CAHOKIA, IL. (ECWd) –
When citizens file complaints against a public body for violating the Freedom of Information Act and violating the Open Meetings Act, the Attorney General asks the public body for their official stance on what happened.
In this case, a complaint was made because the Mayor of Cahokia decided he didn’t want to let a citizen talk during public comment time at an open public meeting.
Mayor McCall had her removed from the meeting by a police officer without even asking her to sit down, or saying anything that would warn her she was about to be forcibly removed.
Later, the attorney for the village, Robert Sprague, wrote the AG’s office and said the mayor asked her several times to sit down and then she was removed (click here for letter).
That is a flat-out lie. Sprague could have simply watched the video to determine what happened, but chose not to. Nobody told her to sit down. Nobody told her to be quiet.
Video of the incident starts at about the 10:22 point and only lasts for about 15-20 seconds:
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3 Comments
Derrik Hagerman
Posted at 21:53h, 29 MayI was removed from a city council meeting in Terre Haute, IN after I sat down. The mayor wrote in his complaint that I was there to intimidate the mayor.
Citizens of Cahokia; you must file a Tort Claim against the City of Cahokia, members of the council, the police, etc.
First, ask the city’s legal counsel for a copy of their Civil Rights Policy. If they don’t have one, then that puts the municipality liable for the civil rights violations by the mayor and others.
Thus, their policy is to not have a policy.
After 30 days, file a civil rights complaint in either federal or state court for damage under the 1st Amendment [The right to address the govt of your grievances.], 5th [due process], 8th [cruel and unusual punishment], and 14th [equal protection].
The mayor should be guilty of neglecting his duties in his official and individual capacities.
In closing, it’s a wonder everyone stayed calm.
G. Barraclough
Posted at 08:10h, 18 MarchNotwithstanding that it is very had to tell what is being said from the chair and the floor (and the volume of the involved voices is not raised), if you watch this portion of the video several times, a reasonable and well-informed American citizen should conclude that this is a very dramatic video for the 21st Century in America. The arrogance displayed by the officials is breathtaking.
If only a verbatim transcript of the colloquy were available it would enhance the visual aspect.
Irrespective of Open Meeting Act violations, if I were the female victim I would immediately seek out a top litigator in the federal court to discuss being made whole again after the brutal treatment at the hands of the municipal and police officials depicted in this video.
Ed
Posted at 14:01h, 18 MarchThere appears to be a whole lot of eye witnesses there including 4 cops. Hopefully the 4 cops are honest enough and unafraid of punishment from the mayor to tell the truth about the incident.