Space Eagle Productions: May 2008

A VICTIM OF THE PATRIOT ACT
Current mood: Patriotic
Category: Patriotic News and Politics

The following story came to me from a very close friend of mine. Let me tell you a little bit about Mike.

Mike Kimberling is the example of what a human being should strive to be. He is an upright, honest, hard working family man. You would be hard pressed to find a better person than Mike. Mike is a Christian in the ways that Jesus intended for us to be. He is not like so many Faux Christians that inhabit our churches today.

In short, Mike is the man!

Here is his story…

June 2^nd, '08

Tommy,

Here's the scoop again in writing.

I went to visit a man who does some work for me b/c his cell phone was dead and I wanted to see how much progress he made on the job he currently had underway for me. I was inside his apartment talking with him when we heard some commotion outside and went into the parking lot of his complex to investigate. There were two things going on outside.

One was a wreck involving a motorcycle driven by a drunk man and an suv driven by his female companion. Also up the street some, the police were outside of a house talking with the people there. The police were there for sometime. At some point, someone yelled some obscenities at the police. By this time, several people were in the parking lot of the apartment complex. After a few minutes the police arrived in the parking lot of my friend's apartment complex. I was standing in the doorway of my friend's apartment at the time of their arrival.

Everyone in the parking lot, my friend included disappeared into various apartments. I was the only one who didn't close the door and hide. I didn't have any reason to. I remained in the doorway and was approached by a police officer who asked about the obscenities that were yelled. I explained the events as I observed them. He then asked me to step into the parking lot. I declined and said I'd prefer to stay in the doorway and talk with him. I felt like he was attempting to implicate me in the situation and felt like I'd be safer within the apartment.

At that point another officer arrived on the scene and upon seeing him, the first officer moved past me into the apartment and I followed him inside. I said something to the effect of "Sir, you don't have permission to enter these premises nor do have a search warrant." He said smugly "You ever heard of 911?", "Well" he continued, "since 911 there is a new law in effect called the Patriot Act and things have changed." His partner had entered the apartment as well by this point and told me to sit on the couch. I did and then he asked if anyone else was home. I knew my friend was not, he had been in the parking lot but upon the police arriving he entered another apartment and closed the door just like everyone else except me.

At any rate, I told the police that I wasn't sure if anyone else was home. I knew there was another man who sometimes slept in the second bedroom. Its door had been closed since I arrived and I never checked to see if he was there or not. While the second officer on the scene was questioning me, the first officer searched the entire apartment. He entered every room including the second bedroom whose door was closed and searched using a flashlight. He returned to the living room where I was seated. I said, "This is totally illegal. You guys can't do this." They insisted they could and left the apartment closing the door behind them.

I opened the door and stood there in amazement at what had just happened. The officers remained in the parking lot for sometime talking with another person they found in the parking lot. I waited several minutes for them to finish their conversation and finally, tired of waiting, I said from the apartment doorway, "excuse me". Both officers quickly returned to the doorway and asked what I wanted. I asked for a copy of the incident report and looked at both their name badges. The first officer on the scene smugly sounded out his name for me, seeing that I had taken notice of his name badge.

He said he had no intentions of documenting the occurrence. I asked him to. He said he would not but then got on the radio and called for his sergeant. After some coded police chatter via the radio, he informed me that his sergeant was on the way. When the sergeant arrived the officers approached him, had a brief conversation outside my hearing and then all three met me in the doorway.

The sergeant asked me what he could do for me. I explained that I felt like the officer's actions were unlawful. The sergeant very politely assured me that they weren't. He explained issues of officer safety and new search provisions of the Patriot Act. He very politely suggested that if I didn't agree with their actions, my only recourse was to write my congressman.

Upon that, they left. No arrests were made on that scene.

Thanks,

Mike Kimberling

K & S Computing

Mike@KSComputing. Biz