It turns out that the man, David Willoughby, is a veteran of the US Marine Corps. Today he has released a statement about his arrest.
It begins: My name is Dave Willoughby. I am the one in the video.
Without being told what I had done, I was handcuffed and escorted off premise. Placed in a squad car and taken to a police station. I asked if I should have my rights read to me and was told “You’re not being arrested.” My personal property was taken from me, I was fingerprinted, mug shot taken and locked in a dark jail cell (lights off) still handcuffed.
I sat in that jail cell, looking out of a meshed wire window, at a large American flag flying in the background. Where am I? How can this be happening? What did I do wrong? I prayed for strength.
When I swore the oath to protect and defend the Constitution, I never realized until recently, how vulnerable our precious freedoms actually are.
I did nothing wrong. There were literally hundreds of cameras at this event. I challenge all media to find one shred of evidence, which would support the actions of the Milwaukee PD officers.
Does Mayor Barrett approve?
In an interview with PJ Media today, Willoughby said: “I went to this rally on Friday. I stood my ground. I was poked, prodded, cursed at, every nasty word that could be thrown my way was thrown my way. I stood in the same spot for the entire time. As I was walking, I felt this arm grab me and I felt this fist and I turned around and it was a cop! He told me ‘You’re gonna get your ass kicked.’ All the while I was asking the police officer if he was going to uphold his oath to protect and defend the Constitution? He never answered me.”
“The whole time I’m asking ‘What did I do wrong?’ No answer. They handcuffed me. They took me into a car. I asked ‘Am I being arrested?’ and they said ‘No, you’re not being arrested.’ But they handcuffed me, and put me in a dark jail cell, all the while not arresting me.” You can hear much of the exchange in the video. Willoughby says police took personal property from him during the encounter.
According to the police citation, which Willoughby read to me over the phone, Willoughby (seen at left at a Tea Party rally) is accused of the following: “During a political rally, subject raised a protest sign above his head in a manner that created danger to the public. Subject’s actions caused a disturbance during a political rally.” The citation carries a $185 fine and has a July court date. Mr. Willoughby is not in jail, but says that he will fight the citation on the grounds that he did absolutely nothing wrong and was exercising his free speech rights.
Willoughby served in the United States Marine Corps from 1992 to 2000 and was honorably discharged. He was also a firefighter for 10 years in the state of Florida. Willoughby says that his time as a non-union firefighter has led him to suspect that the Wisconsin police officers may be acting as union members first and police officers second.
by
No comments:
Post a Comment