Cops Harass Wheelchair-Bound Vet, Take His Cellphone Out of Spite, Arrest Him on Probation Violation After Story Goes Viral

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Healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is, for now, the closest the U.S. has to government healthcare. Like with all things government, the VA has its own police force. Like other police forces, they seem to have a problem with being recorded, and disrespected.

Wheelchair-bound veteran Todd MacRae says VA police snatched his phone from him while he was trying to record them. He says it all started when he ordered VA cops to leave the room while he was visiting his doctor. They were called when McRae got upset his doctor didn't accept his answer to a question about his drinking habits. He had calmed down by the time they got there, and the doctor said she could finish her appointment with McRae. Witness what can happen when government and healthcare collides in the worst way.  via Carlos Miller of Photography is Not a Crime reports:

They accused him of "disturbing the peace," and ordered him, along with his dog, to follow them downstairs to their office, where they could cite them.

"I told them, 'write me a ticket or shut the fuck up,'" he said, acknowledging that he doesn't hesitate to speak his mind to the cops…

A week later, his 23-year-old daughter dropped him off for his weekly blood tests, but because she had to attend class at the local college, she left him two hours earlier than his appointment.

So he entered the Starbucks on hospital property with his dog, which is completely allowed, but then one of the cops from the previous week entered, recognized him, and started hassling him about his "vicious dog" not being muzzled.

The cop ordered him off the hospital under threat of trespass arrest, which caused MacRae to miss his weekly appointment for his blood tests that enables him to survive despite having more than 20 pieces of metal in his neck.

"I had to call my daughter to come pick me up and she had to leave school," the former construction worker said.

On Tuesday, he was at the hospital for another appointment, minding his own business in front of the hospital, when a VA cop walks up and begins hassling him about his dog.

Unlike the two prior incidents, MacRae began recording with his phone, only for the cop to lie and say he was not allowed, then eventually snatching it from him.

Among the problems with this story: state law doesn't require service dogs to wear muzzles. Neither is recording police against the law in Tennessee. Nevertheless, cops pointed to a federal statute prohibiting unauthorized photography to issue him a citation. So this story has government healthcare, police abuse, and the war on terror.

Even worse, Carlos Miller reports McRae's family says he was arrested on a probation violation stemming from a decade-old incident just hours after story went live on Photography is Not a Crime. Read more and watch the video McRae took here.

Comments

[Vulgar Madman]

I hate these freaks.

[Vulgar Madman]

Who have to be first.

[Vulgar Madman]

Oh, the cops suck too.

[BiMonSciFiCon]

HEROES.

[DesigNate]

In a just world, those fuckers would have a house dropped on them or something.

[Scarecrow Repair]

Or it would be taken as prima facie evidence that the police force has too many employees, and the evidence himself would be fired to correct the situation.

In other words, people are good at following incentives. Here, the incentive is to either do nothing for a trivial case, or bet you can blow it up into a huge years long prison sentence; if you fail, you are fired for being literally useless and unnecessary.

[Episiarch]

This incident is an example of why you have to consider all cops to be vindictive, petty scum who will fuck up your life just for not respecting their authoritah. Because you never know when you're going to get these guys. You never know when you might encounter a cop having a really bad day, or who thinks you look a lot like the guy his wife ran off with. And since they can pretty much fuck with you with impunity, any cop is a potential tyrant, and needs to be approached as such.

[JW]

Hey, are a big enough tuff gai to fuck with a wheelchair-bound, battle-injured veteran with a shit load of metal in his neck?

I DIDN'T THINK SO.

[Karl Hungus]

"I told them, 'write me a ticket or shut the fuck up.'"

This guy officially has every ounce of my respect.

. . . when a VA cop walks up and begins hassling him about his dog.

He should count himself lucky he came away from the encounter with an unshot dog.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

He needs to sue the crap out of these "cops" for hassling him about his service dog. The Americans with Disabilities Act is one hell of a shield!
I had a deputy try to tell me I couldn't have my cane in a courts building "because it's built of heavy wood." (It's a shortened hickory shepherd's hook I bought at a Tractor Supply.) I asked for his supervisor and informed him that by threatening to take my cane he was already in violation of at least Title III and Title V of the ADA, which prohibits threats, intimidation, or interference against exercising rights under the ADA. Did I mention police and supervisors can be held personally liable? They backed off.

[Derpetologist]

So, I asked the Derpbook prog why countries like North Korea and Cuba are shit holes if govt is so wonderful. His response:

Because they don't have governments, they have oligarchic dictatorships, exactly what the right wing wants for this country.

This guy isn't even trying anymore.

[Vulgar Madman]

So, before a few hundred years ago there wasn't any government? Derp indeed.

[Cytotoxic]

I order you to call him out on that lie. I know I've done this before, but I want more.

[Paul.]

Delete account.

[Derpetologist]

You don't understand. This guy is the Ghawar Field of derp.

[JW]

Life's too short to waste on people who have to remember to breathe.

[Corning]

Healthcare through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is, for now, the closest the U.S. has to government healthcare.

Bullshit.

[Andrew S.]

How so?

[Paul.]

I read that first sentence, and my reaction was, "Huh?" then I went on to the rest of the post and tried to ignore it.

I'm inclined to agree with JC on this one, but I'd sure like a clarification from Mr. "I don't find it sporting to shoot things from a distance" Krayewski.

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

from Mr. "I don't find it sporting to shoot things from a distance" Krayewski.

I would like to invite him to go hunting for Nyati. Imagine a thick-skinned ton of animal charging you at 40 miles per hour with your first round having just pierced his heart and one lung. Now you have 20 seconds to cycle the bolt on your .416 Ruger Guide Gun, take careful aim and finish him off or he is going to kill you, and there are 200 corpses that year to prove he can do it.
I was lucky. I nearly fired my second shot over his head, but he dropped after he had charged a tenth of a mile toward me. My guide was furious I didn't take the second shot anyway.

[Corning]

Medicare, medicaid, Obamacare, FDA are all government healthcare. Not close to being government healthcare but simply Government health care.

Also how is the VA close to being government health care? Isn't it also just government healthcare?

[Paul.]

My only guess is Krayewski meant that the VA is government healthcare in that the doctors and the nurses touching your naughty bits are government employees. Other than that, I got nothin'.

[Virginian]

Also how is the VA close to being government health care? Isn't it also just government healthcare?

The other things you mentioned are the government paying for healthcare. The VA is a no shit, full socialist retard, government worker staffed system of hospitals.

It's like the difference between Section 8 and a housing project.

[Swiss Servator ...etwas]

"It's like the difference between Section 8 and a housing project."

That is... perfect.

[Corning]

The other things you mentioned are the government paying for healthcare.

Government pays contractors to build roads...

Are those private roads now and not public roads?

Pretty sure Destroyers and fighter jets are made by private companies as well.

[ExNuke]

No, they are Health INSURANCE, no one associated with Obamacare is involved directly with Health CARE. They only handle the money and get to take their cut off the top.

[PD Scott]

Back in 2005 I had a job where I had to confirm addresses in person and take a photo of the business's sign if they had one. One of the places I visited was a VA hospital in Pittsburgh. In the parking lot, I took a picture of the sign and was immediately stopped by a VA cop who told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures on govt property, citing the law mentioned above. I showed him it was just a picture of the sign. Didn't matter. He told me to delete the picture and leave the premises - which I did, to across the street where I took a picture of the sign.

My boss told me that some of the biggest problems my coworkers had were encounters with VA police. I still wonder why.

[Episiarch]

It's because they are cops, but cops with an incredibly limited jurisdiction. They probably wanted to be big city cops or FBI and could only get VA cop. So they're bitter and insecure and therefore exert their power at every opportunity. They have to prove to you that at least on VA property, you have to respect their authoritah.

[anon]

This is fine, as long as they don't mind me showing my respect with my foot up their ass.

[Paul.]

I think that would fall under the umbrella (and it's a big umbrella) of resisting.

[anon]

To be fair, I really thought VA cops were rent-a-cops. I drive by a VA every day on my way to work. Had no idea they were such dicks; now Ima fuck with them just cause.

[Agammamon]

Pretty much this - they are overpaid and over-glorified security guards.

At least security guards are useful and the limitations on what they can do mean that they are usually polite and tend to solve problems with the least force possible - disclaimer? I was one for a couple of years.

Unfortunately you get these sorts of guys who are in a job that really only needs security guards but, since its a government facility, they get 'law enforcement'. Nevermind that fact that city law enforcement is just a phone call away if they're needed.

Fuck though, nowadays even malls have large *police* forces in them - rather than just one or two officers to add some umph to the SG's 'request' that you leave the premises or deal with the aftermath of a caught shoplifter.

[Pope Jimbo]

I think you also have to add to the fact that they are surrounded by people who were injured on a real battle field. Who actually fought against people who were actually trying to kill them.

So the wannabees are constantly reminded that that mouthy fuck in a wheel chair with metal in his neck showed more actual bravery than they ever have. Can't be good for their poor little egos.

[buybuydandavis]

"He told me to delete the picture and leave the premises - which I did, to across the street where I took a picture of the sign."

Do none of these professionals in forensics and evidence know that "deleting" something on disk generally leaves it easily recoverable?

[LiveFreeOrDiet]

Do like my kid did. Remove the SD card from the camera and give him an empty one instead by sleight of hand.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

Did I miss the post where Reason declared it Nut-Punch Week? I don't know how many more of these I can handle before I just throw my monitor out of a window.

[Paul.]

As stated in an earlier thread, shit be depressing today.

We need a pick-me-up. Warty should tell us what's in his basement.

[Cytotoxic]

It's been bad for a week now. Just one rom-paunch to the nuts after the next.

[Episiarch]

Today it's your mom. Did that pick you up? I know it did for me.

[Agammamon]

Re: Altext. You wish that cop was an hero.

[Lady Bertrum]

Re: altext

Are we still doing the "an" with an H thing?

Because I say hero and history, not 'ero and 'istory because I'm not a cockney like Eliza Doolittle.

[Paul.]

Witch: That it be!

Blackadder: That it is... I'm not a bloody tourist...

[Agammamon]

'An hero' is a suicide meme. To do 'an hero' is to kill yourself.

[Suthenboy]

The more authoritarian the upper levels of government get, the more this kind of tyranny trickles down to the lower levels.

The morons calling for more government solutions to everything are not going to like where that road leads. They always seem to think that the boot will land on the other guy's neck and not their own.

[buybuydandavis]

Sure they're gonna like it. Some people wish to be slaves. Our problem is that they insist that we're made slaves too.

Joss Whedon, via Loki, was right about a great many, and possibly the majority.

Loki: Kneel before me. I said, KNEEL!
[Loki stamps his scepter on the ground, causing a shockwave that intimidates the crowd into silence as they all kneel before him]

Loki: Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It's the unspoken truth of humanity, that you crave subjugation. The bright lure of freedom diminishes your life's joy in a mad scramble for power, for identity. You were made to be ruled. In the end, you will always kneel.

[neoteny]

Has anyone seen one of those black T-shirts with the white "Obey" lettering on them? I've seen two in a few days (and I get out rarely).

[C. Anacreon]

I just got some good news. I found out I have to be in Las Vegas on business in July. The business ends late afternoon on July 9, so I will have a paid hotel room for that night. One hour after my business ends, just down the street Freedom Fest begins! So I can stay an extra day or so on my own dime, but essentially I'm getting airfare, connections and half the lodging covered for me to attend the World's Largest Gathering of Free Minds.

Anyone else going or has ever attended? I'd like to know what you think. I'm going to try and finally meet PJ O'Rourke, and will give Stossel a hug for FdA. Maybe even Julie Borowski will tell me I don't look so bad for my age.

[JW]

Never been, but that sounds fun. They'd best allow scotch swillin' and cigar smokin.'

Be sure to top it off with a visit to a brothel.

[Kuwanki]

With regards to government health care, we would be remiss to not include Indian Health Services, a "form" of health care so legendarily shitty that North Koreans wouldn't put up with it.