Criminal Indictments Sought Against Police, Giuliani Staffers Who Had Reporter Arrested For Asking Question
Eyewitnesses describe how Secret Service were directing arrest, intimidation of group
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Matt Lepacek, the reporter who was kicked out of the CNN press room and arrested after asking Rudy Giuliani's staff a question, has now been released on bail. Criminal indictments are now being pursued against the police involved as well as Giuliani's staffers for their flagrant abuse of the First Amendment, assault and wrongful arrest.
Watch the video below.
(Embeded Video)
Lepacek appeared as a guest on the Alex Jones Show to relate his experience after the Republican presidential debate last night.
Click here to listen to the interview, in which Lepacek and other members of the We Are Change team react and give their eyewitness accounts of the arrest.
In addition to the details that were already outlined in our previous article, fellow We Are Change member Luke Rudkowski also related how he was just silently filming the fracas when Giuliani staffers, and in particular one unidentified female, started hitting and attempting to steal his camera, before Lepacek and Rudkowski were pointed out by the staffers and five to seven police arrived to grab them and throw them out of the building.
The female staffer was witnessed to be instrumental in alerting the police to the "crime" of Lepacek asking a question that the Giuliani camp weren't comfortable with.
Rudkowski was assaulted and questioned on who he was working for despite the fact that he hadn't even asked a question and was standing separately from Lepacek.
Lepacek was told that other eyewitnesses saw police stamp on one of the cameras as it lay on the floor.
Another eyewitness said that the entire arrest was clearly being directed by Secret Service, who were ordering the police to threaten anyone who asked questions about the incident with arrest.
Lepacek was later released on $400 bail but faces charges of criminal trespassing even though he had obtained a CNN press pass well in advance and the debate was a public event. State police have refused to hand back electronic equipment that they seized from the group.
CNN staff attempted to dissuade police from arresting Lepacek as he was led out into the parking lot but were ignored.
Presidential candidate Ron Paul was informed about what had occurred and stated words to the effect that while we are supposed to be spreading freedom and democracy abroad, we couldn't even handle it in New Hampshire.
We are now being inundated by media requests and expect this controversy to receive attention on the major news networks and newspapers over the coming days.
The fact that the Giuliani camp views it as legitimate to have members of the media intimidated, assaulted and arrested for asking a question should be a wake up call for the kind of America Giuliani would oversee as a future President and this incident should contribute to derailing his entire campaign.
The actions of the New Hampshire State Police were completely unconstitutional and we are now pursuing criminal indictments against the police involved as well as the Giuliani staffers that assaulted the group and their property, and demanding that any charges against Matt Lepacek be dropped immediately.
This represents a flagrant abuse of the First Amendment, clear wrongful arrest and an act of official oppression.
More on this story as it develops.......
