Raw Story pointed me to this article from The Philadelphia Inquirer by Randall Chase about the ACLU settling with the Delaware State Police and staffers of Rick Santorum after the staffers caused the state police to remove four ladies from a Santorum book signing at Barnes & Noble because they disagreed with Santorum's point of view.
"Under the settlement, the Delaware State Police will adopt a policy and training program for its officers on the free speech rights of protesters and pay $15,000 for the plaintiffs' legal fees, the ACLU said Wednesday.
"In addition, Sgt. Mark DiJiacomo will write a letter to the plaintiffs. Former Santorum aides Ellen Melrose and Becky Barrett-Toomey also will send the plaintiffs a letter of regret and pay them $2,500, the amount they were paid by Santorum's campaign to assist him on a book tour in Pennsylvania and Delaware."
The issue was whether the state police could keep the four ladies from attending the book-signing and protesting Santorum's policies. So it was an issue of the police restricting free speech as well as inflicting unlawful and unreasonable seizure and detainment.
"According to the lawsuit, Melrose and Barrett-Toomey told DiJiacomo to remove four young women in advance of Santorum's arrival at a Barnes & Noble store on Concord Pike in August 2005 because the women did not agree with the Pennsylvania Republican's views outlined in his book, It Takes a Family.
"The plaintiffs alleged that their treatment by DiJiacomo, acting in uniform and under state law, violated their rights to free speech and assembly, freedom from unreasonable seizure, and to petition government officials for a redress of grievances."
This is reminiscent of the two attendees at a Bush appearance and speech in Colorado several years ago at which Bush aides denied admittance to the two because they wore anti-Bush tee-shirts. The question in that case was whether the "aides" turned out to be Secret Service agents and whether they threatened the two protesters with arrest and detainment.
The comments of the ladies in Delaware are instructive. They claim that the Delaware State Police officer threatened them with arrest, although the police deny that assertion. Writes Randall Chase:
"The plaintiffs alleged that Stacey Galperin of Wilmington and Miriam Rocek of Newark were arrested and held briefly, while Hannah Shaffer of Glen Mills, Pa., and Meghan Devonshire of Boothwyn, Pa., were threatened with arrest.
"Seifert [state police spokesman] said DiJiacomo neither arrested the plaintiffs nor threatened to arrest them, but merely asked if they would be willing to leave to avoid a confrontation.
"Galperin, 22, the lead plaintiff, disagreed with Seifert's description of DiJiacomo's actions.
"He told us we were under arrest, he took my ID, he led us from the store, he told us we were going to be handcuffed," she said. "To me, when a police officer does that . . . that means you're under arrest."
"Under the settlement, the Delaware State Police will adopt a policy and training program for its officers on the free speech rights of protesters and pay $15,000 for the plaintiffs' legal fees, the ACLU said Wednesday.
"In addition, Sgt. Mark DiJiacomo will write a letter to the plaintiffs. Former Santorum aides Ellen Melrose and Becky Barrett-Toomey also will send the plaintiffs a letter of regret and pay them $2,500, the amount they were paid by Santorum's campaign to assist him on a book tour in Pennsylvania and Delaware."
The issue was whether the state police could keep the four ladies from attending the book-signing and protesting Santorum's policies. So it was an issue of the police restricting free speech as well as inflicting unlawful and unreasonable seizure and detainment.
"According to the lawsuit, Melrose and Barrett-Toomey told DiJiacomo to remove four young women in advance of Santorum's arrival at a Barnes & Noble store on Concord Pike in August 2005 because the women did not agree with the Pennsylvania Republican's views outlined in his book, It Takes a Family.
"The plaintiffs alleged that their treatment by DiJiacomo, acting in uniform and under state law, violated their rights to free speech and assembly, freedom from unreasonable seizure, and to petition government officials for a redress of grievances."
This is reminiscent of the two attendees at a Bush appearance and speech in Colorado several years ago at which Bush aides denied admittance to the two because they wore anti-Bush tee-shirts. The question in that case was whether the "aides" turned out to be Secret Service agents and whether they threatened the two protesters with arrest and detainment.
The comments of the ladies in Delaware are instructive. They claim that the Delaware State Police officer threatened them with arrest, although the police deny that assertion. Writes Randall Chase:
"The plaintiffs alleged that Stacey Galperin of Wilmington and Miriam Rocek of Newark were arrested and held briefly, while Hannah Shaffer of Glen Mills, Pa., and Meghan Devonshire of Boothwyn, Pa., were threatened with arrest.
"Seifert [state police spokesman] said DiJiacomo neither arrested the plaintiffs nor threatened to arrest them, but merely asked if they would be willing to leave to avoid a confrontation.
"Galperin, 22, the lead plaintiff, disagreed with Seifert's description of DiJiacomo's actions.
"He told us we were under arrest, he took my ID, he led us from the store, he told us we were going to be handcuffed," she said. "To me, when a police officer does that . . . that means you're under arrest."
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