From: Gary Gevisser
Sent: Thursday, September 14, 2006 4:25 PM PT
To: William.Kemery@sdsheriff.org
Cc: rest; Devin_standard@comcast.net
Subject: Incident involving Don Riley and Corporal Matt McClendon and
Co.
At 11:15 AM
on Tuesday, August 15, 2006 I received a call from Don Riley’s son-in-law who
is married to Don’s daughter
I was aware
of certain interactions between this Corporal and Don although all I had heard
was Don’s side relating to a very alarming incident that apparently took place
back on August 1st at the local deli/gas station in Pine Valley
where according to Don, the Corporal had threatened Don as he was eating a
pizza and in front of two teenage witnesses around 17 years of age,
“Don, what is it going to take to run you out of my
town?”
It took me
about 10 minutes to meet up with Don and the 2 officers driving their own SUVs.
Deputy
Sheriff Cuevas was walking behind the camper as the Corporal sat halfway in his
SUV.
Upon
parking my vehicle I walked over to the camper and saw Don who I believe is 60
years of age, inside talking on his cell phone to his daughter in Las Vegas and
asked what was going on that had caused these 2 patrol officers to venture so
far in to the Cleveland National Forest given how in the 4 years we have owned our cabin I
have never once seen such vehicles this far in to the forest, causing Don to be
so frightened that he would not leave his vehicle until someone he trusted more
than these officers of the law showed up.
Don seemed
as confused as me.
Don and the
Corporal who had now got out of his vehicle and was walking towards me, let me
know at about the same time that a Forest Ranger was now on her way.
While it
was quite obvious that I was there at the behest of Don I was quite taken aback
by the inappropriate and very aggressive tone of the questions that the
corporal began throwing at me in an attempt in my humble, but seasoned opinion
to achieve nothing more than to intimidate me to leave, starting with, “Why
do you think I have a problem with Don?” which was then followed up
some 5 minutes later with, “Do you have
identification?”
Let me
explain the gap that took place between the two questions.
The fact
that I was dumbfounded by such a question explains most of it.
Second,
without knowing anything about me this corporal thought either I was a mind
reader or more likely very dumb to be even thinking that I could know what he
was thinking.
Third, the
balance of the gap had me thinking why but to distract would a rouge law
enforcement officer ask the opinion of a stranger on a subject matter that
would even baffle Einstein which is not funny especially when we are talking
about someone trying to make himself look like Dirty Harry with a badge and
what I assumed was a loaded gun and had very possibly violated someone else’s
civil rights just 15 odd days previously.
Once I saw
the green truck of the Forest Ranger approaching I informed the corporal, “Sorry,
I am not a mind reader but I do on occasion coach lawyers, specifically Shareholder
Class Action Litigators how to respond to fast balls
thrown at or near head”.
The
corporal then went silent preventing me from repeating the words of Mr. Jeffrey
R. Krinsk of the enormously successful SCAL law
firm of Finkelstein & Krinsk,
“I detest those who derive great satisfaction in
exceeding the limits of their small authority, i.e. evil doesn’t come in the
form of a pitched fork or pointed tail!”
The Forest
Ranger who I have met once before was now approaching Don’s camper, appearing
to be in a rather happy mood.
Michelle
immediately informed Don that he was illegally parked on private property and
that he had exceeded the limit of days he could be camped in this National
Forest and instructed Don to move but in no way did she even intimate that she
felt the need to have the San Diego Sheriffs Department local law enforcement
officers intervene in order for her to do her job.
While Don
sought clarification from Michele including finding out whether the owner of
the property had complained the not-so-little corporal then summoned me over to
where he was standing about 15 meters away which is when he asked me the second
question.
And when I
handed him my American Passport he questioned me, “Are you an American
citizen?” as he paged through my passport containing a number of
interesting spots my wife and I recently visited in China and at the same time making notes
including writing down the number of my wife’s car’s license plate eventually
asking if I minded him looking at my outdated California drivers license that I keep inside my passport at all
times, not in the least bit happy with my answer, “I only know of
American citizens with a United States passport”.
Then Deputy
Sheriff Cuevas felt the need to reinforce the corporal’s follow up question, “It
is either a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’! Are you an American Citizen?” not to mention
Cuevas also confirmed that Don had to be doing something “wrong”
when I eventually raised the point with the corporal why he would be so bold
some 15 days prior, on private property, in front of two witnesses, to use
threatening language, “What is it going to take to run you out of my
town?”.
The
Corporal while making the point that his gun was not stuck in his holster shot
back,
“There were more than two witnesses”.
The
question is no longer, in my humble but seasoned opinion, whether I found the
Corporal hanging deep inside the Cleveland National Forest on a “bad hair
day” but in light of what appears to have been a very real event taking
place on August 1st where again in front of at least two witnesses the Corporal
with both badge and gun very possibly violated Don Riley’s civil rights, BUT
RATHER the question should be:
What was the corporal doing going to Don’s camper deep
inside the Cleveland National Forest other than to further intimidate him and
very possibly much worse had I not shown up, following, in all likelihood,
having violated the law himself 15 days earlier and was now looking to cover
his tracks, versus waiting for Don to drive through SIGNIFICANTLY less isolated
Pine Valley as Don does daily?
I believe
another thing which should concern the department is how the corporal might
react as well as overreact as he begins to feel the “long reach of the
law” that may not prove in the least bit intimidating to someone who in
all likelihood has previously usurped his limited authority, emboldened as time
has ticked on without any retribution from his superiors who appear to be
supportive at least as it pertains to the Corporal’s lack of “probable
cause” in the pursuit of Don Riley and in the process again trampling
on all our Civil Rights.
Moreover,
one safeguard for all of us trying to do the right thing and the smart thing
which is also the right thing is to bring Public International Attention to
this rather unfortunate incident.
Gary S.
Gevisser
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1272]
