DECLARATION OF WILLIAM THOMAS
RE: APRIL 6, 1996
In June 3, 1981 I began a 24 hour a day vigil. Since then, together with Concepcion Picciotto, Ellen Thomas, and assistance from scores of individuals, the vigil has been maintained 365 days a year -- except several brief interruptions owing to arrest and false imprisonment of everyone connected with the vigil.
Initially, my experience in traveling the world raised serious concerns with the danger to freedom posed by the growing police state.
In a Manifesto of Independence, dated June 3, 1981, I stated that my actions were prompted by concerns about "role the United States plays in destroying the Earth and exploiting its inhabitants."
I also explained I was engaged in "an effort to persuade this nation to return to the principles of the Declaration of Independence upon which it was founded."
Finally, I urged others to take responsible action to effect a national return to the founding principles, and "to confront the evils of the nation-state by gathering at the White House to pray for Reason and Sanity and an End to War in illustration of the ideals of non-violence."
On April 6, 1996, somewhere around 9:00 p.m., I was on the north side of Pennsylvania Avenue, in the center of the south sidewalk of Lafayette Park, reciting the introduction to the Declaration of Independence in a voice loud enough to be heard by people on the south side of the Avenue.
Secret Service (SS) officer Christian Stanton, standing on the south side of the Avenue, in front of the White House, angrily told me to "Be quiet."
I began explaining that I didn't have to be quiet, postulating, "This is a free country."
In an agitated manner, Officer Stanton hastily crossed the Avenue and confronted me in a threatening manner, standing inches away from me, insisting that I "Be quiet."
"Why?" I asked.
Officer Stanton replied that I was creating a disturbance.
I asked, "Who am I disturbing, other than you?"
Officer Stanton simply insisted that I "Be quiet."
At that point two other S.S. (Uniformed Division) officers drove through the park in a van and arrived at the point where S.S. officer Stanton and I were debating the balance between "free speech," and "be quiet."
One of the newly arriving officers asked, "Why don't you quiet down?"
Addressing all three officers, I explained the principles in greater detail, "This is a free country, so I don't have to quiet down. Everything I'm saying is perfectly reasonable. I'm not using any profanity. Since the Park isn't Secret Service jurisdiction, and since you're all rookies, maybe you fellows don't realize that the circuit court in this district held, in the case of United States v. Nomad, that there is no decibel limit on demonstrations in Lafayette Park." NOTE, pursuant to 16 USC 1 et. seq, and 36 CFR 7 the U.S. Park Police have jurisdiction in Lafayette Park.
The S.S. officers took no exception to the points I had made. Although Officer Stanton made no comments at all, the other two officers became noticeably more relaxed. After a few minutes of amiable conversation with one of the two officers in the van the three of them left without further comment, and it appeared to me that they all accepted my presentation as reasonable.
A small group of people, standing on the White House sidewalk, had been observing my interaction with the S.S. from across the street. "See?" I asked, loud enough so they could hear me. "Isn't it great to live in a free country? To be able to speak your mind without the government interfering? The police won't bother me because I'm protected by the fundamental law of the land. Does it sound to you as if I've been saying anything unreasonable?" I asked the group across the street.
"No, everything you've said seems very reasonable to me." One of the men called back.
"Great, 'cause I think free thought, expression and assembly are the only thing separating civilization from a beastly dictatorship of mindless violence." I replied. Raising my voice a little, I began to recite, "Congress shall pass no law respecting the establishment of religion, the free exercise thereof, freedom of speech, freedom of the press ..."
"I told you to quite down." S.S. Officer Stanton interposed from across the street.
"... or the right of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the government for redress of grievance." I continued. "I contend that these principles are the only thing that might justify the existence of government."
"Shut up! Shut up!" S.S. Officer Stanton screamed. Hurrying across the street, again, Officer Stanton stood extremely close to me. "Are you going to shut up?"
"I thought that I already explained why you have no authority to tell me to shut up." I replied. "Don't you understand that I'm not doing anything wrong?" I said, in a voice loud enough to be heard across the street.
"Are you going to shut up?" The S.S. officer repeated, again.
"I have no intention of shutting up." I said.
The S.S. officer pushed me.
"And you shouldn't be bothering me because the law says you can't stop me from doing exactly what I'm doing." The S.S. officer pushed me again. "You definitely should not be pushing me." I said, and Officer Stanton moved to my left, and out of my line of vision.
I paused a moment, to compose myself, and thank God for getting the S.S. out of my face, prior to continuing my address to the people across the street. Before I could begin again, however, I my arms were seized from behind. Officer Stanton began yelling, "Shut up," as he began jerking me, violently, from side to side.
"Gee, folks, maybe I was wrong about the First Amendment." I said to the people across the street.
"Shut up. You're under arrest." Officer Stanton said, continuing to toss me around.
"Why are you arresting me?"
"You're resisting arrest." S.S. Officer Stanton said, grabbing me across the chest, he lifted me off my feet, spun around in a circle, smashed me face down into the sidewalk, and fell on top of me. At almost the same instant my face hit the sidewalk approximately six more S.S. officers arrived on the scene, with one or two of them piling on top of me.
My nose was bleeding, and an S.S. officer took several polaroid pictures of my face before I was transported to the D.C. Second District Police substation on Idaho Avenue, N.W.
Because Officer Stanton had been talking about charging me with assault on a police officer (APO), during the ride to the substation I told Officer Stanton that, because he knew I had not made any offensive action whatsoever, it would be dishonest and cowardly to charge me with APO, a felony.
At the Second District I was handcuffed to a metal ring on the wall, while Officer Stanton was writing his arrest report. It was a very lengthy arrest report which took, I would guess, more than an hour for him to write. After Officer Stanton finished his report he and I sat in the substation, and I tried to reason with him.
I said I realized that, being new to the job, he might reasonably have felt as if I was being disorderly. I told him that, even though I hadn't been disorderly, I wouldn't fault him for charging me with disorderly conduct because, arguably, he may honestly, however mistakenly, believed I was disorderly. I continued to explain that he shouldn't charge me with APO, because he knew it would be a lie and, a God of life doesn't like hurting people with lies.
"What's taking you so long? When are you going to finish that report?" The D.C. Police officer behind the Second District desk asked.
"It's done. I'm waiting for my Sergeant to get here and go over it." S.S. Officer Stanton replied.
Eventually S.S. Sgt. Hutchinson arrived at the substation. After reading Officer Stanton's report, Sgt. Hutchinson said, "If you want to get this case papered, you're going to have to cut this down." He put the report in front of Officer Stanton. "Make it brief. The shorter the better."
As Officer Stanton began rewriting his report, Sgt. Hutchinson busied himself searching me (third time I'd been searched) and rooting through my property.
After Officer Stanton finished writing his report, Sgt. Hutchinson reviewed it and said, "How do you know it was the Declaration of Independence."
"He told me that's what it was." Officer Stanton replied.
"Okay." Said the Sergeant.
Sgt. Hutchinson told Officer Stanton that two people had submitted written statements concerning the incident to the S.S.
When they uncuffed me from the wall and cuffed my hands behind my back, they put the cuffs on backwards so that instead of having the chain between the insides of both wrists my wrists were twisted. Combined with the extreme tightness of the cuffs this hook-up caused my hand to swell up. As of this date my wrist and hand are still swollen, and, where it isn't numb, painful.
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