Michael Picard, 27, of East Hartford Connecticut was protesting a police DUI checkpoint back on September 11, 2015, holding a sign that read, “Cops ahead. Keep calm and remain silent.”
When troopers approached Picard, they began discussing whether or not Picard’s protest was legal and what charges could be filed against him. Picard began recording the troopers and they told him recording police was illegal. Picard responded that it was legal to record troopers on public property. Troopers informed Picard that it was “state property.”
One of the troopers took Picard’s phone and his licensed handgun, but did not realize that his phone was still recording. On the recording the troopers say:
“Somebody just said that one of you guys had a gun on him.”
“I think we do simple trespass, we do reckless use of the highway and creating a public disturbance.”
“and then we claim, um, in backup we had multiple people, um, they didn’t want to stay and give us a statement, so we took our own course of action.”
“We gotta cover our asses.”
Picard was issued a $178 ticket and charged with creating a public disturbance and reckless use of a highway. Picard is challenging these charges and intends to prove his innocence completely.
Picard said the following about his protests:
“It’s not really a hobby,” Picard said. “It is just something that I do feel passionately about because I advocate for freedom. Stopping everyone based on no reasonable suspicions on the off chance that you might find one or two drunk drivers isn’t freedom.