Police use pepper spray on guests at quiet backyard fundraiser.

"When the police behave like home invaders, who will protect us?" - Kimberly Green 

It's surprising how many of these incidents have cropped up during Gay Pride Month.  Or is it?

The Nuts and Bolts:  In San Diego County, a backyard fundraiser for Democratic congressional candidate Francine Busby was being held at the home of a lesbian couple.  A neighbor showed up and started hurling anti-gay insults at the group of less than thirty women.  The heckler then called police to complain about the noise, which Busby says was not loud.  The police arrived, pepper-sprayed the guests, and arrested 60-year old Shari Barman, who was hosting the event.  Barman was thrown to ground by Deputy Marshall Abbott, injuring her shoulder.

Kimberley Beatty, 42, a stay-at-home mother who attended the fundraiser, said of the arresting officer:  "He had a raged look in his eyes, and his head was bobbing from side to side," which prompted her to call 911 and report that the deputy "appeared to be out of control."

Edge Boston:   A guest departing at the time of Deputy Abbott’s arrival, Tom DiCioccio, estimated that the crowd had already dwindled to 15; the DiCioccio also claimed that he saw Abbott stride right into Barman’s house without knocking.  Inside, guests indicated that Abbott behaved with excessive force. When Abbott asked Barman her age, she asked why that information was needed for a citation for noise.  Said Busby, "No one was refusing to comply," but Abbott evidently saw it differently: at that point, Barman was informed that she was being arrested.  When Barman attempted to walk away from Abbott, witnesses said, Abbott seized her by the arm and shoved her to the ground.  Witnesses said that Barman was clearly in pain at this point.  When Barman’s partner, Jane Stratton, 55, stepped forward to ask Abbott to be careful because Barman had recently had shoulder surgery, Abbot knocked her down, according to a statement later released by Barman.  Guests helped Barman up and escorted her away from Abbott, who then began to spray the attendees of the fundraiser with pepper spray.

TPM's Eric Kleefeld later spoke with the candidate:  Busby strongly denied that anyone at the fundraiser did anything to provoke violence by the sheriffs. (For their part, the sheriffs claim that somebody kicked an officer.) ... I asked her about a statement from one of the arresting officers, Sgt. Thomas Yancey, that Busby herself should have shown leadership in keeping the crowd in order.  She obviously disagrees. "Because first of all, nothing was happening until this woman was arrested. He put her in a restraint-hold and she fell to the floor," she said. "I walked in when all the confusion started, and he was spraying pepper spray in all their faces...and frankly someone told me, 'You need to get out of here,' because it was out of control.  He was not listening; there was no controlling this person. The people who asked him to stop hurting this woman were pepper-sprayed without warning, there was no talking to this man."  Busby made it clearer to me that these were not the sort of typically rowdy political demonstrators.  "They were middle-aged and above.  This is not a rowdy crowd."

According to Sheriff Bill Gore, an internal investigation into the incident will be conducted.  So, who's taking bets that this out-of-control deputy will be exonerated?  And the homophobic heckler who started everything by filing a false complaint?  Nope, no charges there.  (Pictured: Democratic candidate Francine Busby.)

Comments

[Daniel]

these types of events, along with the florida state tasering incident and the many other examples of police brutality that have been popping up recently drive me crazy. I legitimately cannot watch the "Don't tase me bro" video without the urge to hit someone. I imagine if there was a video present at this, I'd feel the same. I wonder at what point will people realize enough is enough? Police already shot and killed a VICTIM and were barely penalized (see BART shootings).

At some point, I hope someone will do something.