Woopsie! Racine to Pay $10K in Bad Arrest

Judgment entered Friday against:

James Doyle, City of Milwaukee, City of Racine, and 3 Racine police officers.

Frank was unlawfully arrested and his firearm illegally siezed. He was later released without being charged.

Wisconsin Carry filed suit on Frank's behalf for his unlawful detainment, arrest, and seizure of his firearm.

Frank was lawfully open-carrying on his own porch when Racine Police, who were
summoned to his neighborhood on an unrelated call, observed and questioned Frank
because he was open-carrying. After a few minutes of increasingly aggressive
questioning Frank exercised his right to remain silent and was subsequently
unlawfully arrested for obstruction of justice for refusing to give his name. In
the state of Wisconsin no law allows officers to arrest for obstruction on a
person's refusal to give his or her name. "Mere silence is insufficient to
constitute obstruction. Henes v. Morrissey, 194 Wis. 2d 339, 533 N.W.2d 802
(1995)"

While I'm not an "open-carry" kinda guy, unlawful arrests and siezures aren't good, no matter the circumstance.

(Details at www.wisconsincarry.org, 10/16 blog entry.)