self-preservation. When that time comes you'll be in a weakened state, and easy pickings.
Tragically, heart-breakingly sad, but true.
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
I don't see that the road we are headed down leading to a happy place.
this quote
"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the Act depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest." -Mohandas Gandhi
it's estimated that only about 3% of the population took up arms.
If the same holds true today your talking about 3 million people up in arms.
As good at math as you are at spelling and general thinking, aren't you, hillbilly boy?
I did mess up the math. It's actually about 9 million. Thank you for pointing it out.
..that only lacks bananas. Unless you count the crew at FOX "news." Too bad because I really like bananas and they're a great source of potassium.
As to the 2nd American revolution, you're right; should it happen it will be exceedingly messy. More like the French Revolution than the First American Revolution. Except the Bourbons didn't have anything like Longbow Apache helicopters for crowd suppression. Sad, but true.
"In theory theory and practice are alike. In practice they are very different."
but if there was another revolution, I expect at least some of the military would defect and either bring equipment with or destroy what they could on their way out.
..video camera at the border? Can't wait to see the film, er, I mean, tape.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
That I will support Peter by going out and purchasing a couple of his books.I am ashamed to admit that as a Sci Fi fan,I haven't read any of his works.I'm in the middle of "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy which I have to say is relentlessly bleak,but being a post apocalyptic vision,I guess it's par for the course.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
turn off the engine, keep your hands on the wheel and always say yes sir-no sir...it obviously dosen't pay to argue or challenge an officer with a gun, taser and pepper spray. Never get out of the car unless directed. This is the things everyone should do and practice.
That's just herd mentality. If somebody in authority, wearing a uniform or whatever, is overstepping bounds, trying to intimidate, whatever... They need to be called on it.
Granted, they need to be called on it in reasonable way. Provoking with a raised voice or insults probably isn't your best course of action. But you do have the right to call them out on their BS. It also needs to be reported.
People are far to complacent, and that just makes the problem worse.
just survival. Don't you watch "Cops" - it's always the idiot that gets out of the car and starts arguing with the police that get the shit beat out of them and arrested. Hopefully whoever pulls you over doesn't go into an asshole mode unprovoked. If they do, then you have recourse, otherwise let them search the car (if at the border) or if you don't want it search (other than at the border) you can refuse and be "held" until a search warrant is issued on probable cause. At least to me, it makes no sense to argue with someone who is armed...
"Granted, they need to be called on it in reasonable way."
What? I meant "fucking Pig" in the positive sense.
"To me, truth is not some vague, foggy notion. Truth is real. And,
at the same time, unreal. Fiction and fact and everything in between,
plus some things I can't remember, all rolled into one big "thing."
This is truth, to me. "
-Jack Handy
Assume you mean Pride Integrity and Guts.
Tell me: Are most cops flattered or freaked-out by you crawling behind them with your nose two inches from the seats of their pants all the time?
because I don't. I disagree with LEO more often than not, and have no problem with telling them so. It was actually quite amusing seeing the look on the detectives face when I said one of the local officers was acting like a jack booted thug. But he couldn't deny it.
When I was taught to drive, back in the early sixties, my father made certain I took one of the most professional instruction courses available.
They taught me that if stopped by the police, the best thing to do was to get out and stand beside your car. This was so the officer could plainly see that you had no intention of fleeing.
I wonder if I could still get Dad's money back?
Or else....
Corruption favors the wealthy.
This does not make sense
Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle.
So, US customs stopped him when returning to Canada (leaving the US)? US side for people leaving is just bridge toll takers. Customs interviews you only when entering. Am I missing something?
...so I read his brief piece about the incident , and he says, "although they did try to get me to waive my Miranda rights. Twice."
Miranda indicates American. Why on Earth are American border agents stopping a Canadian from entering Canada? I'd be wondering wtf is going on myself if that happened to me, although I doubt I'd get out of my car as he did. Either way, gotta follow up on this cuz I don't get what really happened.
...Midnight Express? Based on a true story, American trying to smuggle heroin out of Turkey to the US is caught by Turkish customs at the airport.
I'm not sure if the US border guards at outgoing can stop US citizens, but they can certainly stop non-citizens.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
I grew up in a cross-border shopping Mecca. The entire town would cross to the US to do some outlet mall shopping at some point during the year. As anecdotal as this may sound, I've just never heard of a US agent stopping a Canuck at the border returning to Canada. We were always concerned about the Canadian agents hassling us over shopping quotas and receipts. That's not to say visitors can't be stopped anywhere in the US by American officials, I get that. But if someone's leaving the country with drugs or whatever, they usually tell the Canadian agents to pop them.
I can't comment on Turkish border policy during the 70s. ;)
@12:59
The US border guards have always had the power to stop people leaving the country, but they didn't start using that power as they are now until 9/12/01.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
Well I better change my opium smuggling routes accordingly.
my thoughts exactly. something smells....
Corruption favors the wealthy.
From personal experience, I can tell you that U.S. Customs can and sometimes does check vehicles heading out of the country; pre-9/11 you almost never saw it, and it's still relatively rare today. The thinking goes like this (and it's hard to argue with it): Explosives work regardless of the direction traveled by the car that is carrying them through tunnels/over bridges/etc..
Our very culture is in decline. Whether it is out of frustration, anger, helplessness, or fun, everyone wants to fight the system. Let’s kick the shit out of….?
But who to fight? We can’t keep fighting each other. What we need is a scapegoat. Whose fault is it? Is it the terrorists? That worked for a while. Arabs? Muslims? Immigrants? Liberals? Naw, not liberals – that only works on Fox. Jews?
Yeah, Jews! That worked well for Goebbels. But it’s so 1930’s. We need a new scapegoat; one that everyone can blame. That way when a miscreant (or innocent) gets the shit kicked out of him, we can say it was because he was a member of those scapegoats, and everything will be fine…
How about people? That could work.
Senator: Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Human Race?
Person: I refuse to answer that on the grounds that it could incriminate me.
So grab your pitchforks and burn down a house – there are people inside, and they deserve what they get. Kick the shit out of those people, they are to blame. Once all the people are gone – all our problems will be over…
I think you are right. Along those lines it has always been a suspicion of mine that the main point and purpose of places like GITMO have never been for containing dangerous people, but primarily to habituate the American people to scapegoating and to atrocity, as step 1 in the process. If the propagandists work the issue well, those hapless inmates would become universally despised by the public, easy people to hate, easy people to hold callous attitudes towards. Perfect scapegoats to be used to habituate us all to atrocities. After habituation, then comes Step 2: the anit-immigrant exclusionary hatred and inevitable persecution and atrocities that would eventually follow against that group. Ultimately, when step Umpty-Sqwat is introduced, persecution and atrocities against dissidents or who ever, we are all so collectively conditioned and jaded that we accept it, even applaud it, while never allowing ourselves to consciously acknowledge that we could be next. All part of the process of converting us from once-proud citizens into cowering and fearful subjects.
America is becoming the place to flee from instead of flock to.
some kind of misguided retaliation for Amy Goodman? Or just a bunch of thugs. HE can porobably press charges for aggravated assault and battery.
People like Goodman and Watts aren't going to be part of any tit-for-tat stuff like expulsions of ambassadors. The thugs who beat up Watts would have done to same to Goodman with smiles on their faces.
Fucking jackboots.
But American border guards stopped him for a search and attacked him.
Why?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
There was probably never a 'reason' to begin with, but ya.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
have been attempting to acquire a waiver to enter the u.s.I doubt that I will bother now. I have heard so many stories of border guards. The canadian guards are one of the same. Effing pigs!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/...
Mr. Watts said had been helping a friend in Nebraska move and was driving back to Canada in a rented car when he was stopped by U.S. border patrol officers for a vehicle inspection.
According to police reports, he stepped out of his car during the inspection but was ordered to get back inside. Port Huron Police Captain Jim Jones said Mr. Watts refused and resisted when border officers tried to restrain him. Capt. Jones said Mr. Watts “did end up choking one of the officers.” Police reports state he was then pepper-sprayed, restrained and taken into local police custody where he spent the night.
And
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/...
Excerpts from an article featuring Mary Ellen Callahan, the chief privacy officer for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:
Since the 9/11 attacks, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service, part of the Department of Homeland Security, has stepped up the use of its sweeping powers to check people entering and leaving the U.S., and search their possessions for illegal drugs, weapons, cash, and contraband high-tech equipment.
Mr. Watts had shown he was leaving the U.S., via the Blue Water Bridge to Sarnia, Ont., when he passed through the last toll booth before the bridge to Canada, said Chief Ron Smith, a spokesman for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service.
Chief Smith said that Mr. Watts was arrested for failing to comply with the border officers' instructions, but insisted that "we would obviously be speaking to the driver before we start a search." The case was turned over to local prosecutors, he said.
Mr. Watts got his possessions back Saturday, except for a computer and flash drive, which he will get back later -- and Chief Smith insisted that while border officers can look through such equipment for evidence of crimes, they didn't copy the information. "We're not allowed to keep the information off of anybody's personal computer or flash drive," he said. "We can look at it, but we can't maintain it."
Mr. Watts said in an interview yesterday that what happened to him was more akin to police brutality than Big Brother information gathering. "But I have to admit there is this crawly feeling - they now have access to all my financial data, and more importantly, all my e-mails."
wonder why the "authorities" weren't so concerned with the guy and his gun at the Obama event not so long ago...?
Police brutality seems to be the fashion these days. A portent of things to come?
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
The border guards must be infiltrated with Bushies. Are Bushie law enforcers really any different than communist Chinese or Iranian law enforcement? If so then they are going to need to prove it.
No doubt about it there are Bushies everywhere and they do not relinquish power, ever.
Law enforcement and politics attracts violent, borderline morons, and it always will, but i thought America would become different.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
should be required to wear audio & video recording devices while on the job for their safety and the public's well being.
Yes. Especially public safety.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
What are the names of the violent officials? Is that a secret?
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
I noticed some goodie-two-shoes figured he had it coming to him because he didn't kiss ass. We don't know if he misbehaved, but I'm guessing he wasn't overly threatening, and there was more than one officer present.
I guess that means some people tacitly approve border thugs and police misbehaving.
the
gang ofborder guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him. I guess that's all cool, for some, at our shared border crossings.Freedom. Don't forget to say yes sir, no sir when they kick in your front door.
(Don't say I didn't warn you.)
far left loon >.<
.. writing SF stories, I would also drive to the nearest border and smack the policemen there. It is the natural thing to do.
Peter Watts should go and talk to one of his fellow Canadians, part of Rush.
Alex Lifeson shares his pain, and his tone of response to being beaten up unjustly by overzealous and power-tripping thugs dressed as "law enforcement officers".
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1420...
If you're not familiar with the incident from 2004, look it up. Keywords: Lifeson, Ritz-Carlton, Naples.
I think I'd rather be grilled about talking about the Olympics than beaten up.
This is what a lot of Canadians were talking about during the Goodman case. US border guards can be extremely abusive, far far worse than Canadian border guards. The fact that Watts was heading back to Canada and was still abused is outrageous
If you question them,the guards could just decide to shoot you dead, and claim it was self defense...The best you can do is take their beatings without putting up a fight- and HOPE you can sue- but odds are, you won't be able to. It's a matter of survival- Take the beating, and move on....
If you're with your family, and they threaten your family, do not fight back. Do not resist- or the guards could kill you and your family. I'm serious- they are no different than trigger happy prison guards..
Lets just hope the American guards decide to visit Canada, and and try to threaten Canadians on their own soil- the yanks will get a serious beatdown
Canadian friends were shocked at the rudeness of US border guards, and as a result have vowed never to return to this war mongering, illiterate Christian theocracy...
If you're with your family, and they threaten your family, do not fight back. Do not resist- or the guards could kill you and your family. I'm serious- they are no different than trigger happy prison guards..
Isn't that what the English did back around 1776???
far left loon >.<
war mongering, illiterate Christian theocracy...
wow. Did the Bushies do all that? Well hey, let's fix it - let's get it right!
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
TJBB: An authority figure jock-sniffer? I, for one, don't believe it.
Your posts cracked me up. Thanks.
far left loon >.<
...even at the times I was living there and enjoying it (the living)- that every person in uniform feels like they're superior to you and you should be the one to learn their stupid codes and procedures, instead of them learning to behave like normal people...
They are forgetting that they are CIVIL SERVANTS! And they are the ones who have "to serve and protect" written on their cars!
In Europe this could have happened only about fifteen years ago at the Serbian border during the last Balkan wars under the last communist dictator Miloshevich, but even then they wouldn't have beaten him - the bastards would be have been just trying to squeeze a 5 $ bribe...
But even they are civilized and polite nowerdays. Whereas for America... it is more and more looking like a place where really ANYTHING is possible.
What a pity.
Only if the bad guys win. the bad guys over there, and the bad guys over here... If it happens then they a have won. If we let our government act like them we have lost. If we let our police force act like them we have lost.
That's what we knew and Bush did not know.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
We have a Border Patrol Agent going on trial here in San Diego for attempted murder. He attacked his ex-wife's roommates. He blinded one person and maimed the other. The sad thing is this man had a violent history going back years. He was investigated in 2005 for plotting to kill his ex-wife and the DA's office passed on charging him. So now we have two people permanently suffering. The bottom line is this guy should have never been allowed to carry a badge and gun in the first place. As the Roman philosopher, Juvenal, asked "Who guards the Guards?"
It's truly refreshing to see such independence of spirit and fearless searching for fact, regardless of where the chips may fall, among the commenters here.
I am especially impressed by those who have asked what pressing questions Peter Watts had for the agents; why he needed to get out of his vehicle to ask them; why he refused to get back inside when told to; and why he struggled with the officers as they tried to arrest him.
This is one crowd whose members don't all think alike. I congratulate you for being equally willing to question Watts AND the border police. Bravo!
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