A protester saw a cop who he believed was behaving inappropriately, so he posted the photo to Twitter, and he and those who retweeted him were charged with felony cyber harassment.
The extremes to which prosecutors go to protect police officers from the consequences of their malfeasence boggle the mind: (Note: After this blew up in the media, the prosecutor dropped charges)
When Kevin Alfaro noticed a masked police officer befriending a counterprotester who had threatened him at a Black Lives Matter demonstration in Nutley, N.J., on June 19, he whipped out his phone and took a picture.
Then he tweeted: “If anyone knows who this b---- is throw his info under this tweet.”
Now, Alfaro and four others who retweeted the post have been charged with cyber harassment, a fourth-degree felony that carries up to 18 months of incarceration and a $10,000 fine.
A complaint sent July 20 to Georgana Sziszak, who retweeted the post, first reported by the Verge and reviewed by The Washington Post, claims that the tweet caused the officer to “fear that harm will come to himself, family and property.”
………
Alfaro wrote on a GoFundMe page that he was at a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest on June 29 when a group of counterprotesters became physically threatening. He then saw a Nutley police officer, later identified as Detective Peter Sandomenico in Sziszak’s summons, acting friendly with the counterprotesters. Sandomenico had covered up his badge number and was wearing a “Blue Lives Matter” mask, Alfaro added.
“As a citizen exercising my First Amendment rights, I felt threatened that a public servant was befriending blatant racists,” Alfaro said.
We need to make it a crime for uniformed officers to cover their badges, and every single person involved in bringing these charges should be under criminal investigation.
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