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Tax Dodger Orrock Takes Frustrations out on Homeless Man

An eager reader notes that convicted tax dodger and former questionable Bennett County state’s attorney Kenneth Orrock, is now in trouble for acting as a security guard without a license.

Orrock also appears to lack a license for walking up and tackling Indians:

As Arielle Zionts explains in the Rapid City Journal, Orrock was apparently responding to a call from another private security worker who was trying to get a homeless Native American man to leave the premises of a store whose owner had twice asked the Native American man to leave. The Native American man spoke and postured belligerently toward the first guard. The Native American man once swatted away the guard’s hand when the guard pointed at him.

Then Orrock pulls up in his truck and, without warning, physically assaults the Native American man.

If you want the legal right to use force on a stranger, you need to be acting under the color of law. Even if you have a badge or a license, you need probable cause before you take a man to the ground and bloody his face.

Even if a prosecutor can’t make an assault charge stick, playing rent-a-cop without a license could have grave consequences for Orrock:

Orrock’s federal probation conditions say he must report any contact with law enforcement and can’t own or use a firearm or any dangerous weapon. He doesn’t appear to be carrying a gun in the video. Orrock is also not allowed to break any laws so if he’s convicted of his new charge, he could have his probation revoked and be sentenced to prison or another punishment [Arielle Zionts, “Video Shows Orrock Forcefully Taking Down Man with No Apparent Warning,” Rapid City Journal, 2020.03.05].

You’d think a guy who was a state’s attorney would understand the law better than this. But such are the kinds of quality law enforcers that Republicans pick in South Dakota.

22 Comments

  1. Dicta 2020-03-16 12:56

    “Takes frustrations out on homeless man.” What a misleading, terrible clickbait title. The legal analysis may be correct here, but this is a trash headline and you know it, Cory.

  2. Steve Higgins 2020-03-16 12:58

    “But such are the kinds of quality law enforcers that Republicans pick in South Dakota”

    And on a national scale the democrats pick someone like Eric Holder….you know the guy that gave the blessing to sell firearms illegally to the Mexican cartels that ultimately ended up being used to kill a CBP officer.

    But I don’t really expect that you will have the balls to post this.

  3. mike from iowa 2020-03-16 13:08

    Mr Indian man appears to have a damaged or disabled right arm. Did not appear to me as if security wanted him to leave, He kept getting in the irate man’s grill whichever he turned. This could get interesting.

    FYI UCLA forecasts the US is now in recession. Breaking news report.

  4. jerry 2020-03-16 14:01

    Fast and Furious (the names of my right and left hands) and Wide Receiver (what I always wanted to be), were both initiated under the Phoenix Field Division of the ATF. Alberto Gonalez for Wide Receiver and Eric Holder for Fast and Furious, were the two attorney generals at each time.

    “There is one mitigating factor, however: A program similar to Fast and Furious did go forward under the Bush administration in 2006 and 2007. That program, called Operation Wide Receiver, also attempted to track suspicious weapons. Allowing gun sales to go forward even when the ATF had probable cause to believe the sales were unlawful has come to be known as “gun walking.”

    The two operations — Fast and Furious and Wide Receiver — had some similarities, and both were run out of the ATF’s Phoenix Field Division. The inspector general explored both programs in depth and found similar problems.” Politifact

    As far as it looks, Gonzalez has more crap on his shoes than Holder does, but you can easily check both their records. One supported torture and the other didn’t. Guess which one did? The republicans seem to have an edge on low quality prospects.

  5. jerry 2020-03-16 14:04

    Orrock was lucky the bystander didn’t put a hole in him for the blind sided attack. Orrock acted in total disregard for public…that seems to have always been the way he operated. Lock him up! Lock him up!

  6. jerry 2020-03-16 14:12

    Very good link mfi, triggers the old memory buttons. Thanks Steve Higgins for bringing this up and proving that your full of the beans.

  7. Steve Higgins 2020-03-16 16:52

    Neither operation should have taken place…allowing/encouraging/orchestrating serious federal firearms laws to be broken to achieve a theoretical end is not acceptable. And both operations ultimately were Charlie Foxtrots.

    Wide Receiver – about 450 guns involved and there were efforts to track these firearms and eventually arrests were made as a result of this operation and the Mexican authorities were informed and cooperation was obtained by Mexico.

    Fast and Furious – almost 2000 firearms involved with no effort to track and arrest. Also, Mexican authorities were not informed of the operation and cooperation with Mexico was not attempted by ATF/DoJ. And when asked about the operation by Congress under oath, Eric Holder lied and stated he knew nothing about it but in fact he had know about the fiasco for at least ten months at the time.

    Seems the old memory buttons aren’t functioning quite as well as you would like. Or is it selective memory…..huh Jerry?

  8. Richard Schriever 2020-03-16 17:36

    So responsibility – like cream – inevitably, inexcusably – rises to the top – eh Higgins? Oh, and previous administrations carry that responsibility only to the extent of the precise time they were in office. Back-blaming is illegitimate. Right?

  9. Cory Allen Heidelberger Post author | 2020-03-16 18:10

    I think an apology from Orrock is due long before an apology from me. People working as security guards assume the responsibility to know the law and act accordingly, especially in high-pressure situations. I suspect Orrock has far more training in the law than most private security guards. The only reasonable explanation for the illegal action depicted in the video is that he let some emotion overpower his educated judgment. Frustration is perhaps the mildest of the emotions that might have motivated this excess.

    It’s harder to explain away working security without a license as a mere emotional response in the heat of a moment. That crime is an intentional flouting of the law, repeated every day that Orrock went to work.

  10. Debbo 2020-03-16 18:28

    My understanding is that the only legal way for one private citizen to fight with another is in self defense. Of course if you’re white and the other is a POC, you can get away with it in most states, SD being one of those.

    What about a Citizen’s arrest? Can that involve physical force?

  11. bearcreekbat 2020-03-16 19:06

    Debbo, Findlaw explains quite a bit about what is and is not acceptable in effectuating a citizen’s arrest. Regarding the use of force it says:

    . . . individuals must only use the amount of force that’s reasonable and necessary to make the arrest. Just what exactly constitutes the reasonable and necessary amount of force depends on the facts surrounding each arrest. Juries will usually examine the facts surrounding the arrest and determine whether the force was excessive.

    https://criminal.findlaw.com/criminal-procedure/citizen-s-arrest.html

    Here is one of my favorite examples of a citizen’s arrest:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9efgLHgsBmM

  12. mike from iowa 2020-03-16 19:07

    Hopefully this will be my last off topic comment on this….. (thank someone for Obama and Holder or no one would have been held responsible in either case)

    An August 2006 briefing memo on Wide Receiver, which was conducted from 2006 to 2007, shows that “there is currently sufficient documentation to conclude” a criminal case from the investigation.

    In addition, the memo suggests that it was “highly unlikely,” due to the limited recovery of firearms, that weapons had not already entered gun trafficking conduits to Mexico.

    Regardless, ATF decided to forge ahead with the investigation. Additional documents indicate that they did so in an attempt to infiltrate deeper into criminal gun trafficking organizations operating along the U.S.-Mexico border.

    By the end of 2006, the targets of the investigation had purchased 181 firearms. Hundreds of firearms were sold to the targets of the investigation before it ended in 2007.

    No charges were filed against the targets of the investigation until 2009, during the Obama administration. Six individuals have since been convicted of offenses related to the Wide Receiver operation.

  13. bearcreekbat 2020-03-16 19:17

    As for Orrick, it appears that he may not have had any authority to behave violently or make a “citizen’s arrest” under SD law:

    23A-3-3. Citizen’s arrest. Any person may arrest another:
    (1) For a public offense, other than a petty offense, committed or attempted in his presence; or
    (2) For a felony which has been in fact committed although not in his presence, if he has probable cause to believe the person to be arrested committed it.

    Under SD trespass statutes, specifically SDCL 22-35-6, there are specific elements of the offense and since this is a misdemeanor anyone seeking to make the arrest must witness each element. Here Orreck apparently witnessed nothing. Rather the video appears to show him simply driving up to the scene and immediately taking action. He appears to have acted on what he had been told by others rather than what he personally witnessed.

  14. Debbo 2020-03-16 20:14

    BCB, the horrific nature of that citizens arrest you linked to shocked my senses!

  15. Gopdad 2020-03-16 20:20

    I m proud if of you all! Other than “Mike from Iowa”, IOWA, which means Idiots out wondering around! He had to put “Mr Indian Man”? Really? What would have you done? And to ascribe race in to this, really? You could not come up with a better Middle School name for this. Thats what you all want on this site. I have a 12 year old son, and it is nothing different. Except, we arel all supposed to be adults? But, you all are freekin crazy? You can make up names with the best of MS students in SD!!! Grow UP!!!! It’s fun reading your rants. But, when you question the intelligence of anyone that dares, to oppose you, and then act like 3rd graders! Your nicknames?? WOW! grow up”!! You cant debate, so you call names??? Mike, FROM IOWA???? Really, From i, little i, iowa? It is amazing how well you all can call names and act like kids! DEBBO! Grow the hell up! I know you are older than me, and I am 50??? Really??? People like all on both sides, are why things are so far apart.

  16. grudznick 2020-03-16 20:58

    Looks like Vic Mackey to me.

  17. grudznick 2020-03-17 23:13

    I guess my Vic Mackey comment shut down all you loud mouths about this issue. Look at that picture. Vic Mackey could be coming for you. I’m just sayin…he’s not coming for grudznick because I obey the law and don’t trespass about and drunkenly lurk on private property when told to leave.

    Vic Mackey. C’mon people.

  18. Debbo 2020-03-17 23:35

    Can anyone follow gopdad’s rant?

  19. jerry 2020-03-18 00:45

    A simple misspelling, Debbo, what was meant to be spelled out was Gooplab. From the spelling on the rant, you can easily see how the mistake was made. https://goop.com/the-goop-lab-netflix/

  20. Debbo 2020-03-18 03:03

    🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

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