JULY 23, 2009
An apology for a bad arrest in threat
I tried to reach George F. Spicka (left, in a 2006 photo) on Wednesday after the state apologized for officers who arrested him three years ago and charged him with e-mailing a bomb threat to BWI Airport. The charges were quickly dropped after police learned the e-mail came from a town in Italy and not from Spicka's home in Gwynn Oak. Maryland Transportation Authority police had apparently linked Spicka to the e-mail because of similar e-mail addresses -- the threat was sent from "George Orwell" and Spicka's e-mail was "georgetheother."
In a story we did back in 2006 that contained an interview from Spicka, we said he acknowledged that he might've sent some emails about Maryland politics using his Orwell-named account. That made police suspicious (though the emails were strongly worded and political in nature, they contained nothing close to threats).
Spicka e-mailed me this morning to clarify:
Just a point of clarification - "Spicka, in an interview with TheBaltimore Sun after his arrest in 2006, did say that he had posted political opinions on the Internet under Orwell's name as a tribute to the author." We examined all 324 of my postings on the Internet forum where I used George - the Other as my handle, from the time I started posting until the day of my arrest. Even though I wrote about George Orwell in 31 of those messages, I never once used Orwell's name as my own. George - the Other was my tribute to Orwell, who is one of my favorite authors, especially his essays.
This fact came out during the deposition and if the case had gone to trial. would have been used to highlight the gross misconduct and perjury on the part of the arresting detectives.
It is understandable how the author of the 2006 Baltimore Sun article, Josh Mitchell, might have misquoted me. I hadn't slept for hours and was terrible upset by what had just happened. There is no way to understand the complete degradation I suffered unless you go through it yourself. I was just babbling on and on during our interview and was even crying at times.
If I have any official comment, it's that I'm terribly disappointed that the State is not prosecuting these detectives for their multiple instances of misconduct and perjury, and for their beliefs, as demonstrated by their actions, that they think that they are above the laws that the rest of us are bound to. Instead they are loose in our society, to rain their misconduct upon other unsuspecting citizens. Plus they serve as an example to others of like disposition, that they can get away with these crimes._ _Sincerely,_ _George F. Spicka
source - http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2009/07/an_apology_for_a_bad_arrest_in.html
An apology for a bad arrest in threat
I tried to reach George F. Spicka (left, in a 2006 photo) on Wednesday after the state apologized for officers who arrested him three years ago and charged him with e-mailing a bomb threat to BWI Airport. The charges were quickly dropped after police learned the e-mail came from a town in Italy and not from Spicka's home in Gwynn Oak. Maryland Transportation Authority police had apparently linked Spicka to the e-mail because of similar e-mail addresses -- the threat was sent from "George Orwell" and Spicka's e-mail was "georgetheother."
In a story we did back in 2006 that contained an interview from Spicka, we said he acknowledged that he might've sent some emails about Maryland politics using his Orwell-named account. That made police suspicious (though the emails were strongly worded and political in nature, they contained nothing close to threats).
Spicka e-mailed me this morning to clarify:
Just a point of clarification - "Spicka, in an interview with TheBaltimore Sun after his arrest in 2006, did say that he had posted political opinions on the Internet under Orwell's name as a tribute to the author." We examined all 324 of my postings on the Internet forum where I used George - the Other as my handle, from the time I started posting until the day of my arrest. Even though I wrote about George Orwell in 31 of those messages, I never once used Orwell's name as my own. George - the Other was my tribute to Orwell, who is one of my favorite authors, especially his essays.
This fact came out during the deposition and if the case had gone to trial. would have been used to highlight the gross misconduct and perjury on the part of the arresting detectives.
It is understandable how the author of the 2006 Baltimore Sun article, Josh Mitchell, might have misquoted me. I hadn't slept for hours and was terrible upset by what had just happened. There is no way to understand the complete degradation I suffered unless you go through it yourself. I was just babbling on and on during our interview and was even crying at times.
If I have any official comment, it's that I'm terribly disappointed that the State is not prosecuting these detectives for their multiple instances of misconduct and perjury, and for their beliefs, as demonstrated by their actions, that they think that they are above the laws that the rest of us are bound to. Instead they are loose in our society, to rain their misconduct upon other unsuspecting citizens. Plus they serve as an example to others of like disposition, that they can get away with these crimes._ _Sincerely,_ _George F. Spicka
source - http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/crime/blog/2009/07/an_apology_for_a_bad_arrest_in.html