On Friday, February 14, 2003, at 10:46 PM, Eric Cordian wrote:
I did in a fair amount of detail a while back, and I think I mentioned it shortly after it happened, circa Sept-October of 1997 (might've been October of '98, but I think it was '97).Tim Wrote:When I was accused of planting a bomb to blow up President Clinton, I told them to "prove it."This sounds like an interesting story. Would you care to elaborate?
I'll recount the story again. Those who do a line by line comparison may find minor altered recollections. I'm not going to "refresh my memory of my words" by digging up the past account.
Here's what happened, in bullet form.
* I was at the Stanford campus the afternoon that Clinton, Hilary, and Chelsea were arriving to start her at Stanford. This was a big media event, with news coverage, security forces galore, etc.
* I was walking near the Meyer Library when a preppie-looking guy in running shorts and shoes came running directly up to me and stopped. He asked me if I knew what all the excitement was about. I shrugged and said "Clinton is due here soon."
(I figured him for SS, based on a) nobody could be that clueless, b) running men around all the SS forces would be unlikely, c) runners don't typically jog _ON_ the campus, what with numerous running trails in the hills and countryside nearby, d) his cleancut preppie appearance.)
* a few minutes later I saw uniformed cops and at least one plainclothes male approaching from all four sides
* they surrounded me, a few feet away, in a circle, and said "We'd like you to show us what's in your bag."
* I said, "No."
* They said "We are requiring you to show us what's in the bag."
* "No. Not without a valid warrant."
* Then: "What's your purpose here on campus today?"
* "We'll need to see your ID and what's in the bag."
* Around that time--a couple of them were demanding things of me at the same time--one of them blurted out: "We saw you in the basement planting that bomb."
* I said something like "That's a lie. I wasn't in that building. You have proof?"
* They told me not to move, huddled, and then said "We're going to tell you to walk immediately off campus and not to return at any time. If you are found on the campus you'll be arrested."
* I walked away and one of them trailed me to the edge of the campus. From there, I walked about a half a mile along the southern edge of the campus, saw no cop following me, and got back on campus near the Law School, where my 4 pm talk to Professor Margaret Rader's "Cyberspace and the Law" class was held. I told her and the class what had happened. She said the whole security regime, with bags being searched at random, was bothersome to all of them.
I told the class that the SS/security forces had claimed I had been seen planting a bomb and that they should react to me as they saw fit.
--Tim May
