{news} ACTION- Please respond to Stan Simpson's Krayeske could have ASSINATED RELL line!!

Wed Jan 31 09:17:04 EST 2007

Krayeske A Good Civics Lesson, But Let's End It 

Stan Simpson
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January 31 2007

Free Ken Krayeske! 

I mean it.

No, I haven't changed my mind one iota that Hartford police were well within their rights - if the circumstances and police report are accurate - to detain and make sure the self-styled peacenik-political activist-freelance journalist didn't plan to disrupt the Jan. 4 gubernatorial inauguration parade.

When it comes to protecting the state's highest elected official, it's always better to be safe than to second-guess. No telling what's in the nylon bag of a man with a previous arrest for civil disobedience and a website instigating protest, who is seen dumping his bicycle and "running up to the parade procession directly in front of where the Governor was passing by in the procession."

The Krayeske case has provided a wonderful civics lesson on the exercise of Free Speech vs. the exercise of Common Sense. Don't know if we'll ever reach unanimity, but wasting public dollars prosecuting Krayeske is unnecessary. Let's drop it. 

The lesson learned is that the police, like the Secret Service with the president, need to have latitude to exercise judgment in protecting the public official to which they are assigned. Protesters, meanwhile, have the right to criticize and speak their mind. But if their actions are such that an individual's safety could be compromised, then there are consequences.

Yes, the criteria on what constitutes a potential risk are highly subjective. I've maintained that Krayeske should have been stopped - not arrested - questioned and searched. Once it was determined that he was not planning to disrupt the event, he should have been released.

Krayeske supporters emphatically note that his nylon bag contained nothing more than photographic equipment. Fine. But also acknowledge that five years ago Gen. Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of an Afghanistan resistance movement, was assassinated after giving an interview to two men posing as journalists. A bomb was hidden in a video camera the men were using. The point is that it's not unfathomable for someone acting as a "journalist" to be a disruption or risk to a public official. 

If a conspiracy existed with Krayeske, then it means the state police, Hartford police and Rell's security force were all in cahoots. State Public Safety Commissioner Leonard Boyle has made it clear that though his people put Krayeske on the watch list, it was the HPD that busted him on charges of breach of peace and interfering with police.

A couple of e-mailers have injected race, asking me if my reaction would be different if Krayeske were black instead of white. One Courant columnist actually wrote a piece comparing Krayeske's situation to the struggles of Martin Luther King Jr. Wow!

Here goes: If Krayeske were African American with the same activist background and arrest record, he'd still be in jail, or seriously injured. Someone would have seen him "reaching for a gun" and some of the same "activists" championing Krayeske would be nowhere to be found. (Hey, they asked.)

As we conclude the autopsy on the case, it was an unfortunate arrest, one caused by a confluence of events and exacerbated by 12 hours in jail and a $75,000 bond that was excessive. Apparently, there are witnesses who dispute the police report. Those accounts - without the benefit of cross-examination - have to be viewed circumspectly. The case is continued to March 2. The only threat now is one of a civil suit by Krayeske. Suggestion: Drop the charges. Agree to forgo a civil suit. 

Class dismissed.

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