A Helicopter, Pepper Spray, Lesbians,a PA System, Seven Deputies and a Canine Unit, ------This Story Has It All!

(This image is not part of the story, but reflects my take on the goofiness of the excessive police force in this case. This image is actually of Polish riot police-----hey hey hey, no polack jokes!)

A fund-raising party for a Democratic candidate for a Congressional seat in a strongly Republican district in the San Diego area was interrupted by an officer responding to a noise complaint.

When he arrived after 9:00, there was no loud music, no one was using the PA system; (although the candidate says she did use a microphone between 8:00 and 8:30)there were just 30 or 40 elderly people chatting as the event wound down. Nevertheless, the officer decided to issue a citation for a noise disturbance. Interestingly enough, while the candidate was making her pitch, a heckler hidden in the bushes yelled obscenities about democrats and gay people------the hostess of the party and her lesbian partner have one neighbor who disapproves of their relationship.

All the other neighbors say the event was quiet and did not bother them at all.

So why did the officer think that it was appropriate to issue the citation based entirely on the say so of one angry caller who may have just been trying to cause trouble?

When the officer started to issue the citation, and asked the hostess her date of birth, in disbelief she turned to walk away, and the officer grabbed her roughly by the arm.......well, to read about the pepper spray, and the helicopter and the rest, just read the article.

A follow up article also reveals that the people at the party were also getting in trouble for using their cell phone cameras to document the incident.

This will be a story to watch. The local newspaper is reputed to have a republican bias, as does the sheriff's office as well. Read through the comments to the article and you'll get a sense of the local loathing of liberals.

Because of the local politics involved, the victims of the excessive force used in this case are hoping for outside involvement by perhaps the US attorney.

It will be a sad day for democracy when local law enforcement strives to serve the interests of just one political party.