The Militant Libertarian

I'm pissed off and I'm a libertarian. What else you wanna know?

Sunday, June 20, 2004

Wyomingite falsely arrested

Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) - A shackled teacher's aide tried to explain her predicament to a judge through tears Friday.

Vacationing from Riverton, Wyo., Hope Clarke said she had been rousted by federal agents at her cruise ship cabin door at 6:30 a.m. She was put in handcuffs on a bench warrant for failing to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate while staying at Yellowstone National Park last year.

The catch? Clarke said she had to pay the $50 fine the same day for the federal offense of improper food storage before she was allowed to leave the park. Nonetheless, a warrant claiming she had not paid went into the federal law enforcement database. Back in the United States from Cozumel, Mexico, on Carnival's Fascination cruise ship, Clarke was awakened, cuffed, turned over to federal marshals and brought to court in leg shackles and short-shorts.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Outerbridge conceded there were some "discrepancies." [snip]

"We apologize for what happened," the judge told Clarke. Turning to the prosecutor, he said, "This is a serious matter." He wants the U.S. attorney's office to follow up to determine what went wrong.

Read the rest here.

-----
Got comments? Email me, dammit!

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home