Are these law enforcement personnel out on Long Island using their badges as a means to “harass us and eat of our substance”? Taking a look at the case of Nancy Genovese, I'd have to say yes.
After her arrest for supposedly posing a terrorist threat by taking pictures of a tourist attraction outside a public airport, being subjected to an illegal search and seizure, theft of $5300 in cash, confiscation of her camera and other personal belongings in her car (which have not been returned), being denied her right to an attorney, being imprisoned based upon false testimony by one of the arresting officers, she was interviewed by the FBI and found to be no threat. But the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department still held her in custody for some time, but finally released her, dropping the charge of criminal trespass (the only thing which she was charged). How can someone 'criminally trespass' on a public right of way, to whit, a public road?
Did she take this sitting down? Nope. She filed a $70 million lawsuit against the Town of Southampton, Suffolk County, and various other county and town officers and officials.
Now here's a bit of irony: the Town of Southampton town attorney failed to respond to the suit in a timely fashion, causing the town to default.
How did this happen? According to the now former town attorney “he forgot” to file the town's response to the suit. Genovese asked for a summary judgment against the town, but was denied by the court.
Here's more on the Genovese case, including an overhead view where the 'terrorist' incident took place.
