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Recent Dog Incidents and the Sheriffs Office
- Thread starter John G
- Start date
Patriot Games
Beach Lover
This is a classic example of public outcry making a difference, not just on SOWAL but across the community. This is why freedom of speech is so important and the only real option unless you are foolish or stupid enough to take the law in your own hands. Public outcry pushed our elected officials to do the right thing even if they were reluctant to do so. We must do this with more issues that affect us and our everyday life, unfortunately if your issue has to do with the county government you will only be given 3 minutes to do so by the BCC. This is their way of implementing a gag policy on citizen concerns. Think of a serious issue and then stand in front of the mirror with a timer and see if you can present it and explain your issue in three minutes. I have seen developers given hours to present their side to the BCC while the affected property owners are given 3 minutes to defend it. I call this the Emfeld rule and now it can be known as the Comander rule. The BCC chair has the ability to let people speak as long as they need, but they refuse to do so. As long as a citizen stays on point, they should be allowed as long as they need to present their concerns. The right to address grievances before government should be considered sacred and not hampered or restricted by local policy. Watch a BCC meeting tape and see how many times a lawyer is told they are out of time, almost never. But if your an average citizen you be told to have a seat. At least it was 5 minutes before, Emfeld and Comander have cut it to three. Pretty soon you will only be allowed to stand up and say "I object" just to say they let you speak. Cherish and guard your freedoms carefully or one day you will wake up and have none. These rights were granted to us and paid for with the blood of our forefathers, don't let apathy and silence take what was paid for so dearly. My bill was paid for by my great uncles on Iwo Jima and in North Africa and I don't take those rights they gave me lightly as they both paid the ultimate sacrifice. At age 17 and 20 they both knew why and what they were fighting for. I never met them, but I proudly display their pictures in my house. To those that spoke up on this issue, I applaud you!
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Danny Glidewell
Beach Fanatic
The involvement of the community is always a good thing and it is good to see that people can make a difference. But it is also fair to say that so far the system has worked and hopefully the system will produce justice. While most of the drama could have been avoided by an arrest being made at the scene as is both legal and appropriate, how it has played out so far is also legal and appropriate. Since an arrest was not made at the time of the incident, there is nothing wrong with taking a little time to make sure everything is correct. And just because law enforcement/state attorneys sign off on a warrant does not mean a judge does not have the absolute right to sign or not. As far as bail, you are innocent until proven guilty in the eyes of the law and you have a right to a reasonable bail. Pretrial incarceration is not meant as punishment.
The system is slow but is working and lets see where it leads.
The system is slow but is working and lets see where it leads.
Patriot Games
Beach Lover
Sorry Danny, I don't believe anything would have come of it unless the public had spoken out. Look thru past threads on public issues and you will see that Walton County has a poor track record of doing the right thing. Don't get me wrong, I agree that he is innocent until proven guilty by a Jury or Judge, but really Danny as a former police officer how many times have you taken somebody to jail for DUI that could hardly stand up. Their blood alcohol was probably off the chart above .08 but technically they were innocent until convicted of DUI. Didn't you still remove them from the highway even though they hadn't been convicted yet? When the sheriff arrived and someone was laying there with a broken jaw, they should have been taken into custody immediately. THEN the system should have been allowed to determine if a felony had been committed or not. I personally don't think a picture of you in an orange jumpsuit should be released to the public until after the conviction, then by all means you can print it on Christmas cards as far as I'm concerned. Being charged for an alleged crime is not a punishment in my opinion, but being put on display in an orange jump suit before conviction surely is.(it will never be removed from social media) His picture should have only been released in regular clothes. I've seen domestic violence offenders taken to jail over scratches and this guy went home after sucker punching a pastor and sending him to surgery. Handcuffs and the ride of shame in the patrol car were surely appropriate. Somebody was on this guys side from the get go in my opinion and notice I've had little to say about this until the arrest was made.
Salt Life Miramar Beach
Beach Comber
Danny Glidewell
Beach Fanatic
I agree that it could have been handled differently at the time. I am guessing the suspect fled the scene and the deputy was unable to locate him. So he turned in a report and submitted a warrant to the State Attorney. That is standard procedure. Once the SA signed off they sent the warrant to the judge for review which is also standard procedure. The judge in his discretion decided to hold off on signing it. It sounds like there was not a signed affidavit of complaint. Those are not necessary in felony cases but judges usually like to have them if possible. So they made sure the victim wished to proceed and the judge signed the warrant. Bail was set per standard procedure and the arrest was made. So lets see how things proceed from here. If this had been my case I would not have been happy about the delay and I would not have been happy the suspect did not have to take the ride in the back seat but that doesn't mean anyone did anything wrong. Sometimes things just go this way. It is good to see the community get involved and show interest and concern about what happens around them.
John G
Beach Fanatic
Patriot Games is 110% correct.
Danny, while you make some good points and are factual in the legal system process, its time to stop defending the sheriff's administration and the mistake they made in handling this case.
Without SoWal and the calls to Sheriff Mike by the community, this would have not happened yesterday.
Go back and look at the Stephen Ruder DUI case. Another example of a mistake on the part of sheriff's administration. He would NEVER been charged if not for public outcry.
None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes. The sheriff's administration has made mistakes under Adkinson, but they are too arrogant to admit when they do.
When is the last time they have simply said; we made a mistake and are taking the appropriate steps to correct it?
NEVER.
By the way, who the accused's Attorney?
Danny, while you make some good points and are factual in the legal system process, its time to stop defending the sheriff's administration and the mistake they made in handling this case.
Without SoWal and the calls to Sheriff Mike by the community, this would have not happened yesterday.
Go back and look at the Stephen Ruder DUI case. Another example of a mistake on the part of sheriff's administration. He would NEVER been charged if not for public outcry.
None of us are perfect, we all make mistakes. The sheriff's administration has made mistakes under Adkinson, but they are too arrogant to admit when they do.
When is the last time they have simply said; we made a mistake and are taking the appropriate steps to correct it?
NEVER.
By the way, who the accused's Attorney?
PoppaJ
SoWal Insider
It has to be either Steve Dallas or Lionel Hutz.