ANYTOWN, USA – Since the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis Police custody in May of this year, members of Black Lives Matter, Antifa, and other readily willing protesters and rioters have staged organized events throughout the United States.
They began focused in the downtown areas of major metropolitan cities, and have slowly started to spread to residential areas.
Now, Law Enforcement Today asks, is your neighborhood next?
Widespread support of Black Lives Matter and their political cause is starting to wain after months of peaceful protests and violent riots. However, that does not mean that the people taking part in these events are less committed.
According to the New York Times, which many regard as a typical left leaning publication instead of a free media, have covered the evolution of the process since May. I
n Portland, the New York Times and other publications have noted that the many protests and riots seemingly have evolved from the business centers to the residential areas.
They allege that the marches (let us call them what they really are – uncivilized protests at best) have gone from the city centers to the residential areas surrounding one of the police precincts in Portland, Oregon.
In those incidents, members of Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and other groups go through the neighborhoods at all hours of the night causing disturbances and demanding residents exit their homes and support them.
When the residents dare to disobey their orders, they tend to single them out, vandalize their property, announce the crowd the addresses of the people who wish to speak for themselves, and threaten to return to cause further damage to their property.
However, these protests/riots are not only centered in downtown areas and residential neighborhoods, they are now taking these ‘protests’ to the areas in which people wish to only peacefully dine with their family members.
In Washington, groups of protesters walked into a diner in Washington and harassed a diner who refused to raise her fist for their cause.
They have also done the same in other areas, like Portland, Oregon, where protesters would not allow a truck to drive through the area until the driver, and the passenger, expressed allegiance for Black Lives Matter.
The two did as they were ordered, only later to find their truck damaged when they returned to it.
In other areas, like Rochester, New York, which faced protests after the police released the video of their encounter with Daniel Prude, a man who suffered an altered mental state, perhaps due to the amount of the drugs in his system, died a week after contact with the police.
Protesters blamed the police for Prude’s death because they placed a spit mask on him to prevent him from spitting on officers.
During the protests, people began addressing patrons at outdoor dining establishments and harassing them by shaking their tables.
Scenes like this have started to become well known in larger cities, where, like in Nazi Germany, people dared not oppose the thinking of the people who believe they are in charge.
Bystanders and protester’s are quick to post these encounter on social media for all to see and share.
People are starting to understand what they used to have, peaceful lives. The ability to live their lives in the way that they see fit. This former life has been destroyed by people from Black Lives Matter and Antifa. Again, like Nazi Germany, unless you think like them, swear some type of allegiance to them, there is no peace.
Just like the McCloskey’s, a married couple who had their gated community overrun by members of Black Lives Matter and other protest groups infiltrated their neighborhood. The couple became scared that they would be attacked by these unpeaceful protesters, so they armed themselves in an attempt to safe guard their residence.
Their attempts at keeping themselves and their property safe landed them under arrest and their weapons seized.
Later, allegations were made that the prosecutors ordered that the woman’s gun be made operable by the lab in order to charge her with aggravated assault.
Now, many of you might believe that you are safe from these types of events. After all, you live in an area where no one is protesting as of yet, or they only did so after the death of Floyd, who nearly everyone, including the vast majority of police officers condemned.
And, while that may be true from some areas of the country, as one wise police chief said, it only takes one thing to make the peaceful residents take up protests and riots. And, in today’s day and age, whether the officer was right or wrong, it does not matter, if the protesters deem it wrong, be warned, this is all coming to your neighborhood, regardless of where you live.
Report: McCloskey detective twice refused to sign prosecution documents – ‘You cannot be serious with this one.’
ST. LOUIS, MO- In June, angry protesters had broken into a gated community … and a couple decided to take action.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, not knowing the intent of the mob, became in fear for their own safety and that of their property upon seeing them. The McCloskey’s armed themselves and stood outside in an effort to prevent the mob from entering onto their property.
St. Louis Circuit Attorney filed felony criminal charges on them for brandishing the firearms. This week, we learn the charging officer in the case initially refused to sign the affidavit at least twice based on his belief of the law.
Democrat St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner believed that the McCloskey’s should face criminal charges for brandishing the firearms in the area of the angry mob.
However, there are a large number of people who believe that they were simply defending their property and themselves since they did not know the intent of the angry mob. Regardless, Gardner wished to move forward with felony charges and began the process with her office.
St. Louis Police Detective Sergeant Curtis Burgdorf was the lead investigator on the case.
What occurs in normal situations are that the detectives are normally the ones that draft the arrest warrant paperwork then send it to the prosecutor’s office for review and approval prior to submitting to a judge.
For whatever reason, that was not the way this case was done. Instead, the prosecutor’s office completed the paperwork and sent it to the detective to sign.
Paperwork from Assistant Circuit Attorney Chris Hinckley went to Burgdorf for his review.
Burgdorf immediately voiced concern on if the guns the McCloskey’s were displaying were real or not. That is because the firearms must be deemed real and able to fire in order for any criminal charge involving a firearm in St. Louis to be filed.
Burgdorf said:
“At this point, everything points to these weapons being real and loaded, but no one has asked or confirmed. Come trial, they’ll say they were waiving around a BB gun and an air rifle.”
Not satisfied with the speed of the investigation, Hinckley emailed Burgdorf’s commander, Major Angela Coonce, requesting assistance in completing the case. In documents obtained from 5 On Your Side, Hinckley email to Coonce voiced concern over the speed of the investigation.
“Our office is receiving inquiries from the public and press about a warrant application and potential charges. We’ve thus far said the matter ‘remains under investigation.’
I’d really like to avoid pointing to a police follow-up request as the hold-up, but I won’t control the messaging if this goes on any longer. Please see what you can do to help this along. Again, I’m asking for priority on the firearms issue.”
A search warrant was ultimately approved and executed. During the search, law enforcement recovered the two firearms that were involved in the situation. Both firearms were sent to the Crime Lab to determine if they were in fact real firearms and capable of firing.
According to 5 On Your Side, those firearms were received by the lab, but only one, the long gun, was able to fired.
The handgun was unable to be fired until Hinckley ordered the lab to “disassemble and reassemble” the handgun in order to make it capable of “lethal use.”
After this was completed, Hinckley completed court documents alleging that it the handgun, which he knew was false, stating that the gun was capable of being fired at the time of the incident.
St. Louis Prosecutor Tampers With Evidence in McCloskey Case https://t.co/QfX7Ech8Qs https://t.co/179VVnjepi
— Derek Gilbert (@derekgilbert) July 22, 2020
If this does not show the case has major problems, concerns that Burgdorf had that prevented him from initially signing that Hinckley wrote will. Hinckley claimed that the mob was there to protest for social justice.
However, the mob was not there for that reason, they were to call for the resignation of Mayor Lyda Krewson.
Hinckley also wrote in the affidavit that Patricia’s was “armed with a semi-automatic handgun.” Burgdorf’s response:
“What appears to be a semi-automatic handgun. You cannot be serious with this one. Again, this is really problematic.”
Burgdorf’s comments are clearly because of his knowledge that the gun was incapable of firing prior to Hinckley’s order to reassemble the gun to work properly.
Burgdorf also calls out Hinckley in another part of the emails when it was written that the mob walked through an open gate.
Burgdorf, playing the part of a prosecutor tells the attorney:
“Your points here are really problematic. It seems to go beyond oversight and into purposeful ignorance. I suggest you very quickly re-assess this evidence.”
The reason this was problematic is because there were claims the mob broke the gate to make entry and there was damage found which could suggest that it happened.
Interestingly, in most law enforcement agencies, it is the prosecutors who have issue with probable cause written by law enforcement in their affidavits. It is also the investigator who signs these (typically) because it is their case, not the case of the prosecutor.
In this circumstance, roles appeared to have been reversed and it was the detective who was plugging holes in the probable cause – not the other way around. When it works the proper way, it provides a check and balance for both the officer and prosecution to try to tighten up cases prior to arrests being made.
This case seemed to be weak at the very onset of the investigation when it appeared that the McCloskey’s only point in arming themselves was to protect themselves and their property. They never uttered any threats nor made any derogatory statements to the mob, none that were reported nor heard on video of the incident.
Add in the allegations of manipulation of the evidence in order to make a chargeable offense and this case most likely goes no where.
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