Hugo-award-nominated science fiction author Dr. Peter Watts is in serious legal trouble after he was beaten, pepper-sprayed and imprisoned by American border guards at a Canada U.S. border crossing December 8.
Peter, a Canadian citizen, was on his way back to Canada after helping a friend move house to Nebraska over the weekend. He was stopped at the border crossing at Port Huron, Michigan by U.S. border police for a search of his rental vehicle. When Peter got out of the car and questioned the nature of the search, the gang of border guards subjected him to a beating, restrained him and pepper sprayed him.
At the end of it, local police laid a felony charge of assault against a federal officer against Peter.
On Wednesday, he posted bond and was taken across the border to Canada in shirtsleeves (he was released by Port Huron officials with his car and possessions locked in impound, into a winter storm that evening).
He’s home safe. For now. But he has to go back to Michigan to face the charge brought against him.
The charge is spurious. But it’s also very serious. It could mean two years in prison in the United States, and a ban on travel in that country for the rest of Peter’s life. Peter is mounting a vigorous defense, but it’s going to be expensive – he’s effectively going up against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and he needs the best legal help that he can get.
RTFA for details, an interview with Peter, comments by friends and peers.
Thanks, Cinaedh
Something is missing here. Why did he get this kind of treatment? The Rodney King affair woke me up to the fact that there are folks with bad attitudes that can only be handled with serious force. Let us have the full story (both sides) rather than one sympathetic to a supposed victim
I would love to say that there is no way this would have happened to him without some sort of provocation but…. I think we all learned that unfortunately our wonderful men and women that protect us here on our streets and abroad are not perfect and do sometimes perform abusive actions above and beyond what’s necessary. I personally know a lot of police officers and support all of them but we all know they aren’t perfect and on occasion a bad seed can show its face.
My question, as well as other commenters in the posted article – is WHY was a car going into Canada stopped at the US side?
I haven’t traveled to Canada in a while, but it used to be that you weren’t stopped until you got to the Canadian side
I saw this on Slashdot yesterday, and now here. If only there were a way to get my hometown in the news with a POSITIVE spin on it.
Also, I know quite a few people, both Canadian and American, who have been treated unfairly at the Port Huron-Sarnia border crossing, by guards both American and Canadian. A good friend of mine (an American) spent 6 hours in a Canadian holding cell while they tore apart his truck searching for a handgun, after he declared that he had mistakenly taken a box of ammunition across into Canada. I think that on both sides of the border, cooler heads and common sense need to prevail.
I do agree, however, that a less biased and more illuminating account of this particular incident would be quite helpful.
Here’s an idea, listen to the police, and don’t get out of your car unless ordered to, else get tased/sprayed.
“gang of boarder guards”…as if they are independant roverers, searching the boarder wastelands to beat on unsuspecting, innocent traveler. Whoever wrote this one sided, fact-missing report needs to turn off Fallout 3 and take a Truth In Journalism class.
As Jack said, there must be more to this story. It’s so typical in this type of reporting to believe your hero subject could do no wrong. After all, he wrItes Sci-fi; he’s a Hugo award winner; and he’s a DOCTOR! It’s absolutely inconceivable that he might not have followed the border guards instructions, come out of his car when they told him to remain seated, or physically blocked or tried to stop them from doing their duty. An educated author/doctor would never do that, therefore it had to be the border patrols fault. Those facists!
You have to read carefully to see what is missing:
“Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on. I did not repeat that question when refused an answer and told to get back into the vehicle….”
He got out of the car and asked a question. Told to go back into his car, he asked again. He was then subdued and properly charged with a crime he didn’t commit, lest others think they can question patriotic Americans in their sacred duty to protect our borders.
Being a dick is a prerequisite for becoming a customs agent or border guard … especially on the American side. I used to drive semi-trucks across the border all the time and never had a problem with Canadian customs but all of the US Customs personnel I dealt with were assholes.
– Most US Citizens never meet up with the thugs that work for immigration so they think everything is all ‘fair and balanced’ Truth is the US border is under control of the most vicious and dishonest bunch of low lifes I have every met. Most countries now warn travelers to avoid the US.
#1 and #2, absolutely right. Cops are professionals and do not beat the shit out of someone for no reason. There is something else here that will come out. By the way, the poster of this isn’t exactly a lover of cops or government.
#10
Oh yes, those two teenagers had it coming. Why, that professional cop was merely professionally speeding without his lights on for no reason! Those girls deserved to die for not paying proper respect.
Boot licking toady.
Hmm, embed didn’t work. Was worth a try I guess.
I cross often at that crossing and never have any problems. Blanket accusations are always easy, but seldom accurate.
As someone else noted, why was he heading into Canada and stopped by US Customs? (Why were they called “Border Police”, they are either Customs or Immigration.)
You can not get into the US Customs Secondary Inspection without driving around the truck inspection. If there is anything to this, the video will tell, and there are cameras.
There is the possibility that the drug dogs were sniffing at the bridge toll booth and took a double sniff of his car.
RE #12,
Just to clarify, you can not get into US secondary inspection from the US side without driving all the way around. US inspection is designed to intercept vehicles entering from Canada, not the US.
In the fictional Canadian TV series, “Intelligence”, something similar happened. A Canadian was driving a frontage road on the Canadian side of the border (looking for his fugitive brother), when a Canadian border guard vehicle stops him. He immediately gets out of his vehicle and adopts a submissive posture (kneeling, hands behind his head). The guards start questioning, and his second answer is flippant. The reply: a pistol-whipping. I was shocked that Canadian guards would be depicted doing this, but maybe the scenario is part of their research on both sides of the world’s longest undefended border.
Fiction doesn’t answer any questions except this one: why was a Canadian arrested while trying to leave the US, in apparent contravention of UN treaties? A: they didn’t know, they thought he was arriving rather than going, or that he was assisting somebody on the other side.
I had a (dis)pleasure of crossing US-Canada border for over 100 times over a period of a few years. While most of the time the crossing was uneventful, there were times when I felt it could get out of hand for no reason. Most of the Yanks would not believe this, but at least at the border, those punks can do whatever they wish.
Looking on the bright side, Peter Watts has joined a stellar group of Canadian artists who are non grata chez nuestros primos. Farley Mowat, Terre Nash (If You Love This Planet), …, …, now Peter Watts.
#10
If you think every cop on every force is professional, then those IAB’s and civilian police oversight committees/group must sit around twiddling their thumbs all day, due to lack of case load!
In my personal life, I’ve known some nice people who are cops, and assholes who are cops. Guess what? Their civilian nice person/asshole personality doesn’t go away when their uniform goes on.
Having said that, there probably is more to this story.
You can bet that the anti-American CBC leftists at the Canadian Broadcasting Corp with all of their 100 vice presidents will hoop this up with a massive investigation and report
Charity begins at home
Son look in your own order book
The US is truly turning into Gestapo land
the final stage of operation Paperclip.
Nobody in his/her right mind should travel there anymore.
#9 Bill Glass “Most countries now warn travelers to avoid the US.”
Please inform Mexico of that.
#13 — YOU ARE LOSING IT. They are called Border Patrol and they are all over the place along the US Canada border. They are in my town in Washington, we served them at the deli, they are part of DHS and have BORDER PATROL emblazoned on their outfits. They speed recklessly in black unmarked SUV’s and the cops cannot do anything about it. They are seldom at the border itself. They pull over buses and look for Mexicans and drugs among other things. Quit clogging up the blog with misinformation and random accusations.
#15 Nope, I was wrong. Wh’d hv thnk t? I guess they’re concerned about illegal removal of antiquities or endangered species. From Michigan. Grin. Among over 400 posts at the boing boing site:
Cory Doctorow | #86 | 09:55 on Fri, Dec.11
To clarify: you have to go through a US border checkpoint on the way out of the country at Port Huron, before you go through the Canadian checkpoint to enter Canada. My trunk and suitcase were searched at this checkpoint on my last drive through.
# 19
Frightened of the CBC? Wow. Now try something really scary like the CRTC, or even Gordie from Stats Canada.
In Soviet Russia, cross border is $US1,000. Or $US1,500 without optional beating up.
That’s change you better believe in. Or they’ll send the cops.
The moral of the story is that if you have friends who run a really popular website like boingboing then you can get publicity. The rest of us just get beaten up without anyone knowing about it.
I would like to see what the border patrol says. At this point we just have this guy’s side of the story with no one else collaborating it.
Reading all the above comments is pointless. The Border cops are dicks, and I would guess the guy got arrested for being one, too. Since the cops have guns, the guy loses. Would you like guys like these coming to your house if you don’t purchase Health Insurance? Obama wouldn’t mind, and neither would Pelosi.
aah yer all jist a buncha puzzys
i say kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out!
I’ve crossed at this border crossing (Bluewater bridge) a few times as well as Detroit/Ambassador bridge, Champlain, NY and over 40 times at Alexandria Bay, NY (where I-81 ends at Canadian border). All since June. And I have never even seen any searches of vehicles leaving, only entering.
And it may be different in cars, but the only time a big truck might stop on the exiting side is if his load was only transiting and he had to clear the Bond on exit. (A very rare instance)
I have witnessed the Border Patrol sitting in the highway median up to 75 miles from the border but always assumed they were looking for people/vehicles heading in and not out.
In short, I find it unusual that his vehicle would be searched as he tried to exit. And what kind of search could have been done to the rental vehicle if he got into trouble when he got out of the vehicle. There is much more to this story than the newspaper article stated.