Wis. Man Arrested after barging into Home to Remove Confederate Flag

[Supersedeas]

Source: The Root


Boatner had reportedly spoken to the woman before, asking her to take down the flag, which she hung from her kitchen window. The woman moved the flag to the bathroom window but Boatner was not pleased at all.

The woman told police that she and Boatner got into a verbal argument before she ended up calling Boatner, a racial slur, the Daily Mail notes. Boatner, at that point, had had enough, and allegedly pushed past the woman and tore down the flag himself.


Read more: http://www.theroot.com/articles/news/2015/08/wis_man_arrested_after_shoving_woman_to_the_ground_barging_into_her_home.html

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Do you feel strongly enough about something to intrude into the lives of others and risk jail time to express your most deeply held beliefs.

I am not sure what to thing about Boatner.

[pipoman]

1. I know what to think

Being a liberal/democrat means we tolerate ..in fact embrace diversity of opinion.

We also are not tolerant of bullies.

[Hortensis]

15. Right! Good grief. If no right to free, individual speech on our own property, where?

[7962]

16. Certainly not HERE, depending on the OP!

Hop over to the Sanders vs Hillary threads and you'll see alerts galore

[whatthehey]

25. That "own property" is relevant

Doubtless Skinner, Elad and EarlG could serenely drop every racial, gender and sexuality based crude insult imaginable and suffer no consequences whatsoever here. I should of course, although needlessly I hope, stress that they are extremely unlikely to have that desire or inclination. But ability and right? Sure. Do I, with equally little desire, have that same ability or right? Lord no, I'd be deservedly scrubbed in a heartbeat. It's their site, not mine. The woman wasn't hanging the flag from his windows but her own, so the right is hers to decide to show the world that she is a racist know-nothing moron.

[jberryhill]

26. Is this forum your property?

[notadmblnd]

22. I wish that statement were actually true

However, you can see that it is not true of liberals- and no one has to look any further than DU to see it.

Bullies are not only tolerated, they are embraced. And those expressing opinions that differ from what the popular consensus is- are ridiculed and shut down.

[pipoman]

44. That has always been true on both sides

That said, DU is a really small place in a relative sense...it isn't a true reflection of voters or society...political forums attract a pretty small demographic...

[notadmblnd]

46. I can't deny that

nt

[valerief]

2. He shouldn't have broken into her home. He should have just painted her window black. nt

[Supersedeas]

5. I appreciate that he tried to discuss this with her the first time...

and maybe the argument that ensued during the second discussion prompted his rash behavior

[christx30]

6. And be charged with vandalism

and destruction of property.

You'll never change every mind. All you can do is ignore the stupid.

[pocoloco]

12. Lucky the dumb brain dead fuck wasn't shot.

[7962]

17. "dumb brain dead fuck". Man, that gave me a laugh. nt

[yeoman6987]

8. No he should have done nothing

We want negative items out of public government areas. Individuals can have millions of flags if they want. Government shouldn't. Hopefully this guy gets jail for awhile. What if she had a gun? None of this was necessary especially since she did accommodate the first request.

[whatthehey]

3. People with laudable beliefs can also be stupid and criminal

Putting up a rebel flag is not illegal. Neither is calling somebody a racial epithet. Stupid, surely but legal and likely to remain so given 1A. Forcible entry plus assault and battery? Both stupid and illegal (and incidentally in Wisconsin law, grounds for justifiable homicide; he's lucky she had no immediate access to a gun).

[jwirr]

4. I do not agree with this at all. It was made very clear in SC that the objection was to the flag on

public land. She had the right to her kind of curtain even if I do not like it. And I do not like it.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. From the story, it looks like he really went off...

fighting with the cops, too. And while I agree he had some provocation, violence is not the answer to speech. Even hate speech.

[cstanleytech]

29. Sorry but no provocation gives him any right to break into her home and do this, he clearly

deserves some jail time over this.

[FLPanhandle]

9. The woman is free to hang whatever objectionable curtains she wants

We may not like everything people do, but god help us if we all had to conform to what our neighbors liked.

[MADem]

10. The woman was goading and baiting the man. The man's dumb move is that he rose to the bait.

Now he has a record, and she's rubbing her hands together with glee.

He'd have been better off putting up a "curtain" of a sad kitty facing the offending flag, saying "Racists suck!" or something, and maybe putting some fast growing pines to block the view.

[cstanleytech]

31. Maybe she did deliberately goad him but being goaded did not give him the right to force his way

into her home and he will have to now live with the consequences of that poor decision he made and in this I think some jail is warranted.
I would say about 2 weeks to a month in jail and then 2 years of parole plus 800 hours of community service and 400 hours of anger management classes sounds about right.

[MADem]

36. Well, obviously he will meet the wheels of justice.

I think your sentence is a bit excessive, though. She jerked his chain, called him a racial slur, and goaded him to react.

If I were sitting on that jury, frankly, I'd nullify. I don't think people who preach hate -- and that's what she's doing by waving that flag in that guy's face--should be rewarded for their bad behavior at all.

I don't think he should do five seconds in jail. Worst case, I'd give him a "Continued Without a Finding" for six months for tresspassing, and then drop it.

Then I'd tell the guy to invest in some security cameras and some screening shrubbery or a good fence.

[christx30]

37. Yep.

Anyone should be able to barge into someone's house and rip up anything they find offensive.
That should be great when we see a christian right winger do it to a gay couple that have a rainbow flag.

I think he should do some jail time and get anger management.

[MADem]

38. Well, if that's the case...

Anyone should be able to goad and bait a neighbor relentlessly and call them racial slurs...?

Because AMERICA! Freedom!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_words#United_States

[christx30]

45. To your reconning,

anyone should be able to shut down any kind of political speech they want to by theatening violence and vandalism. Yee haw!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler%27s_veto

[MADem]

48. Calling someone a racial slur, and goading them with a racist symbol is "political speech?"

Sounds like "fighting words" to me!

[christx30]

50. From what I read in the article, the racial slur

didn't happen until he came to the door and demanded she remove the flag from her window. She refused, they argued, and he pushed past her. She wasn't goading him. It's not like she was standing on her porch screaming out "N****r, n****r, n****r" all day. She had a flag in her window. He was offended by the flag in her window and she refused to remove it (which is her right), and he commited his crimes against her. I hope he is in jail for a while. If I were on the jury, I'd happily vote guilty. Even people with terrible opinions have the right not to be assaulted in their homes.

[MADem]

52. A neighbor said she called him THAT WORD several (like five or six) times.

http://fox6now.com/2015/08/12/37-year-old-racine-man-facing-several-charges-following-fight-over-confederate-flag/

Nathan Blashka, a neighbor, watched as things quickly became heated.

“He was arguing with her — asking her politely at first to take down the flag, and then she called him (a racial slur) like five or six times,” Blashka said.

And SHE was also arrested:

Barribeau was also arrested after this incident, and charged with disorderly conduct. She says she plans to fight the allegations against her in court.

Barribeau says despite her language during this fight, her Confederate flag isn’t a symbol of hate.

But neighbors disagree.

“I don’t think that flag should be in any neighborhood,” a neighbor said.

As for her Confederate flag, Barribeau says it’s no longer in a window, and instead, she has hung it inside her home.

[840high]

56. ,+1

[cstanleytech]

39. "She jerked his chain, called him a racial slur" None of which grants him or anyone else the right

to break into someone else's home and destroy their property.
Now I could very well see it being used to mitigate the sentence he will probably get as that makes sense but at the very least he should be ordered to attend an anger management course so that hopefully he doesnt do this again.

[MADem]

40. She used him as an instrument of her ill intentions. She goaded/baited him with fighting words.

With a good lawyer, he could flip the script and put her on trial.

Fighting Words. Words which would likely make the person whom they are addressed commit an act of violence. Fighting words are a category of speech that is unprotected by the First Amendment. Chaplinsky v New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568 (1942).

https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/fighting_words

[cstanleytech]

41. Wont work, the Chaplinsky case was purely a first amendment case

over a law that tried to limit speech and this guy was not arrested for his speech rather for going into this women home without her permission which is oddly enough usually considered burglary.
Now if he had stood outside started cussing her out or built a huge lit up middle finger of christmas lights facing her house from his house (which I kinda favor) that would have been a first amendment case.

[MADem]

42. A good lawyer can put that nasty-ass woman on trial. nt

[cstanleytech]

43. Only if the judge allows it, if the judge rules its unfairly prejudicial the guy will be SOL. nt

[MADem]

53. Well, she was arrested for disorderly conduct, so it looks like the cops recognized she had a role

to play in the imbroglio.

[cstanleytech]

58. Yes she was cited but she could get it thrown out since he allegedly started the war of words

if http://thegrio.com/2015/08/13/two-people-arrested-in-wisconsin-after-fight-over-confederate-flag/ is accurate.

"“He said I know you’re probably racist, can you please take it down,” Barribeau told the local CBS affiliate. “I said ‘fine, but I will probably put it in another window.’ No you won’t. I’ll make sure of it. So I went and put it in my other window.”"
If thats accurate and if she is not lying then he started it and then continued it with a threat if she continued to display it.

[JoePhilly]

11. It's always better to let racists self identify.

You want her to leave it up so everybody knows she's a racist.

You take it down and people might have to meet her in person to find out she's a racist.

[cstanleytech]

32. LOL ya thats pretty I dont like that walmart stopped selling the confederate flags

because they make it so much easier to see most of them at a distance.

[WhoWoodaKnew]

13. Dumbass

[Demeter]

14. A sidewalk protest under the window would have been educational and effective

especially if it grew in size from day to day...

[Kelvin Mace]

18. The LAST place I would "barge into" would

be a place with a Confederate flag. Those nuts are trigger happy.

[olddots]

19. I would have done the same

its easy to make a decission on line after mulling it over for a few seconds ,this action probably took a a long time to build up .I have lost my patience with ignorant racism .

[christx30]

20. And I would support your arrest for

tresspassing and assault. As offended as you may be by that flag, no one has the right to enter someone's private property without permission to remove it.
Unless you're cool with a right winger barging past you into your home to remove something they find offensive, like a rainbow flag.

[Taitertots]

24. Hopefully you get help before your violent fantasies become reality

You don't get to beat up people, break into people's house, steal/destroy their property when they insult/offend you.

[FLPanhandle]

30. Wow.

Are you that out of control with your emotions? If so, seek some help.

[840high]

57. I have no patience with bullies.

[Yo_Mama]

21. You can't go busting into people's homes.

Plus, the woman moved the flag once.

That's a criminal act, and it should be.

[secondwind]

23. I think this person was way out of line

[jberryhill]

27. That's burglary

[cstanleytech]

33. That and also its stupid as hell, times like I cant help but shake my head and wonder

how people can make such piss poor decisions.

[jberryhill]

34. There are 7 billion people each making hundreds of decisions a second

Not all of them are going to be winners.

[cstanleytech]

35. True enough. nt

[sarisataka]

28. "Do you feel strongly enough

about something to intrude into the lives of others and risk jail time to express your most deeply held beliefs."

My deeply held belief is that individuals should be allowed to express their opinion unmolested no matter how revolting I find opinion.

I think Mr. Boatner went too far and was rightfully arrested. I cannot condone assault and entering another's home because you disagree with what is in their window.

[Yupster]

47. What an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing to do

She goaded him?

Yeah, well what if she met him in the bathroom and shot him in the head?

Her defense would be that this enraged man broke into her house and cornered her in the bathroom. What choice did she have but to tap him twice in the head?

Throw the book at him. He's lucky to still be breathing.

[Lulu Belle]

60. If he keeps up that behaviour

His luck will soon run out.
Home invasion is a dangerous game.
He should be sentenced to a long prison term.
The petty charges will only inspire others,and someone will get killed.

[MADem]

49. FWIW the flag woman was also arrested.

Barribeau was also arrested after this incident, and charged with disorderly conduct. She says she plans to fight the allegations against her in court.

Barribeau says despite her language during this fight, her Confederate flag isn’t a symbol of hate.

But neighbors disagree.

“I don’t think that flag should be in any neighborhood,” a neighbor said.

As for her Confederate flag, Barribeau says it’s no longer in a window, and instead, she has hung it inside her home.

http://fox6now.com/2015/08/12/37-year-old-racine-man-facing-several-charges-following-fight-over-confederate-flag/

[dionysus]

61. she looks like a real winner... esp when arguing the flag wasn't racist after admitting she threw 5

or six n bombs at him...

[Devil Child]

51. I display the Red Flag

Granted it's in my garage and visible if door is open and I'm in there working. If some tea-bag conservative sees it does he have the right to tear it down because he is offended? Hell no he doesn't. People don't have the right to be free of hurt feelings as they go through life.

[struggle4progress]

54. Play stupid games! Win stupid prizes!

[romanic]

55. I wouldn't bust into people's homes.

Confederate flag or not. Just like I wouldn't want some X-tian running into my house to rip down my Pride flag.

[Sunlei]

59. Best to use the cell phone video and audio to use your 'free speech' to shame the 'free speech'

of racists in public, as is your right in America.

Some racists are going to 'bait' people so they can kill them or have them arrested.

It's never right to attack them physically or damage their property or threaten to do so.