| Online: | |
| Visits: | |
| Stories: |
| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Death Threat From a Cop Supporter
We know all too well that people will never agree on everything. This includes those that oppose what I do as a Cop Blocker. I have never gone out and verbally abused a police officer or did anything to interfere with them when they are out and about doing their thing. There seems to be no shortage of knuckle dragging mouth breathing cop apologists that believe it’s okay to threaten violence just because they disagree with what you stand for. I need to give you all a little bit of a background leading up to the reason that I have decided to write this piece, so bear with me.
When I film something, I keep a safe distance and avoid becoming a part of the incident. I don’t speak to the officer unless he speaks to me first. Should he decide to make an ass out of himself on video, that’s his own choice and I will upload the video to show the world what a bad example he set for his fellow officers. If he’s decent, I will upload the video and show that this officer respects the rights of citizens to film the police. These officers get treated with the same attitude that they present to me.
I have voiced my dislike in the past for those that verbally lash out at police while filming them. It’s their own choice to do what they do and even though I can voice my concern for such actions, I have no power over that person to change their behavior. Several months ago, I submitted a post to this site before I was a writer here. I did not submit the post and video to put anyone on blast, but to explain that I did not agree with this method of cop blocking. Of course, I’m talking about Cop Block’s most controversial cop blocker out there, Herb.
Of course, I made that post without taking the time to speak to the person that I had an issue with to get an understanding of why he acted out in the way that he did. Shortly after posting the story, I had an opportunity to speak with him and get his side of things as well as get a better understanding of him. He explained the years of abuse that he suffered at the hands of the system via the police. After hearing his story, I still didn’t agree with his methods, but I understood them and was able to respect him. My respect for him is because no matter what anyone else says, he continues to stand firm on his beliefs regardless of what other people may think.
Now for the reason and things that have led up to this story. I have been an admin for Zanesville Ohio Cop Block page for the past few months that Herb is a part of. The page was originally created to reach out to those in that community that may have been wronged by the local police force in Zanesville. We have never posted any threats against law enforcement on that page. We share many of the Cop Block stories from this site as well, as other stories that pop up every day on the internet.
That page has had a fair share of trolls over the last few months to put it mildly. Due to our belief in the rights to free speech, we have refused to delete comments and ban people from that page due to their opposing views. That is, until this week when things began getting out of hand with the abusive language and threats that were popping up on the page.
Herb has been the main target on that page consisting of non-stop aggression from some residents of Zanesville that have a problem with what he does. These people have even taken their attacks to real life as they drive past his house at all hours of the night yelling things at him. Some of these people have been driving around town taking pictures of the places that Herb can normally be found and then posting them to another Facebook page called Zanesville Citizens Against Cop Block in a passive aggressive attempt to intimidate him. I really struggled with the decision to even share the link to their page, because it is not worthy of the attention. I shared it only to show you all how juvenile these people are in their actions.
There have been veiled threats made to come visit Herb at his house, slanderous statements of all sorts have been made, and a multitude of other juvenile behavior to bully this guy.
I have stood up for his right to express himself how he sees fit as long as he is not harming another person. There’s no doubt that there are people out there that will find his methods rude, but the last I checked, being rude was not against the law and in no way causes harm to someone.
The abuse that Herb has suffered from these people has been relentless. These people fail to recognize that Herb is a human being and they show no regard for the damage being caused by their actions. The three people who have been the most outspoken about Herb have been, Kelly Hale, her brother Chad Hale, and Brian Wolfe. Since I have defended Herb’s rights over the past couple of weeks, I have now become the target of these three individuals. I have linked to their Facebook pages for you all to get a look at these self-proclaimed model citizens. They have essentially resorted to the same things that they accuse Herb of doing, but taking it a big step further.
Wednesday, I signed on to Facebook to find a private message from Kelly Hale.
This was sent to me because out of frustration and anger over the harassment that Herb was getting, I said something that wasn’t too nice about her brother. I said, “I hope Chad Hale crashes his motorcycle into a truck hauling gasoline and burns alive.” Was it the wrong thing to say? Yes. Was it offensive? Yes. Is it comparable to sending someone a death threat? No. I even swallowed my pride and posted an apology to him online, because it was the right thing to do. Then below you will see that rather than just accept it and move on to more important things, he escalates the issue to another level.
To say that I was surprised at this message would be an understatement. I was surprised that someone would be so stupid to post such an overt threat online. To think that someone would do this knowing that even if you were to delete an incriminating post like this on a social media network, everything is backed up on the servers for a period of time. Not to mention that the recipient could easily do a screen capture just like I did. By her threatening me she has violated Ohio Revised Code 2903.21 Aggravated Menacing.
Then to dig themselves a deeper hole, Brian and Chad both published my address on the above mentioned Zanesville Facebook page.
So as you can see above, these two malcontents decided to compromise my personal safety at home by publishing this information. Any reasonable person would view this as an attempt to incite others to come to my home and cause harm to myself or my property. All of this because I defended someone who was being bullied on-line and for being associated with Cop Block. Notice in the posting from Chad that he even encourages others to call the phone number in the information that he has provided. The only problem with that is the phone number has not been in use by me since 2004, so now these people are calling some other person and harassing them. Let me refer you to Ohio Revised Code 2917.21 which outlines Ohio law for telephone harassment and Ohio Revised Code 2917.01 which deals with inciting to violence.
What all three of these people did has placed themselves in a very actionable position. Their actions are reckless and without regard for the safety of others. They have incriminated themselves and should any harm come to me or my property, they are culpable for that. They have gone so far to tell people where I work and Brian has even stated that he may even show up there. I have pages upon pages of screen shots of their attempts to intimidate me. Our security manager has already been made aware of this potential threat.
Call me a hypocrite if you like, but unlike many of my fellow Cop Blockers, I have no qualms about taking legal action should I find myself unable to diffuse this situation. So many times I have heard, “You go out there and mess with the cops, just wait, some day you’re going to need them.” Guess what? I’m a tax payer too. I pay for their services just like all of you do. I have stated before in previous blogs that my problems with police are with those that are violating the rights of citizens, assaulting them, and killing them. What I do as a cop blocker is to hold those officers accountable. I have also made it clear that I do not hate the police, only those that think that badges grant them extra rights and abuse their authority.
What kills me about the whole situation is that all of this escalated over some trolls that decided to hit a Facebook page with a bunch of nonsense and accuse us of advocating violence towards the police. The fact of the matter is that I do not condone violence outside of self-defense. So these people decide to harass a Facebook page because they think we promote violence, but in return they resort to threats of violence because we do not agree with them.
There are some people out there that don’t like what Cop Block does, I get it. Some people love the police and love being controlled by the state. Fine, that’s your thing, but this is mine. Stop wasting your time and energy doing something that could potentially take away your freedom and go do something constructive. Get your like-minded friends together and stand in front of the police department with, “I love cops” signs or whatever it is you do, that’s your right. What you do not have a right to do is threaten violence against people who do not share your beliefs.
I have not caused harm or loss to anyone by my actions either individually or as a cop blocker to justify the chicken shit keyboard warrior nonsense that you see posted above in the pictures. Be aware that there are consequences for your actions, so it would be wise to think things through before doing something as stupid as the people mentioned above. I’m more than willing to have an adult conversation or debate with anyone, but when you decide to take things to the level of death threats and threatening the security of my home, you have stepped into a whole new arena that I will not tolerate.
Death Threat From a Cop Supporter is a post from Cop Block – Badges Don't Grant Extra Rights
Source: http://www.copblock.org/134139/death-threat-from-cop-supporter/
