- A day after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police
do not need a warrant to handcuff and arrest people for minor infractions,
Chandler police said they arrested and cuffed a man for refusing to sign
a citation for a messy yard.
-
- Dennis Walker, 40, was arrested about 1:30 p.m. Wednesday.
He was accused of violating several city codes concerning his front lawn
and charged with unlawful interference with a police officer and resisting
arrest.
-
- Police said Walker was handcuffed and taken to Madison
Street Jail because he refused to sign a citation, a routine request by
police when issuing tickets and citations. He was cited for violating the
city code because his front yard includes an inoperable vehicle, litter
and debris, landscape materials and outside storage.
-
- "These are misdemeanor citations and by law we have
to arrest him if he doesn't sign the citation," said Sgt. Ken Phillips
of the Chandler Police Department.
-
- Police say Walker put up a struggle when they tried to
put on the handcuffs.
-
- But Walker's wife, who said he had never been arrested
before, painted a different picture.
-
- "I never once heard them tell my husband to sign
a citation," said Lorraine Walker, who witnessed the incident. "They
did not attempt to serve him with anything."
-
- Lorraine Walker said the city's code enforcement team
came to the couple's home in the 600 block of West Monterey Street accompanied
by a plainclothes police officer. Her husband told them to get off his
property. Instead, the code officers began looking in the back of his truck.
-
- Dennis Walker then walked into the house, came out with
a camera and began taking photos.
-
- "That is when they went into a frenzy," Lorraine
Walker said. "It was disgusting."
-
- Chandler police have arrested three residents in the
last year for refusing to sign misdemeanor citations, Phillips said.
-
-
- Reach the reporter at carlos.miller@arizonarepublic.com
602 444-7737
-
- MainPage
http://www.rense.com
-
-
-
- This
Site Served by TheHostPros
|