Look at this video and you will see a man standing by himself, doing nothing illegal than I can discern arrested by a bevy of Police dressed in riot gear, one of whom keeps his hand on his weapon at all times despite the absence of any angry mob or other threat of violence from a small group of protesters in Maricopa County, Arizona. The officers are all members of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) headed by the infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio.
The man being arrested is Sal Reza, a human rights activist and one of the leaders of Puente, an organization which states the following about its mission on its web page:
NUESTRO PUENTE/BRIDGE IS A HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT
That works to resurrect our humanity by teaching and learning to eradicate intolerance when it presents itself at individual, economic, political, social and religious settings affecting our daily existence.PUENTE ADHERES TO THE PRINCIPLES OF NON-VIOLENCE
In harmony with nature. Through the energy of the movement transformed into actions we confront all forms of oppression. We gaze upon ourselves and the results of our actions as individuals, as a group, and as a conglomeration of families and organizations. We have come to the realization that disguised as migratory laws and regulations oppression reigns supreme and dehumanization is the resulting product.
This was Reza’s second arrest in two days. He was released Friday after being arrested for his non-violent protest against SB 1070. The second arrest is the one shown in the video above. According to the New Times blog (based in Phoenix) the following events occurred after his arrest to Senor Reza:
Reza said he was shocked by the arrest, which came without warning, just as he was about to leave for an interview.
“When I saw them coming, I thought they were coming for the people in the street,” he explained. “But then they just passed them and went for me.”
Regarding who actually ordered his arrest, Reza believes it was MCSO Deputy Chief Brian Sands,…
“It was Sands,” Reza contended. “Sands was in command.”
MSCO … hustled a cuffed Reza to a van, where he remained for hours by himself. At one point, the MCSO opened up the van to display Reza to photographers and journalists like a captured prisoner of war.
“If they can do this to me,” he told the reporters present before refusing interviews, “what do you expect they can do to anybody else.”
You know what was the worst thing about this arrest? The prosecutor admitted in open court that the MCSO had no probable cause that Sal Reza had committed any crime, and yet the Judge still refused to drop the charges against him.
(cont.)
Reza was transported to Fourth Avenue, booked, and forced to change into county stripes. As he was the night before, he was placed in solitary confinement. Reza said he was allowed no phone call, and there was no phone in the cell. He also stated that deputies never read him his Miranda rights.
At the arraignment hearing before the night court judge the county prosecutor admitted that in his view the alleged reason for the arrest (obstructing a judicial proceeding) not to did not rise to the level of probable cause:
“This is really my review,” he stated cautiously of a statement from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office before him. “I did not see that this rose to the level of probable cause.”
Reza’s attorney Robert Pastor immediately pounced.
“Your honor,” said Pastor, “I just heard the prosecutor tell the court that there’s not enough evidence here to suggest that Mr. Reza committed a crime. I ask that the charge be dismissed and he be released immediately.”
Of Reza’s bogus charge for “obstructing a judicial proceeding,” the judge herself seemed skeptical.
“I do not have enough information to find probable cause in this matter, sir,” she told the county attorney.
She declined to dismiss the charge, but she released Reza on his own recognizance and set his next court date for August 18.
Normally, when the prosecutor finds a lack of probable cause for an arrest he moves to have the charges dismissed or simply releases the arrested individual. Normally when a Judge hears a prosecutor make such an admission in open court and states that she herself had doubts that there was probable cause the the defendant before her committed any crime, the charges are dismissed.
But this is Maricopa County, Arizona where Sheriff Joe Arpaio, nationally known immigration opponent and a man who has been accused of using his office to commit numerous human rights violations in the past involving the Latino community has a great deal of power. Enough power to scare a prosecutor from following his conscience and releasing Mr. Reza for lack of probable cause for his arrest rather than forcing him to be brought before a Judge in the middle of the night. Enough power that the Judge herself, unable to find a probable cause basis for the arrest still refused to dismiss the charges the Sheriff’s Department brought against him.
In fact, Sheriff Arpaio has enough power to ignore the Federal District Court’s injunction of SB 1070 and continue with his “police sweeps” of various communities in his jurisdiction, arresting anyone who is Hispanic or has a Spanish surname or who cannot speak English well enough to satisfy the Sheriff’s satisfaction:
Typically, sweeps take place in neighborhoods that are predominantly Hispanic, or Arpaio will target businesses that depend on cheap labor: car washes, fast food restaurants, warehouses. Of course, the Sheriff’s public relations office (yes, he has one) always tells the media when and where sweeps will occur, so Joe can keep his mug in front of the camera — blabbering about the good job he’s doing protecting us from the kid who just vacuumed your car or sold you a Big Mac.
Here is a YouTube video of the tough guy’s recent sweep at Burlington Coat Factory, which is located in a large mall in Tempe. The action succeeded in shutting down a business for a half-day, scaring the heck out of employees and shoppers, and netting three immigrants (who had jobs and were going to school).
The video:
Yet these anti-immigration sweeps have been remarkably unsuccessful and costly to Maricopa County:
[Arpaio] has made headlines for more than two years with his controversial immigration sweeps, typically placing dozens of deputies in neighborhoods with large Hispanic populations and ordering them to stop anyone for any violation. […]
Though few law-enforcement officials will speak publicly about it, their records suggest an unwillingness to follow Arpaio’s lead. No other Arizona law-enforcement agencies have taken the same initiative Arpaio has in launching immigration sweeps.
Part of the reason is because there is no clear data demonstrating the crime-fighting effectiveness of such policies. While it succeeds in locating illegal immigrants, its effectiveness in combating major crimes is questionable, and there are concerns that such sweeps draw resources away from activities that do combat major crimes. […]
While Arpaio’s past 15 crime-suppression operations have captured a variety of criminals, the majority of offenders were booked for relatively minor offenses, an Arizona Republic review of crime data shows. For example, an April sweep caught 93 people, most of whom were snared either solely for immigration violations or for minor offenses. Only two violent offenders were arrested.
Arpaio’s deputies have arrested 932 people in their operations dating back to March 2008. Of those, 708 were suspected of being in the country illegally, according to the Sheriff’s Office. […]
[I]n April, Arpaio’s deputies returned to the familiar routine of concentrating on a particular part of town, this time west Phoenix. Records for that April raid show 29 of the 93 arrested were legal residents. Ten of those legal residents were fugitives arrested by the sheriff’s warrant unit as the operation began. […]
The notion of the sweeps returning to neighborhoods is troubling to some critics, who worry about legal residents being caught up in the raids.
Sergio Martinez-Villaman claims that happened to him in a June 2008 crime-suppression operation in Mesa.
Deputies stopped Martinez-Villaman for failing to use a turn signal, according to the sheriff’s records. They arrested him after they say he failed to show identification.
Before he was arrested, Martinez-Villaman, a Mexican citizen living legally in the U.S., claims he gave the arresting deputy various documents, including an Arizona ID card, proof of insurance, a passport and a visa, according to court records.
Martinez-Villaman was jailed and held for 13 days when he could not pay bond, court records say.
So why did the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) arrest Senor Reza while he was standing peacefully by his car?
I think it was an attempt to intimidate protesters and gain publicity for himself and his police state methods. I think Senor Reza’s arrest was done as part of a continuing campaign by Arpaio to promote fear of Latinos, to promote Arpaio’s political agenda and very possibly help establish Arpaio as a viable candidate for a run at higher office in the future, whether as Arizona’s Governor or Senator.
I also think Reza’s arrest was done to humiliate and retaliate against a peaceful man who has called Arpaio out for his bigoted and questionable actions which arguably violate the civil rights of many Latino people residing in Maricopa County.
What do you think?
