It is just about to the point where the Police in Dickinson, North Dakota could be criminally charged with violating my Civil Rights.  The penalty for this, is up to ten years in prison.  I will explain the law on this, and what the Police in Dickinson are doing to me.

Under U.S. Code Title 18, Chapter 13, Sections 241 and 242:

Section 241:  If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his having so exercised the same;……

They shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both;

Section 242:  Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both;

The above citations of the United States Code, are not my interpretation, they are exactly word for word what the law says.

Many U.S. court cases have decided, and established the law by precedent, that the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right of an individual to travel freely.  Here are some examples of U.S. court decisions regarding this:

“The right to travel is a part of the liberty of which the citizen cannot be deprived without due process of law under the Fifth Amendment.”
[Kent v. Dulles, 357 U.S. 116, 125 (1958)]

“The right to travel, to go from place to place as the means of transportation permit, is a natural right subject to the rights of others and to reasonable regulation under law. A restraint imposed by the Government of the United States upon this liberty, therefore, must conform with the provision of the Fifth Amendment that ‘No person shall be * * * deprived of * * * liberty * * * without due process of law’.”
[Schactman v. Dulles, 96 App DC 287, 225 F.2d 938, at 941]

In my case, the two or more persons who are conspiring to oppress, threaten, and intimidate me while I am exercising my Constitutionally protected right to travel freely, are Dickinson Police Chief Dusty Dassinger, and the Police Officers who keep stopping me.

I have explained in several recent blog posts, that in my thirty-four years of driving, I average about one stop by Law Enforcement every five years.  In a period of sixty days in Dickinson, I was stopped by Law Enforcement three times.

This past Sunday morning at 6:30 a.m., I was returning home on four-lane Villard Street in Dickinson.  Villard Street was almost completely vacant at this time on Sunday morning.  During the last mile of my drive on Villard Street, there were only two approaching vehicles.

I slowed down and put on my left turn-signal one city block from where I needed to make a left turn onto a side street.  I had plenty of time to make a left turn in front of the approaching vehicles on Villard Street, until one of the vehicles sped up quite a bit.  I had to then come to a complete stop on Villard Street, as the approaching vehicle caused me to be unable to make a left turn by its speeding up.

I waited for the quickly approaching vehicle to pass by so that I could make a left turn, but once I was forced to come to a complete stop and wait on this vehicle to pass by, this vehicle slowed down, it slowed down a lot.  I became frustrated as I waited on the approaching vehicle as it slowed down more and more.  I almost went ahead and made a left turn in front of it, it was going so slow.

I could then see that this was a Dickinson Police vehicle.  I had seen this vehicle far to the east on Villard Street, and to the west end of Villard Street was another three miles.  Why, why, on a Sunday morning did this Police vehicle need to turn onto the same exact side street that I was trying to turn onto?

What this Police Officer was trying to do, was instigate a conflict and cause some kind of driving violation that he could charge me with.  Initially, I had plenty of time to make a left turn, until this Police Officer sped up quite a bit, in order to be able to cite me for turning dangerously close in front of him.  Then once I came to a complete stop and waited, this Police Officer slowed way down in order to try to get me to turn in front of him again.  The truth is, this Police Officer didn’t need to turn onto the same side street as me, he was just trying to cause an altercation.