I was a police officer. Retired from it actually. I enforced a lot of strange laws. There are State, County, and City ordinance violations that cover placement of signs and such. Again, I watched the video close. There was not enough information in that video to say who was right or wrong. So I also did some checking.
It seems it was a political rally for an attempt to gain support for President Obama's Health plan that was recently passed. Research said, "Rep. Jim Moran's (D-VA) Town Hall meeting on Obama Deathcare ." Is where this took place. :?: Does the writer of the article I read sound biased? Still, if this protester was not in violation of any laws he should have been allowed to stand there, hold up his sign and protest. Had I or for that matter most police officers been at that scene, and watched that security guard violate this man's constitutional rights, it would have been a whole different ball game. I will also add though, if that protester was in violation of a law, and gave me that kind of grief... I would not have been so kind.
Next, this "Officer Cheeks" is NOT a police officer but a school security guard. Nothing against security guards mind you, but they are a whole different breed from a police officer. I worked with a lot of them that did guard duty, gate duty, even patrol in industrial parks. Some of the things I watched them do would shock you. Even arrested a few of them. So does it shock me that a security guard would make such a statement... not at all.
I will state in my checking this story it seemed a great deal of the articles appeared biased in favor of the protester. Also in none of them could I find if indeed a law was broken by the protester. Do I see this as the Death of the American System... not really. A little over dramatic actually don't you think? I see this as a security guard caught on the spot by a man with a video camera. I saw a security guard not really explaining himself. Perhaps he was unsure of himself. Who knows. Things like this happen all the time in our day to day lives. I personally just move on. One reason why I do not discuss politics or religion. Too many sides to those issues.
Last, I have been to Russia. It was a wonderful vacation. Yet, I saw the military walking the street. I watched them stop people on the street and check papers. I myself was stopped and checked. They were real nice about it and it was not a big deal to me. But believe me. You want to see someone's civil rights violated, just break a law over there. When the police find you, good luck. I talked to Russians and they were terrified of the police.