More about that incident yesterday in which blogger Mike Stark got knocked around, thrown to the ground and put in a headlock by Allen staffers.
A number of you have flagged this passage in the article from the Washington Post …
Charlottesville Police Lt. Gary Pleasants said Stark reported the incident yesterday and indicated that he wanted to press assault charges against the men. Pleasants said police are investigating and trying to determine the names of the Allen staffers involved.
“We will find out who the people are, give him the information and he can go to the magistrate and try to obtain a warrant for them,” Pleasants said.
Now, thankfully, I haven’t had a lot of experience with how local police departments handle assault charges. But a number of readers point out, and I’m inclined to agree, that this sounds like an awfully passive approach on the part of local law enfocement.
The best I can tell, Stark was just asking admittedly embarrassing questions of Allen in a public forum. But however you want to characterize his questions, the videotape of the incident seem to provide clear evidence that Stark had done no more than ask questions when three members of Allen’s entourage, man-handled him, put him in a headlock and threw him to the ground. That sounds like the sort of thing that leads to an assault charge. But do the police usually leave it to the victim to do this sort of do-it-yourself investigation and charging?
The local police gives Stark the names and he has to go find a magistrate to get a warrant for their arrest?
This isn’t just a rhetorical question. As I said, I have no direct familiarity with how this works. But I’d be pretty disappointed if, having been accosted and beat up by some hoodlums on the street, the cops gave me a receipt saying it was Joe, John and Fred who kicked my butt and that I was welcome to head down to the courthouse and have at it.
Late Update: From a number of TPM lawyer-readers, I hear that what appears from the outside to be passivity on the part of the local police is actually fairly standard in a case like this.
Later Update: Hmmm. A former prosecutor and magistrate says no way. So maybe not.
Late Later Update: From TPM Reader MS …
The Charlottesville PD’s behavior may be standard practice in many cases, as your other lawyer-readers have pointed out already, but it’s not necessarily the right practice in this case. The PD is busy, yes, and doesn’t have time to go around arresting everyone who is accused of tackling someone else when no officer saw the scuffle. But this case involves a Senator a week before the election, and oh yeah, there’s video footage of the battery. (By the way, Stark needs to be pressing charges not just for assault but for battery as well. I know the cop/lawyer shows lump the two together but they’re entirely different criminal offenses. Assault is just when you put someone in fear of being harmed. Battery is when you actually harm them.) The idea that the police aren’t getting involved because they’re not sure anything wayward occurred is preposterous.
As an aside, am I the only one who gets a really strong Greg Stillson vibe from Sen. Allen? A superficially religious zealot surrounded by violent goons who cause trouble for anyone who might get in Allen’s way?
