Terrorism
Yesterday, I noted a case of someone being charged with making destructive devices and being treated like a terrorist for putting dry ice in bottles to watch them pop. Stormy draws our attention to another such stupid case:
Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern owner Jimmy Cirrito said his bartenders have been entertaining his customers — by juggling bottles of alcohol and spitting out streams of flames using matchbooks and lighters — for more than a decade and no one’s complained. But shortly after midnight on July 24, two of his longtime employees were hauled out of the Herndon bar in handcuffs and charged with three felonies each plus other misdemeanors
“They were being treated as if they were terrorists, charged as if they intentionally tried to burn down the tavern,” Cirrito said.
Fairfax County fire investigators charged Tegee Rogers, 33, of Herndon, and Justin Fedorchak, 39, of Manassas, with manufacturing an explosive device, setting a fire capable of spreading, and burning or destroying a meeting house. They also were charged with several state fire code misdemeanors.
An explosive device? Really. Where’s the explosion? More akin to a flamethrower and I don’t know about VA law but a flamethrower isn’t regulated federally.
August 19th, 2010 at 9:14 am
Ahhhh Fairfax County.
My favorite Fairfax County deal was cops going into bars and asking drunken patrons to step outside and then arresting them for being drunk in public.
NoVa cops aren’t all that into due process. They are into power and telling the peons to shut up.
I don’t agree with Radley Balko about a lot of stuff, but he has their number.
August 19th, 2010 at 10:07 am
NoVa cops and .gov are one reason I didn’t experience all that much culture shock when I moved to NJ…
August 19th, 2010 at 10:48 am
Pretty much way things have become over the past decade. If you do something that makes someone piss their pants, expect to be arrested.
Not fair or right, but the wimpification of the culture is getting us all there. The closer you live to a city, the sooner it will happen.
August 19th, 2010 at 11:15 am
I wonder how they feel about Hibachi grills.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:00 pm
Sounds like the local D.A. is up for Re-election this year, and is trying to prove that he’s tough on crime.
August 19th, 2010 at 7:06 pm
The Virginia law in question basically says that ALL explosive devices or materials are illegal unless possessed for a educational, scientific or “any lawful purpose”. The statute basically allows a NOVA piggy to arrest anyone in possession of smokeless powder, blackpowder, pyrodex, gasoline, auto airbags, or anything else that might go boom, and force them to prove that they had the item for a “lawful purpose”. Oh, and “lawful purpose” is not defined anywhere in the Code of Virginia.
This is also the same Commonwealth’s Attorney that prosecuted a man who was naked inside his own home. (Google “naked coffee guy”).
August 20th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Which means that it is (or is supposed to be) interpreted as meaning “any purpose which is not unlawful,” since anything that is not specifically prohibited is lawful.