Crane County Incident Update
(Apparently I made this sign too good. :-) It is not real, but don't be surprised one day to see one as you enter into the Soviet Socialist Republic Of Crane. LOL!)Alot has happened with the ongoing Crane County drama. The story has made national headlines...even internationally!
The Sheriff issued the first public statment about the incident, and of course is "circling the wagons". What's funny is that he probably should have just been quiet and hired a PR person. I'll comment on his statement below.
Now, the story gets EVEN better! It was reported that the hot-headed deputy is the son-and-law of the Sheriff himself!! LOL!! I can't make this stuff up!! (thanks to Tim Shriver on ST posting the image below)
Now, the story gets EVEN better! It was reported that the hot-headed deputy is the son-and-law of the Sheriff himself!! LOL!! I can't make this stuff up!! (thanks to Tim Shriver on ST posting the image below)
So, here we go...starting off with raw video of the arrest. You can view it here: http://www.kwes.com/global/story.asp?s=8286980
Quoting and responding to the article I mentioned:
Crane County Sheriff Robert DeLeon said the incident happened after weather spotter Brian Taylor Barnes, of Violent Skies Tours, hadn't reported to the Crane Emergency Operations Center - "like all the other weather spotters."
Wow, this is such a stupid statement...where do I begin? I'll try though.
1) Did the deputy actually check with the EOC to verify this before becoming enraged?
2) Is this the distinction between levying a false charge and arrest against somebody? "If you don't report into EOC, we are gonna arrest you, son."
3) Since when does this "allow" somebody the privilege of parking at a rest stop well away from the highway to observe a severe thunderstorm without being verbally abused, handcuffed and thrown against a vehicle then a false charge filed against you?
"Mr. Barnes took it upon himself to recklessly disregard a reasonable request or order to leave the immediate vicinity where our deputy believed him and fellow passengers to be in a dangerous proximity to funnel clouds that had already produced one reported tornado."
1) Recklessly disregard? As in the pic to the right? A lawyer should have loads of fun with that one should ol' Boss Hogg bring that up in court. Strike one, sheriff.
2) What cracks me up is that this entire statement assumes that this idiot deputy is an experienced authority on the danger that the storm actually imposed on Brian and his clients. As a lawyer, I would rip his ass by pointing out the deputy drove Mr. Barnes AND the chase tour clients INTO the core of the TORNADIC storm!!! They drove through blinding rain and hail the size of golfballs and larger. So, the deputy's actions gravely endangered everybody's safety. It also proves that the deputy knows absolutely ZILCH about severe storm dynamics, structure....little alone knowing ANYTHING about "dangerous proximity" to a storm. Idiot!
I would further request all documentation and certification for any training that this deputy has received proving that he was knowlegable enough to make a determination that the victims were truly in immediate danger or in "dangerous proximity". I would then contrast any such documentation (and I'm betting he doesn't have ANY) with that of Mr. Barnes' vast experience, training and knowlege...not to mention the equipment Mr. Barnes uses such as live radar complete with analysis tools. Mr. Barnes does this stuff for a living. The deputy of course doesn't have any such access to information....another excellent contrast. He would have though had he not been a power tripping ass.
3) And, as icing on the cake, just WHO reported that tornado the sheriff is talking about? If it can be documented that Brian did....ZING! LOL!!
Oh my God! I would SOOOO love to be a lawyer or at least a paralegal working on this case to defend Brian. LOL!! But I'm not, unfortunately. It makes me wish I had gone to law school though. ;-)
Wow, this is such a stupid statement...where do I begin? I'll try though.
1) Did the deputy actually check with the EOC to verify this before becoming enraged?
2) Is this the distinction between levying a false charge and arrest against somebody? "If you don't report into EOC, we are gonna arrest you, son."
3) Since when does this "allow" somebody the privilege of parking at a rest stop well away from the highway to observe a severe thunderstorm without being verbally abused, handcuffed and thrown against a vehicle then a false charge filed against you?
"Mr. Barnes took it upon himself to recklessly disregard a reasonable request or order to leave the immediate vicinity where our deputy believed him and fellow passengers to be in a dangerous proximity to funnel clouds that had already produced one reported tornado."1) Recklessly disregard? As in the pic to the right? A lawyer should have loads of fun with that one should ol' Boss Hogg bring that up in court. Strike one, sheriff.
2) What cracks me up is that this entire statement assumes that this idiot deputy is an experienced authority on the danger that the storm actually imposed on Brian and his clients. As a lawyer, I would rip his ass by pointing out the deputy drove Mr. Barnes AND the chase tour clients INTO the core of the TORNADIC storm!!! They drove through blinding rain and hail the size of golfballs and larger. So, the deputy's actions gravely endangered everybody's safety. It also proves that the deputy knows absolutely ZILCH about severe storm dynamics, structure....little alone knowing ANYTHING about "dangerous proximity" to a storm. Idiot!
I would further request all documentation and certification for any training that this deputy has received proving that he was knowlegable enough to make a determination that the victims were truly in immediate danger or in "dangerous proximity". I would then contrast any such documentation (and I'm betting he doesn't have ANY) with that of Mr. Barnes' vast experience, training and knowlege...not to mention the equipment Mr. Barnes uses such as live radar complete with analysis tools. Mr. Barnes does this stuff for a living. The deputy of course doesn't have any such access to information....another excellent contrast. He would have though had he not been a power tripping ass.
3) And, as icing on the cake, just WHO reported that tornado the sheriff is talking about? If it can be documented that Brian did....ZING! LOL!!
Oh my God! I would SOOOO love to be a lawyer or at least a paralegal working on this case to defend Brian. LOL!! But I'm not, unfortunately. It makes me wish I had gone to law school though. ;-)
In reality though, I believe the sheriff is posturing and bracing for one helluva lawsuit. I believe we've already seen what their defense is going to be. At this point, admitting any sort of wrong doing or guilt isn't a smart legal move. I can't help but think his "statement" was cooked up by a legal team.
As long as I'm playing Perry Mason, here is what I would do to sue the County, Sheriff's Department, and the deputy himself.
1) Charge them with violating the constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of assembly.
2) Failing to follow legally mandated and required arrest procedures (possibly further constitutional violations). I won't go into details as I'm not fully versed enough, but from what I know, the deputy and department screwed up on at least a couple of counts. Did the deputy read the Miranda rights? I haven't seen any evidence of that yet. Based on him being such a hot-headed and out-of-control maniac, I'd venture to guess he didn't. That's a real biggie.
3) Filing a blatent, willful and malicious false charge of obstructing a roadway.
4) Gross and intentional wreckless endangerment. Remember, this moron drove Brian INTO the bowels of a tornadic supercell storm...complete with large, destructive hail and blinding rain. This may also apply to the tour participants as well.
5) If this can be refuted with any video and/or eyewitness testimony, filing a false arrest/incident report if they indeed lied about the details. Based on the reaction so far from the Sheriff, I'd be looking at this hard.
6) Extreme emotional duress. This would apply to ALL parties victimized by this event...particularly the tour participants.
7) Excessive use of force (police brutality)....battery. This of course would be based on the available evidence and I agree marginal at bnest, but it is something else for them to have to fight in court. Based on everything else and how well you can paint the character and other actions of the deputy to the jury, I'd go for it.
8) Hefty punitive damages of course. This is where I'd get into the 8-figure range.
9) Demand the immediate removal of the deputy from his position within the department, including all such information relevant to his actions in this incident made a permanent part of his record. I don't know if you can really sue for that or not, but it's a nice gesture. ;-)
10) Demand a formal written AND verbal apology to ALL victims involved both from the Sheriff and the Deputy himself.
I would ask for $50 million for Mr. Barnes and another $500,000 for each tour participant.
If between now and then, the Sheriff receives some solid legal advice and pressure from the citizens and other government officials of Crane County resulting in dropping all charges against Mr. Barnes, AND at the very least disciplinary action agains the deputy....AND a formal apology, then I would settle for considerably less, but still 7 figures...oh, say about $5 million for Mr. Barnes and $50,000 for each tour participant. It's too late now to make amends and just forget about it. They had their chance. Besides, the county has insurance (or is supposed to) to protect against such malcontent employees, so the citizens will be okay.
For me, it's not really so much about protecting my stormchasing hobby, but everything to do with protecting our individual freedoms and rights as U.S. citizens from abuse and tyranny that clearly exists in Crane County, Texas. I would be just as pissed if it had been totally unrelated to stormchasing. However, the elements of stormchasing surrounding this incident make it even more outrageous and even laughable. Don't get me started about the Eldorado, Texas situation with the state coming in and taking all of those kids like they did. Maybe the state will prove their case that there were serious crimes being committed, but they had better do it and with solid conviction...quickly. That's another rant for another day though.
As long as I'm playing Perry Mason, here is what I would do to sue the County, Sheriff's Department, and the deputy himself.1) Charge them with violating the constitutionally guaranteed right of freedom of assembly.
2) Failing to follow legally mandated and required arrest procedures (possibly further constitutional violations). I won't go into details as I'm not fully versed enough, but from what I know, the deputy and department screwed up on at least a couple of counts. Did the deputy read the Miranda rights? I haven't seen any evidence of that yet. Based on him being such a hot-headed and out-of-control maniac, I'd venture to guess he didn't. That's a real biggie.
3) Filing a blatent, willful and malicious false charge of obstructing a roadway.
4) Gross and intentional wreckless endangerment. Remember, this moron drove Brian INTO the bowels of a tornadic supercell storm...complete with large, destructive hail and blinding rain. This may also apply to the tour participants as well.
5) If this can be refuted with any video and/or eyewitness testimony, filing a false arrest/incident report if they indeed lied about the details. Based on the reaction so far from the Sheriff, I'd be looking at this hard.
6) Extreme emotional duress. This would apply to ALL parties victimized by this event...particularly the tour participants.
7) Excessive use of force (police brutality)....battery. This of course would be based on the available evidence and I agree marginal at bnest, but it is something else for them to have to fight in court. Based on everything else and how well you can paint the character and other actions of the deputy to the jury, I'd go for it.
8) Hefty punitive damages of course. This is where I'd get into the 8-figure range.
9) Demand the immediate removal of the deputy from his position within the department, including all such information relevant to his actions in this incident made a permanent part of his record. I don't know if you can really sue for that or not, but it's a nice gesture. ;-)
10) Demand a formal written AND verbal apology to ALL victims involved both from the Sheriff and the Deputy himself.
I would ask for $50 million for Mr. Barnes and another $500,000 for each tour participant.
If between now and then, the Sheriff receives some solid legal advice and pressure from the citizens and other government officials of Crane County resulting in dropping all charges against Mr. Barnes, AND at the very least disciplinary action agains the deputy....AND a formal apology, then I would settle for considerably less, but still 7 figures...oh, say about $5 million for Mr. Barnes and $50,000 for each tour participant. It's too late now to make amends and just forget about it. They had their chance. Besides, the county has insurance (or is supposed to) to protect against such malcontent employees, so the citizens will be okay.
For me, it's not really so much about protecting my stormchasing hobby, but everything to do with protecting our individual freedoms and rights as U.S. citizens from abuse and tyranny that clearly exists in Crane County, Texas. I would be just as pissed if it had been totally unrelated to stormchasing. However, the elements of stormchasing surrounding this incident make it even more outrageous and even laughable. Don't get me started about the Eldorado, Texas situation with the state coming in and taking all of those kids like they did. Maybe the state will prove their case that there were serious crimes being committed, but they had better do it and with solid conviction...quickly. That's another rant for another day though.
That's why I'm distressed to read so many comments out there that Brian should have just cowed down to the deputy and moved on. Sure, it keeps you from going to jail. But it is a pacifist point of view which I am strongly at odds with. It serves only to invite such tyranny to breed uncontested. That attitude is why we enjoy much less freedom nowadays considering what the Constitution guarantees us. Would I have stood up for what I'm preaching and gone to jail too? I guess we'll see if it ever happens to me. I'm pretty sure I would. :-)
The government should work for US and held accountable to WE, THE PEOPLE. I truly hope and encourage Mr. Barnes to legally attack this with as much brute force as he is able to muster in order to see justice prevail. One last thing to those spouting off the letter of the law that Mr. Barnes is charged with, there is such a thing as the spirit and intent of the law. From what I've read, this incident is in a very gray area and would be a very very weak defense for the Sheriff and deputy...in my opinion of course.
Perhaps next time, a stormchaser in Crane County should REALLY give them something to get excited about. I'm thinking of repainting my Honda Element to look like the General Lee and drving through their "domain". :-)
So, from now on, I'll be playing theme music from "Smokey & The Bandit" and "Dukes Of Hazzard" when traveling through Crane County. LOL!!That's it for me! I feel better now. :-) I had to get that off my chest so I can chill out this evening. Since I'm on the theme of bungling Sheriffs, I'd leave a video clip for ya of another famous father/son Sheriff duo (be warned...a little bad language):
Labels: Crane County, Massive Lawsuit, Stupid Deputy, Texas
posted by Steve Miller TX at 5/09/2008 05:47:00 PM
5 comments
After the 
Check out this excellent story by KWES out of Midland. Be sure to view the video link of the news story they ran.
A very active thread is running about it on Stormtrack which will be the best source of info as this situation progresses and finds it's eventual conculsion...lots better than my blog for keeping up with it:
