St. Paul, MN: Family removed from RV on highway

thumpsalot · #1 08-31-2008, 01:50 AM

A family en route to St. Paul was stopped on I-94 under the guise of a "routine traffic stop" and then told that their RV was being impounded.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pioneer Press

Several squad cars pulled over a bus heading eastbound on Interstate 94 near Minnesota 280 around 6:20 p.m. Saturday and impounded the vehicle. No arrests were made.

Delyla Wilson, her husband and daughter live on the bus and use it as a mobile permaculture demonstration, going city to city to teach people about sustainable living practices. They made the RNC part of their tour.

Wilson said police told her at first it was a routine traffic stop, but then later said they were impounding the vehicle to execute a search warrant at a later time. Officers allowed the seven people on board to get their dogs and chickens off the bus, she said, but weren't allowed to retrieve their computers and other personal belongings. They waited about two hours to get a ride from a friend.

"We basically came out of there with our animals and the clothes on the back," Wilson said.

"Routine stop"? "Routine check"? Whenever you hear these words in connection with police activity, they are usually operating outside the bounds of Terry vs. Ohio, also known as the "Terry stop" decision. There is no such thing as a routine stop; a police officer must be able to articulate a "reasonable suspicion or probable cause" as the basis for the stop.

In Minnesota, RV's are also considered dwellings, and you have all the constitutional guarantees against improper search & seizure that you have in a house sitting on a city lot. This is no different than putting a family out on the street and telling them they'll return some other day with a warrant.

Pioneer Press: Houses raided, 5 arrested; critics decry crackdown

thumpsalot · #2 08-31-2008, 04:41 AM

The occupants of the bus have already placed their account of the seizure on the internet:

At approximately 6:25 pm on August 30, 2008 Minneapolis Police, Minnesota State Troopers, Ramsey County Sheriffs, Saint Paul Police, and University of Minnesota Police pulled over the Earth Activist Training Permaculture Demonstration Bus (Permibus) by exit 237 on Interstate 94. Initially the police told the people on the bus to exit. When the people on the bus asked if they were being detained they were told that they were but police were unable to provide justification. When asked why they pulled the bus over they refused to answer. After repeated requests to explain why the bus had been stopped Officer Honican of the Minneapolis Police explained that this was just a routine traffic stop though he did not explain the reason for the traffic stop. The police then told Stan Wilson, the driver and registered owner of the Permibus, that they were going to impound the bus in case they wanted to execute a search warrant later. After more than an hour of being questioned by Stan and Delyla Wilson as to the legalities of their detainment and the impoundment of the Permibus, the police then informed Stan that the bus, which is legally registered as a passenger vehicle in the state of Montana, was being impounded for a commercial vehicle inspection. Shortly afterward Sergeant Paul Davis, a commercial vehicle inspector arrived on scene. Despite the polices insistence that the reason for impoundment was for a commercial vehicle inspection the Permibus crew were not allowed to remove anything from the bus including computers, toiletries, and 17-year-old Megan Wilson's shoes. The police finally allowed the animals to be removed from the Permibus before it was towed, leaving the Permibus family standing beside their chickens and dogs, homeless on the highway.

The Permibus was relocating from the Bedlam Theatre in Minneapolis, where they had spent the day teaching Urban Permaculture, to a friend's house in Saint Paul for a well deserved break. The Permibus has been in the Minneapolis area since August 2nd when the crew appeared at the Midtown Farmers Market for a morning of Permaculture education including Permaculture 101, chicken care, seed ball making for kids, and the Permi-puppet show. During the past month the Permibus has parked at several local businesses and, as a neighborly gesture of respect for local police, Mr. Wilson contacted the appropriate precincts just to let them know the Permibus was in the area and had permission from the business owners to be parked on their lot. Through this, as well as other casual discussions with Minneapolis and Saint Paul police officers, the Permibus crew found the local police to be interested and respectful. However on August 30th all that changed when, for no apparent valid reason the police pulled over and seized the Permibus. After the incident Stan Wilson said, "If the combined law enforcement of Minneapolis, Saint Paul, Ramsey County, and the State of Minnesota can pull over and impound a vehicle and home used to teach organic gardening and sustainability, one has to wonder what it is our government really fears. After all, we seek to teach people that the real meaning of homeland security is local food, fuel and energy production. For that we have had our lives stolen by government men with guns."

As of now, after repeated requests to be present at any vehicle inspection, with an list of what they are inspecting for, as well as requests to be served any warrants for searches of the vehicles prior to a search and to be present during the search the Permi-family has been unable to ascertain the current status of the Permibus. On site Mr. Wilson was told that Officer Palmerranky was the inspector in charge of the case and would determine if the Permi-family's rights protecting them from unreasonable search and seizure would be respected. Neither Officer Palmerranky nor his supervisor has yet to return Mr. Wilson's calls....

You can read the entire account here:

http://permibus.livejournal.com/9468.html

The bus (known as "Permibus") even has its own blog at LiveJournal:

http://permibus.livejournal.com

and its own web site with a picture:

http://permibus.org

School bus conversions are licensed as RV's or passenger vehicles in virtually all states. Seizing it for a "commercial vehicle inspection" is about as bogus as you can get.

As I suspected, this was a stop in which the police were ill prepared to meet the "Terry Stop" requirements of Terry v. Ohio. Despite an hour of effort by the occupants, the police were unable to articulate anything that would satisfy Terry.

thumpsalot · #3 08-31-2008, 05:45 AM

Who is Delylah Wilson?

NY Times: Bison Entrails Splashed On Officials at Meeting

High Country News: The Wayward West

Environment News Service: Activists Jailed for Montana Logging Protest (note -- she was not one of the two jailed, so read the article!)

Although I found a number of postings attempting to cast her in a negative light (guilt by association), there's nothing to indicate that's she's been involved in any violent protests since the buffalo-entrails incident in 1997.

So has she changed? And are the police just trying to get her out of the picture due to the 1997 incident and the fact that she's been involved in causes on the far-left fringe for years?

Or did the police have some specific evidence regarding her (or her group) that has yet to be revealed?

thumpsalot · #4 09-07-2008, 09:07 PM

As of September 4 the Permibus was released from custody:

The Permibus is Almost Free

The Permibus is Free

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