Introduction
The following is one of the most intense stories you can find. For a naive reader it may sound unbelievable, but it is strictly true from the first letter to the last. Many good people is strongly convinced "America is the land of the free and the freest country in the world". The American media works hard to impose such believe. The reality is quite different. I have met people who got angry and see in the following story an attack to America: it is not. What made the U.S. strong was its ability, in the old days, to take a critic view at itself. Nobody is perfect and the only way to solve mistakes and inefficiencies is to first recognize them. That has never happened in my story. America today is not what you see in the movies or the American media. The American people has a big, good heart. As this story reveals, the system does not work that well anymore.
The Story
Last Memorial Day, as there was no hiker/biker closure, I saw the chance
to be one of the first to get to the top and enjoy the spectacular
scenery of the snowed peaks. In order to keep enough time to do my
riding in the park, I decided to hitchhike from Kalispell to West
Glacier. After a while waiting, somebody stopped. Initially he thought
he did not have enough gas to go all the way to West Glacier, but at
least he would get me somewhere closer. Eventually, he made it to West
Glacier. As we arrived, we found a crowd of people, apparently they were
performing some rescue operation. My 'driver' decided he would help out
and asked me to get off the truck. I got all my gear ready and took off
up the Going to the Sun road. Two hours later, when I arrived to
Avalanche, one ranger approached me; Some other ranger wanted to talk to
me.
Apparently Mr. Jesse Hopkins, the person who had given me the ride to West Glacier, was accusing me of stealing his money.
I explained them that was totally false. I may be stupid, but not to
the point of stealing something from somebody that is nice enough to
give me a ride, and then flee on a bicycle, going up some dead-end road,
with rangers all along the way, following the route that I had told my
driver I would take. At least, I had tried to hide in some trail...
Unfortunately, Ranger Steve Dodd was absolutely convinced it had been me
and he had solved the case. He pointed out I had been the last person
seen in that truck. But I guess the point of stealing is not to be seen.
If you are seen, it should be very stupid to steal anything. As I knew I
was innocent, I invited them to search as much as they wanted and
realize that I didn't have anything that did not belong to me. For one
hour, they kept searching, looking everywhere. I was kept without any
other clothes than a thin rain coat and some shorts under the cold,
pouring rain. I was not even allowed to put on a shirt. I kept being
harassed, humiliated and accused, as Ranger Steve Dodd was totally
convinced it had been me who stole the money. Apparently my driver was
missing $75 and a credit card, however
he
was not even able to say he had seen me or anybody else taking the
money. As a matter of fact, he never left the truck unattended while I
was in the vehicle. I do not even see enough that I would be able to
search and find some wallet I do not know anything about. However,
Ranger Steve Dodd decided he was going to intimidate me, so that I would
be forced to admit the accusation and give up $75 of my money, and had
the case solved that way. But I was not going to admit something I had
not done. I could not understand why they would believe him blindly and
not even give me the benefit of the doubt. When they finished searching
and could not find anything, Ranger Steve Dodd was too pretentious to
admit he had made a mistake. Instead he insisted I give $75 to my
driver, else he would find some other way to hurt me. So I had to decide
whether I wanted to make it easy or difficult. I thought this kind of
practices were common in three-world countries, but not in the United
States of America, so I declined. Ranger Dodd tried to convince Mr.
Hopkins to file charges against me.
Mr. Hopkins, however, refused and only accepted to write a
statement, where he referred to me as a 'gentleman'.
I was then taken to the headquarters, where I was kept for the rest of
the evening; still without clothes and without food. I was shivering the
whole evening and did not have any food until the morning after;
breakfast in jail.
During the following hours Ranger Steve Dodd, loyal to his promise, kept
looking for anything he could charge me with. He looked into my
immigration record. He asked me about my boots, as they looked too new
to him that I had said I bought them in 2006. He asked and investigated
about all the different places where I have been staying.
He asked me how I have entered the park, as they did not remember me at the gate.
He held an one-hour phone conversation with my old roommate in Los
Angeles, trying to get any kind of information he could use against me.
In any case,
nothing that held the slightest relationship with the case of theft that supposedly was being investigated.
Ranger Steve Dodd finally went on and cited me with whatever looked best
to him, because by no means he would let me go and therefore admit his
mistake. According to Ranger Steve Dodd, I had illegally obtained the
disability pass I used to enter the park.
He
first stated the pass was only for US citizens. As he realized it was
also for residents, he argued that if I have been touring across the
country for the last several months and was at the moment not paying any
rent, any lease or mortgage, I was not a resident and therefore
obtained my pass illegally and entered the park illegally. He cited
me to appear before the judge three months later, knowing that would
completely screw up my bicycle trip. As I protested and tried to give
him my explanation to his charge, he replied: "that is all fine, but I
will have to explain that to the judge".
As I tried to make a call to my lawyer to get a better knowledge of my legal options, he arrested me.
I spent that night in jail, and, if all that had not yet been enough,
as I was released the next day, among the paperwork I received, it read I
was 'not allowed to go back to Glacier park unless it was for
employment or to attend some court hearing'. I had not been informed
about that restriction by the judge as I was requested to pay my bond.
Moreover, my lawyer was never adviced of my arrest and therefore could
not represent me before the judge.
It was personally heartbreaking that after having been planning for so
many years, waiting for so many months, when the time finally came, I
was told I would not be allowed to ride across Logan Pass. That was the
time and that was the moment. The snow was finally melting, the park was
blooming, the crowds had not yet arrived. The road was not yet open for
cars and was available day long for bicyclist. And I could not enter
Glacier park, as if I had caused any damage to the park.
I am sorry I could not come in a car, quickly drive around and leave the
next day. I am sorry my vision only allowed me to come on a bicycle. I
am sorry it took me several months on the road and I cannot afford to
pay several months of motel rooms. However, I don't think I deserved the
treatment I received last Memorial Day. What happened to me that day is
more proper of a fascist regime, rather than a free country where
people is free, have rights and are considered innocent unless proven
otherwise in a court of law.
In June 2009 I filed a complaint to Glacier National Park for the incident with Ranger Steve Dodd on Memorial Day.
I asked to have the restriction not to enter Glacier park removed. I
was hipocrately told that condition was not coming from Glacier park,
but was responsibility of the judge that released me. However, as I
filed a motion to the court to have the restriction lifted,
Glacier park and the government opposed it (see also
my reply to the court) Based on
four bogus incidents,
the worst of which was that in February 2009, when the park was covered
by the snow, I was found sleeping in my sleeping bag at 9am in Apgar
Village, outside of the designated area for winter camping,
Glacier park argued I was a troublemaker. They even
used the fact that I had filed a complaint to argue "that made me more dangerous".
My motion to be allowed into Glacier park was rejected, as it was
considered 'necessary for the safety of the community'. Similarly,
Glacier park and National Park Services, concluded there was no basis
for my complaint.
Ranger Steve Dodd filed a false report
and Glacier NP did not admit any wrong-doing and did not offer the
slightest apology. According to them, it was fine Ranger Dodd coerced me
to admit quilty. They said: "it had only been wrong if I had submitted
to the coercion and actually admitted quitly".
In July 2009 the prosecution finally presented the evidence against me:
a
copy of the application form I signed to obtain my disability pass. I
had stated "I was permanently disabled and was a citizen or was
domiciled in the United States". Both statements were true as my
passport proved. Still, even when they knew I was innocent, I was
asked by the prosecution to pay a settlement of $500 to have the case
dismissed. I declined.
After some weeks riding my bicycle around Yellowstone and the Beartooth
Highway, I started my way back to attend my August 21st court hearing.
As the restriction whereby I was not allowed in Glacier read I 'could
not enter the park unless it was for employment or to attend a court
hearing', on August 20, the day before my hearing, I rode my bicycle
from the east side to the west side through the Going-to-the-Sun' road.
One ranger saw me as I was going down the mountain and informed me he
would 'tell the judge about my behavior'.
The next day, at the court hearing, my lawyer presented a motion to have the case dismissed, as it was clear
the statements I made in my disability pass application were true.
My lawyer had thought he could explain in person the arguments for the
motion during the hearing and have the judge decide on the following
days. The judge however stated the time my lawyer chose to file the
motion was not appropriate and rejected it without even reading it. The
government then asked to put me in custody, since I had been found the
night before on the Going-to-the-Sun road. The judge accepted the
government's request, since he considered it was well known that the
fastest route from the east side to the west side was US-2, instead of
the Going-to-the-Sun road. I tried to explain that riding a bicycle as I
am, it is precisely much more dangerous to ride alongside cars driving
as fast as 60-70 mph on US-2, compared to the Going-to-the-Sun road,
where cars cannot go over 20-25 mph. In fact, back in March, I was
already hit and almost killed riding my bicycle on US-2, by a car that
did not see me. To begin with, the restriction did not even say that I
was allowed to enter Glacier National Park only if it was
strictly necessary
to attend a court hearing, but just "if it was to attend a court
hearing". Unfortunately, I was not allowed to speak and instead spent
the weekend again in jail.
In 2010 Glacier park celebrates one hundred years since it was first
opened. For the centennial, Glacier National Parks wants to be an
inspiration to the world. I hope the horrifying experience I went
through in Glacier park will never inspire the world. I strongly believe
visitors do not travel hundreds, thousands of miles to a national park
to break the law. National Park Services' work should not be to keep
citizens out of national parks, but rather the opposite. I do not
understand how in the United States of America, the authorities find it
acceptable that law enforcement harasses and coerces citizens to admit
an accusation, regardless of whether that accusation is right or wrong. I
do not understand how government representatives, public servants,
allow their personal feeling interfere with their work and go as far as
filing a false report and
lying to the court to
fabricate false evidence,
when they learn their assumptions were wrong and cannot find any true
evidence against the defendant. In a country that takes pride to be
free,
everybody should be assumed innocent,
until proven otherwise in a court of law. I do not understand how the
government can ask a citizen, even if it is from another nationality, to
pay a settlement of $500 and continue prosecution, after they verified
that he did not brake the law and made no false statement. I don't
understand how a judge can dismiss a motion without even reading it and
throw you in jail not even allowing you to speak. I don't know if it is
Glacier National Park, National Park Services, the state of Montana or
the whole United States of America, but what happened to me was wrong
and somebody, somewhere, needs to do something so that it does not
happen again. I hope this letter will help putting an end to the
practices I was a victim of in Glacier National Park.
