Anywho, encouraged by the stories and column in the Tribune exposing the bikes in public skateparks issue, and by the News 15 coverage of the same, a couple of Mesa riders decided to fully promote a protest on Saturday, September 21st at 2 PM at Reed Park.  I got the word from Mesa John, then got specifics from Brandon Klar that the riders would be meeting at Peter Piper Pizza first then riding to the park.  

           Me and my Chuck Dogg pulled into Peter Piper just as everyone was leaving to start the protest.  We drove to Reed Park to get set up to capture the visuals of the riders’ descent on the skatepark.  A cubic shitload of riders entered the skatepark and at once proceeded to hold court.  Some of the skaters were so disgusted they left, swearing under their breath, while some just sat in the shade and watched the melee ensue.  Some of the other skaters couldn’t have cared less so they kept skating just as they should have.  I sure did want to get my ride on, but there was such a unbelievable amount of other things to do to help make this thing successful.  I took video, made protest signs, talked to the Tribune reporter and News 15 cameraman, and signed riders up for the CBA database.  A few riders were chilling outside the gates, which made me wonder why they showed in the first place if they weren’t going to protest.  I mean, cops and park rangers definitely couldn’t ticket us all. 

After about 30-45 minutes of taping, the News 15 cameraman took off.  After about an hour no cops or park rangers showed their ugly mugs, although two cops had cruised right past the park and the police helicopter flew over the park.  Believe it, Mesa actually spends the taxpayers’ money on the expense of having a goddamn helicopter monitor the activities in a skatepark!    

Also, multiple calls had been made on the emergency callbox by skaters and rollerbladers who were not happy with the fact that manly men on stout BMX’s were invading “their” territory.  I’m not so sure that all the calls made were by skaters.  Some of them may have been made to get the cops’ attention.  With no conflict to document, the Tribune reporter took off, asking me to call him if the cops arrived.  Not even 10 minutes later, as I was selling one of my videos to a guy at my truck, a real asshole of a cop pulled in.  Check out this clip to see what happened next:

That’s right, arrested.  It was obviously a bullshit scare tactic to get all the bike riders to leave the park, because, as you can clearly see, Lucas did nothing illegal.  Hell, he wasn’t even riding a bike!  He was on a skateboard!  As I called the Tribune reporter back, Officer Cocksmoke proceeded to show Lucas what the backseat of a squad car feels like with no A/C in 110 degree Mesa weather with the windows rolled up.  Isn’t it illegal to do that shit to even a dog?  Let alone Lucas! 

All the bike riders gathered around the car and chanted various things such as “Let us in!” and “Free Lucas!” as protest signs were planted on the police car’s windshield.  The Tribune photographer had been at the protest the whole time and was taking pictures of the whole shebang.  Finally Officer Shitface’s backup arrived, as did the Tribune reporter.  Check this clip: 

That piece of shit was actually threatening to impound our cameras for evidence if we didn’t turn them off.  Is there no freedom of the press in the City of Mesa?  Is there no freedom of assembly in the City of Mesa?  Is there no free speech in the City of Mesa?  Not  according to Officer Troglodyte.  I almost got arrested myself for standing up to this two-balled bitch.

         The police and park rangers closed and locked the skatepark, and then closed down the whole park and told everyone to leave.  A cop was even threatening to arrest a 12-year-old skater because he was questioning why they were shutting the park down!  Eventually everybody boned out back to the Peter’s Pipe, but not after I place the “Free Lucas” sign on the fence on the far side of the skatepark.                                                       

Back at the Pipe, as riders of all ages commenced discussion of the previous events, I thought to myself what a shame it was that the TV camera wasn’t there when the shit went down.  I decided to make some calls and eventually got the News 15 cameraman on the line that had been at the park earlier.  We arranged to meet so he could dub the footage from my camera of the police action.                                               

The cameraman pretty much laughed his ass off when he saw the video and heard the shit we were saying to the cops and the protest signs on the cop car.  He described our actions as “classic”.  The 6 o’clock news aired with a story about the protest without my footy, but the 10 o’clock news aired the story with it included.  I was stoked. 

The next morning, the Tribune had a good story about the protest.  The article related that the police had called the protest a “mini-riot”.  That’s funny.  Not ha-ha funny but weird funny, because at precisely no point did I observe any rioting or violence of any sort.  Makes sense, coming from a bunch of fumbling fools in authority that engage each other in raucous bouts of anal sex in the backs of their cruisers every chance they get.  They do!  It was in the news about a year ago, no joke.  Good job, Lucas.  We’re all proud of you for taking it like a man.  Brandon Klar came on my discussion board later the same day and said this, "Not long after the protest ended I just happened to be driving by the Mesa Police department and there he was, 'The martyr' Lucas Porzio. He was cited for 'interfering with personnel at a park' or some shit to that effect but was unharmed by the beastly swine that apprehended him. Thank goodness he was not charged with the felony 'inciting a riot' as the police first said. He also told me that officer fuckface's supervisor was less than ecstatic about his (officer fuckface's) actions. That is kind of cool. Lucas is free and Officer Fuckface got a mini-reaming."