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Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not?
From: "Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>
Date: Wed, 1 Nov 2006 12:45:12 -0500
I suspect that the fake gun is what bothered the South Portland police and not the Bin Laden costume. Richard http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/061101connollyshel.html SOUTH PORTLAND - Tom Connolly's political activism is eccentric, sometimes even goofy, including his penchant for dancing around in a George W. Bush mask on the Casco Bay Bridge. But his donning of an Osama bin Laden costume, complete with plastic assault rifle, and waving a TABOR-related sign along Interstate 295 went too far, police said of Tuesday's Halloween political prank. "This redefines the word 'stupid,'" said South Portland Police Chief Ed Googins, whose officers arrested Connolly at gunpoint on a misdemeanor charge of criminal threatening. "Whether it was a political ploy or not, we had officers responding to something they felt was a serious threat to public safety," Googins said. Police say Connolly is lucky he wasn't shot by the officers who converged on the hill at the Westbrook Street overpass around 9 a.m. Connolly, a prominent Portland defense lawyer and Democratic gubernatorial candidate in 1998, was freed on $500 bail pending a future court date. When the 49-year-old Scarborough resident was released Tuesday afternoon from the Cumberland County Jail, he apologized for causing the police officers anxiety but not for dressing up to get his message across -- in this case, that passing a referendum to cap government spending would be bad for the state. Connolly said wearing the costume -- which included ammunition belts and fake dynamite -- was an act of "guerrilla theater" of the type he's engaged in for years. He did not anticipate that anyone would think the plastic gun was real. Tuesday's incident began when South Portland police received a call that a man wearing a robe, holding a gun and carrying an "I love the Taliban" sign was standing next to the highway. Three South Portland officers responded, as did a supervisor. Two state troopers were summoned in case the highway had to be shut down. Connolly, who was initially wearing a mask with the olive-green jacket worn in a familiar bin Laden photo, was not recognized by the officers until later. Police ordered Connolly to drop the toy gun, and at first he did not comply, they said. After he finally dropped the gun, he walked toward officers and dropped what were later determined to be plastic hand grenades, police said. Googins said his officers, who had their guns drawn, had to treat the incident seriously even though it was Halloween. ...
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Current thread:
- Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Richard M. Smith (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Brian Loe (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Valdis . Kletnieks (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Drsolly (Nov 01)
- RE: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Blanchard_Michael (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Dude VanWinkle (Nov 01)
- RE: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Blanchard_Michael (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Valdis . Kletnieks (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Drsolly (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Brian Loe (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Drsolly (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Brian Loe (Nov 01)
- Re: Did the South Portland Maine police overreact or not? Brian Loe (Nov 01)