NYC Libertarian Chapter Officer Arrested in Free Speech Violation

Manhattan Libertarian Party Membership Director, Antonio Musumeci, was arrested Monday, and his camera’s memory card confiscated.  Antonio was recording  Julian Heicklen, a fully informed jury activist , as he distributed FIJA information at the federal courthouse in New York City.

This incident takes New York City’s police state to new and bizarre levels.  Antonio has several times engaged police who attempted to search him as he entered the subway.  The subway searches are a complete waste of taxpayer money because everyone knows you can simply walk across the street and enter from the other side.  To think that would stop even the dumbest terrorist boggles the mind.  This is just another example of the Bloomberg adminstration wasting taxpayer money simply to prove they can do whatever they want.

Antonio said..

 “I find it troubling that in public space on federal property a person can be arrested and ticketed for being or admitting to be the press for filming the arrest of someone else. Having such a broad Executive rule restricting the ability to film on public federal property seems to go against the intent of the protections enshrined in the 1st Amendment.”

Arresting Antonio in the act of exercising First Amendment Rights by recording Heicklen exercising his First Amendments rights by passing out information about exercising Sixth Amendment Rights puts me in mind of a scene from Princess Bride.  What if Antonio’s case goes to trial and Heicklen is passing out FIJA info as Antonio’s jury is being picked and Antonio is recording it and he gets arrested….  The world could conceivably collapse in on itself or something.

BUT IT GETS WORSE…

They confiscated Antonio’s memory card.  Apparently Antonio talked them out of confiscating his whole camera.  But he had a miniature “spy” camera on his shirt.   You know what’s coming right?  He recorded the police preventing him from recording the police preventing him from recording him exercising his First Amendments rights by recording ……

Ahhhhhhhhh………………. Only in America.You can find additional blogs, including Antonio’s own account at http://blogofbile.com/.

Manhattan Libertarian Party