An Ohio man made a satirical Facebook page, local police tossed him in jail.
This is what state censorship looks like.
Parma Police arrested Anthony Novak for making a page called “The City of Parma Police Department” and slamming the northeast Ohio officers with “derogatory comments” on March 2nd.
He’s due to appear in Parma’s municipal kangaroo court on Monday.
Satire is protected under the First Amendment.
So is making derogatory statements about police.
Sadly, Parma Police have indicated that Facebook assisted the authorities in collaring their suspect.
The 27-year old Novak was charged under ORC 2909.04 for disrupting public services, which sounds like it makes sense by the title.
But in reality this Ohio police force has crossed the Rubicon, applying a law meant to target someone who would sabotage physical transmission facilities or jam frequencies to Novak who did nothing more than protest one of his state’s most unconstitutional police forces.
Dont believe me, just read this statute and decide for yourselves, but I will underline the key phrase since it’s a dense tangle of legalese:
(A) No person, purposely by any means or knowingly by damaging or tampering with any property, shall do any of the following:
(1) Interrupt or impair television, radio, telephone, telegraph, or other mass communications service; police, fire, or other public service communications; radar, loran, radio, or other electronic aids to air or marine navigation or communications; or amateur or citizens band radio communications being used for public service or emergency communications;
(2) Interrupt or impair public transportation, including without limitation school bus transportation, or water supply, gas, power, or other utility service to the public;
(3) Substantially impair the ability of law enforcement officers, firefighters, rescue personnel, emergency medical services personnel, or emergency facility personnel to respond to an emergency or to protect and preserve any person or property from serious physical harm.
Clearly, the creation of a Facebook page is not a damaging act to property.
So the Parma Police have ignored karma and turned into the thought police.
Novak isn’t going to get a fair trial either.
Just ask Cop Block activist Deo Odolecki is serving 240 days in jail for deploying his words in the southern Cuyahoga County town on a public sidewalk, to warn drivers of a DUI Checkpoint. He also recorded the police performing their official duties in public, another 1st Amendment “crime” in the town which prides itself for having a ‘no-fucks-given’ approach towards allowing free speech.
Parma Municipal Judge Deanna O’Donnell was accused by the ACLU in 2013 of running a “debtor’s” prison, one of several judges in the state who would spend hundreds of tax dollars to jail poor people for not paying fines of less than $100.
The Parma police pinned this post onto their official Facebook page on March 2nd, which clarified things, just in case residents of the Cleveland suburb had suddenly decided to post all over Facebook about what douche-bags they have been lately:
The Parma Police Department would like to warn the public that a fake Parma Police Facebook page has been created. This matter is currently being investigated by the Parma Police Department and Facebook. This is the Parma Police Department’s official Facebook page. The public should disregard any and all information posted on the fake Facebook account. The individual(s) who created this fake account are not employed by the police department in any capacity and were never authorized to post information on behalf of the department.
So, from day one it’s pretty obvious that no resident would confuse the thought police who have actual badges with Novak’s satire of his local thought police.
This may be one of the rare cases a local criminal defendant should seek the remedy of Habeus Corpus by applying for relief to a United States judge, appointed by the President and Congress, rather than even wait for a hearing in the crooked local court.
Because anyone with eyes, who can read, already knows that Novak was arrested for a thought crime, a crime of free speech, and for no other reason at all.
This kind of official censorship policy is very unconstitutional, and likely to incur “Monell liability” if and likely when Anthony Novak sues them in Federal court under 42 USC 1983 for violating his civil rights.
If this offends you, Parma Police has an easy to locate official Facebook page, and operators standing by to take your complaints at 440-885-1234.
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