Skateboarding is Not a Crime Two brothers, arrested at Fresno City College on September 25, 2009, a

[annm4peace]

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/12/26/18633619.php

Skateboarding is Not a Crime
by Mike Rhodes ( editor fresnoalliance.com )
Saturday Dec 26th, 2009 12:24 PM

Two brothers, arrested at Fresno City College on September 25, 2009, are still in the Fresno County Jail for an incident involving a skateboard. Demone Moultrie will soon be transferred to Chino State Prison. His brother Greg is in solitary confinement.

Skateboarding is Not a Crime
By Mike Rhodes

Does your right to carry a skateboard vanish into thin air when you step onto the Fresno City College campus? Ask Greg and Demone Moultrie, who are still sitting in the Fresno County Jail, what they think. According to witnesses, Greg Moultrie was walking on campus with his skateboard in his hands on September 25, 2009 when he was stopped by a campus police officer. The officer ordered Moultrie to hand over his skateboard. When he did not want to comply with what he felt was an unreasonable request, the incident escalated and Demone Moultrie, Greg’s brother, got involved. As officers scuffled with the Moultries, a student at the Native American Intertribal Student Association table got on the group’s PA system and encouraged students to use their cell phones to film the incident.

In video on the Internet < http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=news/local&id=7033613 >, you can see the chaotic scene, including one of the officers hitting Demone with his baton. Greg was sprayed with mace. Greg is now—more than three months after this incident—still sitting in the Fresno County Jail. He has just been given a 3 year sentence for charges filed against him in the skateboarding incident. When I went to visit Demone on December 22, Greg was in The Hole - solitary confinement. Demone is also still in jail and is scheduled to be sent to Chino State Prison on January 21, all because of this skateboarding incident. How could something as simple as walking across the FCC campus with a skateboard end up with two young men in jail for a prolonged period of time?

In an attempt to find out the answer to this question, I talked to students at FCC and contacted the Public Information Office. I received a response from Joseph Callahan, Chief of Police with the State Center Community College District who defended their “skateboarding is a crime” policy by stating that “once skateboards get away from their owner, they are little more than missiles capable of great harm.”

Just before school let out for winter break, I talked to JP, who was sitting on a bench next to the fountain where the incident had occurred. He had his skateboard with him. I asked if he had ever had any trouble with the police, and he told me about two incidents when he had his skateboard confiscated. “They took my skateboard when I was on the sidewalk on the McKinley side of the campus, and I had to pay $16 to get it back.”

Callahan says that if the fine is not paid within twenty-one days it doubles. He went on to say that “skateboards that are not claimed will be held for ninety days. After ninety days a letter will be mailed to the owner advising them that if they do not come in and pick up their property within thirty days, it will be transferred to the Director of Maintenance and Operations for auction.” That might explain why the police have a more than causal interest in confiscating skateboards, whether or not students are in violation of any rules.

Rigo Garcia is a member of the Sustainable Action Club at FCC. He said that “after the skateboarding incident in September, we tried to hold a forum on campus to discuss the incident.” Even though the club is a campus group, the school administration refused to allow them to use a building for the forum, in part because “they said we are an environmental group and that this issue didn’t have anything to do with the environment.” Garcia said that Sustainable Action is a social and economic justice group and that they should be able to discuss issues of concern on the campus. He feels the refusal by the FCC administration to allow them to use a room to discuss this issue was a violation of their free speech rights.

The FCC administration, immediately following the September 25 incident, banned campus groups from setting up tables near the fountain. Garcia said they claimed that it was a “security concern” because emergency vehicles would have a hard time getting on campus with student tables in the fountain area, but it is commonly understood at FCC that the ban was in response to the student group that got on the PA system, announced that the police were attacking students and asked if someone could turn on their cell phone and video the incident. The December 2 FCC Rampage (the student newspaper) had an in-depth story connecting the ban on tables at the fountain and the skateboarding incident.

“FCC has a new video surveillance system with a camera focused on the fountain, but they are telling us that somehow that camera was not working on September 25,” Garcia said. The missing video could have shown what happened before the police confronted, hit and arrested Greg and Demone Moultrie. Instead, what you have is missing video that would have given insight into the incident and the FCC administration retaliating against student groups because they encouraged fellow students to document the incident. In addition, they tried to prevent students from discussing the incident by refusing to allow Sustainable Action to hold a forum on the incident. What is it about academic freedom that the FCC administration doesn’t understand?

Garcia has a theory about why the FCC police behave the way they do. He says that when officers in the notoriously aggressive Fresno Police Department get into trouble, they end up with the FCC campus police. That could explain the culture at the FCC campus police, but it does not explain why the FCC administration allows these violations of basic constitutional rights to continue. If these violations continue, it is only a matter of time before an organization such as the American Civil Liberties Union becomes involved and files a lawsuit, resulting in a huge settlement or judgment against the college

[ddeclue]

1. People have the right to regulate where you may or may not skateboard.

It represents a risk to other people if you run into them and it represents a lawsuit risk if you or another person gets hurt on someone else's property.

People who own property have the right to say what you can or cannot do on it.

Likewise cities and counties have the right to pass ordinances saying what you may or may not do on public property.

To carry your ridiculous mantra to an extreme: Motorcycling on sidewalks is not a crime. Speeding is not a crime. Drag racing on public streets in not a crime. NOT.

If you want to skate board do it in a skateboarding park or on your own property.

[hobbit709]

2. Carrying the skateboard is NOT riding it.

[ddeclue]

4. Carrying the gun is NOT shooting it.

So much for THAT argument.

People have the right to say you can't bring a gun on their property either.

[hobbit709]

8. whatever.

[ddeclue]

10. translation - you have no reply.

[hobbit709]

12. I don't waste my time arguing with a closed mind.

[ddeclue]

13. translation = you don't waste your time when you know you've lost.

[Orsino]

24. Skateboard = murder weapon

...with no Amendment guaranteeing a right to it.

[hayu_lol]

3. Totally agree with...

ddeclue.

Skateboarders have been known to carry their skateboards when being observed. Once away from prying eyes however, they are also known for resuming their activities. Across the nation in crowded places, skateboarders have caused many injuries to others who share the public sidewalks and mall spaces and campuses.

Instead of going along with what was probably a legal request by security, the brothers chose to attack. Not smart on their part.

[hobbit709]

5. What you plan to do later has no bearing on that.

If they are observed riding later, then charge them but you can't charge them for riding when not riding.
That's like getting a speeding ticket while observing the speed limit because the cop thinks 5 miles down the road you're going to do 80.

[ddeclue]

7. That argument is ridiculous. The property owner can make any rule they like.

If they say get out you get out - it's called a trespass warning.

[here_is_to_hope]

19. Public property...

and let me guess, you are, lets say, older?
Like "get the fuck off my sidewalk you dirty rotten kids!"


Let me please never be so bitter.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

26. Ridiculous? Maybe, but not as much as comparing skateboards to guns. -nt

[mrbarber]

25. If motor vehicles are banned in that particular area..

It doesn't matter if your going 20 MPH or 100 MPH, your gonna get in trouble.

[eilen]

22. So the Cops made a preemptive strike

skateboards are wood with wheels. No comparison with guns or "dangerous contraband." They are not drugs, or weapons, just wood and wheels. Good lord. Should kids carrying sleds be hassled by the police too?

[proud2BlibKansan]

14. Agreed but the jail time is a bit extreme, don't you think?

[Hassin Bin Sober]

27. Sounds to me like it would have been a $16 dollar fine if they didn't fight the cop.

[Arctic Dave]

20. I guess it would all depend if the Campus has it writing.

If it has a "no skateboard in your possession", then yes, the cop had every right to confiscate it, if not, well, someone might become rich over this.

[Hoopla Phil]

21. It is legal property not banned on campus. He was not ridding it

nor a hazard to anyone.

[indepat]

30. This triviality escalating to a major crime which will cost the state $125,000 to $150,000

just to warehouse a potential skateboarder shows just how warped justice can be. :P

[annm4peace]

6. so it is totally ok with you these guys have sat in jail since Sep

What a bunch of crap

[ddeclue]

9. don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Flaneur]

18. What an authoritarian dickheaded thing to say!

Sitting in jail for three months or being sent to prison because you tried to prevent a cop from stealing your skateboard?

On edit: Took out offensive insult, even though poster deserves it.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

28. THAT sentence. Uttering it seriously is THE sign.

I now know EVERYTHING I need to know about you.

[blondeatlast]

11. That they are still in jail is inexcusable, but the kids aren't innocent here,

either.

[proud2BlibKansan]

15. Wow. What's the penalty for speeding? Life without parole?

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

29. If the penalty for speeding WAS life without parole, some dickhead Nazi sadist would surely say...

..."don't do the crime if you can't do the time."

It's what they do.

Psychos, one and all.

[elocs]

16. Obviously skateboarding can be a crime depending upon where it is done.

Simply carrying a skateboard should not be a crime, although from what I have seen too many skateboarders are not exactly scrupulous about obeying the rules. This story is actually less about skateboarding than it is about overzealous campus police.

It is illegal to smoke in some places, but it is not illegal to carry tobacco. Pretty much the same difference if cop gets bent out of shape about somebody carrying a pack of cigarettes.

[TheMadMonk]

23. In a school for sub-adults it is usually a violation of the rules to carry tobacco.

And in such a school it would probably be subject to confiscation. Same rule applies to skateboards in this location.

These kids were aware of the rule & confiscation policy. They chose to violate it. And when busted, chose to get into a fight with the cop instead of complying with his legal request. THAT is why they are still banged up three months later.

The cop may be a pocket hitler and total dick. Unfortunately in certain circumnstances, such as this one, that is a damned good reason to go along, rather than put oneself in the wrong and give him an excuse to exercise his ability to make a person's life hell.

Skateboards (and their riders) ARE semi-lethal missiles, and some of the tricks performed on them do considerable damage to property. In their place, I have no problem with them, away from those places I believe they should be carried in a bag or backpack.