City of Noblesville (IN) vs MAC Tour Crew & Chalk!
This post will serve as a one stop shop for all content related to the Criminal Mischief charges that Brian and myself are facing in Hamilton County, Indiana. In this meta post you will find an overview of the case, all legal documents (from the state and those created by ourselves), video blogs, and text blogs that are created while we fight to clear our names of these bogus charges.
HAPPENING NOW/NEXT:
COURT DATES:
- January 14th, 2015: Bench Trial – Ademo and Brian have their day in court with a judge to decide if “chalking is a crime.”
HOW IT STARTED
Brian and myself were in the first days of our “Mobile Accountability for Cop” Tour when we made a stop in Noblesville, Indiana. After working
from Mystic Images Tattoo Shop (located on 10th Street) for the day we meet up with other Indiana CopBlockers for the evening. We randomly decided to walk over to the Noblesville Police Department and “chalk the police station.” This is a trademark form of outreach for many CopBlockers as it’s a cheap, effective and non-damaging way to spread a message or raise awareness. In fact, each year CopBlock host a National “Chalk the Police State” event that brings thousands of folks to police stations across the country – similar to that of what the City of Noblesville puts on themselves each year.
The actual chalking of the police station went just fine and the four of us had a great time writing messages like, “Badges Don’t Grant Extra Rights,” “#BlueLivesMurder” and much more (see pictures below). It wasn’t until a few hours later when Brian and I came back to MAC (our RV) and found Four Noblesville Police officers snooping around our property. Below is the video of that encounter.
As you can see in the video above Sgt J. Thompson said, “some of you guys used chalk, freedom of speech, if you want to do that that’s fine. I don’t agree with it but the guys who used paint probably need to knock it off.” At this time we both laughed at the officers stupidity in mistaking liquid chalk for paint. Yet, we weren’t arrested or charged with any crime at that time. Sgt. Thompson also reiterated that the “yellow spray paint” was the issue and we both denied this as a fact – I even stated I’d testify otherwise.
At this time we thought the chalking incident in Noblesville was a non issue and that the police realized that what we did had caused no damage (except maybe to their feelings) and that paint (spray paint or otherwise) was not used, that it was simply liquid chalk (see picture to the right). Therefore we went on our way and off to our next stop on the #MACtour.
It wasn’t until nearly two weeks later when I was arrested while trying to prank cops with a burnt out headlight that we found out that the Noblesville Police had issued charges of “criminal mischief” against us. At that time Brain and I conducted our own experiment to see how difficult the chalk was to clean up and later decided to drive back to Noblesville to face these bogus charges.
See documents, videos and links to the blog post below to learn about our week in the Hamilton County Jail, the case against the MAC Crew and more.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
- Call Flood: Consider calling the prosecutor’s office – particularly James Baldwin and Brian Johnson – (317) 776-8595 or the Noblesville Police Department (317) 773-1300 to ask them, “Who are you protecting?” Or to drop the charges because Chalking is NOT A Crime.
- Join Us in Court: Our next court date is December 8th, 2015 and there’ll be a “Chalk the Noblesville Police” event before hand – see here.
BLOG POST (most recent to oldest)
- December 8th, 2015 – Noblesville Prosecutor Mulling Over MAC Tour Plea Offer – After our first court hearing we offered the state a deal. Will they take it?
- December 3rd, 2015 – Noblesville, IN Chalking Case Against MAC Tour Update #1 – Brian gives an update as to the status of the court process. Basically, it’s slow and we’re stuck waiting.
- November 11, 2015 – #MACtour Week 3 VLOG – Watch behind the scenes footage of the MAC Tour with additional footage on our Noblesville case.
- November 11, 2015 – Ademo & Brian’s Initial Courtroom Hearing on Criminal Mischief Charges – Audio of the duo’s first appearance in court where they question the nature of their crimes and the actions of their accusers.
- November 5, 2015 – The Case Against the MAC Crew for Chalking – For the past two weeks Brian and myself have been attempting to clear our names of ‘criminal mischief’ charges issued to us by the Noblesville Police Department.
- November 4, 2015 – Plans Change; I Bailed Out – Brian bails out of the Hamilton County jail after some changes.
- October 28, 2015 – First Person Account and Video of the Arrests of Ademo Freeman and Brian Sumner – first person accounts of the arrests and the initial court appearance for Ademo Freeman and Brian Sumner.
- October 28, 2015 – Call Flood Request for Ademo Freeman and Brian Sumner in Noblesville, IN – The CopBlock Network organized a call flood to voice disapproval for the counties actions.
- October 27, 2015 – Video of Ademo & Brian’s Arrests in Noblesville, IN for Chalking – Ademo and Brian the MAC tour and last night turned themselves in at Noblesville PD to clear up the warrants.
- October 24, 2015 – #MACtour Crew Will Turn Themselves Over to “Authorities” in Indiana – #MACtour Crew decides on turning ourselves in to end this ordeal as fast as possible and not have to worry about men with guns holding us in cage.
- 21, 2015 – #MACtour Crew Faces Charges for Chalking but “Who Are They Protecting?”– The MAC Crew take a straightforward look at what those who claim to protect people in Hamilton County (IN) are really doing.
- October 1, 2015: – “Noblesville Police Investigate MAC Tour Crew for Chalking” – Initial interaction with several Noblesville Police Officers the night we chalked the police station.
VIDEO PLAYLIST (ALL VIDEOS PERTAINING TO NOBLESVILLE, IN)
DOCUMENTS:
NPD Case # 15-004003 by CopBlock
Street Department Work Order by CopBlock
