Terry The Torch Busted
CBS reports that in the center of the Florida Peninsula:
Polk County sheriff’s deputies arrested Pastor Terry Jones, 61, and his associate pastor, Marvin Sapp Jr., 44, each on a felony charge of unlawful conveyance of fuel as they travelled in a pickup truck towing a large barbecue-style grill filled with Qurans soaked in kerosene. Jones had said he was heading to a nearby park to burn 2,998 Qurans — one for every victim of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Sheriff’s officials said that Jones was also charged with unlawful open-carry of a firearm, a misdemeanor, and that Sapp faces a charge of having no valid registration for the trailer.
This clown received his notoriety for staged burnings of Qurans at his double-wide ‘cathedral’ up in Gainesville, Florida. Apparently the locals felt that his activities were affecting UF Gators football, so he has left and is now in Central Florida on the I-4 Corridor.
When I look at those charges I know that he gave a traffic cop a hard time. Polk County hasn’t voted for a Democrat for President since LBJ, so it isn’t some ‘liberal conspiracy’, it is a PO’ed police officer. Flammable liquids, as most people do not know are required to be carried in a Department of Transportation approved container when being transported on a highway. A barbecue grill does not qualify. A charge like that requires research, so the officer was not happy with Brother Jones. The other charges were thrown in just to up the bond required.
I assume that the trailer and contents were seized as evidence, that would be the procedure for a felony arrest.
5 comments
i’ve had one or two tiny disagreements with cops in my lifetime, but some days i really do love them.
I presume that they originally got pulled over because the trailer lacked a license plate, which is a sure-fired revenue generator kind of traffic stop. Then the cop spotted the firearm sitting on the seat of the pickup truck between the men and pretty much that was all she wrote, it’s hands on your head get out of the truck NOW time. Traffic cops are justifiably wary of people with firearms, there’s been way too many traffic cops gunned down at traffic stops, and my guess is that the first thing that happened here was that the cop saw a couple of crackers in a pickup truck towing a suspicious load that smelled maybe like explosives and called for backup and then multiple cops went up there with their holsters unsnapped.
If not for the gun on the seat, they probably would have gotten a citation for the trailer and been sent on their way. Just one more piece of stupidity on the part of these morons. They seem to enjoy sticking their head way up their ass on a regular basis…
It was definitely the tag because the county gets a cut from the registration fee and they all need cash so the sheriff would be pushing enforcement.
For the research required, Jones or Sapp must have said something for the deputy to crack the Vehicle and Traffic for that felony. There isn’t a vehicle on the road that can comply with everything in most states’ V&T laws if someone takes an interest.
That is going to be an expensive stunt.
Yah, V&T is why I am very polite if pulled over by a cop while driving my Jeep. Because I *know* which sections of V&T it violates because I made it violate them myself after much research and wrenching :). Never gotten a ticket for it though, and likely never will, because I’m polite, respectful, and have an honest face. Been a couple of times I probably *should* have gotten a ticket for traffic violations that I didn’t because of that.
My daddy always told me, “never argue with a man with a gun.” Wise words. Pastor Jones would have been much better off following them.
Brother Jones feels entitled, and that is not helpful unless you are a local. Sheriffs are elected in Florida, so you need known pull with the current incumbent to act entitled.
Traffic is a PITA duty even for the few guys who seem to prefer it. You just don’t see people at their best after you pull them over. I don’t give them a hard time, even when I think they’re wrong because the only place to change the result is in court.
I tend to drive very carefully when I know the budget is in trouble, because the pressure will be on to issue tickets.