The Naperville Police Department complied with our Freedom of Information Act request for a report of the July 8, 2006 arrest of Basim Esmail, the liquor store owner behind the series of Napergate ads that ran in The Naperville Sun years ago. Here's a copy of what they gave us.
Not surprisingly, the report offers no insight whatsoever into what prompted police to run the plates or pull over Esmail in the first place. The report does include a grainy reproduction of the mug shot of the elusive Esmail.
The Naperville Police Department's Feb. 24, 2008 letter accompanying the release of the report includes the statement, "We are only able to release to you a copy of the adult arrest involved in this incident since adult arrests are public knowledge."
What could that mean?
So, as promised, here's the report many of you have been waiting to see. It only raises more questions instead of providing any answers. The mystery deepens.
The police report obviously does tell a lot from its silence.
It pretty much admits that the Napergate Man never resisted arrest verbally, vocally or physically. It also indicates he did not mouth off to any police officer to instigate the need for handcuffing as has been suspected by the minority of bloggers.
It admits he was pretty much arrested for the suspended license due to most likely the tollway incidents of his daughters as has been alleged by his friends.
So the real mystery is not the Napergate Man. The mystery is why did the Naperville Police department feel compelled to handcuff him, arrest him, and jail him overnight instead of allowing him to turn himself in voluntarily to be booked as has been the case with other bloggers who had similar experiences on these threads.
Why were they not kind enough to allow him to take his dog home where he/she would be comfortable? If they would have allowed this, Bob could have gotten a cab ride home instead of having to walk 3-4 miles to a Dunkin Donut that was open all night that knew his dog Abby.
It seems to me the NPD mishandled the whole arrest from beginning to end. And I think we all know with little to no doubt that a Wehrli, a Moser, a Pradel or their family members would not have been treated in this harsh way that the Napergate Man was dealt with.
My personal conclusion is the Naperville Police Department continues to DISCRIMINATE and does not treat all of its citizens equally.
ATT called the NPD on the their DISCRIMINATORY practices 15 years ago. The IABTF accused certain individual police officers of practicing FASCISM a little over a decade ago.
I think it is high time that Chief David Dial step up to the plate amd hold all members of his police dept. that practice DISCRIMINATION and FASCISM accountable. They should be forced to suffer the consequences of their behavior.
It is also high time that the Internal Affairs Unit of the Naperville Police Department start taking serious action against rogue cops instead of taking on the vaporized role of PUBLIC CONSUMPTION for the residents.
The fact that the Police Report is very vague indicates the NPD is hiding something. It also suggests that they do not want to challenge the credibility of the Napergate Man's friends Bob and Mike who witnessed both sides of the fateful evening and gave apparently a very detailed, precise and credible occurrence of events as they unfolded!
Finally, does anyone really know if this police report is the original police report of the incident. It could possibly be one that was altered and embellished at a later time to satisfy the FOIA request by the Naperville Sun. The NPD has a very long history of embellishing police reports to suit their specific needs!
Moderator Jim: That last paragraph is ludicrous.
Host Ted: Wow, Marilyn. You sure can read a lot into a one-page report. Looks to me like you've already reached your conclusion, and you're just working backwards, grabbing onto whatever anecdotal details that fit your theory and disregarding anything that might be contrary to your conclusion.
I don't get it. Ted goes out of his way to furnish this police report and open a new thread of discussion on the Napergate Man and it's like nobody cares anymore. Where are all the Napergatians. Here's another chapter of this ongoing story that's ripe for discussion. Where are all you people?
Moderator Jim,
Most Napergatians are not Wehrlis or Mosers! We have to work for a living. I was planning on writing later this evening as I just got home.
Give the Napergatians time to find out it is on the Main Page again, have dinner and you will see them posting away again.
But I will say as the Naperville Sun stated the police report was very vague and rasied more questions than answers.
The police report leaves little to discuss so I suspect you will get a lot of speculation.
But thank for putting it on for us Moderator Jim. Maybe you can ask the NPD why they felt it so imperative to hand cuff and jail the Napergate Man so we can have something to discuss instead of a relatively empty piece of paper that says little to nothing!
Modeator Jim,
I tend to agree with Marilyn. I also think she is being clever and trying to call the NPD out by saying what she is saying.
The style of the Napergate Man was to be persistent until they came out. Let the Napergatians have a free shot on your threads without taking it off this time and watch the Naperville Police Dept. finally come out and tell us their side of the story.
I am sure they monitor your threads and saw the post about 61,000 views to the Sun's Blog site. Sooner or later they will take the Sun's Blog site as seriously as they took those Napergate ads. Once they realize that almost every Napervllian is reading these blogs, they will be forced to defend themselves or suffer a serious tarnishment to their reputation.
Sometimes you have to sling as Marilyn slung to get them out. I believe everyone eventually comes out if they are attacked viciously and for a very long time.
I knew the Napergate Man from his liquor store days and he knew what he was doing with those Napergate ads. He was calling them out while they were hiding. Eventually, they got tired of hiding! But when they came out to fight, he also defeated them as they could not keep a story straight for 2 straight weeks. Host Ted once correctly noted how easy the City made it for the Napergate Man to destroy their credibility and reputation.
Every few Napergate ads City Official became infuriated, would call a Sun reporter and make a few nonsensical comments and he would just rip them apart in the next ad. Just imagine if he was still runnng ads what he would have done with City Manager Bob Marshall's very recent statement about how it only cost $5000-10,000 to fight his case for 5 years in umpteen court rooms using 7 attorneys and several other officials like court reporters and clerks. Top that with the fact almost all the Napergate Man's cases either reached Appellant or the Supreme Courts before ending and his numbers look so pathetic!
The City is trying to learn from its past mistakes by increasing the budget to fight Frustenau by $120,000. They don't want to have to say it only cost $5000 to fight Fursteanau or that we no longer have any records. Suddenly they have $520,000 budgeted for Furstenau before the battle even starts but somehow they want us to believe they fought the Napergate Man for less than 1% of that in a much more complicated case. Very laughable if you ask me! Don't worry Moderator Jim, the Napergatians will come out. They love to point such inconsistencies out to residents and expose the credibilty of city officials for what it really is...about negative 100!
Maybe the City will attempt to get wiser and learn something about credibility from the Napergate Era. Only time will tell!
Seems a little unusual that a local resident would not just I-bond out. There is much more to this story, continue with the good investigative reporting.
"We are only able to release to you a copy of the adult arrest involved in this incident since adult arrests are public knowledge."
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Yes, what does this nonsensical statement of the NPD mean! I think this is another shameful attempt by the NPD to smear the Napergate Man.
Who else could have been arrested in this incident that was not an adult? I guess Abby the dog was a minor of only 4 or 5 years old and must have been released on her own personal recognizance to his friend, Bob! Of course, they can not tell us about that arrest of a MINOR DOG!
I think this vague statement is an attempt to plant a seed of sorts. Maybe there were ten 16 years old prostitutes walking on Chicago Ave. that the Napergate Man and his friend Bob looked at and since the prostitutes were minors, the police can not tell us about their arrests as they can ONLY RELEASE INFORMATION ABOUT ADULT ARRESTS IN THIS INCIDENT.(if there were other arrests pertaining to this incident why does the police report state it was ONLY because of a SUSPENSION)
I think our NPD really has no credibility and you see through them like you can see a valley between mountains.
It seems like the Napergate Man is a pretty big guy at 6'1" and 242 pounds. His facial features indicate he may be very muscular. Plus his friend was described as no slouch!
Could they just have been intimidated and decided to hand cuff him for safety reasons? Maybe they thought he had a temper if they read his Napergate ads? Some of his ads were rather intimidating if you ask me?
Maybe the Sergeant wrongfully translated his fighting spirit in his ads and believed it posed a potential threat on the streets!
Host Ted and Moderator Jim,
I don't think Marilyn's last paragrah is ludicrous.
Maybe she has very specific knowledge of that Kangaroo Trial(as I do)that took place in 1993 in City Hall in which many police officers embellished their testimony to convict the Napergate Man who was later found innocent of all the numerous charges he was convicted of.
I bet neither of you guys were at that trial. I bet no one in the Naperville Sun even covered it.
I would suggest to do your best to avoid the knee jerk reaction of the Naperville Sun to defend the police department. Let the big boys come out and defend themselves for once. You can not continue breast feeding them forever. They are grown men who need to speak up if something is published against them that is not accurate!
There are 300 sworn and civilian officers that work for NPD. If they never did anything wrong to the Napergate Man let them step forward and say so. If you don't defend them, they will eventually step forward. If the Sun defends them or calls statements against them as ludicrous, they will feel no need to defend themselves.
I am hoping Moderator Jim does not fall in the same trap Host Ted did when he tried to defend the NPD while Jim was out of town or vacationing.
Let us not defend them and force them to defend themselves by speaking out. If they can not speak out, then obviously they acted improperly that evening by treating him unequally to other citizens in identical situations.
Well, since the police report says nothing about resisting arrest or mouthing off, I agree with the blogger who stated he should have been able to I-Bond and go home with his dog, Abby.
Instead he was handcuffed, arrested, jailed overnight and even had to post a cash bond of a 100 bucks for a 1000 dollar bond I assume.
Go figure...as we suspected some injustice was committed against the Napergate Man as we had thought all along.
I think the police report saying nothing indicates a COVER-UP!
Can it be any more plain than that!
All police departments, Naperville included, follow the chain of command. The Chief sets the tone and culture. No officer will buck the system or break the chain of command because to do so would virtually end her/his career. Nothing gets done without the Chief knowing about it and in many, many cases before approval is given.
Want to change the culture? Simple. Change the Chief of Police.
Naperville is way overdue for a fresh change of leadership anyway. Maybe the next Chief of Police will set some standards and share them with the community. Better yet, maybe he/she will even involve the community in deciding what those standards will be. Maybe the next Chief of Police will be a visionary leader that will turn loose the untold potential of our many fine officers.
Deep down in their hearts these officers know what is wrong with the police system. They know who the bad apples are and would love to see them gone. But they are stuck in a system they did not create and which they have been given no tools to change. Add on to that union loyalties and "blue silence" and it is difficult for them or anyone else to root out those who do not deserve to wear the uniform. Case in point... look at what went on in the Bolingbrook Police Department... and no one could get rid of him in the last 30 years either and some even tried.
First we must fix the system.
The police report does say plenty, if you take the time to study what it says and understand what he was specifically charged with.
The violation, for instance, is 11-1 (prefix for Municipal code section that adopts the Illinois state code).. 6-303 (Section of Illinois Vehicle Code being enforced)
Please go read that code and let us know what should have been done.
I really don't think it is necessary to handcuff and jail someone for a petty violation related to tolls or emissions. Booking is one thing. But handcuffing, arresting, jailing and requiring bond are another thing. Especially when they must certainly were acquainted with the person and knew he posed 0 flight risk!
You would think the NPD would have their energies focused on the intoxicated weapons exiting the downtown bars at that hour instead of a peaceful man walking his dog. One has to wonder why their energies were focused on the Napergate Man who posed no danger to our community as opposed to all the drunks exiting the lounges, bars and nightclubs!?!?!
One really has to ask if the NPD has it priorities straight and if not, why not so?
I think the NPD is between a rock and a hard place on this issue.
Since the Napergate Man has been around for a quarter century and never exibited any violent behavior or violence, they could not even hint to that, as no one would believe them. This is the same guy I assume who was distributing Napergate ads in City Hall and was asked to leave a public building by the NPD which he had helped build with his tax dollars and offered no argument.
I think there is no explanation for what the NPD did. They decided to issue as few words as possible in the report as there is no justfication for what they did.
I almost have to wonder if there is a police report besides this one posted on this site. This seems like the filling in the blanks report for booking such as eye color, height, and weight. It is not like police reports that I have seen in the past that describe the sequence of events that occurred and infractions.
I have to agree with the blogger who said there is some Cover-Up as to the real report and where it is. I guess they lost that report with all the records of the Napergate Trial costs!
I think the quiet police report quashed all allegations that the Napergate Man resisted arrest physically or with threatening words. It also never mentions he invoked Chief Dial's name in a way to threaten or be given favorable treatment.
One has to wonder if there is hostility by the Naperville Police against the Napergate Man left over from the Napergate Era.
It sounds like the Napergate Man took the Naperville Sun's advice in that famous Opinion on the Editorial Page and buried the hatchet. It sounds like the Naperville Police and CITY HALL did not take the Sun's advice and never buried that hatchet based on their unnecessarily harsh actions against the Napergate Man.
I think when you have to pick on someone for such petty issues, it does seem to indicate a political motive as the possible cause!
If I was thrown in jail overnight because my son ran a toll booth, I would be in my attorney's office first thing next morning initiating litigation!
One thing I noticed conveniently missing from the police report is why they initiated the stop. I suspect it is missing because they had no reason to initiate the stop. He had done nothing wrong as far as traffic violations.
So this leads us back to why did they initially run his license plate while he was parked on Chicago Ave. Are these police officers on Chicago Ave assigned to that location to run license plates or to monitor intoxicated patrons coming out of the bars? I suspect the latter. So why did they make this exception to run the Napergate Man's plates. They were obviously checking on him in what I believe was a selective and illegal manner. Highly doubtful it was random and legal in that bar district with more important matters at hand.
For the previous bloggers who obviously did not read the report, here is what it says:
Esmail was arrested at 2:18 am. The cause for the arrest was "ON VIEW ARREST/COMPLAINT". He posted his own bond and was released at 4:00 am, a little over an hour and a half after his arrest. The offense was "SUSPENDED/REVOKED DRIVER".
Marilyn & Betsy,
It says one of the reasons for his arrest was "COMPLAINT".
Host Ted,
Is the police report date the same as the date of the arrest? Or was the police report written a few days after the arrest?
It seems like the police report date did not jive with what I recall the Dupage County Records stated. But I can not recall with certainty! Is there anyway you or someone can double check those dates for accuracy?
On my computer I could not tell if that was a 5 or 8 for the date in the posted police report. It was not clear at all. Could you double check that?
I am just wondering why he would be arrested at 2:15am on a weekday by cops following him from Chicago Ave. They are usually long gone by that hour on weekdays from Chicago Ave. Could it be it was a weekend night which would make 2:15am more likely as they are usually wrapping it up about that time on weekends?
Maybe the police report was written a few days after the arrest or maybe the police report does not have the proper date. Something is not adding up and of course I am CONFUSED!
Note from Ted:
The date on the report is 07/08/06. it's possible the others who wrote about the incident had the date wrong. It's possible Basim Esmail was arrested on more than one occasion downtown, but I doubt it. It's possible the NPD has its date wrong, but I doubt it. The police report is a public document that seems to relate an incident similar to the one described by others, so I'm guessing the others had their date wrong.
Randy, I have some bad news and I'm sorry to have to point it out.
It's been well established through countless blog postings that Napergatians do not like it when city employees waste their time on their tax dollar.
Calling out the NPD to read this and even to respond to it goes against their established dislike of city employees wasting taxpayer money by spending time on the internet for non job related activities.
This was called out by 'Michele B' on Jan 7th, 5:59PM here:
http://blogs.suburbanchicagonews.com/newsblog/2007/12/citys_attorney_hits_back_at_fu.html#comments
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If you are actually blogging during the time that you're on the City Clock, you are probably violating two rules (either of which are grounds for termination under the city municipal code).
Rule 1) No city employee may engage in political activities while being paid by the city. (Please don't try to argue that your blogs are not political activity)
Rule 2) Use of the internet for activities outside of your scope of work during working hours. (Did you know that the city admin policies allows the City Manager to monitor and retrieve data regarding use / sites viewed, etc, with respect to city-owned computers?)
Posted by: Michele B | January 7, 2008 05:29 PM
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Since, according to Libert, "They love to point such inconsistencies out to residents", it would be very inconsistent for a Napergatian to call out a city official to post into an Internet Blog since that would be wasting taxpayer money using the internet for non job related activities during work hours. Further, they put forth the claim that this is a 'political activity' (See numerous fascism references by Marilyn) so calling out anyone in NPD to respond here is asking them to violate both rules #1 and #2.
Now that we have that behind us, does anyone have a link to or credible source for how the arrest procedure 'should' have happened for someone DWS (Driving While Suspended) with a prior in the previous 7 yrs?
One other thing that took some research, apparently the Tollway Authority supposedly does not invoke license suspension action until there are 5 unpaid tolls. If the claim was that someone's daughters did not have $1.60 in tolls, that only equates out to 2 $0.80 (cash price) tolls. Where there 3 others to cross over the line and bump the vehicle owner into the suspension process that was not mentioned before when this story was told? Also, the Tollway time line is this (from memory, so please, correct it if I am wrong): After 5th toll violation, you get a letter itemizing the violations, when and where (and even what lane) and there is a nice picture of your tag on the front of the paperwork. You have 21 days to respond and pay the fines. If you do not, they will send you a notice of suspension of license that will be pending if you do not pay in full with the next 14 days after that. If you do not respond to that second notice (3 weeks later) within another 14 days (35 days) your license will be suspended. I could be mistaken on whether they batch the 5 violations or just send out notices each time and only act when you have 5 racked up, but I believe the magic numbers are correct:
5 violations, 21 days to respond, 14 additional days to respond... then Suspension.
Who wants to fill in the rest of those gaps or does it even matter at this point?
It does seem ironic that we are always trying to unmask the Napergate Man. I think he showed what he was all about in over a 100 full page ads over the years and through his grass root movements. He just did not seem to want his name or photos out there as he was obviously not looking for personal recognition. It seems obvious from his ads he was more into the issues he was fighting for than his personality, name or fame. Nothing wrong with that in my opinion and nothing really to unmask! It does though make him a rather unique and unusual individual in the sense that he never cared for his 15 minutes of fame. I guess he recently declined offers of interviews by Host Ted or Moderator Jim which pretty much fits with his life long history of fighting for casues he believes in and not any attainment of personal recognition.
We really should be unmasking the Naperville Police Dept. No one understands how they operate or how they think. They are our paid public servants and do not seem to want to be accountable to us taxpayers. They should be accountable though since we pay them handsomely!
The Napergate Man has a right to privacy and does not have to tell us anything if he so chooses. He is not on the taxpayer payroll but actually contributing to it significantly.
I think the police reports showed us what we already knew: that the Napergate Man was not going to start anything with the police.
He pretty much did nothing to aggravate them and they just chose to abuse their discretion in how they handled him.
I think discretion was awarded to police to use in a fair manner.
In this case it is very obvious that discretion was not used in a fair manner but abused to the MAXIMUM!
The police report confirmed what most of us believed. There was no reason to handcuff and jail a man for a suspension he did not even know existed and created by his teenage daughters. Why not just give him a ticket, allow him to I-Bond on the spot, and give him a court date to appear. I am sure he would have complied.
What really bothers me is that it seems rather obvious the Napergate Man did not know he was committing a crime by driving on a suspended license. Not even a Dumb Donkey would park his Donkey Cart by a dozen police on Chicago Ave. if he knew his Donkey License was suspended.
So it just seems almost impossible that the intelligent Napergate Man knew his license was suspended and parked where he parked with so many other alternatives such as the 5th story of a parking deck where the police rarely go. But it seems very probable that the Naperville Police knew he did not know about his suspension, but just seemed to want to be pricks that day. Maybe they all had fights with their wives and husbands and wanted to take it out on someone that night. Who knows but nothing really seems to add up, and as the Moderator stated the report leaves many more questions than it answers!
I believe the police report is meant to be vague (not because of who was arrested) because I think most police reports are standard forms only meant to record when someone was arrested and searched as well as which officers were involved.
Jumping to conclusions based on the vagueness of the report is just acting on preconceived notions of what happened that night. It’s amazing what some people can read into a one-page report.
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Ted –
The Sun should ask the NPD if there were any narrative reports or officer notes created as a result of this incident. There may be more documentation which the NPD (rightly or wrongly) believes to be exempt from the FOIA request. If so, I think they have to at least acknowledge that there’s more information and state a reason for the FOIA exemption. Yes, people--some information is exempt from FOIA requests.
If there is no other documentation, then I believe that’s because this was a simple, standard arrest which did not warrant any additional paperwork. Of course, that won’t stop the real zealots from using the lack of information to further their own wild imaginations.
Thanks,
T.B.
The same people writing the same things over and over again, this is unusual?
I am so glad we have all these great new police candidates starting with the red-head dog walker, then Marilyn who by far has all the answers to this and every other police topic. The testing process is coming up, we the fine citizens of Naperville need you to keep us safe; make these great decisions about when to arrest or not on Class A misdemeanors or on any other incident that may arise.
Solution:
Dont drive with a suspended license and you wont have to worry about whether your going to get arrested or released on an I-Bond.
I think Chris says is best..."The Napergate Man has a right to privacy and does not have to tell us anything if he so chooses. He is not on the taxpayer payroll but actually contributing to it significantly. Posted by: Chris | February 27, 2008 12:54 AM". Out of respect for the Napergate Man, let's stop diving into his personal life...he obviously does not want to talk per the fact he turned down the opportunity to speak to the Naperville Sun. Let's show some respect to him and stop discussing his personal life in these blogs. I can't imagine how anyone on this thread would feel if you had a thread dedicated to discussing your personal life. If you truly respect this man, you will give him the privacy he deserves, which is the same privacy we are all receiving now.
I don't know why anyone would be shocked by illegal police activity in this day and age. The only difference between gangs and cops is that the cops wear nicer uniforms and are legally allowed to carry guns.
The Naperville Police Department's Feb. 24, 2008 letter accompanying the release of the report includes the statement, "We are only able to release to you a copy of the adult arrest involved in this incident since adult arrests are public knowledge." Posted by Naperville Sun editors on February 26, 2008 12:48 PM
Perhaps information about his daughter, who some bloggers blame for the license suspension, was included on parts of the report they were unable to release. She might have been a minor at the time. Just a thought. Who knows?
On the last line of my previous post I should have typed the cause for arrest as shown on the report was "ON VIEW ARREST/COMPLAINT".
It might be interesting, for purposes of comparison, to see the arrest report for Doug Furstenau.
Joe,
Tollway fees at the Oak Brook Toll Booth were .40 cents for nearly 20 years. And if you did not pay them they became $20.40.
I think the standard of 5 violations before going after you is relatively new. I am rather certain in the old days there were no standards. The tollway plaza did as they pleased. I checked this morning and they admitted they did not even send these notices of suspension certified. You would think they would want to make sure someone actually received notice before issuing a suspension that could lead to an arrest. Junk looking mail gets discarded by many people daily. It seems like the Napergate Man spotted his junk looking mail but a day late.
Mike and Bob saw the notice and it said .40 cents. You did not see anything as usual. If it said .80 cents, they would have said .80 cents. I don't think $20.40 cents or $20.80 cents are something Mike and Bob would think of or care to distort. Apparently, you will think of anything you can to distort a situation and try to hurt your OWN credibility. You really make it easy for Napervillians to pokes holes in anything you state just like the City of Naperville gave the Napergatge Man all the holes he needed to shatter its credibility which remains shattered many years later, as we have seen Ciyt Manager Bob Marshall recently claim a one to 2 million dollar Napergate Trial only cost the taxpayers 5 grand. Wow!!!
Mike or Bob or both saw the notice that arrived one day later that said his license "MAY" be suspended.
The Napergate Man knows the consequences of driving on a suspended license and would not do so. If you recall he sold a vehicle he loved to a Texas dealer because it could no longer pass emission testing and thus would be suspended.
He chose to sell a vehicle he owned for nearly 2 decades rather than driving on a suspended license due to emission testing after he failed to repair it several times. Yes, we know he was arrested prior on the way to have it repaired at Dave's Auto shop.
Since you like to call around and check, why don't you call Dave's Auto Shop and ask if there is record of a Zimmer Golden Spirit being there in 2002 for emission testing. Since Mr. Davis or his manager suggested it may be donated to charity, he may recall the incident. But of course if you call and verify a story, you would never tell us the truth. Reason being is you so obvioulsy have an agenda and an ax grind to go along with your personal agenda.
You really do like to distort, Joe, and convert a responsible man into an irresponsible man. It must give you a rise of sorts when you distort pertinent facts.
Perhaps information about his daughter, who some bloggers blame for the license suspension, was included on parts of the report they were unable to release. She might have been a minor at the time. Just a thought. Who knows?
Posted by: Southwest Naperville Taxpayer | February 27, 2008 09:18 AM
SNT,
Assume you are right and they could not reveal say his 16 year older caused the suspension and thus the missing information not considered ADULT and PUBLISHABLE.
If this was the case, it does portray the police as possibly acting in a heinous and ruthless manner as they may have known the real reason and chose to punish an innocent parent for what a child did intentionally or unintentionally.
Your theory which may probably be right does not bode well for how the NPD treats residents and deeply shows that their power of discretion is abused for political purposes or to favor establishment over non-establishment folks.
Some folks just never seem to grasp the facts and consequences of the case.
Let us put it in plain English. If Chief David Dial's daughter ran a few tolls without telling her Dad and caused a suspension on her Daddy's license.....
1. Would this Sergeant arrest Chief Dial?
2. Would this Sergeant dare to hand cuff Chief Dial?
3. Would this Sergeant jail Chief Dial overnight?
4. Would the Sergeant force Chief Dial to post a $1000 bond?
5. Would the Sergeant bother to book and finger print Chief Dial?
We all know the answers to the above questions are NO, NO, NO, NO, and NO!
This indicates that our police department who we pay with our hard earned tax dollars believes they are above and better than us citizens. When a police dept. perceives itself as better than its own citizens, I can see why words like discrimination and fascism are quick to pop up.
The City Council should immediately pass a resolution that all citizens are EQUAL in Naperville. Cops are equal to citizens and not better than citizens. They should also pass another resolution ending this Blue Code of Silence and Professional Courtesy cops offer to each other.
If you ask me this is what is outraging the citizens of Naperville in greater and greater numbers. It is really not about the arrest of the Napergate Man but this wider concept of Professional Courtesy.
But why would the council ever rule to stop Professional Courtesty. 8 of the members are extended Professional Courtesy. Only DF is not extended Professional Courtesy. So the vote would be 8-1 not to abolish Professional Courtesty.
I think the only way to stop Professional Courtesy is for a guy like the Napergate Man to make it a civil rights issue and take it thru the court systems. Who better than him knows how to navigatge this crazy legal system we have in this country that allows all this discrimination to take place in our society!
Marybeth,
40 cents is the I-pass price. The cash price is 80 cents (double). That is their 'incentive' to get you to use an ipass (which would have solved this problem in its entirety).
The cash price doubled on Jan 1, 2005. The oakbrook toll plaza would have charged 80 cents for each violation (double its previous 40 cent charge prior).
http://www.apfn.net/Messageboard/01-05-05/discussion.cgi.61.html
Did they travel through the Ipass land or the manual lane? The manual lane should have had an attendant who would have informed them of how to remedy the missed toll. There are also signs in the unattended lanes about what # to call if you missed paying a toll. Did anyone call to rectify the situation before allowing it to escalate into something that was very easily remedied? Also, this information is available online and it notes that after the 4th missed toll, they start their violation process: http://tinyurl.com/2yc2l4
As for never knowingly driving on a suspended license, well, it happened in 2002, City of Naperville again issuing the ticket. Perhaps the Sun can do a FOIA on that too and post the details.
Casually throwing mail away without opening it is a bad habit. How one can mistake a return address of the Illinois Tollway Authority as junk mail is beyond me. Your tax refunds are not sent certified mail, but amazingly enough they still get to you.
Sorry, but I don't cry BooHoo to multiple people's personal irresponsibility. 1) Not paying a toll, 2) Not informing a parent about it, 3) Throwing away/setting aside a piece of mail from a state toll authority without opening it.
How about asking the NPD what the correct arresting procedure is for a case like this? I'm just guessing here, but I do know that all police cars have laptops mounted near the dash board. Police officers are constantly entering license plate numbers they can see while they are at stoplights, etc. (The next time you are near a stopped police car take note, the officer will most likely be doing this.)
If the plate comes back with an issue, i.e. suspended license of the driver, the officer is duty bound to take an action. (I know this from first hand experience not relevant to this blog. Let's just say that there are cases where you license can be suspended and you don't know it). If the officer does not take action they will be questioned later as to why no action was taken - their computer in this case acts as "big brother".
Driving on a revoked license is grounds for an arrest, and an arrest REQUIRES the subject to be handcuffed and brought to the station where he posted bond and left. In hindsight it is easy to say that this guy was harmless, and could have posted an I-bond on the spot, etc. But at the time of the arrest the officer has no idea if the arrested person is simply being compliant, or if they have ulterior motives.
The issue of his daughter and the unpaid tolls wouldn't show up on the officers data base, only the registered drivers info is shown.
It appears he was arrested and released in less than 2 hours. Seems reasonable, especially at 2 in the morning.
Perhaps there is a conspiracy here, or maybe it was just a good cop who followed standard procedures and did his job? I would be surprised if any of the officers involved even knew they had the Napergate guy until much later?
It was already reported that he was with Bob and his Dog. No one else was ever mentioned in the eye witness or second hand informational postings on these blogs. A daughter was mentioned with regards to how the license was suspended (toll violation) but never mentioned to be present for the stop at Jefferson/Main when someone counted to themselves 1001, 1002, 1003 before proceeding from a stop sign and eventually getting pulled over by Jefferson/Main.
Taking the previous information at face value on what transpired we have to assume no one else was present. If people were posting only 'part' of the story, it would not be the first time things were omitted but later came to light and proved to be useful in determining why things happened the way they did.
As for a reason to run the tag, I believe they can run tags for any vehicle parked on a public street or being driven on a public road. The fact that you have it on a public street is all they need to make sure it's not stolen, plates are on the proper car and that it's licensed to be there in the first place. It is not a 'search' to my knowledge since the tag# is supposed to be visible many feet from the vehicle.
If you are in doubt, ask a lawyer.
Joe and SWT thankyou for having a brain. You dont get personal, you dont take sides, you present the most logical ideas and no one ever responds to your comments because they cant. Keep up the good work.
Debbie, on my god, I couldn't stop laughing after reading that post... You are one sick puppy.
Joe,
Your attack on the bloggers who are providing accurate information just continues to trash your own credibility.
Here are the dates and times on those 4 Tollways violations of the white van that caused this mess.
Date Time Location Unpaid Toll
12/22/02 07:28:32 Plaza 51-York Road Lane-10 $.40
02/03/03 06:19:35 Plaza 51-York Road Lane-10 $.40
02/07/03 05:46:52 Plaza 51-York Road Lane- 9 $.40
07/10/03 03:06:46 Plaza 51-York Road Lane- 8 $.40
They were .40 cent violations and not .80 cents violations. No .80 cent tolls existed at the time and there was no doubling of tolls before the I-Pass was in existence. Plaza 51 is the Oak Brook Plaza. They were probably before the I-Pass times and if an inexperienced driver ended in a wrong lane you were out of luck. No one in their right mind would get out of a car to go to a Cash Station to get coins with dozens of vehilces behind you in what appears were rush hour times.
The tollway did go after him nearly 3 years later for some violations after they got the 4th one. It appears they were extremely backlogged which caused the massive delay possibly in notifying him. Most proabably knowing that organization they sent him a notice after the fact.
All 4 violations were related to a white Windstar Van that he did not drive! So Bob and Mike have been telling us the truth all along.
It really does not help your credibility Joe, to make the wild assumptions and allegations you are notorious for making such as they are .80 cent violations so they must be lying about the number of violations.( Posted by: Joe | February 27, 2008 12:31 AM) And they go after you after the 5th violation and not the 4th. So Mike and Bob's story really add up while yours falls apart at the seams rather obviously.
You were trying to take away the credibility of Bob and Mike. In end Tollway Records indicate their facts are credible and yours are not. That really is the bottom line, Joe!
While his daughter may have been irresponsible in not notifying him, the Tollway Authority is also irresponsible in letting itself fall 3 years behind in collecting old tolls.
The Tollways puts this matter on the back burner because of its insignifance and suddenly suspends a license almost 3 years from the date of the last suspension. I guess I can only speculate they were worried about the 3 year statue of limitations expiring on this 1.60 cents and hurriedly issued a suspension 2 days before its expiration without having time to properly notify the registered owner of the vehicle.
This is really government at its BEST. And we want to tarnish the Napergate Man's name over something so silly.
Like many others I feel this whole mess was more of a technical nature than anything else. I believe any officer of any department would use his discretion to help someone out in this kind of a predicament. The fact the Sergeant and police officers excerised every power in their being to make it as hard as possible for the Napergate Man indicates to me that there was a vendentta of sorts.
And I believe anyone who confiscates a 1000 Fake IDs. and turns them into the police over so many years would have easily met all the police officers in town or at least most. Let us not try to pretend they did not know who the Napergate Man was.
He was far and away the City and Police's no. 1 enemy for a good 2 decades. Every police dept. knows there no. 1 enemy very well. If they don't you can chalk them up to being INCOMPETANT!
Diana??? Please tell me you did not just mis-spell and capitalize "INCOMPENTANT" in your ridiculous blog?
Yes you are "Incompetent" as you have very well just documented. How embarassing to mis-spell the one word you were trying so hard to use as your point.
The only thing "Incompetent" is you.
The only thing "Incompetent" is your analysis.
The only thing "Incompetent" is your hatred towards government.
The only thing "Incompetent" your excuses for your buddy.
Diana, anytime you want to be a cop take the test so we can all be saved by you and hopefully your not as "Incompetent" as you appear.
Also, here are some Synonyms in case you need them for incompetent (unqualified, inadequate.)
Diana,
Thank you for providing more facts relevant to the case. These were indeed prior to the cash price hike on Jan 1, 2005. It was never stated anywhere before exactly WHEN the toll violations took place so this adds another piece to the puzzle.
Ameena's account:
"10. It is undisputed that the Napergate Man's license had been suspended without his knowledge. It is also undisputed that his daughters did run thru the coin booth area of the Oak Brook Tollway Plaza, were caught without change and decided to proceed as there were dozens of cars behind them honking their horns during rush hour, I assume. The Tollway even had pictures proving his daughters committed these violations. These pictures and a notice stating we "MAY" suspend your license if these tolls are not paid were mailed to the Napergate Man. Unfortunately, this bulk sales looking notice showed up in the Napergate Man's mailbox one day after his arrest and incarceration."
Marybeth then says: "If his daughters only use the toll booth every few months it may not make economic sense to buy them a transponder."
If someone would have said the violations were prior to 2005, I would have computed them as being 40 cent violations. Either way, we say and agree now that you provided the data requested that they are $1.60 in violations and she ran the toll booth 4 times and not 2 times.
If you think about it, the daughter did the wrong thing twice as many times as I originally thought because I was giving her the benefit of the doubt that it was a to/from trip in one evening and the whole night she had no money on her person.
Now, you are showing a repeating problem that happened on 4 different days over nearly an 8 month time span.
This begs the question: Why after the first time of having all the cars honking and not having change did you not bring money for the 2nd, third, or 4th time?????
According to 'ameena' rush hour happens at 5:46AM and 3:06 AM because that is what she said happened and these are the times posted above and never mind the fact that 12/22/02 was a Sunday, I believe.. The last times I was through that plaza at 3AM I believe I was one of maybe 8 cars in sight in both directions.
This also would have been the time frame and toll booth where there is ALWAYS a physical human being on duty who can assist in providing information on how to pay missed tolls.
It was in the news a coupe years ago that the toll authority was implementing a new sweeping change to their records department and was going to start going after toll violators.
http://tinyurl.com/2slt8f
That must have been missed too and somehow enforcing the law, especially when people are repeat offenders, is now called fascism and discrimination.
Grow up, move on, learn from it; just like everyone else does. Better yet, get an ipass or use the manual lanes, get the van registered out of Dad's name and into the driver's. Problem solved.
Joe and SWT thankyou for having a brain. You dont get personal, you dont take sides, you present the most logical ideas and no one ever responds to your comments because they cant. Keep up the good work.
Posted by: Anonymous | February 27, 2008 01:09 PM
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Anoymous,
You made a fool of yourself for speaking an hour and 11 minutes too soon. Diana presented the facts to show your buddies, Joe and SWT are a little lacking in brain power. They do get personal and they do take sides contrary to what you are saying.
Diana responded to their facts with solid Tollway Data that exposed Joe's lies. And how dumb of you, Mr. Anonymous, to say no one can respond to your buddies comments. Diana ripped them both apart and their credibilities. And of course your credibility to boot along with theirs! I guess you never had any in the first place as Anonymous bloggers have no credibility.
If you think about it, the daughter did the wrong thing twice as many times as I originally thought because I was giving her the benefit of the doubt that it was a to/from trip in one evening and the whole night she had no money on her person. Joe.
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Joe,
Very clever attempt to change the story from your credibility to the 16 year older having money or not. Since they were obviously round trips as you indicated it clearly showed she paid her tolls when she had money and was in the right lanes. I think it actually makes her look better that she paid once each of those 4 days not worse. And she paid twice all the hundreds of days in between. So she is really not that bad of a girl from what I can see. If you pay 196 tolls our of 200 and your 16 years old without an I-PASS(do not even know if they existed then in 2002 and 2003) that is 98% or a A+ for a 16 or 17 year older.
Ameena does not know the Napergate Man or his daughters. She used the word "I assume." And there is something called morning rush hour and 3 of those violations could have occurred in morning rush hour which is just as bad as afternoon rush hour.
In Ameena's assumptions she was not trying to attack anyone. She was trying to detail the scenario to the best of her ability. In your case you made false assumptions and accussations to take a stab at the credibility of others. Well, sorry Joe, but those false assumtion you made to bite away at others came back and bit you right in the butt!
Stop playing games Joe! Diana burned you pretty good!
You could care less about the daughter going thru once or twice or .40 cents or .80 cents.
Your only intention was to destroy the Napergate Man's friends credibility and you failed miserably. The Napergate Man obviously released this accurate information to his friends a while back.
Now, it seems some Tollway Official disguised as Diana gives us the hard core facts down to the second. And once again as always in the past the Napergate Man's credibilty holds up.
I guess his friend Randy told us a while back in the print edition of the Naperville Sun, this Napergate Man is just not going to lie. He seems to know the truth is somehow always uncovered from his life's experiences sooner or later. That is why he always tells the truth or keeps his mouth shut.
What you have not learnied Joe, with 61,000 views per week to Ted's Threads someone is going to "call you out" when you attempt to lie. Today, Diana called you out!
We will have to see who calls you out tomorrow.
I bet you wished you stayed away from the Napergatge Blogs. You would still have some credibility. And you still seem to have a vendetta against that Ameena chick who you were fighting with for weeks about a parking spot. Now you want us to believe the girl that was elected best blogger is also not credible. Yes, Joe we are all stupid for voting for her and not for you.
Napergate Threads are for the professionals. You have proven time and again Joe that you are just an amateur learning how to crawl.
Now the facts are unraveling my dear Joe, do you really feel it was necessary for your buddies in the police dept. to hand cuff and jail the Napergate Man for such a petty violation when they let many others slide on much more serious violations? Try to answer this question Joe instead of switching the story to a 17 year old girl who did much better than other 17 year old boys or girls. If you followed the blogs this girl now happens to be in medical school. So she does not sound to be much of a loser to me.
She is probably on her way to being a doctor clueless and carefree that we are now bloggin aout her. Boy, do we all know how to waste time on these threads about silly issues created by the abuse of discretion by our Boys in Blue!
This whole arrest smells pretty rotten to me.
You arrest a guy but say nothing in the police report as if arresting and jailing people are not big deals in our society anymore.
This case really exposes discrimination in our town. One group of citizens are treated one way. Another group of citizens are treated another way.
I guess if you have connections to city officials you don't get arrested for petty suspensions. If you have no connections, you are arrested and jailed overnight for petty suspensions.
If you have the same political views of the Police Chief you are not arrested. If your views differ from his, you are arrested and jailed.
This discretion cops possess does bother me when it is abused in the reverse manner it was intended to be used! If police officers don't have the common sense to use discretion, they should be stripped of their discretionary powers.
The Sergeant in this case should be stripped of all discretionary powers and given a desk job shuffling paper work. He should not be a sworn officer. He should be permanently demoted to civilian status in the NPD.
And where is Internal Affairs when you need them? As one one blogger said Internal Affairs was made for Public Consumption and really has no function.
I think we are geting off subject. It has been known for a long time that Joe lies and distorts and will never change. He gets his Rises when he gets caught lying. Some thieves can only get a rise if they are caught in the commission of a robbery.
But really we are letting the NPD off by focusing on Joe. I am sure Joe is a character created by the NPD to keep the heat off of them. I suspect he is the Deputy Chief in charge of public relations! It is only a suspicion and I have no proof!
The NPD needs to make a statement as to why they felt this deep desire to arrest, humiliate and jai a Naperville Hero for something he had no knowledge of and did not commit. Something they do not normally hand cuff people for.
I am willing to guess if the Naperville Sun issued an FOIA for all similar case in the last 5 years, they would find most were allowed to voluntarily come to the NPD and released on their own personal recognizance without ever having spent a minute in a jail cell let alone an e
Wow - you bloggers are serious people! I have enjoyed reading this one, and have a couple of questions that I am hopeful someone can clarify.
Marilyn, Marybeth, Diana, and Rachael have written extensively about the specific tolls, whether they were .40 or .80, what time of day, how many did they miss, how responsible the daughter is, etc. You guys also seem to know Joe from previous blogs? or just have become aggravated with him over this one?
It would have been nice if you were more succinct, but I think your point is that somehow the Illinois Tollway authority, and the Naperville Police have targeted the Napergate man because of his past, and are using 4-5 missed tolls that took place a number of years ago to arrest him this time?
Is it your belief that he was specifically targeted last July? Is it also your belief that law enforcement officers routinely let people off the hook for far more serious crimes? Really? your case would be better made if you could cite a few examples, then we really would have a story wouldn't we?
I believe Marilyn called this particular violation minor and Marybeth commented that this girl paid her tolls 98% of the time so whats the big deal? I would like to know what other crimes you consider minor?
I am happy to hear that Napergate's daughter is enrolled in medical school, perhaps after graduating she can achieve a goal of obeying the law 100% of the time like most of us!
One last question, If the car was registered under his name how was the Police Officer supposed to know to let this particular guy go because his daughter is really the one who drives it most of the time?
marilyn,
I posted: "If the claim was that someone's daughters did not have $1.60 in tolls, that only equates out to 2 $0.80 (cash price) tolls."
because I used the 2005 to the present prices and these were old ones at the old price and there were more than the 2 I 'assumed'. Next time I'll qualify that like Ameena does. I learned to do research from her, I can easily learn to qualify statements next time when I am making a guess. Thanks for pointing that out. A shout-out to Diana for dumpster diving or B&E to get the real data. I hope she didn't break any law to obtain those records.
Tell me again how that means the other facts are now somehow invalid.
They were still blown through on more than one occasion, still not trued up and there was no sense of duty or obligation to take care of them (theft of services), someone probably did not tell their Dad because I would imagine that the NG man would have trued them up had he known about them and it was already said he did not know about them so we have to now assume he was not told by his daughter. The notices were still sent, regardless if they were .80 each or .40 each, the notice was not responded to, another notice was sent and it too was not complied with, the license was suspended and the rest is history. Through it all, I hope he at least got a "Daddy, I'm so sorry I caused this happen to you" when it was all said and done. It's so amazingly easy for a Dad to forgive that from their kids. The joy of being a parent.
It's quite clear where the fault lies here and it's not with the men in blue or the tollway authority, IMO.
I appreciate you clearing up the 'facts' for us so now everyone in town can judge for themselves if there is a huge multi-agency conspiracy resulting in fascism or if the public servants are simply doing the job we hired them to do (enforce the law).
A sincere Good Luck to her in Med School.
Hey Anonymous,
Since you could not take on Diana's strong factual documentation, you attack her on her spelling of "incompetent."
But you spelled it wrong too as..."INCOMPENTANT"
Yes, you inserted an "N" that does not belong in there. Diana never used an "N". That was your own spelling error. Why make a fool out of your self by critqueing others spelling when you can spell no better..lol...!
Obviously Diana was not using spell check and spells very well. Kudos to her for her great spelling with only one error not using spell check!
I am not using spell check either so I hope I can spell as well as Diana!
Sorry Marilyn, you have lost so many blog wars you should retire your same old same old blah blah blah blogs. Just once, have something original or new to talk about, just once.
Quick Question,
yes, there is history between those handles and myself.
The reader's digest version of it is:
Someone says something isn't their fault and claims everything is a big fascist conspiracy centering from the Naperville City Hall or the police department and somehow outreaches its corrupt hand of justice across establishments and jurisdictions to be the cause as to why someone did something wrong (blew through a toll booth, drove with a suspended license, parked in a tow away space, ignored a license suspension notice etc) but it's the fascist police's fault, not the person who actually committed the violation. Can't you see that all those things could ONLY be the result of the huge entrenched establishment out to discriminate and ruin people's lives. This is why Naperville has always been at the bottom of every list for good places to live and where to raise a family...
Yeah, I don't buy that BS either. So I point out where the fault resides and of course, that's nothing more than an attack and then I'm accused of being being a cop, or some other city worker or I'm just some bozo with an axe to grind. Then they proceed to move onto phallic jokes with the word 'rise' (freud called it 'envy'). All because some kid(s) can't take responsibility and accept the consequences of their own actions. Growing up is kind of scary, I suppose. Hopefully they'll get through the phase and make it.
Joe,
You really love to dance around issues and pretend your credibility is somehow still intact.
You have really never addressed the core issue in this case. Try to!
WAS IT NECESSARY TO HANDCUFF, ARREST, AND JAIL TNE NAPERGATE MAN OR WOULD IT HAVE BEEN NICER IF THEY ASKED HIM TO TURN HIMSELF IN VOLUNTARILY TO BE BOOKED AFTER TAKING HIS DOG, ABBY, HOME?
WOULD MR. WEHRLI OR MR. MOSER HAVE BEEN HANDCUFFED, ARRESTED AND JAILED IN EXACTLY THE SAME OR VERY SIMILAR CIRCUMSTANCES?
Just try to focus for once, Joe! Show us it is possible!
One last question, If the car was registered under his name how was the Police Officer supposed to know to let this particular guy go because his daughter is really the one who drives it most of the time?
Posted by: Quick question | February 27, 2008 06:19 PM
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I guess if you had been reading these blogs the Napergate Man had no clue why he was stopped or being arrested. I am sure when the police officers told him it was a tollway violation, he told them honestly he knew nothing about it. It appears he knew nothing about it from the record that has been accumalting on these threads. They possibly chose not to believe him even though he was being truthful with them.
It has been documented he parked his Hummer H2 right along side Jimmy's Grill where about 12 cops are stationed in the summer time on Friday and Saturday evenings. It would defy logic that if he knew his license was suspended he would just park there amongst a dozen cops.
It also was documented that he was a regular downtowner and the police appeared to know what vehiciles he drove. For example, he also had a Rolls that he drove and it would be very unlikey any father would give his inexperienced 16 year old daughter the keys to the Rolls so she could smash it up for him while learning how to drive. He would more likely give her the keys to the white van and any police officer with any common sense should be able to figure that one out!
The Naperville Police really know this Napergate guy from 20 years of battling him and undoubtly knew what cars he drives as he is a regular downtown. They just had it in for him that night and all the evidence is adding up in that direction.
The treatment the cops gave him was inappropriate to say the least.
Nice job digging up the dumpsters on those times, dates, locations and exact amounts of those violations. I can't believe you were even able to track down the lane numbers 5 years later. I guess our government really watches us these days! Just like in England with all this video surveillance.
Date Time Location Unpaid Toll
12/22/02 07:28:32 Plaza 51-York Road Lane-10 $.40
02/03/03 06:19:35 Plaza 51-York Road Lane-10 $.40
02/07/03 05:46:52 Plaza 51-York Road Lane- 9 $.40
07/10/03 03:06:46 Plaza 51-York Road Lane- 8 $.40
Going thru whatever dumpster you went thru put Joe's credibility right there to replace the facts you dug up for us. Nice job Diana!
I guess the Tollway Authority is getting some good publicity that you don't mess around with them.
Host Ted should be charging them for all this deterrence effect of running tolls being provided while discussing the Napergate Man.
There was no conspiracy between the Tollway and the City of Naperville. The Tollway was 3.5 years behind and trying to catch up. They had no time to conspire...lol..!
But seriously the problem is strictly with the Naperville Police who ran his plates illegally and selectively while he was parked legally, stopped him for no probable cause as he committed no traffic violations, and then threw the book at him. That is where the problem lies!
And top that with the Sergeant using his discretion in an abusive manner instead of a helpful manner and it becomes quite obvious why many residents are upset about the treatment of the gentleman who helped them fight so many battles against City Hall known as the Napergate Man!
Susan, you better re-read Diana's mis-spelled blog which contained a lot of spelling errors. I only pointed out the one big one and yes I mis-spelled a word to see if YOU were paying attention. I'm glad you were...There is no sense in debating on this blog. No one is ever wrong and the same old people put the same of spin on this silly issue.
I just got done reading this thread and a few others. This will be my first time bloggin on the Sun Threads. I must say after a while you get tired of reading and want to participate.
It just seems something is very wrong with this whole case to me. Something just does not up for the police to give this Napergate Case so much priority on a weekend night at exactly the same time they should be protecting our streets from the drunks exiting the bars and getting into what amounts are potential missiles.
And yet it seemed so urgent to them to SPY at this very potentially hazardous time on the activities of this Napergate Man walking his little white dog and basically minding his own business. </