http://wms.scripps.com/knoxville/siler/siler.mp3 When Tennessee law enforcement officials showed up at the home of Lester Siler, a first-time convicted drug dealer out on probation, they asked his wife and 8 year-old son to leave. They didn't know that Lester's wife had turned on a tape recorder in the kitchen. When Lester exercised his constitutional right not to sign a consent to search his house, these officers spent the next two hours torturing him. They beat him with bats and guns, held loaded guns to his head, threatened to shoot him, dunked his head in the toilet, burned him with lighters, attached his groin to a battery charger, threatened to cut off his fingers, and threatened to torture his wife. Then they arrested him for "evading arrest". It wasn't until his wife showed up at the FBI with the tape recording that all hades broke loose. And go figure, even though these officers have since been convicted in federal court, not ONE national media outlet covered this story. But that's okay. While these "civil servants" tortured our fellow citizens, reporters were busy decrying the immorality of Janet Jackson's Superbowl exposure!
I'm warning you now, this is the most disturbing recording I've ever heard in my life, and the violent officers repeatedly used profanity, but people need to know about this. Our war on drugs is a complete failure, and the national media is following a code of silence on related humans rights abuses.
The link at the top of this letter will open the actual audio recording of the torture (the assault begins in the third minute). And the following link will take you to full Tennessee media coverage of the story. PLEASE FORWARD THIS OUT - WIDELY!
http://www.knoxnews.com/kns/local_news/text/0, 1406, KNS_347_28813, 00.html
Christopher Largen
Founder of Building Block (Better Lives for our Communities and Kids)
www.Building-Block.org
Author of Prescription Pot (New Horizon Press, 2003)
and JUNK (ENC Press, 2005)
www.WaronJunk.com
www.PrescriptionPot.com
WE MUST PETITON TO STOP THIS BLATANT MEDIA CENSORSHIP!!