Tight security measures? This shows that if you are
determined enough, you can cause mayhem just about
anywhere.....
......"He's a great guy.".......
Secret Service arrests Yale student near Cheney's box
NEW YORK (AP) - A straight-A Yale junior was arrested after entering a restricted area near Vice President Dick Cheney's booth at the Republican National Convention, coming within 10 feet of him and shouting anti-war statements, authorities said Tuesday.
Cheney was never in danger, and no weapon was found on the man, identified as 21-year-old Thomas Frampton, the authorities said.
Frampton was charged with assaulting federal officers and impeding the operation of the Secret Service, two misdemeanor charges which carry maximum one-year prison terms, in court papers filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
Frampton was released on $50,000 bail and ordered to stay 100 feet from Cheney and President Bush. He also was ordered to give back any convention passes and a red volunteer's shirt he used to get into the convention and which he still wore in court Tuesday. He left the courthouse in a white shirt, declining comment.
Federal prosecutor John M. Hillebrecht said Frampton went through <font color=blue>"quite elaborate steps"<font color=black> to get close to Cheney, including attending training sessions with convention organizers, <font color=blue>"all the while masquerading as a Republican supporter of the president."<font color=black>
Defense attorney Henry E. Mazurek described Frampton as a model citizen and Yale student of U.S. history and American studies with a perfect grade-point average except for a single A minus.
Frampton's father is a partner at a New York law firm and his mother is a professional photographer in Washington, Mazurek said. He was scheduled to resume classes Wednesday.
The federal complaint said Secret Service agents spotted Frampton carrying a <font color=blue>"Bush-Cheney '04"<font color=black> placard on the walkway behind Cheney's box at 9:30 p.m. Monday. One agent instructed him to keep moving.
Frampton began to move away, but then turned back in the direction of Cheney's box and began shouting anti-Bush administration slogans at the vice president, the complaint said.
He then started to climb over a low wall separating Cheney's box from the walkway, and got within 10 feet of Cheney before the Secret Service agents tried to restrain him, it said.
As the agents identified themselves and grabbed him, Frampton swung his right elbow in the direction of one agent, who sprang backward to avoid being hit, the court papers said. He allegedly continued to struggle with the agents and shout at Cheney before they dragged him away, forced him down and handcuffed him.
Secret Service Agent Shannon Zeigler declined to provide details, saying only that the man was detained for questioning for being in an area for which he had no credential. Zeigler said Cheney <font color=green>"was never in any harm or danger."<font color=black>
Yale University spokesman Thomas Conroy declined to comment on the arrest.
Mazurek said his client was protesting the war in Iraq and Cheney's connections to the oil industry. The lawyer said Frampton should not have been arrested.
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"Mr. Frampton did not make any attempt at all to lunge toward to move at the vice president,"<font color=black> Mazurek said. <font color=blue>"What he attempted to do was express himself based on his own political beliefs."<font color=black>
He said his client was arrested twice before, while protesting on behalf of the homeless in Washington and at Yale, but neither occasion resulted in criminal charges.
Outside court, Matthew Fitzgerald, 22, of New Haven, Conn., awaited the release of his friend.
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"Thomas would never intentionally hurt someone. He's always had a strong moral conscience,"<font color=black> Fitzgerald said. <font color=blue>"He's a great guy."<font color=black>
(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) |
