Friday, January 11, 2013

The Double-Secret No-Fly Zone

The cops in Darlington, SC arrested a glider pilot last summer for violating a "no-fly zone" over a nuclear plant. The pilot, age 70, spent nearly a day and a half in jail before he was released.

Here is the thing: There was no such "no-fly zone". The cops made it all up. They lied about the facts and, after finding out that there was no national security violation, the cops charged him with breach of the peace (a catch-all charge that translates to "we know you done something, we ain't sure just what").

The cops in Darlington County knew they had fucked up, because the charges were dropped in exchange for a promise by the pilot not to sue them. Which is not only extortion, it's likely an ethical breach by the county prosecutor.

What a fucking country we live in.

6 comments:

  1. Wow. This, right here is the scariest part of the growing security infrastructure in TSA/homelandsecurity. It's like "Chekhov's gun" - once it's there, it's going to be used. No matter what reason.

    Really a pity he can't sue. They deserve a spanking.

    ReplyDelete
  2. They do their "police" training by imagining laws they think exist?

    ReplyDelete
  3. My favorite part was when 4 police cars chased the landing glider down the runway with blue lights flashing.
    And interviews with FBI agents? What?! Some adult should have known better at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Guilty, guilty, guilty!!! -- of living in a southern red state.

    Just curious:

    "...one officer talked about commandeering the airport.
    “He was running around, the one guy that was commandeering everything,
    saying, ‘We were going to shoot him down,’”"

    Just what armaments do small town South Carolina police carry that can shoot down an aircraft?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They probably have some flavor of machine gun and some Barret .50s. Fucking DBP and the DoD have been handing out all sorts of goodies like that to every pissant cop shop in the country.

      Delete
  5. There 'are' prohibited areas, but they are clearly marked... Something 'smells' on this one...

    ReplyDelete

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