On Wednesday, March 21, I was driving through Brockton on my way to Holy Ghost Catholic Church in Whitman for adoration. After that I planned on going to Bridgewater State College to hold my sign for a couple hours. But I saw the Brockton commuter rail station with a lot of people. The time was around 7:30 am. I decided to hold a sign there for a little while. I stood across the street.

There I met a black high school student walking to a public charter school. She was pro-life and agreed to show me where the school was. We walked and talked, and after about 5-7 minutes we arrived at the school. She took my material and agreed to spread it to others. Then I held the sign at an intersection with a light near the school because I didn't see any students, so I directed my sign towards traffic.

Then after five or ten minutes I walked around the sidewalk of the school to get familiar with the neighborhood. I was at the corner of Warren and West Elm Street when an angry school official came out and said I was disturbing students. I didn't even see any students except for about four or five total, and only talked to 2 of them, both females, and they never said anything negative to me. At that time they were at least 20 ft. away from me because I was further down on West Elm Street and they were on Warren St. He asked me to leave, so I pulled out my camcorder. I don't think I even turned it on because he already started walking away. I asked him to repeat what he just said. Instead he just walked away so I put my camcorder away.

But a minute later a police officer came by so I pulled out my camcorder again. He was also angry and demanded I leave immediately. When I tried to ask him a question I heard him call for back up for no apparent reason. Then he tried to knock the camcorder out of my hands. He put his hand on my camcorder and pushed it away. I raised the camcorder back up, but instead of holding it in front of my face, I held it behind my head with my arm stretched backwards. He said he talked to me before at the other Brockton high school two months ago (which I wrote about in a report). He was very threatening,  I don't remember his exact words but it was all caught on film.

I began to cross the street because I was terrified since he just illegally battered me. He followed me and was being very threatening, and told me to go home. "All the way home? I can't do that," I said. I tried to keep the camcorder on him as I held a sign, fliers, and the camcorder all while walking but I'm not sure I did a good job of it.

As soon as I got to the other side of the street he wrestled me to the ground without warning and without saying a word. I offered no resistance. I wasn't even sure what he was trying to do, if he was trying to beat me or arrest me. After one or two split seconds he pinned me to the ground and knocked the camcorder on the ground. My fliers were all over the ground and my sign was left abandoned on the sidewalk. Then he put my hand behind my back and it finally became obvious what he was trying to do. He was arresting me without reason and not telling me why. It should all be on film. It would of been nice if he gave me a warning first. He put me in the cruiser. I asked repeatedly for my sign. He said I was never going to see it again.

He pulled in the police station and left me in the car while he talked to another cop for twenty minutes. This was also very unorthodox. I saw him make fun of me while talking to the booking cop, who I couldn't see from the cruiser window by saying I pulled out the camera and was filming him. He made a motion with his hand signifying a camera the way most people do when they signify with their hand talking on the telephone. He began to make me more nervous. In all my other pro-life "trespass" arrests cops always took me out of the car immediately. I was expecting another police beating coming my way. Knowing he falsely arrested me for nothing, I thought for sure a back room beating was coming.

He appeared to have trouble figuring out his job. Even when he was at the computer he had to ask for the password and how to use the computer every step of the way. He didn't know how to do the fingerprinting. The other cop (and I) had to help him.

They put all my possessions in a plastic bag. I said what about my camcorder? He said he will get it. I assume it was still in the cruiser because that was the direction he went in. It took him an awfully long time to get it.
 
Finally, the arresting officer came back with my camcorder. I also noticed it was turned off, which was really strange. I never got a chance to shut it off when he attacked me. It was left on and running when the cop tackled me.

As we talked about my case during booking, they told me all of Brockton was a school zone, therefore by being on the public sidewalk I was trespassing on school property.

They told me I was lucky I wasn't shot because there are so many gangs in Brockton. I asked him if he was stressed out dealing with gangsters so much that he had to take it out on me. He returned the question by asking me if I was stressed out about being stopped in my tracks doing pro-life work. (I previously told him I’m trying to reach all the students in the state.)

After the cop told me of the charges against me, I told them that I didn't bother any students and it is only the school officials that don't want me there. The students are very pro-life in Brockton and easy to talk to. The police both acknowledged that it wasn't the students making the complaints.

The other cop asked me about the filming of students and I told him I wasn't. I also found it telling that the arresting officer never asked me about that , but he asked me about everything else. It is because he knows he is making it up about me filming and interviewing students. The camcorder is only pulled out for legal protection when the cops show up. The other cop seemed to accept that answer.

I told them why I was there because they asked, to educate students, not protest. I told them all about abortion causing depression and how Project Rachel was a compassionate, non-judgmental support group. I seemed to win them over from their typical stereotyped “John Salvi” pro-lifer image they had of me and probably everyone else.

I asked them again to get my sign back, they said to go to a department in city hall and look for it there. At least the arresting officer gave me permission to get it back.  

When I was finally arraigned and got my stuff back I found my film missing and my camcorder broken.

The first thing I did was go back to look for my sign, and found it in back of the crosswalk guard’s pickup truck. The crosswalk guard was a male and seemed sympathetic. I asked for it back and he said that the arresting officer told him not to give it to me, that he had to bring it to that officer at the other, much larger, high school, and he didn't want to get in trouble. I asked if I could follow him to the school. He said yes and to wait for him when he is finished at 3:30. It was about 3:10 now.

I called 911 and  told them my story and thus made it a public record. I asked for the arresting officer by name (Officer Montrond), They gave me a police main number. A woman said she will call him for me.

Ten minutes later Officer Montrond called me on my cell and asked me to hand the phone to the cross guard who said I can have my sign back. Then the crossing guard handed me back my phone, and I asked the officer for my tape back. He said, "Are you gonna stay away from Brockton schools" I said yes and I will put it in writing for him. He said "we will talk" I asked, “When?” and then he hung up on me.

Then my lawyer called. He told me to go to the police station and file a report in writing requesting the tape. The police woman at the front desk said she will look for the tape. She came back about five or ten minutes later and said she talked with Officer Montrond and he admitted to having the tape and I should come back tomorrow and call this number 508-580-7611 and& ask for Lt Mills, head of the police school department. When I called the next day I got an answering machine and left a message. They never returned my call. My lawyer said he would call Friday.

The police woman would not let me file a report there. I asked how am I going to meet the Lt of schools if I am banned from school property. She said I can meet him here.

The next day I went to the police station again and saw the same police women. She wouldn't let me talk to her and was very hostile even though I simply asked her one simple question in a gentle tone of voice about filling out the report. I was hoping to get her name since she could be a witness. She did say Officer Montrond admitted to her about having the tape. I never even bothered to ask her – that’s how hostile she was. It makes no sense why he can't just give it back. I think he is hiding the fact that he destroyed the self-incriminating evidence of him on it. His case goes out the window according to what is on that tape, and it proves he lied.