Quartzite, AZ: Woman arrested, "state of emergency" due to Youtube outrage?

[AZRedhawk44]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JdNVhXKc-I

Youtube is chilling.  Woman almost gets arrested between 1:00 and 2:15 while the town council argues whether she has the floor (when she clearly followed allowable and polite procedures to address the council).

One councilman says arrest the woman, others are telling the police to back off and they're in violation of the council's contradictory orders.

She gets arrested.

Town is evidently up in arms over this.  Police Chief gets mayor to declare "State of Emergency."

http://www2.az-independent.com/2011/07/10/state-of-emergency-in-quartzsite/

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

shes been arrested there before  and won in court.  its like a family fight

[makattak]

shes been arrested there before  and won in court.  its like a family fight

And like many family fights (if this has happened before) it seems that no lesson was learned from the last time.

Maybe publicity will encourage learning this time.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

http://thedesertfreedompress.blogspot.com/2011/05/breaking-news-quartzsite-police-chief.html


learning curve is getting steeper

[Seenterman]

I just saw this and was about to post it; WTF is going on?

The mayor was telling the police officers the entire time that the woman speaking had the floor, the cops and city manager(?) interrupt her multiple times, and the cops eventually escort her out. Isn't that the definition of a false arrest? Deprivation of civil rights under color of authority? If that isn't I really don't know what is. It would have been nice to see the entire community at that meeting get up and nonviolently resist these unlawful actions by police.

I hope every officer who participated in that unlawful arrest gets sued to the poor house. Screw qualified immunity the MAYOR was there telling you that the woman had the floor, there was no reason to arrest her.  

[makattak]

Wow. That town is more corrupt than my home town. And we had cops that worked side jobs as drug dealers! (Our chief of police was not one of them, though. He is/was (not sure if he's still alive or the chief) a good cop and a good man.)

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

lots of reasons  just no good legal ones

[Seenterman]

Arizona Police Chief Jeff Gilbert is struggling desperately to maintain his position after three quarters of his own officers filed formal complaints against him

Ha HA!!

Allegations have been made against Quartzsite's Police Chief for both criminal conduct and ethical violations of the town's personnel manual. They range from assault, illegal searches and arrests, surveillance and investigation of political opponents, "official police business" being conducted without reports filed, false reporting, and grant fraud, to abuse of National Crime Information Center (NCIC) background checks for personal use and/or without probable cause. La Paz County Republican Precinct Chairman Michael Roth maintains he was falsely arrested for "disorderly conduct" and placed on the FBI "terrorist watch list" for his outspoken criticism of Police Chief Jeff Gilbert.

Oh boy he should be screwed.

Rather than have the officer's complaints investigated at no charge by the Major Crimes Division of the state police, Town Manager Alex Taft has instead chosen to hire a private firm, in what appears to be a pattern of damage control and cover up.

WHAT THE FLYING F*#K!?
 

[Boomhauer]

Looks like the town council (voted 5-0 to declare a state of emergency), police chief, and the town manager are in cahoots.

The good officers and town citizens need to join forces, march on city hall, and remove them from office...

[Balog]

Anyone remember the Battle of Athens Tennessee? I wonder if the folks in Quartzite do?

[RoadKingLarry]

Sadly I doubt the good citizens have the collective spine to take the appropriate action.

[kgbsquirrel]

Anyone remember the Battle of Athens Tennessee? I wonder if the folks in Quartzite do?

I was just thinking that too. Of course there is a major difference. Athens, TN saw a sudden and massive in-flux of skilled and motivated WW2 Veterans still in their prime that didn't take kindly to corruption of public service. So unless the locals really get their blood up over this matter I, sadly, do not see it going that route.

[HankB]

Wonder if there's more going on . . . sort of like the small town of  Bell, CA, (pop. 38,000) where the city manager was being paid ~$800k annually, and even the police chief was making $457k.

[griz]

I was wondering the same thing.  Even power hungry people usually have a reason behind there actions.  What is the council trying to do?

[Triphammer]

Quartzite is nearly a ghost town this time of year. Its population grows to over 50 thou in winter.  I wonder if that has something to do with to local wierdness.

[zxcvbob]

Sheriff says he doesn't have the authority to do anything in Quartzite.  He thinks the police chief outranks him.

http://www.parkerliveonline.com/2011/07/12/sheriff-weighs-in-on-quartzsite-situation/

I wonder if he's in on the corruption, or ignorant of his position, or just lazy?

[RoadKingLarry]

Maybe they should telegraph for the Federal Marshal.
 

[HankB]

I wonder if he's in on the corruption, or ignorant of his position, or just lazy?

You do realize the three possibilities are not mutually exclusive?

[Tallpine]

Maybe they should telegraph for the Federal Marshal.
 

Roy Rogers or John Morrison...?   

[seeker_two]

I doubt anything like the Battle of Athens will occur.....but I won't be surprised if a few of these city "officials" are eventually discovered with a distinct lack of lividity over the next year.... 

[Ned Hamford]

I just saw this and was about to post it; WTF is going on?

The mayor was telling the police officers the entire time that the woman speaking had the floor, the cops and city manager(?) interrupt her multiple times, and the cops eventually escort her out. Isn't that the definition of a false arrest? Deprivation of civil rights under color of authority? If that isn't I really don't know what is. It would have been nice to see the entire community at that meeting get up and nonviolently resist these unlawful actions by police.

Read one of those followup articles posted by CASD; Turns out the mayor has also been arrested by these jokers for 'disturbing the peace.'

IMHO 'nonviolent' resistance to these LEOINOs would just result in more violence.  The woman in the video was non-violently resisting so they wretched her arm badly enough to require hospital care.  With no active threat and 3 officers, you think they wouldn't have needed to roughhouse.  Imagine if it wasn't in a public forum....

While the majority of officers are protesting themselves, there is that percentage remaining, and now that private firm...

But yah, with such a degree of rottenness, you know it goes 3+ levels deep.  And yah, AZ, wish I could say I was shocked some higher ups weren't taking a stand.  But hey, this is a state where judges bothering to read capital conviction appeals is a rarity.

Sometimes I really wish we could just tell a state they are doing so poorly they have to start over.

Edit: Just had some great insight from my father, the police officers who have kept on, probably making some wild over time pay right now.   

[zxcvbob]

Someone is gonna have to die before the state police or AZAG Horne or the FBI takes any interest.  (and the state police would probably automatically side with the police chief without even checking to see if he's one of the good guys or the bad guys.)

[griz]

Update
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2011/07/11/emergency_declared_in_az_town_over_allegations/?rss_id=Boston.com+%2F+Boston+Globe

From the article:

He (the mayor) said since being in office, he has discovered that every pay period, eight to 10 paychecks go to unnamed people and that he has been denied access to financial records to find out where the money goes at every turn.

Assuming the mayor isn't nuts, this thing sounds like a town council that doesn't want to give up its well feathered nest and is willing to arrest anybody who gets in their way.  Wow, what a weird story.

[zxcvbob]

I like the way the chief of police illegally usurped the mayor (what happened to the vice mayor?) because the mayor called him a Nazi.  Ya gotta love the irony.

[zxcvbob]

A brief history lesson on Quartzite that I found (click the link):  

Quartzsite’s politics have been in a state of turmoil from the time the town incorporated in 1989. There was the incident in 1994 where then-Mayor Rex Byrd was accused of trying to have former Mayor Richard Oldham killed. Byrd was convicted in 1995, but the conviction was overturned on appeal.

The Parker Pioneer felt publishing a history of the current dispute would be helpful for county residents to understand what’s going on...