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 motaman
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 Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop 
#1457607 - 04/14/03 04:06 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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http://www.hightimes.com/htsite/news/content.php?page=news_03041019&tpage=1&cmnt=1
A DANGER TO SOCIETY, OR A VICTIM?
Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cops.
by Preston Peet
When is a 39-year-old wheelchair-bound man, who has suffered from spina bifida and other serious ailments all his life, a dangerous threat to society? Police and prosecutors in New Jersey say it?s when he?s growing marijuana.
Police moved in just before dawn on March 13, raiding and arresting John ?Waldo? Cliver and his girlfriend, Henri L. Pestcoe, in their Cherry Hill, New Jersey home, and confiscating 156 plants in various stages of growth from an apartment Cliver rented in Pennsauken. Cliver was charged with a variety of offenses related to cultivation, operating a drug business within 1,000 feet of a school, and intent to distribute. Pestcoe was charged with possession of more than 50 grams of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia. Official estimates put the value of the plants at $624,000?or $4,000 each.
Cliver was awake at 4:30 AM when he heard the police at the door. ?I was the one that opened the door,? he tells HT. ?Right away, they bullied me into my room. I was pushing myself backwards until I got back into my room, where I started talking and they started talking. It was over what happened at this time that they stuck in a ?resisting arrest? charge. I tried to shut my computer off because I was online speaking with someone else. The police started playing around with my computer, clicking around on it, literally playing with it. I went to shut it off and that?s when about four of them pulled me off my wheel chair and put me on the ground.?
Police officers pulled a guy off his wheelchair and pushed him to the ground? ?Well, they didn?t actually pull me, they hit me in the back of the head, knocked me right to the ground, and about four of them stomped on my head and my back. Knocked me right out of the chair. They were literally with their knees in my temple and knees in my back. It was ridiculous. I was screaming, my girlfriend was screaming, and my back is very screwed up as a result. They really did hurt me. They humiliated me. Because it is difficult for me to get up in the middle of the night and go to the bathroom, I keep a urinal by the bed. They were walking around here with the urinal saying things like ?this is disgusting.? My girlfriend kept telling them that I have spina bifida. They were just all-around rotten people.?
Approximately 1 out of 1,000 newborns in the US suffer from spina bifida, which is caused by the spine improperly developing and failing to completely close during the first months of pregnancy, according to the Spina Bifida Association of America (http://www.sbaa.org/html/sbaa_facts.html). ?Because of the paralysis resulting from the damage to the spinal cord, people born with spina bifida may need surgeries and other extensive medical care. The condition can also cause bowel and bladder complications,? dryly notes their Website. Its best-known sufferer was probably country-music legend Hank Williams, who exhibited many of these symptoms before he died of a drug overdose at the age of 29.
?I was here with them for about an hour,? Cliver says. ?Handcuffed, because they had knocked me to the ground almost as soon as they came in. They then put the chair back up and lifted me back up into my chair. Then a lieutenant woman from the Cherry Hill police came in and informed the police already there that she wanted them to transport me in an ambulance because of my condition. My girlfriend turned around and told her that she appreciated what she was doing, and then went on to tell her what they?d already done to me and how they?d been treating me. The lieutenant was giving out some evil eye to the other officers. They beat up on me pretty good.?
Cliver was transported in an ambulance to John F. Kennedy Hospital in Cherry Hill, where he was examined for two or three hours. He was then taken to Camden County jail until his girlfriend and friends could raise a $90,000 bond for his release on March 15. Two days later, he was back in a hospital for long-planned surgery on a lingering and painful bone infection in his foot.
?I am now still giving myself intravenous antibiotics. I?m totally homebound. It?s going to be 12 to 14 weeks before they know if the antibiotics I?m giving myself are working,? Cliver explains. ?When you have clubbed feet like I have, you get breakdown of calluses, which form canals to the bone. It forms bone infections which never go away. I mean, on top of the spina bifida, I?ve got kidney and bladder stones. I have to catheterize myself to be able to go to the bathroom sometimes. My medical problems are pretty in depth.?
Police and prosecutors claimed they found over an ounce of marijuana in the house, and plants up to five feet tall in the Pennsauken apartment, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer (http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/5398663.htm). Cliver disputes both claims. ?They found 75 two-inch tall plants that didn?t even have any roots on them yet. I had one five-foot tall mother. I also had 75 one-foot tall plants with no buds on them,? he tells HT. As for the house, ?There was no marijuana here, maybe less than a couple joints. I was out. I had none. There was no pot.?
A lawyer told Cliver that there is a possibility of getting the charges substantially reduced, but he would need $40,000 to cover the legal costs. Still waiting for a court date, Cliver is very ill, homebound and stuck in a wheel chair. With his girlfriend?s home already covering the cost of is bond, it is not going to be easy raising this kind of money.
?This has really blown me away, the way the police treated me, knocking me around and saying all sorts of things trying to humiliate me,? says Cliver. ?One cop was saying how he wanted to take out my girlfriend while I was in jail. They went on and on.?
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http://heffter.org
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HidingInPlainSight
Registered: 01/27/03
Posts: 2,077
Loc: Oklahoma City , OK, USA
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 Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: motaman]
#1459839 - 04/15/03 09:46 AM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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what is the world coming to... 
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pattern
multiplayer
Registered: 07/19/02
Posts: 2,185
Loc: Canada
Last seen: 3 years, 2 months
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Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: HidingInPlainSight]
#1460285 - 04/15/03 12:36 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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Its just America, not the world.
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man = monkey + mushroom
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 Papaver
Madmin Emeritus?
Registered: 06/01/02
Posts: 26,880
Loc: Radio Free Tibet!
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 Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by [Re: motaman]
#1460314 - 04/15/03 12:46 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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Quote:
Official estimates put the value of the plants at $624,000?or $4,000 each.
I don't know how these "officials" are arriving at those kind of values for indoor plants, but I want to know where they're getting the weed from, as I think they may be paying too much... 
PS: That story is sad...
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entiformatie
EvolutionaryMovements
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 1,043
Loc: miami, florida
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: motaman]
#1464015 - 04/16/03 02:06 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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wtf shit is this?! aaaaaah! i'ma flip out and have a heart attack from all these fuckin stories i keep reading about how our government is treating sick and old people like shit under their shoes! wtf?! i'm copying, pasting, printing, and passing this out at school, with the number to the mayor of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Call that motherfucker up, and bitch and complain till his ears fall off. Motherfucker... Ugh. I'd run away from America, but I'd feel like I'm abandoning the fight to return democracy to the people.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
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/opinion
.sean
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entiformatie
EvolutionaryMovements
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 1,043
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Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: motaman]
#1464036 - 04/16/03 02:13 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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alrite, here's info on the police department from cherry hill:
Police Information: (856) 488-7828
Police Dispatch: (856) 665-1200
Fax: (856) 488-7810
____________________________________________
How do I register a commendation or complaint regarding the Police Department?
If you have a complaint or comment regarding any police officer, you may submit a complaint in person, by telephone, or by mail. It is best to register your complaint as soon after the incident as possible. All complaints will be thoroughly investigated.
To register a commendation or complaint:
Call Police Information at 856-488-7828,
TTY (telephone for the deaf) at 856-665-1200,
Contact any Police Supervisor in person at the Department,
Call Internal Affairs Unit at 856-488-7815, or
Mail your comments to the Chief of Police:
Chief of Police
Cherry Hill Township Police Department
820 Mercer Street
PO Box 5002
Cherry Hill, NJ 08034
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/opinion
.sean
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entiformatie
EvolutionaryMovements
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 1,043
Loc: miami, florida
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: motaman]
#1464040 - 04/16/03 02:15 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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ask to talk to the chief oif police. please do this. i'm talking to them right now. i can tell they already feel a lil uncomfortable
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/opinion
.sean
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entiformatie
EvolutionaryMovements
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 1,043
Loc: miami, florida
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: entiformatie]
#1464049 - 04/16/03 02:17 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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talke dto the chief police chick, she tried to transfer me to internal affairs, but he's in a meeting, so she gave him my number. if everybody does this, there will be a LOT of pressure.
We can't give up the fight!
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/opinion
.sean
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entiformatie
EvolutionaryMovements
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 1,043
Loc: miami, florida
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: entiformatie]
#1464077 - 04/16/03 02:28 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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got an answering machine when calling open public records act request, so i left a message. hope they call me back.
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/opinion
.sean
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entiformatie
EvolutionaryMovements
Registered: 03/06/03
Posts: 1,043
Loc: miami, florida
Last seen: 14 years, 6 months
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Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: entiformatie]
#1464132 - 04/16/03 02:48 PM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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i called her back, cuz i forgot to leave my number
she told me she hadnt heard of anything like this, and hung up before i got around to asking my next question... wtf?!
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/opinion
.sean
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Sheepish
Registered: 04/02/02
Posts: 10,137
Loc: Exile
Last seen: 5 years, 1 month
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 Re: Wheelchair-bound grower arrested and allegedly beaten by cop [Re: entiformatie]
#1466019 - 04/17/03 12:24 AM (20 years, 1 month ago) |
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Suuuuuuure, what a convenient way to avoid the problem. Those kind of tactics aren't too surprising though. 
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