Patrick James
Writer / Former GOOD Managing Editor
- April 16, 2009 • 7:27 pm PDT
- + responses
This is Steven Anderson, a Baptist pastor who alleges that, after being stopped at an "anti-terrorism checkpoint" near the border in Arizona, and after he refused to let officers search his car (citing his fourth amendment rights), the officers shattered his car windows, forcefully removed him from the car, beat him, and repeatedly used a taser on him, only to find nothing illegal in the vehicle. Watch for yourself.
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Now, some folks in the comments over at Boing Boing have pointed out that this guy endorses some pretty objectionable ideas (like how male gynecologists are sinning by treating their female patients, among many other idiocies) and might very well be crazy. But how, exactly, that relates to him getting pummeled by border patrolmen (and having his property destroyed) is beyond me. There is, of course, the chance that we're missing part of the story (like the officers' side of it), but, if his ranting holds true, then this whole thing is just plain crazy. What's going on here?
UPDATE: The Arizona Border Patrol has confirmed that it did stop Anderson and that a K-9 alerted agents to the car. After he refused to let them search the car, officers from the Department of Public Safety tased and arrested him. They did not comment on the specifics of his allegations. There's more info here.
00:00/00:0000:00Now, some folks in the comments over at Boing Boing have pointed out that this guy endorses some pretty objectionable ideas (like how male gynecologists are sinning by treating their female patients, among many other idiocies) and might very well be crazy. But how, exactly, that relates to him getting pummeled by border patrolmen (and having his property destroyed) is beyond me. There is, of course, the chance that we're missing part of the story (like the officers' side of it), but, if his ranting holds true, then this whole thing is just plain crazy. What's going on here?
UPDATE: The Arizona Border Patrol has confirmed that it did stop Anderson and that a K-9 alerted agents to the car. After he refused to let them search the car, officers from the Department of Public Safety tased and arrested him. They did not comment on the specifics of his allegations. There's more info here.
