Second prominent protester arrested, MPD pledges more surveillance-based arrests
The Madison Police Department escalated their persecution of prominent organizers today, when MPD officers arrested Kelsey D. Nelson, 30, for activity taking place during the May 30 George Floyd protests and unrest in downtown Madison.
MPD alleges Nelson was captured on surveillance footage taking items from the Goodman’s Jewelers storefront display as the glass was broken. MPD also stated in a press release that Burglary Crimes Unit officers are “committed to identifying and arresting as many as possible,” according to MPD Public Information Officer Joel DeSpain’s 4:51 p.m. release.
The BCU “developed probable cause,” for Nelson’s arrest. The only evidence MPD cites as cause for the arrest is the surveillance footage. No witnesses, physical evidence, or observing officers are mentioned. It is unclear exactly how many arrests Madison Police intend to make using security camera surveillance footage.
The arrest was captured on video. There is a transcript of the video below. MPD has not released any security camera or body camera footage of the arrest.
According to Channel3000, Goodman’s Store owner John Hayes said his expenses related to that weekend were around $50,000. Nelson was booked into Dane County Jail at 3:29 p.m. for one count of “criminal damage to property of more than $2500.” The charge is “tentative,” according to MPD.
Another individual, Gabriel Kokesh, 19 of Waunakee, was arrested in connection to a video showing a woman who is likely Kokesh kicking in the front window of the Power Nine Games store on State Street.
As of Wednesday night, Yeshua Musa, who has been imprisoned since Tuesday, was finally moved out of solitary confinement following demands from protesters made to Dane County Sheriff David J. Mahoney.
He remains held without bail.
Surveillance footage-based arrests, and prosecutions, of protesters is a growing trend in law enforcement. Two Brooklyn lawyers were recently arrested for allegedly throwing Molotov cocktails into an already-damaged, abandoned police cruiser during the first weekend of #GeorgeFloyd protests. The device failed to light properly.
The charges were escalated, however, when the federal government found its way into the case. By arguing that the police cruiser was imported across state lines, the case could be eligible for federal jurisdiction. This move was widely condemned.
The two lawyers, including another individual in a separate incident, are facing a 45 year mandatory minimum sentence, and up to life imprisonment. No one was injured in either incident.
Nationwide, local police departments are seeking submissions from citizens for any footage showing people engaged in criminal acts. The FBI wants to see any evidence showing people, “actively instigating violence.”
Recently, the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force — a federally coordinated network of local law enforcement officers working to find terrorist threats — has harassed activists at their homes and places of work, according to The Intercept.
NYPD officers recently arrested Joel Feingold, of Brooklyn, at his home and brought him to the 8th precinct for questioning. He was probed and harassed by police and an FBI agent on his political views. They also asked if he had been in Ferguson, MO, when uprisings began following the death of Michael Brown at the hands of white police officer Darren Wilson, who shot Brown while his hands were up.
To be clear, I have no knowledge that MPD is part of or cooperating with any federal government surveillance program, nor would I claim the former to be true.
Nelson recorded his arrest as it happened, live on Facebook. A transcript is below:
An officer at the driver’s window informs Nelson he is being detained, based on “information they have found,” the officer says. When Nelson asks if he is under arrest, the officer tells him he is being detained.
Turning to his camera, Nelson asks his viewers, “Ya’ll see this?” As he turns away from the window, the MPD officer is seen opening the door to Nelson’s vehicle. Nelson is angered by this, and tells the officer, “No sir you can’t just open my door.”
“Okay, now you are under arrest,” the officer says. The officer, helped by another who is off camera, pulls Nelson out of the vehicle. Nelson gives his phone to someone sitting in the passenger seat of the car.
He pans the camera over to the empty drivers seat, at the officers standing outside who are addressing Nelson, who is out of the frame.
“What happened?” Nelson’s passenger asks. At that moment, a third officer appears through the driver’s side door, with his face outside the frame. He asks for the passengers name, and he responds, “Cedric.”
The officer then says he knows Cedric, and asks if Cedric’s brother had committed a homicide last year. The name of the victim was unclear from the audio. Cedric responds, “No.”
He is then ordered outside the vehicle. The officer keeps pressing Cedric on the homicide investigation.
“Oh yea you were, you were over on Raymond Road. Are you related to Antoine?” asks the officer again. And Cedric responds no, and repeats his question asking for the charges Nelson was being arrested on.
The officer says, “oh yea, I think they had some charges on him.” He orders Cedric out again, and Cedric asks why he needed to leave the vehicle. The officer responds, “so I can find out who you are.”
“Are you sure you weren’t at the homicide over there on Raymond Road?” the officer asks for a third time. “Cedric Ferguson,” the officer says. Cedric again responds no.
(The only incident I found of a homicide near Raymond Road last year was this incident, where police and killed a man who they say fired at least one shot at them)
“What’s your plan?” asks the officer. Cedric is confused.
“I know your name, so what are you gaming at?” Cedric says the officer doesn’t know his name.
He responds, “Oh yes I do.”
“Who are you,” Cedric asks the officer.
“Shane,” he responds. “Are you sure you didn’t talk to Detective Linzmeyer?” Cedric again responds No. The officer then for some reason breaks out in laughter.
“When was this murder?” asks Cedric. The officer responds that the murder was at the end of 2019.
“Yea hell no,” says Cedric.
“You sure you don’t have any warrants on you?” asks the officer.
“No, I talked to my P.O. today,” Cedric responds.
The officer orders Cedric outside of the vehicle so he can pat Cedric down and identify if he has any outstanding warrants. Now outside the vehicle, still recording, another officer arrives and starts taking notes.
“This is Cedric?” asks the new officer. “Yep, Ferguson,” the officer says. “I think I recognize him.”
Cedric remains silent, smoking a cigarette with his hands in the air. The officer escorts him to a curb, where Cedric sits down. The camera pans to show three unmarked black Chevy suburbans with police lights flickering, blocking the intersection off behind Nelson’s vehicle.
Another officer approaches Nelson, stating that Nelson would like back his phone that Cedric is still live-streaming to Facebook on. The officer says he will give the phone back to Nelson. The video ends immediately after Cedric hands Nelson’s phone to the police.
