‘They Violated My Civil Rights,’ Road Race Protester Says of Manchester Police

This article first appeared on Manchester Patch.

The says he was doing nothing wrong at the time of his arrest and that the Manchester Police Department violated his First Amendment rights, but the chief of police says the protester was using foul language at the time of his arrest and that police had repeatedly warned him beforehand to stop.

Andrew R. Elliot was charged with first-degree criminal trespass and creating a public disturbance Nov. 24, that read “UTC-SUICIDE.COM/” which is a link to a website created by Elliot. In addition to denouncing the United Technologies Corporation on his website, who Elliot claims employed him for 19 years before unjustly firing him, the website also contains mention of his Manchester arrest – which Elliot says was “unjustifiable” – and a link to a YouTube video of the start of the race that shows Elliot being arrested by Manchester Police.

In the video, Elliot can be seen at about the 2:00 minute mark slowly walking toward and then past the camera holding his sign as hundreds of runners pass by him; he appears again at about the 3:23 minute mark of the video now being led in the other direction by three police officers, one of who now carries the sign.

Elliot told Patch that he arrived at the race about 9 a.m. that morning – an hour before its start time – and started his “peaceful protest by exercising my right to free speech.” He said police confronted him about 15 minutes later and they had a “conversation” about how loud he was speaking. Elliot said police asked him to lower his voice, but did not warn him that he would be arrested if he disrupted the race.

When the starting gun was fired at 10 a.m. that morning, Elliot said he made his way onto the course and began to walk amongst the runners carrying his sign; he said he was not speaking at the time and would have walked the entire 4.75-mile course holding his sign.

“I was doing nothing wrong,” Elliot said. “You can look right on the video tape and see that I was walking. I wasn’t obstructing anybody. Nobody was having a problem getting around me. I wasn’t speaking. I was just walking down the street with my sign.”

But Police Chief Marc Montminy, who attended the race, told Patch a different story Monday. Montminy said several people at the race approached him that morning to complain about Elliot’s language, and that he began to walk towards the starting line searching for Elliot. Montminy said he arrived to find several police officers speaking with Elliot, and that they told him he could continue to protest but that he could not use foul language in a public place.

“The cops told him he could say whatever he wanted about UTC, but that he couldn’t use foul language,” Montminy said.

Montminy said he witnessed Elliot duck under a rope to enter the racecourse and that he was clearly obstructing the race when he was arrested.

“How could he not obstruct the race?” Montminy said. “He was walking in a sea of 15,000 people going the other way.”

But Elliot said that the race is held on public streets and that he was doing nothing different than what thousands of other people were doing that day.

“As you know, thousands of other people do the exact same thing,” Elliot said. “I was doing nothing wrong. As far as I’m concerned, they violated my civil rights.”

Runners and walkers have traditionally run the sporting a variety of color costumes over the years, some of which involve signs or messages. This year, 15,000 registered runners and walkers competed in the event, which does not include the unregistered runners who also participate in the race each year, which some speculate can be as many as several thousand more.

Elliot was released on a $1,000 surety bond and is scheduled to appear in Manchester Superior Court on the charges Tuesday, Dec. 6. He said he plans to ask the prosecutor to nullify the charges against him.

Manchester Road Race Director Jim Balcome said he witnessed Elliot’s arrest at the start/finish line of the race.

“He was standing at the start/finish line for a few seconds,” Balcome said. “At about that time two or three police officers came in and they took him away.”

When asked, Balcome said it did not appear to him that Elliot was disrupting the race.

“Not really,” Balcome said. “He was just standing on the start/finish line holding some sort of a placard.”

Balcome said he was too busy with his duties that day to pay attention to what Elliot’s sign said.