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Radley Balko | August 17, 2007

Bizarre story from Vermont, where bar owner Wayne Ryan is suing the police department over an incident last June.

Seems that two undercover police officers tried to enter the bar to check the IDs of a patrons in a sting on underage drinkers. Problem is, one of the officers himself forgot to bring ID, and was consequently denied admittance to the bar. Ryan eventually allowed the office in after confirming his identity with a superior (who threatened to shut the place down). Five days later, the police returned to arrest Ryan for impeding a police officer. The charge was eventually dismissed.

Ryan says the entire operation was retaliation for critical comments he made about the local police at a town council meeting.