Del Police office & Santorum Aide being sued by ACLU

This was a great story! A local bookstore here in Wilmington, DE had a Rick Santorum book signing. Two young girls showed up at the event who weren't exactly Santorum supporters and they were overheard talking about their opposing viewpoint on certain issues.

The girls were removed by the bookstore by an off-duty police officer hired for security and then the officer threatened the girls with jail time and even losing scholarship funds for their potential arrests.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/31/AR2006053102497.html

ACLU Sues Over Arrests at Santorum Event

By RANDALL CHASE
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 31, 2006; 10:55 PM

DOVER, Del. -- A group of young women claim they were ordered to leave a book signing featuring Sen. Rick Santorum because of their political views.

The federal lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union, argues that the women's free speech rights were violated at the event last August. It says two of the women were arrested for trespassing and three others were threatened with arrest.

The suit names a Delaware state trooper and one of the Pennsylvania lawmaker's representatives.

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The women were ordered to leave by a state trooper hired to provide security after a member of Santorum's promotional team overheard them talking before the senator arrived, according to the suit. When two of the women asked why they were being ejected, they were arrested, the suit say.

"The trooper denied these women their right to share their views with an elected official," said Julia Graff, attorney for the Delaware ACLU, which sued along with the Pennsylvania ACLU.


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BTW, here's what the officer and aide actually did:

http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050814/NEWS08/508140325/1013/NEWS01

The security, however, wasn't provided by a private guard, but by off-duty Delaware State Police Sgt. Michael DiJiacomo, who was hired for the occasion through a private security service. No official report of the incident was filed because no arrests were made, but state police spokesman Lt. Joe Aviola said, "As I understand it, they actually were being disorderly within the store. Someone overheard them saying they were going to cause a disruption."

That's not quite the version the teens related. "I heard ask the woman, 'Do you want me to get rid of them,?' " Galperin said. "I went to tell the kids the cop was going to kick them out, and he was very pushy. He came up to us and said, 'If you don't leave you'll be arrested, and if you can't post bail you'll be put in prison.' He said it was private property and we would be arrested for trespassing."

When the girls protested that they hadn't done anything, DiJiacomo told them they were under arrest. After taking them from the store, Galperin said, "He told Miriam to put her hands on the car and kept telling us, 'You're going to embarrass your family, you won't get into college with this on your record.' "

No police state to see here. Please move on.