This is a breaking story. Details to follow…
Here is the story as we understand it, based primarily on the Youtube video below.
According to the victim, a man was driving in Portsmouth on January 1 when he began to get a series of text messages. Rather than try to read them while driving, which is illegal in New Hampshire, he pulled into the Cumberland Farms parking lot off Woodbury Avenue.
The Cumberland Farms was closed at the time, since it was New Year’s Day. They may have been operating reduced hours.
The victim claims he was simply sitting in the parking lot reading his messages safely when the Portsmouth Police noticed someone “loitering” and pulled up to investigate. So far so good. A reasonable person might think the police would accept his explanation and drive off.
However that was not how it played out. The police made a series of escalating demands and made no explanation for why they were making the demands they were, despite repeated requests to justify their actions.
The Portsmouth Police ultimately tazed and arrested the man. See for yourself.
Their apparent justification was that he was “resisting” and failing to identify himself. In New Hampshire, under RSA 594:2, a peace officer may stop any person whom they have reason to suspect is committing, has committed, or is about to commit a crime, and may request the person’s name and address. However, the statute specifies that an officer shall not arrest an individual solely for refusing to provide such information.
We are eager to hear the Police Department’s side of the story, but watch the video yourself. It looks very bad for Portsmouth Police’s handling of the situation. Their demeanor was hostile almost immediately, and they made no attempt to de-escalate the situation.
As of this writing, the incident does not show up in the Portsmouth Police log: https://www.cityofportsmouth.com/police/police-logs
We understand that this incident is on the City Council agenda for tonight, Monday, January 6 2025 but we don’t see it publicly posted on the City Council agenda. Perhaps their agenda was posted before this incident.
The YouTube comments associated with this video tell a story about the public’s reaction. Here’s a typical response:
It’s not about the law. They tased and assaulted this guy. Why? “Because he didn’t listen to their tyrannical unlawful orders?
Someone explain this to me. If they say, “You’re under arrest” and you resist, they say “Now, you’re being charged with resisting arrest.”. OK, right or wrong, I sort of get that. However, if they say you’re under arrest and it’s an offense that you know you can’t be arrested for, say not showing your ID, can you still be cited for resisting?
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