Minnesota U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s guest for the State of the Union address was removed from the chamber during President Trump’s speech and later arrested.
“My guest, Aliya Rahman, stood up silently in the gallery during the president’s speech for a short period of time, part of which other guests were also standing. For that, she was forcibly removed, despite warning officers about her injured shoulders and ultimately charged with ‘Unlawful Conduct,’" Omar said in a statement.
Rahman, a Bangladeshi American, was dragged out of her vehicle by federal agents in Minneapolis last month on the way to a medical appointment. Rahman testified at a Congressional forum that she was dragged through the street and suffered severe injuries to her shoulders, leaving her unable to lift her arms normally.
Omar claims Rahman was treated aggressively again last night.
“Reports indicate she was aggressively handled until someone intervened to secure medical attention. She was taken to George Washington University Hospital for treatment and later booked at the United States Capitol Police headquarters,” Omar said. "The heavy-handed response to a peaceful guest sends a chilling message about the state of our democracy. I am calling for a full explanation of why this arrest occurred.”
I used to think the same thing before I became a cop. Reddit was flush with what seemed like justified outrage at the obvious recursive and thus tyrannical nature of arresting someone for resisting arrest.
… then I found out some states call their Obstruction statute “Resisting (Someone Else’s) Arrest.”
Obviously this leads to a lot of confusion, anger, and division. Another fine example of how legislation can drop the ball on doing their jobs and leave law enforcement holding the bag of public ire.
Obstruction isn’t just used when someone is interfering with someone else’s arrest. Ive seen countless bodycam videos where either one of these is used as a catch-all charge for the heinous crime of “contempt of cop” where some jackboot gets a bruised ego and slaps charges on someone to justify an illegal detainment or worse. They know most people don’t have the means to get competent representation in court and will take a plea deal at the overworked public defender’s suggestion which retroactively ‘justifies’ their crime and prevents any sort of blowback later since the victim plead guilty to something.