After receiving criticism that he called “painful,” a state senator Tuesday withdrew his controversial bill that would allow police to stop people to demand identification if police think they might be about to commit a crime.
The Lexington Herald-Leader reported on the bill last week and it was greeted with concern by civil rights lawyers who say it would be an unconstitutional action that disproportionately affected minorities.
Under Senate Bill 89, if a police officer suspects someone in a public place is involved in criminal activity or is about to commit a crime, the officer could stop that person, demand his name, home address and age — as well as ask to see his driver’s license, if he has one — and tell him to explain what he is presently doing “to the satisfaction of the officer.”
Anyone who refuses to cooperate with police could be detained for up to two hours. That detention would not be considered an arrest, so the person would not have the right to call an attorney, and no official record would be made of the detention.
In a floor speech Tuesday, Senator Stephen Meredith (R-Leitchfield), a hospital official, said he knew the language in the bill was not perfect but he thought there should be serious debate on what he wanted to accomplish after local police reported to him incidents that showed the need for it.
But Meredith said he did not expect an outlash against him for introducing the bill.
He said he has been subject to “trial by social media. It’s a modern day version of the Salem witch trials.”
Meredith said he has received emails and threatening tweets in which he has been branded a communist, fascist, racist, idiot, scum, un-American and “an old, wrinkled white guy.”
The hatred toward him, said Meredith, “would make the devil cringe.”
“It’s been a painful three to four days, Mr. President,” said Meredith.
The lawmaker said no one can question his love for this country and that the intent of his legislation was to protect law-abiding citizens.
He then said he has decided to drop the bill and went on to decry a lack of civility.
“There has to be a turning point,” Meredith said.
Critics say Meredith’s bill would violate the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure and the Fifth Amendment’s protection against self-incrimination.
Police officers already have the right to approach people on the street and ask their names, but it’s established that citizens can refuse to respond, said the ACLU of Kentucky. If police can show reasonable suspicion that someone is carrying a deadly weapon, they can proceed to frisk that person.
They cannot detain people simply for not identifying themselves or explaining their activities to the satisfaction of the officer.
(Additional information from the Courier-Journal)
He specifically pointed a finger at Kentucky Sports Radio host Matt Jones and Marc Murphy, a freelance cartoonist for The Courier Journal.
Murphy, a federal defense attorney whose work appears frequently in the Opinion section of The Courier Journal, mocked Meredith in a Jan. 17 tweet, saying the legislator “doesn’t understand the Constitution, or freedom, or America. Or does, and hates them. Or you.” Jones tweeted that the bill was “a terrible idea.”
Meredith also mentioned how under the Kentucky Constitution, officeholders must take an oath that they haven’t participated in a duel. He said questioning someone’s integrity or character used to mean “life or death” for some, but not anymore.
“My first reaction is to say if you’re man enough to come out from behind your microphone and keyboard, we’ll meet personally about this, and I’ll convey to you how much I love this country, and it will be a lesson you will not forget,” Meredith said.
In a statement to The Courier Journal on Wednesday, Jones described Meredith’s floor speech as “absurd.”
“Rather than admit that his bill was terrible and has no support, he chose to engage in a ‘woe is me’ diatribe and challenge me to ‘step outside,’” he said. “For a man who lectures us all on personal responsibility, he once again takes none.”
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Written by Jack Brammer. Cross-posted from the
Herald-Leader via the Kentucky Press News Service.