Man Arrested For Peaceful Protest on Public Highway, Part 3 of 3

Hobert Parker, Jr., 62, of Lompoc, California, is being arrested in 2006 for protesting merely because he carries a sign, the content of which Air Force Officials do not like, on a public highway that bisects Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. He has protested on the public portion of the highway in the area shown in the video since 1993.

Prior to this arrest, he was told to move to a so-called "approved" area to carry his sign. However, when he moved to the approved area, his van was illegally towed, leaving him, a diabetic, stranded with nothing to eat. He was later reimbursed for the illegal towing.

Hobert and his wife were, on another occasion, detained for about 45 minutes, merely for taking pictures of the green stripes at a cross-walk, while present only on the public highway in the approved area.

Because Air Force security police were harassing Hobert by towing his vehicle, detaining him and his wife in their vehicle without cause, and otherwise harassing him at the approved location, he decided to start taking the public bus to the approved location so he could carry his sign without his vehicle being towed. The first time he took the bus, he was arrested for trespassing while merely waiting for the bus after he finished carrying his sign. The bus stop arrest was flagrantly illegal so the criminal charges were dropped.

After these and other instances of harassment at the approved location, Hobert went back to carrying his sign in the original location. The video shows his arrest for merely carrying his sign on the public highway. He was charged in federal court with trespassing on this public highway because it dissects the Air Force Base, even though there are no restrictions on the public on this highway. The highway is the only access to the public train station and a county beach. It is open 24 hours a day. The only restrictions are when leaving the public highway and entering the secured portions of the Base. Hobert was, nonetheless, improperly convicted of trespassing by a federal magistrate judge. Hobert is currently appealing the trespassing conviction, because the Air Force can not lawfully arrest a person for trespassing on a public highway that is freely open to the public 24 hours a day without restriction.

Hobert was arrested under the pretext of trespassing because the security police did not like the content of his sign, violating the First Amendment. Hobert says the swearing in the video is caused by the various incidents in the past of harassment.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• police
• military
• false
• arrest
• resisting
• protest
• protesting
• peaceful
• vandenberg
• vafb
• base
• trespass
• trespassing
• air
• force
• airforce
• california
• lompoc
• santa
• barbara
• security

[MrEWyss]

I am an ex-USAF SP and I watched all three videos. The main thing the my brother AF cops did wrong was to not have a civilian law enforcement officer (US Marshall, C.H.P., or county sheriff deputy) with them. They have no authority over civilians. Because it is a public road the gentleman has a right to be there, no matter how annoying he may be.

[RoboBagons]

Is this what happens when you get older? Your brain starts to melt into goo, just like becoming a child again?

[afsf74]

MrEWyss...since it was concurrent jurisdiction, they did not have to have a civilian law enforcement officer present. I stopped many a civilian on both those highways for speeding and issued them citations without having to have CHP present. Their is a federal magistrate and court on base for the civilians who have citations issued. They have the option to pay the fine or show up for their day in court.

[AmberMcQuaker]

These Air Force Officers are being really paitent I would have had him on the ground the first time he turned around

[SIECKTWO]

@MrBullfrog9876 I'm guessing you're one of the people who support the idiots who protest soldiers' funerals because it's their "Right!!" Condemn me all you want but I love my country and the constitution. A fact that I've proven by sacrificing my health and donating my life for. Don't you dare sit on your computer and tell a disabled vet that he hates the constitution. I hate that our country has produced self-righteous pricks like you. What have you sacrificed, given or proven?

[SIECKTWO]

@quackn On a military base they are. Ask a Military Police Officer buddy. For that matter, ask anyone in the military. Military Personnel do not have all the rights a regular civilian has. On base, there's an entire different set of rules and regulations. Don't listen to me though, LOOK THIS SHIT UP first before you argue about it.

[SIECKTWO]

@Piratesargh On a MILITARY base, UCMJ takes precedence. Military Law before the Constitution on a MILITARY base. YOU KIDS need to research before becoming keyboard warriors and assuming half of the bullshit that you put on the internet. Come get some? Grow up little fella.

[ohannahdad]

@Psykojr The public highway that this man was arrested on doesn't run through the AFB. It crosses over the road that runs through the AFB. This public road is the only road allowing access to a train station and a county beach. These military clowns BROKE THE LAW because they don't like the sign message he is carrying. In the past, they have treated this old guy like an animal because of a peaceful protest and they have to break the law to do it. They are disgusting, and you run to their defense

[Psykojr]

@ohannahdad Now with you saying the Posse Comitatus Act here is something else to look at. In the video description, it states that the highway bisects, or runs through, Vandenberg AFB, therefore, while driving along, there should be a sign stating "Now Entering Vandenberg AFB" and hence they are driving on military property and they have every right to detain, arrest, and bar said individual from the base and base property.