Another time-waster in court

You may recall that months ago I wrote about a young man, Pete Burwell, who was arrested while distributing advertising flyers in McHenry with his employer and another employee. This was in December, when the Northwest Flyer Guys were distributing flyers that prominently displayed the company name and phone number. No anonymous hand-outs by them!

Company practice is to hang the flyer in a cellophane bag on the outside door handle of a home. They do not open storm doors or screen doors to hang the flyer on the inside door handle.

A resident of the neighborhood apparently was irritated by their distribution method and called the McHenry Police Department to report a possible burglary suspect. Police responded and stopped the car with the Flyer Guys as they left the neighborhood after finishing their deliveries. At least one cop had his gun out, and Pete was arrested for disorderly conduct.

You know? I had never thought about how threatening it must seem to open your front door and find a cellophane bag with an advertising flyer in it. The homeowner told police that the Flyer Guy had opened his storm door and tried the handle of his front door.

What's really interesting is that the resident may have described the owner of Northwest Flyer Guys to the police, but they arrested Pete, a young, clean-cut, black man who is about 21. Is there a little racial profiling going on in McHenry? How could the homeowner describe the white businessowner (according to the businessowner), but the cops grabbed Pete?

Pete had to opt for a public defender, and today the case was dropped. It was set for trial in Judge Beaderstadt's court at 1:30PM. The state made a motion for nolle pross, and that was that.

I wonder whether anyone keeps records on the number of times a person complains to police, who arrest someone on disorder conduct charges, and then the case is so weak, or non-existent, that it drags all the way up to a court date and then gets dropped.

I'll be writing a story about a woman in Crystal Lake who has been arrested at least three times for disorderly conduct on complaints by her neighbor (now, her former neighbor). Each time the neighbor has failed to show up in court, and the cases have been dropped. If I were the judge, I'd send the sheriff out for the complainant and haul her in and give her the third-degree. And maybe see that she got charged with disorderly conduct.

If you read the disorderly conduct statute, you'll find that it is unlawful to make a complaint about someone when you know that no crime has been committed.