The Failed Pacifist

Bus Rider Arrested for Not Showing ID

According to this page at papersplease.org, Deborah Davis was riding a public bus to work. While riding through an area of Denver which is home to several federal buildings, a security guard boarded the public bus and demanded to see identification for all passengers. There was no emergency. This was apparently routine. The first time this happened, Ms. Davis complied. But it troubled her.

When she got home, what had happened on the bus began to bother her. "This is not a police state or communist Russia", she thought. From her 8th grade Civics class she knew there is no law requiring her, as an American citizen, to carry ID or any papers, much less show them to anyone on a public bus.

She decided she would no longer show her ID on the bus.

On Monday, September 26th 2005, the bus was again stopped and boarded by a security guard asking for passenger ID. This time she politely refused. She had done nothing wrong, there was no emergency, and she was riding on public transportation going to work.

A federal police officer was then brought on board and demanded her ID. Again, she politely declined, for the same reasons. Then a second police officer boarded the public bus. After she refused this second officer's demand for ID, she was grabbed and forced off the bus and arrested. Her personal belongings, scattered in the bus during her removal, were retrieved by the police and searched when she was taken to the police station.

She will be arraigned on December 9th in a U.S. District Court.

posted by Doran @ 11:52 AM