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Bar patrons say civil liberties trampled by police

Contributed by: Travis Duncan   on 2/20/2008

It had been a rough weekend for the Manitou Springs Police Department. There had been over 41 calls for disturbances because of the partying surrounding Mardi Gras in town.

"They had to call in five police cruisers from Colorado Springs that weekend," said Verne Witham, Manitou Springs City Administrator. "It gets pretty doggone hairy when you have to call in five officers from Colorado Springs. We have a very small police department."

"That's no excuse for refusing civil liberties and the First Amendment," Manitou resident Stephen Goodall told him at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

On Sunday, February 3, Stephen Goodall was out with friends at The Ancient Mariner, checking out the bar's weekly acid jazz night, which he had not attended in some time.

When a fight broke out between two bar patrons, the bartender, Melissa, called the police.

According to multiple witnesses who reported what they saw at the Tuesday evening Manitou Springs City Council meeting, Officer L. Lovely of the Manitou Springs Police Department entered the bar with his nightstick drawn and proceeded to arrest the wrong person.

When Melissa touched the officer's arm to get his attention, saying, "You're taking the wrong guy," Officer Lovely shoved her and she fell back onto a table.

Goodall followed Lovely outside and heard the bartender ask Officer Lovely why he had shoved her.

"Because you shoved me," he said.

"Actually," said Goodall, "I only saw you pushing her, sir."

"If you don't move right now, I'm going to arrest you," Lovely told him.

Goodall didn't want to be arrested. He turned to go back inside, took one step inside the bar, before turning to ask, "Sir, what is your name?"

That's when Officer Lovelyput Goodall against the wall, handcuffed him, and told him he was under arrest.

Amé Carlson was there with Goodall and yelled out to Lovely that her friend hadn't done anything wrong.

"You get back in there or you're going to get arrested," he told her.

Perhaps most surprising, is that multiple Council members thought Lovely had already been suspended for previous violations and should not have been on duty that evening.

"How long are we going to hear about officers roughing people up and shaking up the homeless before we do something?" asked Councilman Shannon Solomon.

"I thought Lovely was on his way out," Councilwoman Elizabeth Feder remarked a short time later.

Goodall was locked up for nearly two hours before he was released late Sunday night. He said he was most upset that, "rather than defusing the situation, the officers were antagonizing everyone and borderline inciting a riot."

But he said he was happy with the response he got from Council members at the meeting.

"I think it's a start," he said. "I want to see this officer fired. That should help to get the rumor mill started in the police department that you have to respect civil liberties."


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Submitted By: H Heiman
posted on 2/22/2008 @ 1:47:50 PM
Rated Blog Entry
This oddly enough does not surprise me in the least - The cops have been allowed to bully and beat-up people in this state for a long time - look at the records of abuses in Denver alone! This is what happens when we allow corrupt leaders to hold office. I'm so totally tired of hearing how fab this country is - it IS NOT what it used to be.
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