Day: July 16, 2008

I looked over the accounts of the arrest and found this article at the Globe and Mail

Barenaked Ladies singer facing drug charges in New York state

Captain Bill Bleyle of the Manlius Police Department said yesterday that Mr. Page was arrested Friday along with two women in Fayetteville, N.Y., after officers observed a “suspicious” vehicle parked outside an apartment just after 2 a.m. When the two officers investigated, they found Mr. Page and Stephanie Ford of Fayetteville seated at the kitchen table, Capt. Bleyle said.

“Things seemed out of sorts,” the officer said. “And [police] determined that on the table they had what appeared to be powdered cocaine,” a fact, the police said, they later confirmed with a field test.

Note the lack of details about knocking on the door, making themselves known?  No notes about, “an obviously innebriated or under the influence person answering the door” anywhere in the account.  It’s almost like the police decided to just wander into his house to look for drugs on the basis that there was a shady looking car outside.  Man, I’m sorry if my car is shady looking officer, but doesn’t give you the right to just wander in.  This HAS to fail to meet the reasonable suspicion requirement of the 4th, right?

Then the following paragraph appears in the article:

Mr. Page, who has previously battled depression, has also been involved with several political movements, perhaps most notably as a vocal supporter of the federal New Democratic Party and as a board member of World Wildlife Fund Canada. In 2005, the Barenaked Ladies also wrote the musical score for the Stratford Festival production of As You Like It.

I can’t decide if the writer is trying to draw a line between supporting the NDP and doing Cocaine.  It seems like they are, but maybe they are saying that there is a connection between hard drugs and Shakespeare?

Here is a slightly different account:

Bleyle said the arrest occurred at about 2 a.m. Friday after patrolling police noticed a suspicious car with its driver’s side door left open and found a man and woman in a nearby apartment with a white capsule in front of them. Bleyle said the pair were later found to be in possession of cocaine.

Again it’s the National Post that fills in the details that make the whole thing less shady (in terms of what the Police did):

“As [the officers] approached the apartment they saw people in the window sitting at a table and it looked like they were engaged in something. There was a white capsule and a white powdery substance that later tested positive for cocaine.” said Capt. Bill Bleyle with the Manlius Police Department in New York State.

See?  Details that clarify WHY it was suspicious and a legitimate reason for them to enter the apartment, they observed possible criminal behavior through the window.  It SEEMS legit, based upon this account.

Well, Mr. Page.  The Ball is in your court, if you were snorting the Marching Powder, I’d plead out and do some time in Rehab if I were you.  If you weren’t or the account by the police is false, fight it ’till your last eight-ball.