Lance Henry of Fortuna allegedly became violently resistant to cops
By Charles Douglas
Humboldt Sentinel
It’s a new year, but the same old tensions persist between the Eureka Police Department and some elements within Occupy Eureka.
Five arrests just today have reignited what law enforcement and local elected officials see as a public safety hazard at the county seat; Occupy Eureka ringleaders, on the other hand, see this as a continuing campaign to silence their protest, and have called a Monday press conference to expose an “unlawful government conspiracy.”
At about 1:42 a.m. this morning, an EPD patrolman traveling eastbound on Fifth Street was passing the Humboldt County Courthouse when he noticed the American flag and California Republic flag being lowered on the flagpole located at the front lawn near the corner of Fifth and I Street. The flagpole is also behind the chain link fence and “No Trespassing” signs erected by the County over a month ago to keep the Occupy Eureka protestors from re-establishing their encampment — an unpermitted campsite which county staff alleges to have done significant damage to the front lawn which requires restoration.
When the cop parked his patrol car and walked up to the six-foot fence to investigate, he saw on the other side a suspect, later identified as 21-year-old Lance Henry of Fortuna, standing at the base of the flagpole holding both flags, still attached to the line on the flagpole. According to a press statement by sergeant Adam Laird, the officer asked Henry what he was doing, and was told that he was putting up his own flag. After the unnamed public servant told Henry to put the flags back up, Henry refused and allegedly said “you think you can control me.”
Lance Henry
After that, according to the EPD narrative, Henry removed the flags from the line and put them on the ground, and then Henry affixed a homemade cardboard sign to the line while stepping on the American flag. As other EPD personnel arrived on scene, two of them entered the fenced off area and walked towards Henry’s location — which didn’t come unexpectedly, as several individuals from the area of the Occupy Eureka protest site began yelling warnings to Henry that the cops were approaching.
Upon contacting Henry and attempting to arrest him for trespassing, the suspect allegedly became violently resistant towards the cops, and after a short struggle in which a third EPD officer became involved, they were able to take Henry into custody. He was booked on charges of trespassing and resisting arrest using violence, and due to his violent resistance in accordance with EPD policy, Henry was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital for medical clearance before being incarcerated in county jail.
Accounts differ between the EPD and members of Occupy Eureka on what Henry’s connection was to their protest; the proprietor of Occupy Eureka’s Facebook page (who refuses to be identified) calls the suspect “a man that no one present seemed to recognize” and that his sign read “Yaweh,” a term with no apparent connection to the Occupy Wall Street movement. Occupy Eureka participate Sarah Jones-Jurado later alleged on Facebook that “someone was tazed for flying a peace flag.”
Law enforcement’s version of events claim that Henry, when interviewed after his arrest, said he was “moved” to join Occupy Eureka, and that these protestors provided him with cardboard and a marker to make his sign upon his arrival. Henry also allegedly claimed, when asked why he violently resisted arrest, that law enforcement didn’t have “any authority” over him.
All these events transpired shortly after four arrests took place for illegal camping at the Occupy Eureka protest site. EPD had visited the county courthouse at 12:46 a.m. on Friday to respond to numerous complaints of camping on county property, and the cops say they found nine subjects camping underneath the courthouse steps. According to Laird, several of the subjects stated that they were misled by undisclosed persons associated with Occupy Eureka that it was lawful to camp at the courthouse. All of these individuals were issued citations for unlawfully camping in public, and were advised that they were subject to arrest if they attempted to lodge themselves on the courthouse property.
EPD followed through on the threat, and at 12:53 a.m. on Saturday morning, law enforcement converged on the courthouse to arrest four campers who allegedly were “unlawfully lodging” at the courthouse. Laird identified the arrested as 23-year-old Daniel Mattheis of Arcata, 47-year-old James Turner of Eureka, 25-year-old Leroy Abernathy of Bremerton, Washington and 39-year-old Loyd Smith of La Crescenta.
Occupy Eureka claims the four were arrested for “being in sleeping bags” and that EPD told one occupier that they were going to start arresting people again because the camping tickets “aren’t working.”
Kim "Verbena Lea" Starr
Even though it was denied in the past that Kim Starr (who goes by the pen name ‘Verbena Lea’) was a spokesperson for Occupy Eureka, a press conference has been set for Monday at 1 p.m. where Starr will speak on behalf of Occupy Eureka. She claims in a statement posted on Facebook that she will confront a “Secret & Outrageous Premise for Police Actions Against Non-Violent Protesters” through documents she claims to have discovered.
Starr/Verbena has at various times accused virtually every local law enforcement agency, the county, the cities of Arcata and Eureka, most local media outlets (including the Sentinel) and even the Redwood Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union of engaging in various conspiracies against her and her various associated groups. In a possibly related devel0pment, Occupy Eureka also claims that several of their posts on Facebook have mysteriously vanished.
Daniel Mattheis
James Turner
Leroy Abernathy
Loyd Smith
Won’t this nonsense ever go away? With all of the he said/she said going on a thought came to mind. Mount security cameras all over the place. That way there will be no question when arrests are made. Get a court order and it is all legal. Or simply post that they are there. I have found that even the threat of being watched will curtail a least some bad behavior. The footage can be used in court and to dispel the stupidity of a bunch of slovenly people trying to spread propaganda. If the “Occupy” movement is as innocent as they want all of us to believe they should welcome the chance to be vindicated. Either way, it could finally put an end to this pathetic farce of a protest. When I drive by the court house I don’t see a legitimate protest. I see a group of dirty, disrespectful people that have made a horrendous mess of the place. It is an embarrassment to the community. Unless this is the message that the “Occupy” protest wants spread, their protest is an epic failure!
verbena is epic fail. not to mention smelly.
I have know Charles Douglas a long time but did not think he would stoop this low ! You know what you do Charles ! Now your working with Channel 3 ? That is sad news . Say it is not so .
Kim ” Vebena ” Starr is crazy . Ar you more crazy ?
If enough people are saying that the way the protest is being handled is nonproductive and wrong, isn’t it time for the protesters to reexamine their strategy? I am not affiliated with any news agency, don’t read the paper very often and dvr the news in order to get around the commercials and the stuff that doesn’t pertain to me. Yet I am able to see the disgrace that has been forced on the residences of the county. Every time that I drive past or go into the court house I can see for myself that it is dirty, smelly, disrespectful and a gross waste of our county’s resources. The only message that I have seen come out of this “protest” is the need to make it go away fast. I don’t need the media community to tell me anything about the mess. I can see it for myself. So to chastise any reporter for being feed up and letting it show a bit in his/her reporting is trying to confuse the focus of the issue. The protest has become all about trying to say “Nenernener” the law enforcement and the media. The whole thing needs to end.
Charles,
James Decker was there to witness this trespass incident. He had arrived (along with others) due to the police action approximately an hour earlier (4 arrests which brought out numerous protesters to document the ‘police raid’).
Did he film this incident? Not that I saw. Why not????
If he did film it…why hasn’t the video been posted? It would seem to me to be a perfect example of the supposed rampant police violence that is often spoken about on the occupy eureka facebook site. Tazed, pepper sprayed and wrestled…this would seem like the kind of video that would show true police brutality! Why hasn’t it surfaced?
These are questions which might help enlighten the public regarding the above mentioned incident. Next time you walk by it might be worth asking Mr. Decker, or any of the several other people who drove to the site after hearing about the ‘police raid’ that had happened a short time earlier.
Perhaps it’ll come up at the press conference tomorrow; that is, if any members of the media show up. I’m still not sure if we will, considering the volume of hyperbole coming from key figures in Occupy Eureka.
So, “Witness”, you’re correct in that any video should be reviewed. So why haven’t posted it on YouTube yourself? Saying that it exists without producing said recording makes me feel that there is just more hot air and propaganda being bandied about. Put up or shut up.
The “Poor, persecuted little me” has gotten really old really fast. The feeling that I was left with after reading the replies, not the article but the replies, was “How dare you arrest me for trespassing, littering, vandalism, and disrespecting the property and rights of others!” There is plenty of space for the protesters on the sidewalk and the vandalism is childish. The only emotion I feel when I see the protesters is disgust. I reiterate, unless the message that the protesters want to get out to the public is that they are dirty, rude, disrespectful, vandals and borderline violent they need to reassess how they are behaving. The way that the protesters are portraying themselves leads me to believe that law enforcement is being too soft on them. I feel that the media is also over the name calling and cries of unfair by this charade. I have reached my conclusions without the influence of the media, although when I do follow the stories, what is being reported seems to reflect everything that I have seen for myself. There might be a little more support from the community if they cleaned up the site, themselves and their language. The people in a position to meet the demands of those holding the courthouse hostage are so deeply offended by the protest that they are more apt to feel revulsion, not support. This protest has become an embarrassment and an epic failure.
I have to agree.
Although Douglas provides an occasional service reporting on the corruption in Eureka, using his venue for personal comeuppance against Verbana or Democracy Unlimited makes him appear just as uncontrolled as he tried to paint Verbana here.
Yours is the first mention of Democracy Unlimited on this website in 2012. We’re really not quite as interested in them as you apparently are.
As to Verbena, she wouldn’t have been mentioned in this article at all if she hadn’t wheeled herself out as the spokesperson for Occupy Eureka in a press release. We didn’t make her do that.
Why do you always publish crap? Seriously, no one knows this guy, and yet you try to make a news story out of this. Furthermore, you use a quote using my name with no follow up on the conversation or anything. You are an infiltrator, a person that only wants to divide. You are a perfect example of why movements fail. No wonder I had never even heard of you or your “news reporting” before the Occupy movement began. Why don’t you do a story on why the county doesn’t find a solution to the homeless issue, or why there is still no public restroom after hours? Or how about a story on how people are coping financially, spiritually, and mentally during this economic disaster? Instead of rising to the occasion, you continue to stoop lower and lower. Do me a favor, don’t quote me unless you are going to do it in context, and also don’t lie and say people refuse to identify themselves when they in fact DO! Please stop “reporting”, or else find a REAL story and do your homework!
Occupy Eureka folks haven’t been quite so universally convinced of our absolute crapiness as you suggest (case in point, our next to last article on Occupy Eureka: http://humboldtsentinel.com/2011/12/16/occupy-eureka-tries-tries-again/).
As to quoting you — are you really meaning to say that you don’t want your side of the story told to the public? Or are you honestly suggesting that public statements in a public forum aren’t subject to being quoted; if so, would you hold the police or government officials to that same standard?
We have covered “the homeless issue” repeatedly, including public restrooms (which we asked six Arcata City Council candidates about in televised interviews in 2010). We’re well aware of the economic crisis as well and we’ve confronted Eureka and county representatives on those issues too.
The operators of the Occupy Eureka Facebook page do not identify themselves (since you are only one of several of them) — they didn’t when they attacked me by name several months ago, and they still haven’t. This is not in keeping with the grassroots democracy that’s supposed to be a key part of the Occupy Wall Street movement.
As to being an infiltrator — a small sect of the local Tea Party said the same thing about me. I must be doing something right.
Your so-called ‘movement’ isn’t worth infiltrating as it hasn’t accomplished anything. Look at what they did to Martin Luther King and the anti-war movement if you want to see infiltration.
ITS ALL YOUR FAULT CHARLES YOU CAUSED THE DOWNFALL OF THE GREAT AND MIGHTY OCCUPY EUREKA MOVEMENT.
“Yours is the first mention of Democracy Unlimited on this website in 2012. We’re really not quite as interested in them as you apparently are”. (Charles Douglas).
You are a laugh-riot Chuck! 2012 is only 2 weeks old! Here’s the unprofessional, personalized hostility that you call “reporting” just this last December 6th, 2011:
“…..the ill-fated Measure T, an unconstitutional ban on countywide campaign contributions peddled by Democracy Unlimited of Humboldt County and subsequently struck down in federal court”. (Charles Douglas).
“Peddled”? You mean like drug dealers, pimps and con-artists? When I called you on this, you referred to a “rude” phone conversation with Democracy Unlimited, thus, you can add “vendetta” to your hostile reporting style. Clearly, your irrational rage blinded you from the fact that Measure T was passed by a majority of county voters, ie, a success, not a failure.
For those who might miss your bitter vendettas, here’s another dose:
“As to Verbena, she wouldn’t have been mentioned in this article at all if she hadn’t wheeled herself out as the spokesperson for Occupy Eureka in a press release. We didn’t make her do that”. (Charles Douglas).
“Wheeled herself out”?
If you’re going to paint someone as a mental cripple, and call it “reporting”, have the decency to provide readers with specific, confirmed examples and allow readers to decide for ourselves, rather than your childish and aggressive hostility.
It is truly pathetic and embarrassing.
“….are you really meaning to say that you don’t want your side of the story told to the public”?
A person would be a fool to subject themselves to your published personal spite.
George Clark knows plenty about spite. He’s a veritable expert on the subject.
Quote from above: You are a perfect example of why movements fail.
Yeah. Showing them as they are, and not whitewashing the truth is a bad thing. Shame on you for not playing along with the game. LOL
What a bunch of methed out losers, jeeze.
I think they prefer weed and shrooms.
I love Humboldt County. The homeless are not going to go away. Being homeless is not fun. I have known Kim Starr for over 15 years, she is a good person. Kim is an idealist, she has worked for years simply to help others. I disagree with some of Kim’s opinions, but I agree completely with her struggle. Government//Law Enforcement Corruption are the real reason for most of Humboldt’s problems. The types of conspiracies I am referring to are very difficult to prove. However I will simply remind the reader of our counties notorious reputation, a reputation well earned from years of collusion with high level organized crime. From the top to the bottom, Dirty, dirty, dirty.
“George Clark knows plenty about spite. He’s a veritable expert on the subject”.
Spite rarely enjoys a larger irony than this quote!
Even the ever-bitter Eureka Reporter knew that its owner’s spite didn’t belong in its excellent community reporting.