Ferguson protester used police radios to interfere with cops, charges allege
By Kim Bell [email protected] 314-340-8115
FERGUSON • A man arrested in the Ferguson protests over the weekend
used police radios to try to distract officers and interfere with their
work, according to charges filed Monday.
Nicholas S. Green, 35, of the 3500 block of Connor Avenue in St. John,
was charged Monday with felony tampering.
Green modified the radios so he could transmit on the St. Louis County
Police Department radio frequency, St. Louis County Police Officer
Virgil Avery said in court papers. He used two radios at Tiffin and
Harrison avenues, about a block from the Ferguson police station on
South Florissant Avenue. His actions interfered with the work of county
dispatchers and officers, said County Police Officer Rick Eckhard.
According to police, Green used vulgarity on the air waves, dispatched
police vehicles to various locations to try to shut down intersections
and interfered with communications between officers. Charges allege that
Green "caused substantial interruption and impairment of service."
When he was arrested at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Green had the radios
with him, police say.
Green could not be reached for comment. It's not clear if Green has an
attorney. No lawyer had entered an appearance in the court file Monday.
The nonprofit ArchCity Defenders, which represents many of the
protesters arrested since the start of the unrest, said Green was not
among its clients. A clerk in the courthouse said only Green's mother
had stopped by to look at his file Monday morning; she could not be
reached for comment.
Green's mugshot appears to show a bruise on his right cheek and a cut
near his right eye. Police Sgt. Brian Schellman of the St. Louis County
Police Department said the department is conducting a use of force
investigation into the arrest of Green. He said Green would not get out
of his car and an officer had to pull him out of the car.
Schellman said police sought resisting arrest and interfering charges
against Green, but those were not issued by prosecutors. The resisting
arrest charge will be considered by a grand jury, Schellman said.
One of Green's relatives, a cousin, said he had heard about Green's
arrest but didn't know the circumstances.
Green's cousin said: "He was upset like a lot of people (about the
Michael Brown shooting), that's about it."
The cousin said he knew Green had been protesting as part of the
continuing unrest since a Ferguson police officer on Aug. 9 fatally shot
Brown. Protests heated up again last Monday night when the County
Prosecutor Robert McCulloch announced a grand jury would not indict the
officer, Darren Wilson.
Gov. Jay Nixon has put the St. Louis County Police Department in charge
of security in Ferguson, and the county police are working with the
Highway Patrol and St. Louis city police as part of a unified command to
"protect civil rights and ensure public safety" in the area. The
Post-Dispatch has asked to speak to someone from the Unified Command
about how the radio transmissions affected the police efforts.
First-degree tampering is punishable by up to seven years in prison and
a $5,000 fine.
Green was one of two men arrested by St. Louis County police on Saturday
night. The other man was Floyd Sullivan, 44, of Kansas City. He was
arrested in front of the Ferguson Police Department on suspicion of
interfering. Details of Sullivan's arrest were not available.
On Saturday night, about 150 to 200 protesters gathered outside the
Ferguson Police Department for what was a mostly calm event. But the
evening had its tense moments.
Protesters occasionally marched up and down South Florissant Road as
police and National Guard members stood by and followed. At one point, a
firecracker went off, scaring people.
At about 10 p.m. Saturday, shortly after the arrest of Green, about four
shots rang out just north of the police station. Someone had fired at
two men in a red Jeep Cherokee on Church Street, about a half-block off
South Florissant. There was a bullet hole in the vehicle’s rear bumper.
The men were uninjured, and police officers directed them to drive away
from the scene. Police stayed at the scene to check out shell casings on
the street.
Also on Saturday evening, protesters burned an American flag in the
street. Four members of the National Guard walked across the street to
retrieve remains of the flag.
Kim Bell covers breaking news for the Post-Dispatch and STLtoday.com.
Follow her on Twitter here.
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Duane Whittingham - N9SSN
(ARES/RACES, EmComm, Skywarn)
(Melrose Park Public Safety & Homeland Security)
http://www.mpdes.org
http://www.radiodude.info
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