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Cop who protested Obamacare in mask won't face charges
Cop who protested Obamacare in mask won't face charges
By Lisa J. Huriash, Sun Sentinel
5:21 pm, December 12, 2013
Prosecutors will not pursue charges against a North Miami Beach police officer who was arrested after he refused to remove a mask while he was standing on a sidewalk in a one-man protest, according to records released Thursday.
Ericson Harrell, 39, wearing a black cape and a Guy Fawkes mask seen in the movie "V for Vendetta" and holding a flagpole with an inverted U.S. flag, was protesting Obamacare while standing along South University Drive in Plantation on Nov. 22.
Officers asked him repeatedly to remove his mask and produce some form of identification; Harrell refused. He said "I'm a cop, I'm a cop" after officers found his gun.
He was charged with obstruction of traffic and with wearing a hood or mask on a street, allegedly violating a 1951 Florida law that defense attorneys said was created to combat the Ku Klux Klan.
Police officers at the scene said Harrell wasn't in the road or blocking traffic, according to a memo written Tuesday by prosecutor Sarahnell Murphy.
Murphy wrote she could not "in good faith" charge Harrell. In addition, the anti-mask law was "vague, ambiguous and overbroad," and Harrell would argue a constitutional rights violation, she wrote.
Murphy wrote that she researched if there were "more appropriate charges" that could be filed "based on his conduct." She considered a trespass charge, but he "was in a public forum and had a lawful right to be there... and protesting in a non-threatening manner." She also considered the charge of resisting an officer because Harrell wasn't complying with officers requests, except he "is not legally required to disclose his identity during this encounter."
Harrell, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is on leave with his agency pending their own internal investigation.
Howard Finkelstein, Broward's Public Defender, who was not involved in the case, applauded the decision by the State Attorney's Office.
"It was the right thing to do," he said Thursday. "Free speech must not be chilled because either the message or manner of delivery makes us uncomfortable. That is the point. That is what spurs change and it is exactly what the First Amendment was designed to allow."
Sun Sentinel
Cop who protested Obamacare in mask won't face charges
By Lisa J. Huriash, Sun Sentinel
5:21 pm, December 12, 2013
Prosecutors will not pursue charges against a North Miami Beach police officer who was arrested after he refused to remove a mask while he was standing on a sidewalk in a one-man protest, according to records released Thursday.
Ericson Harrell, 39, wearing a black cape and a Guy Fawkes mask seen in the movie "V for Vendetta" and holding a flagpole with an inverted U.S. flag, was protesting Obamacare while standing along South University Drive in Plantation on Nov. 22.
Officers asked him repeatedly to remove his mask and produce some form of identification; Harrell refused. He said "I'm a cop, I'm a cop" after officers found his gun.
He was charged with obstruction of traffic and with wearing a hood or mask on a street, allegedly violating a 1951 Florida law that defense attorneys said was created to combat the Ku Klux Klan.
Police officers at the scene said Harrell wasn't in the road or blocking traffic, according to a memo written Tuesday by prosecutor Sarahnell Murphy.
Murphy wrote she could not "in good faith" charge Harrell. In addition, the anti-mask law was "vague, ambiguous and overbroad," and Harrell would argue a constitutional rights violation, she wrote.
Murphy wrote that she researched if there were "more appropriate charges" that could be filed "based on his conduct." She considered a trespass charge, but he "was in a public forum and had a lawful right to be there... and protesting in a non-threatening manner." She also considered the charge of resisting an officer because Harrell wasn't complying with officers requests, except he "is not legally required to disclose his identity during this encounter."
Harrell, who could not be reached for comment Thursday, is on leave with his agency pending their own internal investigation.
Howard Finkelstein, Broward's Public Defender, who was not involved in the case, applauded the decision by the State Attorney's Office.
"It was the right thing to do," he said Thursday. "Free speech must not be chilled because either the message or manner of delivery makes us uncomfortable. That is the point. That is what spurs change and it is exactly what the First Amendment was designed to allow."
Sun Sentinel
