That Sioux Falls paper makes it even harder to defend Mark Burgess, the man whom Sioux Falls police apparently tackled for f-bombing them on the sidewalk August 9. As South DaCola notes, Burgess was in court last week for violating the terms of a suspended sentence from a previous interaction with law enforcement in 2017.
The July 2017 case charged Burgess with resisting arrest, obstructing law enforcement and simple assault on law enforcement. In August 2018, a jury convicted him of resisting arrest and obstructing, and acquitted him of simple assault, according to a sentencing document.
In September 2018, he was sentenced to 180 days in jail, suspended, and 180 days in jail with 152 days suspended, to run concurrent. The days were suspended with the condition that Burgess not have any “resisting arrest nor obstructing offenses” for 300 days.
Burgess was charged with resisting arrest and obstructing on April 19, less than 300 days after his sentencing [Danielle Ferguson, “Man Whose Arrest Was Caught on Livestream Accused of Violating Terms of Suspended Sentence,” that Sioux Falls paper, 2019.09.26].
What originally looked like a strong First Amendment case against the police is looking more like a strong case against a knucklehead who just won’t listen to the judge.
On face, the physical force police used against Burgess on August 9 looked unjustified. Burgess stood on a public sidewalk speaking to an anti-police video provocateur while police investigated a traffic accident. Burgess did not physically interfere with the investigation. Police did not approach Burgess until after the investigation. Far from posing a physical threat to officers, Burgess moved away from them.
Whether the police assault on Burgess was justified depends on the specific conditions of his suspended sentence. Ten years ago, a judge whacked Libertarian and marijuana advocate Bob Newland’s First Amendment rights by including in the conditions of his probation a prohibition on participating in any public advocacy of marijuana legalization for one year. If the conditions of Burgess’s suspended sentence included anything like “Stay away from cops” or “Don’t verbally harass any cops,” and if the police were really responding to Burgess’s violation of such conditions, then he’s legal toast… again.
I knew that young fellow was a miscreant. I still say the police should have roughed him up more as he lay on the ground squealing and struggling to escape.
My good friend Bob, on the other hand, is not a miscreant, did not require tackling, and is now allowed to advocate for the Demon Weed.
And … that’s why grudznick hides his identity. If the people he lobbies for had to own his violence they would certainly rethink having grudznick or whoever he really is be the face and voice of their companies or political positions.
Told ya he should have been bitch slapped after the the latest incident.
While you’re getting your arse kicked you should just allow that to happen..oh wait, he did. If you just allow them to wail hell out of you, perhaps the next little old lady they see they will just tip their hat to.
We saw it all, and what we saw was that the foul mouthed guy did not do anything wrong to the people who work for him.
It looks and sounds like the same Mark Burgess that I knew more than 20 years ago. Back then he was already into stealing and drug usage and violent behavior. I can only imagine what he has been up to since.
More character assassination of Burgess, as if he needed that. We all saw what happened in that video. For his being such a turd, he was assaulted by the people who are supposed to serve and protect. He did not raise a hand nor did he threaten any of those there. He simply called them names, not racist names, but names. They could have easily left, as the accident was cleaned up and over. Instead, they bought in reinforcements so they could all get their licks on the lout.
Now this. Here is the perfect description of a police state and one in which these goons need to be reprimanded for. You may not like Burgess or his foul mouth, but he is innocent of the charges rendered and we are all witness to those facts.
More character suicide by Burgess, as he takes out a bat and threatens to burn down the neighborhood:
I wonder if anyone has ever thought that this man might have a medical issue or just plain mentally ill. Dude clearly isn’t tracking right in his latest odyssey. It’s one thing to call the cops names and it’s quite another to threaten to destroy anyone or anything. First thing, give him a mental and medical evaluation, might find he even has Covid19 on top of it all.
The police seemed like they called a special news conference on the cop cusser. The police breathlessly described what Burgess did and the icing on the cake for Burgess, was the terrorist threat. That’s federal, if I’m not mistaken. As Burgess doesn’t seem employable and we are in the trump recession and pandemic, I would plead to the federal charges and be sent to one of those fancy retreats they give out for the bankers and such. Well played Burgess, well played…and as a bonus, you have a televised report of your nefarious actions.
Maybe, Mr. jerry, this young miscreant is just an ass. A criminal. A fringe lunatic who belongs in the clink until he can pull himself together. Plus, he is no doubt toking the demon weed to stoke his criminality. Long vacation in Springfield for Mr. Burgess is forthcoming. We all shall foot the bill to keep him from beating up a few more innocents and stealing things from upstanding businesses. That is how a civilized society works. Minneapolis, now with no police force, will revert to mob rule and it will be the underprivileged community those fellows like Mr. Burgess attack first.
And bog help us all if the Covids can spur people to be insaner than most.
Locking everyone up is why we are broke Mr. grudznick. Maybe he is an ass. My money says that maybe his face is now more recognizable in Sioux Falls than their mayor. The guy clearly has more power than the mayor as they did a whole segment on the tee vee about this fellow. Guy looks like he could actually be the mayor. Why on earth would the police glorify a fringe lunatic by giving him a total news report? Life is funny like that. But it’s clear to me that whatever the guy is doing, he sure has the police in Sioux Falls rattled to the point where they are unhinged enough to call a press release. When the police are unhinged, stuff happens. I hope they don’t Epstein him.
BTW, when you make a threat about blowing up a several block area of a city, don’t you think citizens should give the guy even more tee vee time and ask if the police have searched his house for a nuke or something? Maybe he has a cabin in a remote part of Montana. Reality teevee, as a breaking terrorist story, it’s all so trumpian. Get that Angela Konekthecake out there to steal the show to get some on the scene breathless reporting.
Unhinged warrior police slashing tires in Minneapolis and then forced to admit they did it instead of the anti fascists. Sometimes you have to destroy the car to save the car. Bonus points on stupid. Some dude in Rapid City did that same thing to police cars in Spearfish. $7,800.00 in taxpayer money hissing away or change the h to a p. Stupid is as stupid does.
https://www.motherjones.com/anti-racism-police-protest/2020/06/videos-show-cops-slashing-car-tires-at-protests-in-minneapolis/
Good to hear from yah Porter :) Militarization of police is deep. The Lafayette Park incident Trump used to show his “courage” in the face of a peaceful demonstration, investigative reporting highlights the alphabet soup of supremely funded federal militarized police forces. My good friend/NPS ranger at the faces used to mention the arsenal of automatic weapons there. Injun scares!
Mayor Allender says “ those protests…now gonna cut off social program funding.”
BIG THREAT