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FL Sheriffs Threaten to Illegally Arrest Citizens if They Try to Exercise Constitutional Rights (vIDEO, pICTURE)
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Lee CountyCounty in Florida
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Lee County is a county in the State of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 618,754. The county seat is Fort Myers, and the largest city is Cape Coral. Lee County comprises the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, FL Metropolitan Statistical Area.Wikipedia
The checkpoint in Chiefland, Florida, held by the Levy County Sheriff’s Office and the Florida Highway Patrol, was legal, as the U.S. Supreme Court has held such checkpoints to be valid.
After seeing the video, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that if you attempt to exercise your rights in this manner in Pinellas County, you will be arrested.
“It’s about doing the right thing and we are trying to do the right thing to protect the public and keep drunks who kill people off the road,” said Gualtieri, according to FOX 13.
Of course Gualtieri gives no mention as to the rights of citizens to freely travel without being treated as suspects, citizens who have done nothing wrong being forced to prove that they aren’t doing anything wrong after being randomly stopped by police without any reasonable suspicion, simply for the act of operating a vehicle on a public road.
FairDUI.org Founder, creator of the DUI flyer and South Florida Attorney Warren Redlich says the idea is not about protecting the drunks.
“A lot of people are uncomfortable with the idea that police can just stop you for no reason,” Redlich said. “If you are not comfortable with that, this is a good way of handling a checkpoint.”
Gualtieri went on to say, “The deputy can’t assess the person. And, if you can’t assess them, you are obstructing the investigation. Just because you dangle in a bag with your drivers license, insurance card and registration out the window doesn’t mean you’re not drunk.”
But Redlich had a very diffferent outlook on things.
“There are good cops and there are bad cops. The purpose of this flier is to protect innocent people from bad cops,” said Redlich.
While there have been cases of Floridians arrested for refusing to roll down their window, with officers in some instances going so far as breaking the window, according to attorneys, refusing to roll down your window is legal in Florida and you cannot legally be arrested or have your window broken for refusing.
