Workers in Paris, Tenn., put up a Christmas tree near the Henry County courthouse. (Photo city of Paris)
Nicole Beale, disabled, is bereft of husband Christopher Fiedler in an irregular arrest and jailing without bond, in violation of the Tennessee bill of rights. He is consigned to jail on ‘failure to appear” with indications are he got no notic to apopear i circuit court Nov. 18. Police chief Ricky Watson jailed him Nov. 19. (Photo Nicole Beale)
Two new Paris, Tenn., officers take the oath to uphold the constitution. The police department criminalizes private use of the public road and obstructs free use, enforcing statewide privilege law as if all users must have the privilege using car or scooter. (Photo city of Paris)
Getting ready for holiday festivities, a West Tennessee town has put a man in the county jail on allegations he is exercising constitutionally protected rights.
The imprisonment of Christopher Michael Fiedler for failing to appear is the second time Paris, Tenn., is asserting its police power against free-traveling Mr. Fiedler, a fast-food restaurant cook who gets about on a motor scooter with a “private” plate.
Paris municipal bosses are celebrating Thanksgiving and have put up the town Xmas tree near the courthouse, to celebrate the birth of the Lord Jesus.
Give your town a TTAN, put it on ‘notice’
Ricky Watson, chief of Paris police department
It’s regular doings this time of year in Henry County. But proceedings by authorities are highly irregular. Police arrested Mr. Fiedler under an “FTA,” or failure to appear, but the charge in the indictment is “driving on suspended.”
The abuse is common statewide as police presumptively commercialize all private movement, denying anyone has a right to move for private purposes on the people’s roads. The state does not tax roads, boulevards and highways because they are “thrown open for public travel or use free of charge” T.C.A. § 67-5-204.
In attempt to protect taxpayers and avoid litigation, Mr. Fiedler put the city and its police chief Ricky Watson under Tennessee transportation administrative notice. The 21pp notice explores the limits of Tenn. Code Ann. § Tile 55, motor and other vehicles, and the rights of travel and free movement under the Tennessee bill of rights in numerous provisions.
Mr. Fiedler has already been jailed once for exercising the liberty of free movement. Circuit court judge Bruce Griffey ordered dismissal when the district attorney, J. Neil Thompson, determined to dismiss the case. The action came following inquiries by this reporter and Eagle Radio Network midstate bureau chief Christopher Sapp.
Christopher Fiedler is suffering persecution for exercising his private ingress-egress rights, and giving notices. Henry County has siezed two such conveyances. (Photo Nicole Beale)
Supposedly to protect and serve, Paris, Tenn., police officers like this one, newly recruited, forbid anyone to use the public roads for private purposes, and twice have accused and jailed Christopher Fiedler for exercising protected rights of communication by use of his motor scooter. (Photo city of Paris)
According to Nicole Beale, Mr. Fiedler’s wife, the Henry County grand jury indicted him for “driving on suspended.” Driving on suspended as a charge can be defeated by putting the officer on the stand to indicate he has no evidence of commercial use (manifest, bill of lading, bill of waylading, contract, employment agreement, passenger list).
“I don’t have any transportation, so I have to walk, and I can’t walk. I broke my back and my neck a couple of years, and therefore I cannot do anything physical. *** Nobody could take me” to the courthouse, she sobbing during a phone call. “I don’t have very many friends, and the ones I called were busy.”
“There’s plenty for him to sit and read,” Ms. Beale says. “At least this time he’s got his glasses.”
Will irregularities will put Henry County taxpayers in hole?
The sum of the irregularities by Paris, Tenn., authorities that may bring a heavy hit on city taxpayers if the apparent police victim files suit uner 42 U.S.C. § 1983:
➤ Failure of notice. The court appearance document, presuming legitimacy, fails to state to which court Mr. Fiedler must appear. “He went down there twice. Twice, yesterday,” says his wife. “He was not on the docket” in general sessions. He left, and returned, and the court was empty, she says.
➤ Denial of bond. “He’s there until Jan. 13. There’s no bond again,” she says. This policy violates the bail guarantees in Tenn. const. art. 1 § 15, “That all prisoners shall be bailable by sufficient sureties, unless for capital offences, when the proof is evident, or the presumption great.”
Says Mr. Sapp, “The piece of paper they give him doesn’t tell them he’s supposed to be in circuit court.”
➤ Presumption of authority. Mr. Fiedler in sessions court was asked to sign a document to appear in the court on Nov. 18, evidently to learn about his being indicted. No authority can compel such attendance, given grand jury proceedings are secret. “He says he never got notified,” Mrs. Beale says. Says Mr. Sapp: “He owes them no duty of obedience at that point. I don’t owe you any duty until that indictment comes back.”
Cop threatens traveler Fiedler day after freed in illegal jailing
➤ Shady grand jury situation. Are indictments “among friends” in Henry County, managed by DA, judges or clerks, guaranteed? Proper notice of an indictment would be by a phone call, a personal visit by a deputy or the sheriff or some other means of service.
➤ Poached police power. The motor vehicle law is federal, administrative in nature, pertaining to a state privilege, with exclusive authority belonging to the Tennessee highway patrol. City police administer city ordinance and maintain the peace. Mr. Fiedler is not legally subject to warrantless arrest absent a “public offense” in the nature of a riot, affray or breach of the peace.
Says bureau chief Sapp, “But you have [Lt. Michael Ramos] that’s on that’s police force over there that has a hard-on for him, and is stalking him to harass him. They said, ‘I don’t care.’”
When asked to provide a reporter documents in the case, Mrs. Beale, at 906 E Blyth St. in Paris, wept in the phone call, saying she could not go to the court Tuesday to get copies of dockets, notices or the indictment. She has a disability and no friend was available to take her. It is not immediately clear how she supports herself.
The taxpayers in Henry County may be on the hook if civil rights or constitutionalized litigation is filed to halt the city’s pattern of conduct. Given Tennessee transportation administrative notice, a lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, could reasonably demand F$5 million in aggravated damages, given knowing and intentional violations.
In Chattanooga, the civil case Tulis v. Bennett demands F$25 in aggravated damages and injunctive relief by way of reformed arrest and traffic stop procedure.
