Man arrested for asking 'threatening' question at GOP senator's town hall
Local police are reportedly planning to charge a man who attended Sen. Patrick Toomey’s (R-Pa.) town hall after he asked the senator a question that was perceived as “threatening.”
The exchange between Toomey and the man, reported by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, led Bethlehem, Pa., police to remove the man, who law enforcement said they would charge with disrupting a public meeting and disorderly conduct.
According to the Post-Gazette, Simon Radecki of Northampton County asked Toomey a question about a family member in an effort to talk about immigration.
“We’ve been here for a while. You probably haven’t seen the news. Can you confirm whether or not your daughter Bridget has been kidnapped?” Radecki asked the senator.
After several seconds, Radecki then said, “The reason I ask is because that’s the reality of families that suffer deportation.”
Tim Fallon, the CEO of PBS39, which aired last week’s town hall, described the exchange to the newspaper as “one of the scariest things that I have ever been a part of.”
The incident caused the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania to come to Radecki’s defense, however.
The group’s legal director said the ACLU would “love to talk” to Radecki should he require legal assistance.
“You aren’t going to show that intent, and the disruption stemmed not from his question but the response to it,” Vic Walczak, the legal director, told the Post-Gazette.
A spokesman for Toomey called the question “reprehensible.”
“Asking questions that are based upon kidnapping a child is not only reprehensible, but it is inherently threatening,” Steve Kelly told the newspaper.
I think few at RI would support arresting someone for simply asking a question, but I can definitely see how that question, and the way it was phrased, could be interpreted as a threat.
I think the kidnapping analogy falls flat; but agree or disagree, there are a million better ways to make a point about deportation.
Side note: The headline is a bit misleading, as it states the questioner has been arrested, but both the article and the video simply say that police "are planning to charge" him with disorderly conduct and disrupting.
Here's a more comprehensive story from the original source:
http://www.post-gazette.com/news/politics-state/2017/09/02/Man-who-disrupted-Toomey-town-hall-to-be-charged/stories/201709020061The original story also notes:
The Bethlehem Police Department on Friday said it intends to charge Mr. Radecki with disorderly conduct and disrupting a public meeting. They said he will receive a summons in the mail on those charges but did not indicate whether he would face misdemeanor or summary counts.
Also, the video can't be embedded with "lovely youtube" because it isn't hosted on youtube. "When I'm done ranting about elite power that rules the planet under a totalitarian government that uses the media in order to keep people stupid, my throat gets parched. That's why I drink Orange Drink!"
