COVID COPS RAID PARTY ONLY TO FIND CARDBOARD PEOPLE

 10 Cops Raid Covid-Secure Zoom Party FIND GUESTS WERE CARDBOARD PEOPLE

To mark the 56th birthday of socialite Lisa Tchenguiz, her boyfriend, the American private jet tycoon Steve Varsano, 64, thoughtfully organised a surprise online party.

He planned for Miss Tchenguiz to enter his company’s offices in Park Lane, Mayfair, and be presented with dozens of screens on which 70 of her best friends would greet her online. To add to the amusement, he ordered 70 cardboard cut-outs with images of each of the guests to be placed around the room.

Guests included restaurant tycoon Richard Caring, the Marquess of Bath and his wife, former Strictly Come Dancing star Emma Weymouth, top model Christina Estrada, and property developer Bruce Ritchie.

However, while workmen were organising the elaborate set-up, a passer-by saw what was going on from outside the building and called the police – apparently convinced that a big party was being prepared. 

The tip-off is thought to have come from a passenger on the upper deck of a bus travelling down Park Lane who could see into the building.

To Mr Varsano’s horror, his offices were then visited by not one, not two, but almost a dozen Metropolitan Police officers, arriving in multiple vehicles.

‘There were about ten officers,’ he explained. He said they refused to believe the party was online-only and proceeded to search for guests hidden in the building. 

‘They went to all the rooms in my offices like I was some criminal,’ he said. 

‘Someone must have called and said I was having a party because they saw trucks delivering lights and balloons and images.

‘They quickly understood that it was not attended in real life by people but by 70 cardboard cut-outs and Zoom people. I had an operator for lights and he was behind a glass, had a mask and was doing social distancing.’

He added: ‘I went through unbelievable efforts to adhere to the rules. The police were surprised that there were no people that they could issue a fine to.’ 

However, they were apparently not fully convinced by his explanations because two officers returned later that evening to check the guests were really made of cardboard.

He said: ‘It was a little bit funny, but we had to take it seriously. They were very nice and realised there wasn’t anything illegal. They bid us farewell, but it was a bit alarming.’

Lisa, sister of property tycoons Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz, said: ‘The police didn’t dampen my spirits. They were kind enough to say hello to my friends. They were doing what they need to do.’

She added of her boyfriend’s efforts: ‘It was incredible. I saw these cut-outs and they looked so real and then I turned around and saw a screen of my friends from all over the world.’

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘Police received six reports about a gathering of people at premises in Park Lane. Officers attended the premises. No further action was taken.

Tennessee Cops Piss On The Constitution, When They Arrest Man For Photoshopped Image

MAN ARRESTED FOR HARASSING A DEAD OFFICER 

 A Tennessee man, presumably disenchanted with local law enforcement, posted the above image to social media. The image shows two people urinating on a headstone crudely edited to include a portrait of Sgt Daniel Baker, a Dickson County cop who was killed in the line of duty in 2018. The original photograph is the cover of a 2009 album released by a band called The Rites.

Dickson County police, however, believed it was a genuine photo of Baker's grave. With the assistance of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation—and a trip to the cemetery—they realized that it was merely a "tasteless and disrespectful photoshop".

Even so, they tracked Joshua Andrew Garton down anyway and charged him with Harassment over what the TBI described as "desecration" in a Twitter posting announcing his arrest. Garton is being held on a $76,000 bond at Dickson County Jail.

Garton's arrest may satisfy local outrage, but comes with its own costs. The heavy-handed response has already been widely condemned as an infringement of Garton's constitutional rights.

When it comes to First Amendment free speech, the First Amendment really was designed to protect a debate at the fringes. You don't need the courts to protect speech that everybody agrees with, because that speech will be tolerated. You need a First Amendment to protect speech that people regard as intolerable or outrageous or offensive — because that is when the majority will wield its power to censor or suppress, and we have a First Amendment to prevent the government from doing that.

Tennessee attorney Daniel A. Horwitz, who specializes in First Amendment litigation noted, the specific conduct the TBI arrested Garton for is simply “not a crime.”

“The First Amendment clearly and unmistakably protects this man’s right to post an offensive photo about a police officer,” Horwitz told Law&Crime. 

“The only people who broke the law here were the police officers and TBI agents who participated in this flagrantly unconstitutional arrest.”-Daniel A. Horwitz

"The Police set out to arrest Joshua Andrew Garton for one thing, quickly realize they can't, and made up something else in frustration," wrote lawyer Daniel A. Horwitz on Twitter. "… I am riled up about the government imprisoning someone for disrespecting them."

Now this whole situation is also an example of the Streisand Effect, when is an attempt at censorship that results only in broad attention to the material in question. Thanks to the arrest, an image seen by only a few locals has now gone viral online.

UPDATE: Investigative efforts, by TBI and the Dickson Police Department today, have led to a Harassment charge for a man accused of doctoring and posting a disturbing photograph depicting the desicration of the grave of Sgt. Daniel Baker.

DETAILS: https://t.co/2qQHqgNfom pic.twitter.com/cuXc67kcfj

— Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (@TBInvestigation) January 23, 2021

IN ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF COPS OVER REACTING TO A SITUATION, CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO

Framed Philadelphia Man is free After 19 Years After Police Used A "DROP GUN" To Frame Him

 The Gun Was Registered To An

Active-Duty Officer

Framed Philadelphia man is freed 19 years after he was jailed

Three Philadelphia police officers have been reassigned pending an internal investigation into the arrest of Termaine Joseph Hicks, who was cleared of a 2001 rape last week after spending 19 years in prison.

That decision comes after an investigation by the Innocence Project and the District Attorney’s Conviction Integrity Unit raised serious questions about whether police had fabricated evidence, planted a gun, and arrested Hicks under false pretenses — all to conceal a police shooting of an innocent bystander who had rushed to aid a rape victim.

“They lied under oath to cover up for shooting an innocent man three times in the back,” Innocence Project lawyer Vanessa Potkin said.

A police spokesperson said the DA provided details on the allegations only after Hicks’ case was resolved. “As a result of receiving this information, we have opened an Internal Affairs investigation into the allegations of police misconduct,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Officer Martin Vinson, who testified that he fired because Hicks was reaching for a gun and lunging toward him, and his then-partner Sgt. Dennis Zungolo, who testified he saw Hicks pulling up his pants when police arrived, were both placed on restricted duty, the spokesperson confirmed. 

Vinson, most recently assigned to the Third Police District, has not responded to requests for comment. Zungolo, of South Detectives Division, declined an interview and referred questions to John McGrody, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5. McGrody did not return phone calls on Tuesday.