Cop Block author and activist Adam Rupeka has fled the United States fearing persecution for his police accountability videos and writing.
He stated his fears in a 39 second YouTube video, which can be seen below, and is posted on his Capitol Cop Block channel promising a further update.
“I am now on the run for my life, and this is all because of everything that I’ve exposed police doing,” said Rupeka.
Adam Rupeka was arrested over the weekend by local police for an alleged unlawful touching of a minor, and an arrest warrant has been issued after he and his girlfriend Jennifer Ogden failed to appear in court today.
But Rupeka claims in a YouTube video below, that it’s all the result of a toxic brew of bitter divorce and his police activism writing articles like: “How To Sue The Police For Free! 1983 Federal Suit” which Adam did, winning a $50,000 settlement from Saratoga Springs, New York police.
New York Man Reaches Settlement for Unlawful Arrest for Flipping Cop Off as More Video is Released
We at PINAC do not condone any illegal behavior, or missing of court appearances.
We at PINAC are also not jumping to any conclusions about Mr. Rupeka’s guilt or innocence in the serious allegations alleged by New York police.
We will not know either, until Adam Rupeka is tried in a court of fact, by a jury of his peers.
Shamefully, the high brass in the local Troy Police, Rupeka’s arresting agency, may have already decimated Rupeka’s 6th Amendment right to a fair trial by jury and if he is guilty, the jury must find so beyond a reasonable doubt.
A Troy Police Captain made immediate and leading statements about Rupeka’s guilt or innocense in the local media saying:
“This is what the victim is saying. The allegations appear to be true,” said Troy Police Captain Daniel DeWolf. “There may be some evidence that also assist in this case.”
Police say they picked up Rupeka along with his girlfriend Jennifer Ogburn for unwanted sexual contact with the 15-year-old victim inside his home on 125th Street in Lansingburgh.
“I can’t really speak too much of the case because it’s a 15 year-old girl. We got to protect her privacy,” added DeWolf. “It’s a terrible incident that happened. We certainly feel for the victim.”
How many times do we as journalists get told by police that they cannot release public records because the “investigation is open”?
In this case, Troy police forgot one of the basic tenets of their profession, that all men in America are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and their duty is not to convict in the press, but in that court.
We urge Mr. Rupeka to seek immediate legal counsel, and to exonerate himself through the legal process, and to repatriate himself as swiftly as possible.
Rupeka’s girlfriend Ogden said that the pair were in Edmonton and never coming home on Facebook earlier this weekend.
Unfortunately, Mr. Rupeka’s overwhelming fear of persecution has caused him to flee.
But similar allegations have been made against journalists like Wikileaks’ Juan Assange by Swedish authorities, in an effort to silence those who speak out, so Rupeka isn’t out in left field either.
Rupeka, like Assange, may have enough evidence of police retaliation to credibly apply for asylum if that is his choice too – sad as it is to say that about an American citizen who is a noted police accountability activist and writer.
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