Thread: Who do you believe? These stations have video to confirm.

Dr Peter Watts, Canadian science fiction writer, beaten and arrested at US border

My friend, the wonderful sf writer Peter Watts was beaten without provocation and arrested by US border guards on Tuesday. I heard about it early Wednesday morning in London and called Cindy Cohn, the legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. She worked her contacts to get in touch with civil rights lawyers in Michigan, and we mobilized with Caitlin Sweet (Peter's partner) and David Nickle (Peter's friend) and Peter was arraigned and bailed out later that day.

But now Peter faces a felony rap for "assaulting a federal officer" (Peter and the witness in the car say he didn't do a thing, and I believe them). Defending this charge will cost a fortune, and an inadequate defense could cost Peter his home, his livelihood and his liberty.

Peter's friends are raising money for his legal defense. I just sent him CAD$1,000, because this is absolutely my biggest nightmare: imprisoned in a foreign country for a trumped-up offense against untouchable border cops. I would want my friends to help me out if it ever happened to me.

Update: Here's more from Peter, in his own words: "Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on. I did not repeat that question when refused an answer and told to get back into the vehicle. In that other timeline I was not punched in the face, pepper-sprayed, shit-kicked, handcuffed, thrown wet and half-naked into a holding cell for three ****ing hours, thrown into an even colder jail cell overnight, arraigned, and charged with assaulting a federal officer, all without access to legal representation (although they did try to get me to waive my Miranda rights. Twice.). Nor was I finally dumped across the border in shirtsleeves: computer seized, flash drive confiscated, even my ****ing paper notepad withheld until they could find someone among their number literate enough to distinguish between handwritten notes on story ideas and, I suppose, nefarious terrorist plots. I was not left without my jacket in the face of Ontario's first winter storm, after all buses and intercity shuttles had shut down for the night.

"In some other universe I am warm and content and not looking at spending two years in jail for the crime of having been punched in the face."

Sf writer David Nickle writes,

Hugo-award-nominated science fiction author Dr. Peter Watts is in serious legal trouble after he was beaten, pepper-sprayed and imprisoned by American border guards at a Canada U.S. border crossing December 8. This is a call to friends, fans and colleagues to help.

Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him. At the end of it, local police laid a felony charge of assault against a federal officer against Peter. On Wednesday, he posted bond and walked was taken across the border to Canada in shirtsleeves (he was released by Port Huron officials with his car and possessions locked in impound, into a winter storm that evening). He's home safe. For now. But he has to go back to Michigan to face the charge brought against him.

The charge is spurious. But it's also very serious. It could mean two years in prison in the United States, and a ban on travel in that country for the rest of Peter's life. Peter is mounting a vigorous defense, but it's going to be expensive - he's effectively going up against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and he needs the best legal help that he can get.

He's got that help, courtesy of one of the top criminal lawyers in the State of Michigan. We, Peter's friends and colleagues here in Canada, want to make sure he gets the help he needs financially to come out of this nightmare whole.

The need for that help is real. While Peter is a critically successful science fiction writer, he is by no means a best-selling author. Without help, the weight of his legal fees could literally put him on the street by spring.

We can't let that happen. So there's going to be fundraising.

We're going to think of something suitable in the New Year - but immediately, anyone who wants to help can do so easily. Peter's website, rifters.com, has a link to a PayPal account, whimsically named the Niblet Memorial Kibble Fund. He set it up years ago for fans of the Hugo-nominated novel Blindsight and his Rifters books, to cover veterinary bills for the cats he habitually rescues from the mean streets of Toronto. Peter has made it clear that he doesn't want to use the veterinary money to cover his lawsuit. But until we can figure out a more graceful conduit for the legal fund, that's the best place to send donations for now. Just let Peter know that the donation's for his legal defense, and that's where it will go.

Here's the link to the backlist page on Peter's website, rifters.com, or you can just send a PayPal donation to donate@rifters.com.

The link to the Niblet Memorial Kibble Fund is in the middle of the page. The page also links to Creative Commons editions of all his published work, which he's made available free. Peter would approve, we think, if you downloaded one or two or all of them. Whether you make a donation to the legal fund or not.

Update: David Nickle adds, "there's a very small correction I need to make to the account that's gone, erm, viral. I had thought that Peter had made his way back on foot; in fact, police released him in shirtsleeves at the Canadian side of the border. It was a winter storm, he was in shirtsleeves, but he didn't have to cross the bridge on foot. I'd misunderstood Peter's account on that point. "

-----\ Take note of the comments on this site. You would think America is a 3rd world country. It is about time we secure our borders and take no crap from anyone. Why this man decided to get out of his car and give the border patrol officers a hard time is beyond me but I do know that since 911 there needs to be more vigilance. /------

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/12/11/dr ... canad.html

Desert Cactus

IT would be wise to believe the person making the charge of abuse and harassment by the BP.

It is common knowledge that there is a 100 mile buffer zone known as a "Constitution Free Zone" where you have no rights as a citizen or a person.

Some elements of the BP are out of control and take advantage of this.

You are not protected from unreasonable search and seizure. You have no 5th Amendment Rights. You are at the whim and mercy of these fools, many of them, not long out of high school

I think they are leaving something out of the story.

Bowman, I know what you mean. I've read reports about being abused on the border, then went and watched the video and more often than not, the person claiming to be abused was a total jerk, who did not cooperate, acted suspicious, belligerent or even refused to show ID and they were not treated as badly as they exaggerated.

This guys a writer and may have been acting up to make the story sound better. You just never know but I'm sure there is some video footage of this some where.

Be pretty funny if the video comes back and it shows the dope dogs alerting to him.

Dixie

I agree something is missing in this story.My internal "Lie Detector" went off halfway through this article.

Why are we all worked up about this guy. I never heard of him. Maybe he deserved it.

Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him.

Ok...why did he get out of his car to question the nature of this search? It's an international border and agents have every right to question occupants and search vehicles. You would have been wise to keep your mouth shut, do as your told and you would have been on your way!

I suspect herein lies the crux of the matter. Something else likely went on during this exchange that is not being told.

Originally Posted by NoBueno

Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him.

Ok...why did he get out of his car to question the nature of this search? It's an international border and agents have every right to question occupants and search vehicles. You would have been wise to keep your mouth shut, do as your told and you would have been on your way!

I suspect herein lies the crux of the matter. Something else likely went on during this exchange that is not being told.

I agree. He should have just let them DO THEIR JOB. When a person is crossing ANY border, they are subject to search. To ask the officers why they want to do the search is just downright stupid. They want to do random searches because...THAT IS THEIR JOB. So this guy happened to get selected for the random search. Big F deal. Let them do their job.

I had a nightmare at that same border. We were in the United States for one and a half months and went back to Canada. There were some items we picked up in a U Haul and went were heading back. We were detained and harassed. In fact they took our daughter who was a 16 away from us and tried intimidating her. We were accused of living here illegally. I said no we were not. My daughter's father had legal residency and that my daughter and I were only in the United States for a month and a half which is not illegal. We were told we were full of sh*t and that they knew for sure that we were lying. I told them what date I crossed the border into Buffalo and once again I was called a liar. He then asked me my plate number and he punhced it in. It proved I was telling the truth and he started cussing. Then he went into a supervisor's office and various phone calls were made and in the end my daughter and I were denied entry and her dad was allowed to cross. I had my car driven back up as it was in Florida and my daughter and I went on a mission to see why we were denied even though we did nothing illegal. I made several phonecalls to border patrol and the embassy and found out that we supposedly considered terrorists. Me a woman born in Canada with a native Indian grandfather and a French Canadian grandmother and who was adopted by eastern Europeans and my 16 year old daughter. I gave them all the information they needed about me and told them that my last name was my married name. They corrected it and we went to the embassy in Toronto to confirm it so we could try going back to Florida. The woman there did not see any problem and and neither did her supervisor so we decided to try again a few days later. In the early evening we drove to the border and the man who ran my plate was there. Both my daughter and I had our passports out and he didn't even take them. He recognized us and said: "go! just f***in go! I never had any problems after that and successfully obtained legal residency.

You don't question cops or border cops about why you are being searched, just as you don't question why at the AIRPORT, they only search Old White Females, young white children, and ignore all the muslims and minorities of color. That will get a probe up your behind, etc...

I wonder if he was beligerent to get that kind of treatment? If a cop tells you to get in the CAR, you DO IT.