Sara Walton Brady Idaho woman arrested protesting Idaho State stay at home ordinance during coronavirus lockdown, arguing her civil liberty rights and freedoms are being quashed.
An individual’s rights to freedom vs a public good’s safeguard of health and well being….
An Idaho mother of four and ardent anti vaccination proponent was on Tuesday arrested for violating coronavirus lockdown restrictions after failing to obey police orders to leave a closed playground. The arrest, caught on video, (see below) led to a mass protest at the the local City Hall hours later.
Sara Walton Brady, 40, from Meridian, was in the shuttered playground section of Kleiner Park with her children just before 4pm along with other people to protest against the state’s stay-at-home order.
The rally was organized by the Idaho Freedom Foundation – a conservative organization dedicated, according to its website, to depleting ‘the power of special interests and free people from government dependency.’
The group has been vocal in its opposition to Idaho Governor Brad Little‘s stay-at-home order and has been staging peaceful protests at various locations closed due to the coronavirus outbreak the Idaho Statesman reported.
According to a Meridian Police Department news release, demonstrators removed metal signage and caution tape announcing the playground closure due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
Video footage showed Brady along with other protesters being repeatedly told by police the playground area was off-limits. Brady who led the rally, was invited along with other protesters to use other parts of the park instead.
A woman has been arrested after moms staged a ‘playdate protest’ in Meridian over @GovernorLittle’s stay at home order. After being told many times to leave, she turned her back to an officer, telling him to “Do it”: https://t.co/ppz0zFiMaA #idpol #idahoCovid19
— James Dawson (@RadioDawson) April 22, 2020
‘arrest me for being difficult. Do it.’
Cellphone video recorded the moment Brady was arrested for refusing to leave.
‘Ma’am, I’ve told you to exit numerous times,’ an officer tells the mother of four. ‘This is it. Exit the playground now. I’m really trying to be nice about this.’
Brady refused to leave and continued arguing with the officer, prompting him to give her ‘5 seconds’ to clear the playground area.
As the officer was counting down the seconds, a defiant Brady challenged him: ‘arrest me for being difficult. Do it.’
She then positioned her hands behind her back so that the officer could place handcuffs on her, and directed a fellow female protester to document her arrest on her cellphone.
‘Officer, you don’t wanna do it,’ the woman warns the cop off-camera.
The Meridian cop informs Brady that she is being detained. In response, she demands to know: ‘am I being arrested or detained?’
According to a press release from the police, Brady was booked into the local jail on a single count of misdemeanor trespassing. She faces a $1000 fine or 6 months jail.
The agency stressed that officers made several attempts to ‘help’ Beady adhere to the rules, but she was ‘non-compliant and forced officers to place her under arrest to resolve the issue.’
The statement from the police department read: ‘these are very trying times and the Meridian Police Department supports the public’s right to assemble for peaceful protest, however the right does not include damaging public property or ignoring closures of City property and facilities.’
‘When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty!’
Brady, who is married to Boise police detective Tim Brady, was released from the county jail Tuesday evening, just in time to attend a massive protest organized by the Idaho Freedom Foundation outside the Meridian City Hall.
Some 100 people showed up carrying homemade signs demanding ‘freedom.’
The mom-of-four later spoke to the station KBOI, reflecting on her plight.
‘I feel like I was singled out because I was the only person that was arrested,’ Brady said. ‘I wasn’t the only person standing on the bark. I definitely wasn’t playing on the playground equipment. I wasn’t swinging, never touched them. But yeah, I do feel like I was singled out and maybe it was because I asked too many questions.’
‘I didn’t wake up today thinking I’m taking my kids to the park to get arrested, but when tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty!’ Brady told her supporters in a video interview following her release. ‘We have a duty to stand up to tyranny or we’re gonna lose our Republic.’
Brady is the founder of the group Idahoans for Vaccine Freedom. In 2017, she made headlines when her then-five-year-old son was denied admission into kindergarten over an immunization exemption, and she demanded a public apology from officials.
Liberate oneself and their activities but at what potential fallout to others during health pandemic?
A regard of Brady’s Facebook page shows the it filled with anti-vaccine posts.
Her husband is a decorated police detective, who in 2013 was honored with a law enforcement award for his work on the Idaho Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force the dailymail reports.
The Idaho protests are part of a growing nationwide trend involving people violating social distancing restrictions and staging demonstrations against stay-at-home orders.
Reports buzzfeed: ‘Across the state, several businesses have either opened or announced plans to reopen, despite the lack of an official state plan. On its Facebook page, one Nampa bar declared: “…we truly do not care if you disagree. We refuse to be one of the small businesses that becomes extinct due to government overreach.’
Told NY State Governor Andrew Cuomo in response to inhabitants in that state’s demands to get back to work and be able to move about freely, and the balancing of overall public health amid the ongoing coronavirus: ‘That’s what we have to factor into this equation. Yeah, it’s your life do whatever you want. But you’re now responsible for my life. You have a responsibility to me. It’s not just about you. Get your head around the ‘we’ concept. It’s not all about you… ‘
The surge in protests comes a week after President Donald Trump posted tweets urging residents in Michigan, Minnesota and Virginia to ‘LIBERATE’ their states.
