Student Protester Arrested for Being Annoying

Charles Kline, a 24-year-old university student at Kutztown, Pennsylvania, was heading to lunch when he heard a commotion across the campus. A large group of religious protesters were shouting that gays deserved to go to hell, so he decided to do something about it. Armed with a sign that read 'Equal Rights for Robots', Kline began his anti-protest a good distance from the original group. He was then led away by police, arrested and charged with 'intent to cause annoyance or alarm'.

Kline, a secondary education english major in his fourth year at Kutztown, is hoping to become a high school teacher. On April 18th, he was just getting out of class when he heard some startling things being yelled over a megaphone.

"When I got there," said Kline, "I saw that it was a large sign that laid out who will not be going to heaven and that the man was telling us how homosexuals are going to hell."

"I stood around for 5 minutes, listening to what he was saying and taking in all the students who were getting quite angry.  I started to move away when I saw a police officer being talked to by a student.  As I got closer, I heard the student asking the police officer to remove the protester.  The police officer said he could not do that.  The student got louder in his request, but at this point I walked off because I saw a much larger crowd near the student union building."

In this larger crowd were men, women and children with bibles and signs, screaming about the evils of homosexuality and Judaism. The protesters were apparently members of Life and Liberty Ministries, a Philadelphia-based evangelistic organization. Kline says the student reaction to the protest was what you would expect at a fairly liberal institution.

"Students were very angry, and screaming and moving at the protesters," said Kline. "At this point I saw the aborted fetus signs being pointed towards where the preschoolers play, and was disgusted by this.  I talked to some coworkers and some other people I know...Some of them are gay themselves, and were rather upset at the whole thing."

After seeing students on the brink of tears, Kline decided to show his support for his fellow students. He went down to the student union building and bought tape, poster board and a sharpie. His sign read; "Equal Rights for Robots".

"I picked Equal Rights for Robots because I thought that no one would be able to take it the wrong way," said Kline. "Equal rights for robots is just silly, plus it had a call for equal rights, something I support for all people.

Kline then stood near the stairs by the Student Union Building, a good distance away from the other protesters so he wouldn't be lumped into the same group as them and began to call out "Equal Rights for Robots"!

Within about 10 seconds after his first cheer Kline's younger brother Zach, also a Kutztown student, ran over to him and begged him not to continue with his anti-protest.

"My last words to (my brother) were 'I won't stop until the police ask me to'," said Kline, "(Which was) an IRONIC choice of words."

Kline continued to cheer for robot rights and while some students were confused and shook their heads, others raised their fists and cried things like: "Right on brother" and "Zero One Zero One One Zero"

After about two minutes of cheering, Kline was approached by a campus police officer and asked to go with him. Thinking he was going to be asked to stop, Kline went with him, holding the sign in front of him. Some students laughed and pointed at the sign and the officer became agitated, taking the sign (as seen in the above photo).

Kline then realized he may be in trouble, and asked the officer: "Am I being arrested?" to which the officer replied: "It depends on what the school wants."

He was then taken to a police staging area and told to put his hands on a police SUV. He was searched, handcuffed and placed in the SUV, tearing his pants in the process. He was never read his Miranda rights.

Kline was driven in the SUV with a protester from the religious group to the Kutztown Municipal Police Station where he was placed in a holding cell and his information was taken.

After an hour and a half, Kline was taken out of the cell and asked to sign a citation for Disorderly Conduct. The charge is as quoted:

"Defendant did with intent to cause annoyance or alarm or recklessly create a risk thereof: created  a hazardous or physically offensive condition - a large or unrulley[sic] crowd, by any act which served no legitimate purpose to wit failed to disperse upon request/order of law enforcement when crowd became disorderly"

Kline was never asked to stop before being arrested and even the protester who was arrested with him didn't even know why he was being taken away. The next day he went to the magistrate's office and put in a not guilty plea, which required a bond of $50 (the last of his money at the time).

In the days after, Kline received an outpouring of support from the community, with random people coming up to him and shaking his hand. He attempted to contact the local media to bring some attention to his plight, but only one responded and it was a 2-sentence blurb in the middle of the larger protest story.

In a statement issued by e-mail from university President F. Javier Cevallos, he wrote: "There was a brief disturbance on the Library Lawn today, beginning shortly after noon, in which a small group of people came onto our campus, unannounced and unauthorized, and began to obstruct traffic on the sidewalks and conduct themselves in a manner our public safety officers judged to be disorderly. They were invited to leave the campus or alter their behavior. When that invitation was declined, they were removed from the campus."

"...Kutztown University has a deep and abiding respect for the United States Constitution and the freedoms it guarantees us all. Nonetheless, our respect for that right does not extend to allowing individuals to distract us from our purpose."

Kline's May 29th court date was pushed back after a call from the magistrate's office told him the arresting officer needed to postpone the trial. On the day the trial was due to take place, Kline called the courtroom and was told they were waiting on the officer's schedule. The trial has since been moved to July 16th.

Since the ordeal, Kline has attempted to contact the ACLU in an attempt to get help for his case.

"I have no job, and actually cannot afford the 300 dollar possible fine, but the other punishment possible is 90 days in jail, which is much worse." Said Kline. "After an hour and a half in a holding cell, I never want to see the inside of a police station ever again."

Kline has set up a blog after repeated requests to tell his story, and through there people have began sending him paypal donations for his legal defense. He states that if the money is not necessary any extra will be donated to a legal defense group. The page can be found at http://hngkong.wordpress.com