Friday, July 24, 2009

Assault captured on video.....

Sometimes I wonder if my friend Charles the crazy man blogger has 5 identical clones gallavanting around this town documenting everything from sunsets to festivals, from corruption to brutality. He is everywhere, capturing the unfolding life stories and events and posting them on his blog, often before the mainstream media has had a chance to get out of bed!
As you may recall, I recently wrote a piece about Charles Leblanc and his trip to the courthouse to after a spring incident when he was arrested for walking on the hallowed grounds of the legislature during a local protest to save winter access to MacTaquac Park. Charles' trip to court that day resulted in finding out he wasn't even on the docket despite being informed that he was to show up on that date. Since then, the ridiculous charges have been quietly dropped. And throughout it all, he continued to do what he does best...... documenting the events of this city. He NEVER goes anywhere without his trust camera.

Yesterday on the local news, we learned of a young man, a Canadian soldier named Luc Begin, was out celebrating his recent engagement to his girlfriend at a local night spot. He has filed a complaint over how he was mistreated. Mistaken for someone else who had been in that bar a couple of weeks ago, the Fredericton police force went into action to arrest him. Charles just happened to be there and captured the whole viciously brutal scene on video. He was left bruised and battered and was thrown in jail and not taken to the hospital even after he blacked out from the beating. Charles' efforts will be prime evidence in Monsieur Begin's case. It is highly unlikely this altercation has no chance of being covered up.

Here is a link to his blog and the video...........

As of this moment, the story remains at the local Maritime level. I predict it will be picked up nationally by the end of the day.......... that's if anyone's paying attention. And rightly so. We all need to witness the treatment of another human being, a soldier no less, at the hands of our "finest."

Charles? You have helped this man more than you know. Thank God you're out there. Just stay safe will you and stay out of the alleyways??

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Charles is a hero. It takes a great deal of courage to do what he has done. We need more people like him to ensure justice is served. I hope this story gets the coverage it needs.

awareness said...

Selma...he really is. I met up with him at lunch time and had a long chat about how he was feeling about it all. It's a huge story and it has gone national to some extent, but I think this weekend, it will hit the national papers. It's pretty damaging evidence.

Charles has a very good rapport with the local police and writes about his mixed feelings on this because he also knows how great they are in so many other incidences. he's seen how much they have to deal with on a late Fri. night etc.

However, he did the right thing....and posted it. It has left the whole city BUZZING!

Independent Chick said...

I was appalled but not surprised at what I saw. Apparently one of the bouncers wrongly identified the guy. One, the bouncers at that bar are asses and two, shouldn't one verify identity before throwing someone on the ground and kicking the shit out of them. The guy couldn't even stand to get in the car! But the fine boys in blue are going to go with what anyone at their "source" says. Good on you Charles!