Last week the Liberty On Tour crew was in Greenfield, MA and was harassed one of the infamous Greenfield PD thugs, Daniel McCarthy(413-773-5411 ext 1305 - mccarthyd@greenfieldpd.org). The man repeatedly interrogated Ademo for his information, following the crew several times in his cruiser in a stalking manner, and then trying to issue a ticket to Ademo for jaywalking as McCarthy himself, jaywalked across the street to issue the citation. Soon after, a few other officers appeared on the scene, all armed, and one even armed with a camera. As quickly as the officers appeared on the scene, all of them, minus McCarthy scurried off to the cop shop, leaving the original stalker to continue his seemingly endless harassment.
The video speaks for itself, but for a detailed account of the situation read below.
On Friday, May 20, 2011, early morning in Greenfield, MA, I woke to the sound of an aggressive banging sound upon M.A.R.V.’s(the RV) door. In my dazed, half-woken state, I quickly discovered that both Pete and Ademo were already off to work at the local cafe, writing up articles and editing videos for upcoming posts to libertyontour.com and copblock.org. Sgt. Daniel McCarthy(413-773-5411 ext 1305 - mccarthyd@greenfieldpd.org) persistently rattled the RV as he banged his fist on the door. McCarthy claimed that the RV needed to moved “now” and then threatened a tow if it wasn’t moved in “2 minutes”.
After I finally found the spare set of keys to MARV, I turned over the engine and set off on his first time ever driving the 30 ft RV. Unbeknownst to me, McCarthy began to follow behind without any emergency lights running.
As stated above, Pete and Ademo were working in a nearby cafe, when MARV rolled up. Ademo quickly responded by running out and taking over the wheel, passing off a camera to me as he exited the vehicle to record the situation. Ademo rolled around a few blocks as McCarthy continued to follow, still no lights. Soon Pete swapped with Ademo, so he could find a safe location to get the RV off the street and onto a private lot as to discontinue the bother of the pursuing stalker.
As soon as Ademo jumped out of MARV, he turned on his camera and approached McCarthy, asking him why he’s following the LOT crew. McCarthy chose not to answer, still leaving him in question as to why the police officer was harassing them. McCarthy then drove off and parked close to the cafe where Pete and Ademo had been working.
By now, MARV had been secured, Ademo and I were catching our breath and Pete was making his way back to the scene. McCarthy then made the next move by approaching Ademo, asking for his identification and home address, through which Ademo properly asked the officer why he needed such information, followed up by a request for McCarthy’s name and badge number as to retain it for the record. McCarthy claimed Ademo was refusing to comply with his demands, when in actuality, he was simply continuing the dialog with questions, so he could understand where the officer’s authority was granted to demand such articles of information.
After McCarthy had returned to his cruiser to apparently process information, he returned with a citation for Ademo, in which Ademo was still in question as to why anything of the sort was needed. Because of Ademo’s questions, McCarthy drove the conversation in the purported assumption that Ademo was refusing to accept the demand from him, when again, Ademo was only asserting the notion that he did not understand where the officer was deriving his authority to act in such a manner.
The officer, persistently pursued the crew several times with sitations, as Pete and Ademo returned fired with their logic and words. Of course, the ability to break through false authority, armed only with one’s mind and a camera is clearly the most humane offensive.
Another exquisite instance of turning the tables on the government’s goons.
You’re all a bunch of morons. If you’re going to be an asshole to the police, they’re going to return the favor. This isn’t about liberty, it’s about your right to be a dickhead. Just know that if you’re going to be a dickhead, there are consequences…namely, expect people to be dickheads in return…
So their extortion, violence and thuggery are perfectly ok but when someone says “hey, what right do you have to do this – I want you to justify this because it’s getting out of control” then THEY are the one being the ‘dickhead’?
WTF kind of magical backwards world do you live in, Bob?
They asked him to move the RV to accommodate road construction….said it would be towed if it was not. That’s his job. If the guy in the RV simply moves the vehicle without attitude or feigning lost keys, there’s no problem here. It was a setup perpetrated by the idiots in the RV and blown way out of proportion after they magically “found” the keys before the tow arrived. They purposely became belligerent and obnoxious and expected the police to react with only bluster. I have news for you, they were inches away from being hauled in for disturbing the peace. They acted like the bunch of spoiled children they are, and expected the police to treat then with kid gloves. Look guy-I’m no fan of abuse of poorer by anyone and I have just as many reasons to hate corrupt police aÅ¡ the next guy, but the only thing that I saw here was a bunch of punk kids getting treated like punk kids
Abuse of power….friggen auto-correct….
They asked him to move the RV
Wrong. They *demanded* he move it.
said it would be towed
Wrong. McCarthy *threatened* it would be *stolen* if Pete didn’t submit to his demand to move it and therefore, if Pete wanted it back, he would have to pony up an extortion fee or they’d keep it.
That’s his job.
I agree. His job does indeed appear to be to harass peaceful people minding their own business and coerce them into obeying his demands by using threats of theft and extortion (with the implication of potentially kidnapping, assaulting and/or murdering them) if they do not obey.
If the guy in the RV simply moves the vehicle without attitude or feigning lost keys, there’s no problem here.
Yes, as long as the victim submits to the master, he won’t whipped. And obviously, Pete was lying about not immediately knowing where the keys were because hey, when you get woken up by rapid banging on your door you’re always wide awake and fully cognizant of what’s going on.
It was a setup perpetrated by the idiots in the RV and blown way out of proportion after they magically “found†the keys before the tow arrived.
I don’t know what video you saw, but in the one up above Pete clearly states he needed some time to find the keys. Instead of allowing that the cop demanded that Pete produce the keys instantly and obey his demands or they’d steal the van.
They purposely became belligerent and obnoxious and expected the police to react with only bluster.
Maybe the cop should have *asked* Pete to move the van and given him time to find the keys then? Having some armed thug bang on your door, wake you up, and start threatening you is neither an efficient way to achieve the desired result and is just plain bad manners.
I have news for you, they were inches away from being hauled in for disturbing the peace.
I have no doubt that the thugs were dying to kidnap innocent people who weren’t bothering anyone, especially when they don’t immediately obey their demands or ask questions, but the only ones disturbing the peace were the cops.
They acted like the bunch of spoiled children they are, and expected the police to treat then with kid gloves.
No, they expect them to treat them as they would, i.e. without the threats, demands, and swagger of superiority that comes from a badge.
the only thing that I saw here was a bunch of punk kids getting treated like punk kids
That’s because you’re deluded and biased. What happened here was a bunch of thugs wanting to show off how superior and unaccountable the badge makes them by victimizing a bunch of young “punks” that dared now to bow down to them.
Wow…you are some kind of fruitcake…I’ll address your nonsense a little later…you’re waiting with bated breath I’m sure, but keep your panties on, I’ve got work to do right now. I’ll tell you this tho…that made me laugh…pretty sure that wasn’t what you were going for…
“Bob” is OBVIOUSLY one of the Greenfield cops, probably Daniel McCarthy himself. I suggest you do not engage him and ignore all comments posted by “Bob” AKA Dan
http://libertyontour.com/2011/05/23/hypocritical-greenfield-pd-harasses-activists/
HA!! Law enforcement I am not…but that REALLY made me laugh, thank you!
Ok…here goes….
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@ Concerned Citizen…Not a Greenfield cop. Not even a cop, nor do I associate with or know any. I work on custom houses on the South Shore. That’s as much as you need to know about me and I couldn’t possibly care any less if you believe me or not. Your paranoia is comical.
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@Zeus….you think you’re clever and smart because you dissected my post and had a snarky retort to every line. Well that goes both ways….
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1.”Wrong. McCarthy *threatened* it would be *stolen* if Pete didn’t submit to his demand to move it and therefore, if Beau wanted it back, he would have to pony up an extortion fee or they’d keep it.”
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Actually this is the first line-verbatim…”This needs to be moved now”. No threat there. No reference to stealing anything. Demand? Absolutely. It’s his job to facilitate the removal of vehicles blocking construction. And here’s a fun fact….The officer is neither obligated by law, ethics, or anything else to be nice about it. Read that part again. He doesn’t have to be pleasant. Ever. In his entire career. To anyone. Are there consequences to that choice? Sure. In this case, some kids are going to piss and moan and pretend not to be able to find the keys to the RV. So attitude or not, Beau’s decision to deliberately push the cops buttons by doing this has already pissed the officer off off. He’s human, and as such he’s not going to put up with some smarmy douchebag kids attitude problem-He has a job to do. It’s also clearly early morning. Nobody wants to be harassed early in the morning. Not Beau, not the cop. Maybe he didn’t have to knock on the door like that, maybe he could’ve been “nicer”, but just maybe Beau could’ve just moved the RV and avoided this bullshit altogether-it’s not like he just asked Beau to suck his dick. No, Beau has now chosen quite voluntarily to make himself and everyone with him a target from this point forward. This could’ve been a non-event. It was Beau’s choice to avoid or escalate. He escalated. Like it or not, police are given a great deal of power to deal with difficult and belligerent people. That’s the way it is.
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Next line after the obviously fake “can’t find the keys” BS….”Ya, you gotta get it outta here or I’m going to call a tow.” Perfectly within the officers power and latitude to say and do this. No reference to “stealing” anything. Believe it or not, when the officer requests the vehicle moved, (and before you say it…”request/demand”?–it’s fucking semantics. the point was then and is now-move the RV.) Beau is now obliged to move it. The keys, or lack of them, are not the officers problem. The officers problem is that construction will stop if a vehicle is in the way. He has been tasked with making sure that doesn’t happen and will have to answer for the delay if it occurs to whomever is paying the bill. Construction crews and equipment cost many thousands of dollars per hour-especially the union(s) which were likely there- to have on site so EVERY minute counts. No mention of any “extortion” of any sort. Have you ever looked up the word ” extortion”? I bet not. I took the “liberty” (no pun intended) for you…
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Extortion : Law . the crime of obtaining money or some other thing of value by the abuse of one’s office or authority.
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At no point did the officer demand money or property from Beau. He stood to gain nothing from having the RV towed, with the exception of being able to clear the jobsite. Hardly extortion. You shouldn’t throw charges like that around that you don’t understand unless you know what you’re talking about….and before you even think it….you don’t. Another fun fact. If the police order a vehicle towed, That is not automatically a trip to the impound. If , in fact if the keys actually were lost, the operator of the vehicle can request that it gets towed to the location of his/her choosing. Yes…it can. I’ve done it. Last year I was stopped for riding my motorcycle without a current registration/inspection after I took it out and rode around the block in late February. I could’ve made better choices that day-I didn’t. Cop ordered a tow. I had it towed to my house. Again, you’re totally full of shit. Not surprising.
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2.”Yes, as long as the victim submits to the master, he won’t whipped. And obviously, Pete was lying about not immediately knowing where the keys were because hey, when you get woken up by rapid banging on your door you’re always wide awake and fully cognizant of what’s going on.”
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Cognizant enough to know to immediately lie about knowing where the keys are. Once again, Pete is making himself a target. Like it or not, the officer is in charge and has power to affect change in this scenario. It is Beau’s choice to be the bigger man. Besides, at that point you really have no idea why the cop is pissed off. It could be he had a fight with his wife/girlfriend/boyfriend/etc. He could’ve slammed his hand in a door. He could be hung over. He could be pissed off to have to deal with people he knows for sure are going to be belligerent and difficult first thing in the morning.
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And for the record, Beau is FAR from a “victim” here. He’s an antagonist. Once again…he could’ve just moved. It’s really not a big deal.
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3.”I don’t know what video you saw, but in the one up above Pete clearly states he needed some time to find the keys. Instead of allowing that the cop demanded that Pete produce the keys instantly and obey his demands or they’d steal the van.”
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Wow. You’re a bullshit artist…and a bad one at that. The video was quite clearly edited and any time that elapsed between the initial knock/confrontation was conveniently chopped out….or maybe you missed the part where he SHUT THE DOOR * cut * DOOR WAS MAGICALLY OPEN AND BEAU HAD HIS HEAD OUTSIDE.
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Towing is not stealing….but we’ve been over that.
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4.”Maybe the cop should have *asked* Pete to move the van and given him time to find the keys then? Having some armed thug bang on your door, wake you up, and start threatening you is neither an efficient way to achieve the desired result and is just plain bad manners.”
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I reference the very first paragraph in my response to you. It’s his prerogative to be a nice or as much of an asshole as he wants to. He is not required to even treat you with an OUNCE of respect, especially given that he most likely knows who they are and why they’re here. The “Liberty Tour’s” express purpose is to challenge authority figures.The officers response to this was somewhere in the middle, pushing toward the latter but only after Beau was acting like a spoiled child not being able to “find the keys”.
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No threats offered either…just consequences to childish actions. I laughed a little at your “armed thug” reference….as if he’s going to pull a gun and shoot you if you don’t comply.
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And by the way, cops don’t “ask for anything. They issue “orders”. That’s how it works. Get used to it.
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5.”I have no doubt that the thugs were dying to kidnap innocent people who weren’t bothering anyone, especially when they don’t immediately obey their demands or ask questions, but the only ones disturbing the peace were the cops.”
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I won’t even dignify that. It’s totally asinine and immature….and they WERE bothering people. The people who were paying for work to be done on the road…you know, THE TAXPAYERS? Rest assured, they care not about your petty little grievance that Beau felt disrespected and didn’t like not being “asked” to move. They care about the money that they’re spending to have the work done…did I mention that roadwork is PHENOMENALLY EXPENSIVE? So the act of being belligerent to cops was in effect giving the ENTIRE TOWN THE MIDDLE FINGER AND SAYING “DEAL WITH IT”. They’re god-damn lucky some rednecks didn’t beat them into a bloody heap.
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6.”No, they expect them to treat them as they would, i.e. without the threats, demands, and swagger of superiority that comes from a badge.”
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Then they should start acting like adults. End of story.Yet another fun fact….a police badge ABSOLUTELY DOES give you a superior position of power over the public. If they didn’t have that, they’d be high school hall monitors, not cops.
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7.”That’s because you’re deluded and biased. What happened here was a bunch of thugs wanting to show off how superior and unaccountable the badge makes them by victimizing a bunch of young “punks†that dared now to bow down to them.”
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See now, that made me laugh and choke on my coffee a little. Me…deluded and biased. I told you before and I’ll tell you again, I’m not really a fan of small town law enforcement…..for many of the reasons that you have listed here. And some of them are real genuine assholes. The kind that spent their entire high school career getting picked on. Some are are good hard working people. The difference between you and I is how I deal with this. Your way is always going to get you in trouble every time without fail. You can’t fight fire with fire.
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Me? I’m smarter than that. You know what I did (am still doing)? I went back to my home town, which is not far from where I live now and found the ONLY cop to have ever arrested me. He didn’t remember me. (shocking I know. turns out you’re not nearly as important as you think you are to these people). I talked to him and found out what he did for fun/excercise/recreation. He spars (Boxing)…Now, every week, I punch him in the face over and over and over again. It’s fantastic. I get hit sometimes but it’s totally worth it.
Nice attempt at blocking me.
Only a cop trying to defend his chosen profession of thuggery would take as much time to respond, seriously Rob Bob with a 1,696 word count on your treatise you expect me to believe you are just some day laborer of custom houses who just happened to pass by and comment. Enough said – It is clear what your game is officer
Funny. Wrong but funny. Not a day laborer. Day laborers don’t work on custom houses. They mow lawns and pick up trash. I’m a business owner. My response to you specifically was far shorter, but that’s irrelevant. I’m not a cop. But again…i don’t care if you believe me or not. It has nothing to do with the reality of the situation. The fact that you can’t wrap your head someone that works on houses having a modicum of intelligence is your problem, not mine. You’re paranoid. I feel bad for you. The simple truth of the matter is, an old friend of mine posts these links on my facebook, and I followed this one to the article. That’s it. Sorry to disappoint you, but you are predisposed to not believe me anyway. Good luck to you.
Ok, whatever “Bob”. If you’re not a pig you’re a pig lover or the family of a pig. Either way I hope someday somebody slits your fucking throat. It’s people like you that have caused America to become a fascist shit-hole of a country.
Why don’t you do it, asscore? Or you just another pussy with a big mouth?…that’s what I thought. It’s people like you who know neither the history of nor understand the true meaning of the words they use. Nobody will be “slitting my throat” now or ever…not here. In fact you are closer to being a fascist than I will ever be. Why? Because you are unwilling to accept any point of view other than you’re own. Your use of the word as a pejorative is as naive as it is meaningless….
HAHAHAHAHA Dont worry you big sissy pig. Nice try baiting me into actually threatening you. I don’t fall for pig tricks.
As for accepting your point of view – you haven’t come here to state a legitimate point of view, you are just here to troll.
I couldn’t care less if you threaten me or not. I’m not a cop nor will I call them if you do. I don’t know you and believe me-you don’t want to know me. You see “asscore”, I’m perfectly capable of defending myself against you. And I don’t need to try to make you believe it. Were you ever to discover who I am and attempt something stupid like assaulting me, you’d find out the hard way how wrong you are about me on alot of different levels-starting with me not being a cop, but certainly not ending there. So if you’re done running your mouth, then have a nice life…and don’t look for me.
Furthermore, it’s an apparently open forum. Hopefully that was by design. As such, I am entitled to leave my opinion and it is perfectly legitimate. You may accept or reject it, but I will respond….especially when I’m attacked by so-called Libertarians-hypocritical as they may be (ironic, right?). If Pete had any balls at all and actually believed what he preaches, he would defend my right to have a point of view….even here-in this place. He doesn’t have to agree or even like me, but if you remove dissenting points of view because you don’t like what they have to say, then your are no better than the tyranny you purport to be fighting against.
So call me all the names you want to. It won’t matter to me-not now, not ever. Because the fact is, you are the minority and you will stay that way and I don’t have to lift a finger to be assured of this . You are extreme fringe political theater. Nobody takes you seriously. Maybe that’s what frustrates you so much. I commend Pete for taking on a cause like this-I certainly never would…mostly because I think it’s total nonsensical waste of time-but personally I think Pete should do more to fight corruption of police departments. He’s a smart kid and from what I’ve read fairly well educated. Surely educated enough to know that the real corruption isn’t in the boondocks of Massachusetts and hippy college towns of New Hampshire. It’s in places like Detroit, south central Los Angeles, New Orleans, Miami….I don’t see that on their itinerary. I would be impressed if it were. There would be a whole new level of respect for him then. I would probably donate to keep him going then. But he picks the “soft” targets. Small town “good ole’ boy” networks. Low hanging fruit if I ever saw it.
I stand corrected….It appears he has been to these places. Even still, Greenfield and Keene are definitely soft targets. We all know that the real corruption doesn’t happen there. He should go back through the major cities again. You might actually get a little attention for your cause. You won’t get anything but arrested in Greenfield and Keene.
@bob. got a lot of free time on your hands eh?
not as much as you’d think, but when I need to do billing at the beginning and end of the day I usually check things like email, facebook, nutjob political extremist websites….you know-the usual stuff. I know you retards think I’m a cop and all I have to say is I wish I made that much money. Reality is far different for me. But think what you want. I don’t care.
Bob/Rob said this:
“Then they should start acting like adults. End of story.Yet another fun fact….a police badge ABSOLUTELY DOES give you a superior position of power over the public. If they didn’t have that, they’d be high school hall monitors, not cops.”
No, actually a police office has no powers or authority that a citizen does not also have. All power comes from the citizen, we can not delegate powers that we do not have. You do know what delegated powers are, don’t you?
I know most cops are not very well educated or have IQs much above room temperature. But I am sure it is a concept you can understand.
Chris. You are misinformed.
I wholeheartedly endorse you guys. This was, by far, the best example of harrassment and bullying, esp. after watching all of the previous Greenville vids. They truly do look like thugs on this one. They’re just pissed their initial charges didn’t stick too well.
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