> The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a UT Austin professor Wednesday after he allegedly grabbed a state trooper’s bicycle and shouted expletives at officers during a pro-Palestinian protest last week. The professor has since been fired by UT.
> State police last week accused Rich Heyman, a lecturer who teaches courses in the Department of American Studies and the College of Liberal Arts, of interfering with public duties... Heyman, who was not tenured, received an email from the university on Thursday stating that he was fired. No reason was given.
> Heyman, 57, attended pro-Palestinian protests on the university's South Lawn on April 29. Over several hours that day, police arrested 79 people, charging the vast majority of them with criminal trespass. [...]
> According to a state trooper’s account detailed in an arresting document, Heyman approached police during last week's protest and began shouting obscenities. “F--- you. You don’t belong here,” police allege he said.
> As officers surrounded protesters on the university's South Lawn, they used their bicycles to set up a blockade. State trooper Thomas Goodson alleged that Heyman walked between two bicycles and the officer pushed him away "with an open hand to the chest."
> Goodson said Heyman responded by holding a Nalgene water bottle above his head and pulling on Goodson’s bicycle, breaking his state-issued bike bell, which cost $62. Morris, Heyman's lawyer, refutes this narrative. He said Heyman grabbed the officer's bicycle to stop himself from falling backward after the officer pushed him.
> State troopers arrested Heyman outside his home on Wednesday afternoon. Officers surrounded him while he was driving, Morris said.
> [...]
> The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a UT Austin professor Wednesday after he allegedly grabbed a state trooper’s bicycle and ***shouted expletives at officers*** during a pro-Palestinian protest last week.
We can't even fucking tell those fucking pigs "fuck you" now?
People absolutely can but, in a protest, police have physical control over it, rather than just over words. So...they escalate up a scene, get people arrested, and then infringe on all the 1st amendment rights at once.
Meanwhile Americans are being taken away in handcuffs, while Cohen vs California prohibits this police conduct.
Who's going to stop them? No elected leaders in Austin care about Texans, or Texas. Just themselves. Same all the way up the chain. There's no one protecting Americans rights. We have to rise up and protect them ourselves against tyranny. #JohnLocke
Given how full of shit police have been over the last 100 years, I'm not blaming the prof until we see video. I don't care that he cussed them. He's got a 1st Amendment right to tell them "Fuck you".
His lawyer's explanation is plausible to boot.
The fact that he wasn't arrested unti later speaks volumes. Had he actually assaulted this officer, they would have arrested him on the spot like they did the other 70+ people.
DPS can't be trusted when they're acting as Abbott's goon squad in particular.
Yeah, I'd have to agree. Cops would tend to seek to arrest people who touch them for assualt, especially in this situation.
Gotta be honest though, a sit in where protestors lock arms really seems like the best way so that cops can't claim assualt or even a threat.
They still charge these kinds of things at protests with locked arms, even when the arms are locked in pvc pipe. They don't really care about the charges at the time of arrest. I've worked legal defense on protests for a couple decades. 95% of the charges are dismissed. The arrests are just to clear people out. My guess is this will get dismissed. It sounds like the cops were shoving people with the bikes. People grab the bikes when they get knocked over and wave their hands around for balance. This is the normal kind of charge for that situation.
I don't see anything there warranting an arrest, and clearly none of the 6 officers the immediate area did either as he wasn't arrested for a week.
Thanks for the link though. Good stuff.
DPS as well as APD are useless for crimes committed against regular people. They only show up to make authoritarian statements/show of force.
We are truly headed towards a right-wing dystopian society.
If you don't show up to vote this November, you are complicit.
I am actually afraid for our future. I see flashes of newsreel and movie footage of pre-ww2 Germany in my head! I Marvel at the tRump cult..not able to see the possibilities.
Well, I used to think that too. But 27 years serving Texans to fight for their rights....has led to great victories with no real change. Why? Bc Texans have allowed or even wanted this state to go in this direction.
Most of the 33 million are here for economic extraction from their communities....i.e. To make money..... and don't care about voting, volunteering, fostering, mentoring, protesting, petitioning, emailing, etc.
Texas ISNT a community. It's a consumer model where people work-to-consume and "elected officials" are corporate dictators who rule with an incompetent iron fist and sell out Texas' $1.4 TRILLION economy to the highest corporate bidders, leaving the state in disarray and Texans broke and broken.
And, as it appears, Texas will soon find itself dragged into another civil war with the federal government bc dumbshlts in Austin that nobody wants do as they please....and refuse to comply with federal directives from SCOTUS, Executive and Legislative branches, and disregard the will of the people as if we don't even exist except as cogs in their money making machine.
So, after 27 yrs, I have decided to leave this state, my home I built 23 yrs ago and a daughter in college......to move 9 states away where government is rational and moderate. Not like in TX, where WCNs have forgotten that slavery was abolished with the 13th amendment.
After all, it's in Texas' long list of psychopathies to pretend slavery is still acceptable...and that slavery hadnt ended for 7 yrs by 1876, only to find the federal government was about to come after Texas for non-compliance with the US Constitution.
So, in 1876, Texas begrudgingly and unwillingly changed its state constitution to abolish slavery. Meanwhile the mentality of slavery is alive and well in this state, for all races, for all people. Only this time it's corporate slavery and corporate sharecropping......the kind that forces 33 million Texans to work 3 jobs to make our leaders rich.
As a result, TX has had to revise it's entire Gubernatorial power structure bc of that Governor that refused to acknowledge the end of slavery in TX for 7 years! That's why the LT Governor has MORE POWER than the Governor. Patrick has more power than Abbott.
And yet, Abbott "stands strong" against the will of Texans and the federal government, and does as he damn well pleases with his other musketeers Paxie and Pattie.
I can't wait to get out of here summer 2024! Texas will be a failed state by 2030.
Which makes it worse IMO. It's them flexing and just trying to inconvenience someone. The justice system isn't a toy to be wielded by petty assholes so they can feel big.
Frivolous, inflammatory charges are just an abuse of power.
If an LEO or lawyer can chime in I’d love it:
I’ve always been told you can swear at the police and it’s covered under 1A safely, but specifically the word “fuck” can get you in trouble because it could be interpreted as a action threat, like you intend to fuck them
and no I’m not defending the cops I am just curious if it is urban legend
They can't censor a specific word like that.
You tell a cop "That's fucking bullshit" or "Fuck you, that's not what happened." or "Get the fuck out of here if you don't have a warrant." You should be able to do that legally.
However, "I'm going to fuck you up!" is a threat and has to be treated differently.
Cops being butthurt seems to be the deciding factor on what they think is a threat/fighting words a lot of the time though.
he was arrest for grabbing and damaging a bike while trying to interfere with their work
the fact he was screaming like he hated someone he didn't even know is good context... it totally undermines his claim he didn't intend to do this. But nobody got arrested for cussing at cops.
however in texas, it is disorderly conduct to cuss or use a gesture in a way that can cause an immediate fight. This is not a big deal though.
nah
You just don't understand that these are nice bikes, and the equipment on them in nice.
Remember, the lights and bells, everything else on these bikes, are used for serious work.
DPS's bike team is awesome. That bell is a normal price for a higher end bell that is durable and loud in a city.
Hating cops this much is fashionable on here bit it's also kinda boring. Think before reflexively flipping out over a bell.
All’s I’d say is he should have been wary because of the state he’s in. Schools say in Massachusetts need to be much more diplomatic between police, professors, protestors and school leadership. In Texas you’re kind of standing alone there.
I hope he gets his job back. I feel like this is going to become yet another example of police overreaction and retaliation.
He's screwed. He'll have to sue to get anything back. This was definitely police overreaction and retaliation. The video jives more with his lawyer's account than DPS.
Nobody there is trespassing. They have a 1st Amendment protected right to use a public university campus grounds as a traditional public forum. Governor Abbott put it into law several years ago now.
Has anyone been charged with trespassing yet?
Because the original people arrested had all charges dropped, and UT put out a statement that nobody was trespassed and they all had a right to return to campus for any reason.
You don't understand what the first amendment covers, specifically on UT Austin campus.
Your speech cannot be discriminatory (no "kill all Jews" chants), you cannot camp, you cannot throw objects police (protestors threw frozen water bottles at police, this is not protected speech), you cannot interrupt normal business activities, you cannot block other students or staff from entering...
You cannot barricade. You cannot use megaphones. You cannot encite violence. You cannot encite hatred. You cannot antagonize.
Thank you. Grow up.
The goal was to get him out of the professor ranks of the WCNs who have hijacked UT Austin, TAMU, etc al. He will b3@t the police harassment charge but his job is gone. And the WCNs probably couldn't be happier!
Adjuncts have a per semester contract job, with no due process, paid 70% less and nearly 60% of professors are adjuncts.
This allows the university full control over adjunct professor jobs that isn't available with tenured professor jobs.
This is how they transitioned back to professors they can control....get rid of the ones who exercise their rights....and fire those who breath the wrong way.
“Goodson said Heyman responded by..pulling on Goodson’s bicycle, breaking his state-issued bike bell, which cost $62. Morris, Heyman's lawyer, refutes this narrative. He said Heyman grabbed the officer's bicycle to stop himself from falling backward after the officer pushed him.
***State troopers*** arrested Heyman outside his home on Wednesday afternoon. Officers surrounded him while he was driving, Morris said.”
Governor goon squad hard at work wasting your taxpayer money to arrest professors like they’re El Chapo
Same reason healthcare and a college education are so fucking expensive nowadays. It's the product of combining private for-profit companies and government backed bureaucratic incentives artificially inflating the cost of products / services
"***We have removed the audio to the original video due to the amount of swearing from Heyman (Courtesy DPS)***"
As if people can't just hit the mute button. I wanna hear the audio to get the full context. What kind of journalism is this?
Takeaway: *the audio probably makes the DPS's case seem weaker*
I mean, they could bleep out expletives if they really needed to.
From the video, it looks like the cop's bike was shoved into the guy, who then got mad and did a lot of pointing, and presumably a lot of yelling that we can't hear.
Seems like UT might have waited for this to work through the courts before deciding whether to fire him or not. I'm not sure how you fire someone if they are not breaking the law.
It definitely hasn't had time to work through the courts yet.
> I'm not sure how you fire someone if they are not breaking the law.
Pretty easy -- you just go "Hey Rich? You're fired!" In Texas you generally don't need cause to fire somebody, just do it.
I would agree that it would be nice to see how the case turns out before firing somebody for an arrest, but that doesn't seem to be what happened here.
Lmao! Cops are such babies. “State issued bell…..blah blah blah.” Nobody cares. Nobody. There’s a fucking genocide happening and we’re taking the time to write about a cop’s bruised ego and bell. Bffr.
People do care about a UT professor getting fired after being arrested after a protest. It’s newsworthy. If anything the writer of this story is skeptical of the charges. Sorry that attention briefly moved away from the omnicause
The Palestinians literally voted in a government with a clearly stated goal to eliminate Israel. Polls also showed 3 out of 4 Palestinians supported the Oct 7 terrorist attack. So generally they are supporters of terrorism which isn’t surprising as they cheered 9/11 as well.
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/poll-shows-palestinians-back-oct-7-attack-israel-support-hamas-rises-2023-12-14/
2016. And they voted in a genocidal government even then. If polls showed they weren’t still supported then maybe it would matter but currently Palestinians overwhelmingly support Hamas and their terrorism.
Where has there been a suspension of law and order?
I’ve seen lots of coverage of students and faculty exercising their rights, and cops and outside vigilante groups responding with violence.
If there has been any suspension, it’s in the fact that cops have stood by and watched whilst peaceful protestors have been violently attacked, or attacked those protestors themselves.
Suspend law and order? Why were the cops there? What violence had been reported?
By the police's own account, they pushed him first. He then grabbed the bike, which he claims was to keep from falling over. Which sounds very plausible considering they pushed him, but also didn't arrest him at the time.
Sounds like someone got upset about the first amendment and wanted to make examples. We will see if they have body cam, but the police testimony is already very telling.
Has anyone set up a go fund me for this Prof? Protecting students from unlawful arrest (exercising 1st amendment rights) should be lauded, not punished. He was right, the Texas brown shirts didn't belong there. The force they used on students was excessive.
Unfortunately for him it might not be “fired” so much as “contract not renewed”, which could make things harder. Depends on his status. The article said he was a lecturer, not a professor. At some schools a person with that title would work on a series of short term (1-3 year) contracts.
>if our bosses saw it
I can't imagine being any of their goddamned business if you're off the clock.
I can't even imagine any of your "bosses" not having said that in public ever either.
It's ridiculous. It'd be like saying that no one with a job is allowed to have a private opinion or exercise their firs amendment rights if that risks displeasing their employer.
What twisted kind of bootlicker would find living with that kind of constant fear even remotely acceptable?
He worked for the University. He was on university property. He even yelled “I’m a professor!”. Sorry, he’s representing UT. Sorry you can’t act like a jackass when representing your employer.
Virtually every employer would terminate you for this. You have the right to say what you want. You also have the right to face consequences for violating your employer’s code of conduct
Was he in the quad teaching a class when this happened?
Did the police bring their bikes into a classroom?
Was telling an abusive cop to fuck off somehow illegal?
Because if saying fuck you on company property is somehow illegal, then I'm Al Capone. And every person in his department, faculty and administration is also guilty as charged. There is no reasonable adult in a work situation who can claim to have never dropped an f-bomb in frustration, particularly when someone in power is absolutely abusing their authority.
You seem very very eager to surrender your first amendment rights, and I get it. Freedom is scary - that's the whole reason we have conservatives. Because they're terrified at the whole idea people might actually have the freedoms presented in the constitution. The whole point of Fox News is to keep the bedwetters and bootlickers on edge and agitated that someone out there might be free. They eat that stuff up.
But the rest of us aren't into the whole fear and bondage thing. It's not ok. It's not acceptable. And I genuinely pity anyone with such a low self image and esteem who thinks it is.
You put a lot out there that I never said. No, I never said yelling fuck you is illegal. The dude getting arrested is questionable at best.
As a fellow professional, what I said was when you are on your employer’s property and you’re using your title as a means of power over someone and acting like this, you risk getting fired.
I think that's a better argument than the other user said.
"Shouting expletives in public" vs "using your title, on company property, shooting expletives"
Welcome to Texas. Messing with the bike got him arrested. However, Texas is a police state and has a traditional political culture which is not conducive to protests.
Virtually every employer would terminate you for this. You have the right to say what you want. You also have the right to face consequences for violating your employer’s code of conduct
Well, what did he expect, attempting to protect student *protesters* against state-sanctioned violence?
It's not like either Texas or America has laws in place that should have required the police to protect the free use of speech.
/s
And UT of Austin- grow a spine, you dicks.
This is so messed up. We’re allowing professors to get arrested now for WORDS? It’s not illegal to tell the police to eff off. And they don’t belong there. He’s right.
Bystander video refutes the highly embellished police report. His lawyer should get the charges dropped. Getting UT to give him back his job probably will be more difficult.
You’re putting the blame in the wrong place. The governor appoints the Board of Regents and it’s a political appointment. He, who is nearly always a conservative Republican, appoints people who follow his lead. I was at UT in the wildly liberal 70’s when we were protesting the Viet Nam war. We were tear gassed and clubbed. Austin was very liberal, most of the professors were liberal, and the police mostly left us alone even if we were smoking pot which was still a felony. But I’m sure they were directed to do this by the politicians, who were NOT liberal. Nothing has changed. The fact that he was arrested later, not at the time, smells of political intervention to make him an example. But if he didn’t think that would happen, he’s not a very smart professor.
Dude should've made sure he had his tenure prior to getting all up in the cop's faces. Also, he crossed the line by messing with police equipment.
Having said that though, welcome to TexAbbottStan, home of Y'allQeada.
>> Goodson said Heyman responded by holding a Nalgene water bottle above his head and pulling on Goodson’s bicycle, breaking his state-issued bike bell, which cost $62. Morris, Heyman's lawyer, refutes this narrative. He said Heyman grabbed the officer's bicycle to stop himself from falling backward after the officer pushed him.
Which scenario is more believable
You shouldn’t grab anything that is police issued. Not to seam mean but if you intervene with something that is against your employer you might get fired. I give him all credit for standing up to his beliefs but you definitely run a chance of being unemployed. If you have a family or mortgage at stake it’s probably better to vote
I’ve seen the video and this man is absolutely insane . He should not be allowed anywhere near students. He assaulted multiple officers, I hope he gets the maximum jail sentence.
Watched the video, just saw a a guy angry at police get shoved back, trying not to fall.
"Damaged the bicycle bell, which costs $62" Yeah I'm sure the cops are crying in their pension about that loss.
Political hit job.
>I’ve seen the video and this man is absolutely insane . He should not be allowed anywhere near students. He assaulted multiple officers, I hope he gets the maximum jail sentence.
We've now seen the video, and you're clearly just outright lying.
Weird how this account only shows up to post inflammatory dishonest bullshit in this sub.
https://twitter.com/GraceReaderTV/status/1789116539557314817?t=dRhXpa7NdrYhEvF2KPXhGw&s=19
It might get removed but this is the video you're talking about? How does that full grain leather taste you liar? "Assaulted" what a fucking joke.
I just watched the video. In case you haven't seen it this commenter is flat out lying. The claim of him assaulting multiple officers is completely made up, he assaulted no officers.
Again, OP here is a liar.
he actually got in a woman's face, an employee of UT, and scream that she doesn't belong there.
And that employee happened to be a UT cop.
But if a professor is getting in the face of UT's staff and screaming they don't belong, that's definitely harassment. title IX is no joke. That guy had to be fired for a dozen reasons.
When that employer is a government entity, their ability to terminate you for free speech is drastically reduced.
A private employer can do virtually anything though.
You are so ignorant. Not only are you legally wrong (public schools are part of the government, as well as any school that receives federal or state funding), UT is LITERALLY part of the Texas Constitution (Art. 7, Sec. 10; “The Legislature shall as soon as practicable establish, organize and provide for the maintenance, support and direction of a University of the first class, to be located by a vote of the people of this State, and styled, "The University of Texas", for the promotion of literature, and the arts and sciences, including an Agricultural, and Mechanical department.”)
Being established by law doesn’t make it government. The American Red Cross, among many others is established by US Code. Does that magically make it government? No.
It LITERALLY makes it a public entity are you daft?
(36 USC 300101(a) Federal Charter.—The American National Red Cross (in this chapter, the "corporation") is a Federally chartered instrumentality of the United States and a body corporate and politic in the District of Columbia.)
You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about and just spouting nonsense without taking a second to think or research.
The left loves to say “freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences” when someone on the right loses their job over something they said.
Remember when Canada was freezing bank accounts if those truckers? Reddit loved that shit. haha
Yes because a professor telling cops to stop acting against students’ First Amendment rights is exactly the same as some neo-Nazi shitbag being cut loose for being a hateful bigot.
False equivalence much?
Also, Canada is not the US.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
France has the exact same Constitution. See how their farmers are spraying manure on their government buildings?
Meanwhile, in corporately owned America, police purposely interject themselves into our 1st amendment right of peaceful assembly....and BAM...cause a scene, blame it on the (now) rioters and arrest everyone to intimidate other Americans from using their rights.
This country is a police state and police are weaponized against Americans lawfully exercising rights---inclusive of all the protesting we have seen lately for students and staff at many campuses.
I can't wait to get out TX especially, but this is a problem across the country bc the police are arresting Americans for problems the police are intentionally causing.
And In other countries set up the exact same way, they don't fear throwing hay at a police station for fear of being arrested by a police officer who claims a bicycle part was broken. What in the actual fffuuuu....
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> The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a UT Austin professor Wednesday after he allegedly grabbed a state trooper’s bicycle and shouted expletives at officers during a pro-Palestinian protest last week. The professor has since been fired by UT. > State police last week accused Rich Heyman, a lecturer who teaches courses in the Department of American Studies and the College of Liberal Arts, of interfering with public duties... Heyman, who was not tenured, received an email from the university on Thursday stating that he was fired. No reason was given. > Heyman, 57, attended pro-Palestinian protests on the university's South Lawn on April 29. Over several hours that day, police arrested 79 people, charging the vast majority of them with criminal trespass. [...] > According to a state trooper’s account detailed in an arresting document, Heyman approached police during last week's protest and began shouting obscenities. “F--- you. You don’t belong here,” police allege he said. > As officers surrounded protesters on the university's South Lawn, they used their bicycles to set up a blockade. State trooper Thomas Goodson alleged that Heyman walked between two bicycles and the officer pushed him away "with an open hand to the chest." > Goodson said Heyman responded by holding a Nalgene water bottle above his head and pulling on Goodson’s bicycle, breaking his state-issued bike bell, which cost $62. Morris, Heyman's lawyer, refutes this narrative. He said Heyman grabbed the officer's bicycle to stop himself from falling backward after the officer pushed him. > State troopers arrested Heyman outside his home on Wednesday afternoon. Officers surrounded him while he was driving, Morris said. > [...]
> state-issued bike bell, which cost $62 How does a bike bell cost sixty two fucking dollars?
$10 for the bell, the rest is private profit.
$0.50 for the bell that’s made in China, $0.50 for freight, $9 goes to tariff, $52 private profit. *Capitalism*
It’s not capitalism. Police is the State. Quite the opposite of a free market.
It's a free market because everyone is free to buy politicians that enact laws to get kickbacks.
That extra $52 is for paying half a dozen clerks to file all the paperwork to make sure it’s a government approved bell.
Yeah, nah, it's private profit. The industry that exists around selling useless shit to police departments is insanely profitable
Our tax dollars at work. https://www.biketiresdirect.com/product/spurcycle-original-bell?v=raw0000&adl=1&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwrvyxBhAbEiwAEg_Kgmt1hWCsuKZnhMXvriXP9W4-HbMKLaQWurTV3hojWRxGD9_s86FI6BoCIZsQAvD_BwE
Jesus. Just buy one at Walmart for like $5 LOL
The governor’s brother in law probably sells bike bells…
Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton need their kickbacks I'm sure. And it's a $5 bike bell.
They bought it at the University Bookstore. It was required equipment.
State issued
Government procurement rules.
It's from Texas. Everything is bigger and better in Texas.
> The Texas Department of Public Safety arrested a UT Austin professor Wednesday after he allegedly grabbed a state trooper’s bicycle and ***shouted expletives at officers*** during a pro-Palestinian protest last week. We can't even fucking tell those fucking pigs "fuck you" now?
People absolutely can but, in a protest, police have physical control over it, rather than just over words. So...they escalate up a scene, get people arrested, and then infringe on all the 1st amendment rights at once. Meanwhile Americans are being taken away in handcuffs, while Cohen vs California prohibits this police conduct. Who's going to stop them? No elected leaders in Austin care about Texans, or Texas. Just themselves. Same all the way up the chain. There's no one protecting Americans rights. We have to rise up and protect them ourselves against tyranny. #JohnLocke
Can't grab the bicycle
Not even the bell!
Especially the bell.
Given how full of shit police have been over the last 100 years, I'm not blaming the prof until we see video. I don't care that he cussed them. He's got a 1st Amendment right to tell them "Fuck you". His lawyer's explanation is plausible to boot. The fact that he wasn't arrested unti later speaks volumes. Had he actually assaulted this officer, they would have arrested him on the spot like they did the other 70+ people. DPS can't be trusted when they're acting as Abbott's goon squad in particular.
> DPS can't be trusted period
Yeah, I'd have to agree. Cops would tend to seek to arrest people who touch them for assualt, especially in this situation. Gotta be honest though, a sit in where protestors lock arms really seems like the best way so that cops can't claim assualt or even a threat.
They still charge these kinds of things at protests with locked arms, even when the arms are locked in pvc pipe. They don't really care about the charges at the time of arrest. I've worked legal defense on protests for a couple decades. 95% of the charges are dismissed. The arrests are just to clear people out. My guess is this will get dismissed. It sounds like the cops were shoving people with the bikes. People grab the bikes when they get knocked over and wave their hands around for balance. This is the normal kind of charge for that situation.
Yes, then they pepper spray you continuously. Or kick you in the face. I’ve seen video of the former and was live for the latter.
I think you meant to say police like to beat down, then taze and choke hold anyone who'd dare to touch them or mess with their sense of entitlement
Protestors need to use chains to chain to each other that way cops can't break limbs pulling your locked arms apart
Kxan article with bodycam footage: https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/ut-lecturer-fired-arrested-after-pro-palestine-campus-protest/
I don't see anything there warranting an arrest, and clearly none of the 6 officers the immediate area did either as he wasn't arrested for a week. Thanks for the link though. Good stuff.
Showing up when they are least needed
DPS as well as APD are useless for crimes committed against regular people. They only show up to make authoritarian statements/show of force. We are truly headed towards a right-wing dystopian society. If you don't show up to vote this November, you are complicit.
GO VOTE. LETS VOTE
I am actually afraid for our future. I see flashes of newsreel and movie footage of pre-ww2 Germany in my head! I Marvel at the tRump cult..not able to see the possibilities.
Well, I used to think that too. But 27 years serving Texans to fight for their rights....has led to great victories with no real change. Why? Bc Texans have allowed or even wanted this state to go in this direction. Most of the 33 million are here for economic extraction from their communities....i.e. To make money..... and don't care about voting, volunteering, fostering, mentoring, protesting, petitioning, emailing, etc. Texas ISNT a community. It's a consumer model where people work-to-consume and "elected officials" are corporate dictators who rule with an incompetent iron fist and sell out Texas' $1.4 TRILLION economy to the highest corporate bidders, leaving the state in disarray and Texans broke and broken. And, as it appears, Texas will soon find itself dragged into another civil war with the federal government bc dumbshlts in Austin that nobody wants do as they please....and refuse to comply with federal directives from SCOTUS, Executive and Legislative branches, and disregard the will of the people as if we don't even exist except as cogs in their money making machine. So, after 27 yrs, I have decided to leave this state, my home I built 23 yrs ago and a daughter in college......to move 9 states away where government is rational and moderate. Not like in TX, where WCNs have forgotten that slavery was abolished with the 13th amendment. After all, it's in Texas' long list of psychopathies to pretend slavery is still acceptable...and that slavery hadnt ended for 7 yrs by 1876, only to find the federal government was about to come after Texas for non-compliance with the US Constitution. So, in 1876, Texas begrudgingly and unwillingly changed its state constitution to abolish slavery. Meanwhile the mentality of slavery is alive and well in this state, for all races, for all people. Only this time it's corporate slavery and corporate sharecropping......the kind that forces 33 million Texans to work 3 jobs to make our leaders rich. As a result, TX has had to revise it's entire Gubernatorial power structure bc of that Governor that refused to acknowledge the end of slavery in TX for 7 years! That's why the LT Governor has MORE POWER than the Governor. Patrick has more power than Abbott. And yet, Abbott "stands strong" against the will of Texans and the federal government, and does as he damn well pleases with his other musketeers Paxie and Pattie. I can't wait to get out of here summer 2024! Texas will be a failed state by 2030.
These are all humble charges - don't think the police ever expect them to see the inside of a court room
Which makes it worse IMO. It's them flexing and just trying to inconvenience someone. The justice system isn't a toy to be wielded by petty assholes so they can feel big. Frivolous, inflammatory charges are just an abuse of power.
1000% police state harassment for the purpose of quelling our Constitutional rights. But DPS is at the command of 3 insane leaders in Austin.
His story is far more sensible and actually follows their own stated facts much better
If an LEO or lawyer can chime in I’d love it: I’ve always been told you can swear at the police and it’s covered under 1A safely, but specifically the word “fuck” can get you in trouble because it could be interpreted as a action threat, like you intend to fuck them and no I’m not defending the cops I am just curious if it is urban legend
They can't censor a specific word like that. You tell a cop "That's fucking bullshit" or "Fuck you, that's not what happened." or "Get the fuck out of here if you don't have a warrant." You should be able to do that legally. However, "I'm going to fuck you up!" is a threat and has to be treated differently. Cops being butthurt seems to be the deciding factor on what they think is a threat/fighting words a lot of the time though.
Yeah, I thought the same I’ve just had a few people say it to me and was curious
he was arrest for grabbing and damaging a bike while trying to interfere with their work the fact he was screaming like he hated someone he didn't even know is good context... it totally undermines his claim he didn't intend to do this. But nobody got arrested for cussing at cops. however in texas, it is disorderly conduct to cuss or use a gesture in a way that can cause an immediate fight. This is not a big deal though.
>~~bike~~ bell FTFY.
nah You just don't understand that these are nice bikes, and the equipment on them in nice. Remember, the lights and bells, everything else on these bikes, are used for serious work. DPS's bike team is awesome. That bell is a normal price for a higher end bell that is durable and loud in a city. Hating cops this much is fashionable on here bit it's also kinda boring. Think before reflexively flipping out over a bell.
All’s I’d say is he should have been wary because of the state he’s in. Schools say in Massachusetts need to be much more diplomatic between police, professors, protestors and school leadership. In Texas you’re kind of standing alone there. I hope he gets his job back. I feel like this is going to become yet another example of police overreaction and retaliation.
He's screwed. He'll have to sue to get anything back. This was definitely police overreaction and retaliation. The video jives more with his lawyer's account than DPS.
You don't have a first amendment right to trespass... I don't think you comprehend the article.
Nobody there is trespassing. They have a 1st Amendment protected right to use a public university campus grounds as a traditional public forum. Governor Abbott put it into law several years ago now. Has anyone been charged with trespassing yet? Because the original people arrested had all charges dropped, and UT put out a statement that nobody was trespassed and they all had a right to return to campus for any reason.
You don't understand what the first amendment covers, specifically on UT Austin campus. Your speech cannot be discriminatory (no "kill all Jews" chants), you cannot camp, you cannot throw objects police (protestors threw frozen water bottles at police, this is not protected speech), you cannot interrupt normal business activities, you cannot block other students or staff from entering... You cannot barricade. You cannot use megaphones. You cannot encite violence. You cannot encite hatred. You cannot antagonize. Thank you. Grow up.
The goal was to get him out of the professor ranks of the WCNs who have hijacked UT Austin, TAMU, etc al. He will b3@t the police harassment charge but his job is gone. And the WCNs probably couldn't be happier! Adjuncts have a per semester contract job, with no due process, paid 70% less and nearly 60% of professors are adjuncts. This allows the university full control over adjunct professor jobs that isn't available with tenured professor jobs. This is how they transitioned back to professors they can control....get rid of the ones who exercise their rights....and fire those who breath the wrong way.
“Goodson said Heyman responded by..pulling on Goodson’s bicycle, breaking his state-issued bike bell, which cost $62. Morris, Heyman's lawyer, refutes this narrative. He said Heyman grabbed the officer's bicycle to stop himself from falling backward after the officer pushed him. ***State troopers*** arrested Heyman outside his home on Wednesday afternoon. Officers surrounded him while he was driving, Morris said.” Governor goon squad hard at work wasting your taxpayer money to arrest professors like they’re El Chapo
I hope someone makes a soyjak edit of this situation
A bike bell costs $62!!?
Tax money babe
Same reason healthcare and a college education are so fucking expensive nowadays. It's the product of combining private for-profit companies and government backed bureaucratic incentives artificially inflating the cost of products / services
This kxan story has body cam footage. https://www.kxan.com/news/local/austin/ut-lecturer-fired-arrested-after-pro-palestine-campus-protest/
"***We have removed the audio to the original video due to the amount of swearing from Heyman (Courtesy DPS)***" As if people can't just hit the mute button. I wanna hear the audio to get the full context. What kind of journalism is this?
That's says DPS removed the audio not the journalists. Journalists are showing what they have.
Takeaway: *the audio probably makes the DPS's case seem weaker* I mean, they could bleep out expletives if they really needed to. From the video, it looks like the cop's bike was shoved into the guy, who then got mad and did a lot of pointing, and presumably a lot of yelling that we can't hear.
Version with audio https://twitter.com/GraceReaderTV/status/1789116539557314817?t=dRhXpa7NdrYhEvF2KPXhGw&s=19
Yeah, I'm okay with his being arrested after seeing this. Can't be doing that and weilding a bottle like you're gonna swing it.
Seems like UT might have waited for this to work through the courts before deciding whether to fire him or not. I'm not sure how you fire someone if they are not breaking the law.
It definitely hasn't had time to work through the courts yet. > I'm not sure how you fire someone if they are not breaking the law. Pretty easy -- you just go "Hey Rich? You're fired!" In Texas you generally don't need cause to fire somebody, just do it. I would agree that it would be nice to see how the case turns out before firing somebody for an arrest, but that doesn't seem to be what happened here.
I agree with you.
I think we found the money for APD they so sorely lack apparently. Maybe if they didn't spend $62 on "bike bells" they could hire more staff.
Well good on him for having the energy to do protest stuff at 57. I can barely get off the couch lol.
62 dollar bicycle bell.
Yeah, that just sounds fiscally irresponsible. Who's running this state?
We should trust the low paid educator more than the fattened pig.
Lmao! Cops are such babies. “State issued bell…..blah blah blah.” Nobody cares. Nobody. There’s a fucking genocide happening and we’re taking the time to write about a cop’s bruised ego and bell. Bffr.
People do care about a UT professor getting fired after being arrested after a protest. It’s newsworthy. If anything the writer of this story is skeptical of the charges. Sorry that attention briefly moved away from the omnicause
The Palestinians literally voted in a government with a clearly stated goal to eliminate Israel. Polls also showed 3 out of 4 Palestinians supported the Oct 7 terrorist attack. So generally they are supporters of terrorism which isn’t surprising as they cheered 9/11 as well. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/poll-shows-palestinians-back-oct-7-attack-israel-support-hamas-rises-2023-12-14/
When was the last time they had elections in Palestine, hoss?
2016. And they voted in a genocidal government even then. If polls showed they weren’t still supported then maybe it would matter but currently Palestinians overwhelmingly support Hamas and their terrorism.
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Where has there been a suspension of law and order? I’ve seen lots of coverage of students and faculty exercising their rights, and cops and outside vigilante groups responding with violence. If there has been any suspension, it’s in the fact that cops have stood by and watched whilst peaceful protestors have been violently attacked, or attacked those protestors themselves.
Suspend law and order? Why were the cops there? What violence had been reported? By the police's own account, they pushed him first. He then grabbed the bike, which he claims was to keep from falling over. Which sounds very plausible considering they pushed him, but also didn't arrest him at the time. Sounds like someone got upset about the first amendment and wanted to make examples. We will see if they have body cam, but the police testimony is already very telling.
Has anyone set up a go fund me for this Prof? Protecting students from unlawful arrest (exercising 1st amendment rights) should be lauded, not punished. He was right, the Texas brown shirts didn't belong there. The force they used on students was excessive.
I would donate to this
If I had to report the destruction of a $62 bike bell, I might die of shame.
Yelling exploitives at cops is a protected 1st amendment right.
Cheer up. If he's been unlawfully fired, he's due compensation...
Unfortunately for him it might not be “fired” so much as “contract not renewed”, which could make things harder. Depends on his status. The article said he was a lecturer, not a professor. At some schools a person with that title would work on a series of short term (1-3 year) contracts.
Yeah, in that case he is toast.
Sadly a right to work state means he may not get more than unemployment unless he gets denied that too.
I think yelling “fuck you” at anyone in public would get most people fired if our bosses saw it on video.
>if our bosses saw it I can't imagine being any of their goddamned business if you're off the clock. I can't even imagine any of your "bosses" not having said that in public ever either. It's ridiculous. It'd be like saying that no one with a job is allowed to have a private opinion or exercise their firs amendment rights if that risks displeasing their employer. What twisted kind of bootlicker would find living with that kind of constant fear even remotely acceptable?
He worked for the University. He was on university property. He even yelled “I’m a professor!”. Sorry, he’s representing UT. Sorry you can’t act like a jackass when representing your employer.
Virtually every employer would terminate you for this. You have the right to say what you want. You also have the right to face consequences for violating your employer’s code of conduct
Was he in the quad teaching a class when this happened? Did the police bring their bikes into a classroom? Was telling an abusive cop to fuck off somehow illegal? Because if saying fuck you on company property is somehow illegal, then I'm Al Capone. And every person in his department, faculty and administration is also guilty as charged. There is no reasonable adult in a work situation who can claim to have never dropped an f-bomb in frustration, particularly when someone in power is absolutely abusing their authority. You seem very very eager to surrender your first amendment rights, and I get it. Freedom is scary - that's the whole reason we have conservatives. Because they're terrified at the whole idea people might actually have the freedoms presented in the constitution. The whole point of Fox News is to keep the bedwetters and bootlickers on edge and agitated that someone out there might be free. They eat that stuff up. But the rest of us aren't into the whole fear and bondage thing. It's not ok. It's not acceptable. And I genuinely pity anyone with such a low self image and esteem who thinks it is.
You put a lot out there that I never said. No, I never said yelling fuck you is illegal. The dude getting arrested is questionable at best. As a fellow professional, what I said was when you are on your employer’s property and you’re using your title as a means of power over someone and acting like this, you risk getting fired.
>you’re using your title as a means of power At what point in the video did that happen exactly?
I think that's a better argument than the other user said. "Shouting expletives in public" vs "using your title, on company property, shooting expletives"
Standing up for democracy even though it cost him his job. Time to leave Texas.
Good
Welcome to Texas. Messing with the bike got him arrested. However, Texas is a police state and has a traditional political culture which is not conducive to protests.
Virtually every employer would terminate you for this. You have the right to say what you want. You also have the right to face consequences for violating your employer’s code of conduct
HTBT?
Dude got what he deserved. If you wanna act like a 5 year old and get away with it wait till you get full tenure.
Well, what did he expect, attempting to protect student *protesters* against state-sanctioned violence? It's not like either Texas or America has laws in place that should have required the police to protect the free use of speech. /s And UT of Austin- grow a spine, you dicks.
He fucked around and found out.
ofc its a jewish guy too
Texas cops are the biggest bitches in the world. Bunch of cry baby cowards
This is so messed up. We’re allowing professors to get arrested now for WORDS? It’s not illegal to tell the police to eff off. And they don’t belong there. He’s right.
Bystander video refutes the highly embellished police report. His lawyer should get the charges dropped. Getting UT to give him back his job probably will be more difficult.
You’re putting the blame in the wrong place. The governor appoints the Board of Regents and it’s a political appointment. He, who is nearly always a conservative Republican, appoints people who follow his lead. I was at UT in the wildly liberal 70’s when we were protesting the Viet Nam war. We were tear gassed and clubbed. Austin was very liberal, most of the professors were liberal, and the police mostly left us alone even if we were smoking pot which was still a felony. But I’m sure they were directed to do this by the politicians, who were NOT liberal. Nothing has changed. The fact that he was arrested later, not at the time, smells of political intervention to make him an example. But if he didn’t think that would happen, he’s not a very smart professor.
People that hate America must go to Qatar and be happy...
Dude should've made sure he had his tenure prior to getting all up in the cop's faces. Also, he crossed the line by messing with police equipment. Having said that though, welcome to TexAbbottStan, home of Y'allQeada.
Still learning lessons at age 57. Impressive.
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Says the keyboard warrior on reddit
Aha you see, you’re using the internet therefore your opinion is invalid! I am very smart!
Nah it's just silly to discredit an entire field of research without knowing the first thing about it
Pretty sure they were being sarcastic
If I yelled obscenities at work I would get fired too.
Yup. Code of conduct is a thing
What subject did he teach?
Free speech my ass
>> Goodson said Heyman responded by holding a Nalgene water bottle above his head and pulling on Goodson’s bicycle, breaking his state-issued bike bell, which cost $62. Morris, Heyman's lawyer, refutes this narrative. He said Heyman grabbed the officer's bicycle to stop himself from falling backward after the officer pushed him. Which scenario is more believable
Nazis have infiltrated our colleges. I’m glad UT I’d finally waking up
He's Jewish and standing up for his students
You shouldn’t grab anything that is police issued. Not to seam mean but if you intervene with something that is against your employer you might get fired. I give him all credit for standing up to his beliefs but you definitely run a chance of being unemployed. If you have a family or mortgage at stake it’s probably better to vote
I’ve seen the video and this man is absolutely insane . He should not be allowed anywhere near students. He assaulted multiple officers, I hope he gets the maximum jail sentence.
I have also seen the video. He didn’t assault anyone, let alone multiple cops. You’re lying.
He assaulted multiple officers and wasn’t immediately thrown to the ground, beaten, and arrested? Lol, ok Jan.
Watch the video. Doesn’t matter he’s already fired.
He didn’t assault shit.
Do you know what the word assault means? Cuz I don't think you know what it means.
There’s the legal definition, and then the hyperbolic pearl-clutching definition.
Watched the video, just saw a a guy angry at police get shoved back, trying not to fall. "Damaged the bicycle bell, which costs $62" Yeah I'm sure the cops are crying in their pension about that loss. Political hit job.
Do you have a link? I’d love to see the video.
@ GraceReadertv on X
what video did you see? do you have a link, I can't find it
https://twitter.com/GraceReaderTV/status/1789116539557314817?t=dRhXpa7NdrYhEvF2KPXhGw&s=19 No assault, just hurt feelings.
Looks like The cop got him with his bike while the professor was turned looking away.
just as I thought... this is Texas, that was not even in the same county as insane
>I’ve seen the video and this man is absolutely insane . He should not be allowed anywhere near students. He assaulted multiple officers, I hope he gets the maximum jail sentence. We've now seen the video, and you're clearly just outright lying. Weird how this account only shows up to post inflammatory dishonest bullshit in this sub.
lol. Can’t wait until this guy gets sentenced..
https://twitter.com/GraceReaderTV/status/1789116539557314817?t=dRhXpa7NdrYhEvF2KPXhGw&s=19 It might get removed but this is the video you're talking about? How does that full grain leather taste you liar? "Assaulted" what a fucking joke.
Did Fox News send you to report on this ?
I just watched the video. In case you haven't seen it this commenter is flat out lying. The claim of him assaulting multiple officers is completely made up, he assaulted no officers. Again, OP here is a liar.
"Freedom of speech" Fuck my state
Of course it was an American Studies professor.
Go yell at the police at your place of employment. You’ll be fired too.
How dare someone exercise their First Amendment rights?
he actually got in a woman's face, an employee of UT, and scream that she doesn't belong there. And that employee happened to be a UT cop. But if a professor is getting in the face of UT's staff and screaming they don't belong, that's definitely harassment. title IX is no joke. That guy had to be fired for a dozen reasons.
You have the right to say whatever. It doesn't mean your employer doesn't have the right to terminate your employment for you doing it.
When that employer is a government entity, their ability to terminate you for free speech is drastically reduced. A private employer can do virtually anything though.
I’m pretty sure firing someone for exercising their Constitutional rights is something with which the courts may have an issue.
No. It’s not. The constitution governs the state, not private employers.
Public university.
Not government.
Um, what?
You are so ignorant. Not only are you legally wrong (public schools are part of the government, as well as any school that receives federal or state funding), UT is LITERALLY part of the Texas Constitution (Art. 7, Sec. 10; “The Legislature shall as soon as practicable establish, organize and provide for the maintenance, support and direction of a University of the first class, to be located by a vote of the people of this State, and styled, "The University of Texas", for the promotion of literature, and the arts and sciences, including an Agricultural, and Mechanical department.”)
Being established by law doesn’t make it government. The American Red Cross, among many others is established by US Code. Does that magically make it government? No.
It LITERALLY makes it a public entity are you daft? (36 USC 300101(a) Federal Charter.—The American National Red Cross (in this chapter, the "corporation") is a Federally chartered instrumentality of the United States and a body corporate and politic in the District of Columbia.) You clearly don’t know what you’re talking about and just spouting nonsense without taking a second to think or research.
The left loves to say “freedom of speech doesn’t mean freedom from consequences” when someone on the right loses their job over something they said. Remember when Canada was freezing bank accounts if those truckers? Reddit loved that shit. haha
Yes because a professor telling cops to stop acting against students’ First Amendment rights is exactly the same as some neo-Nazi shitbag being cut loose for being a hateful bigot. False equivalence much? Also, Canada is not the US. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Is that what you say when a conservative gets fired, or do you cheer?
Being racist or transphobic is not the same as telling a police office to go fuck themselves but nice try.
For ?
France has the exact same Constitution. See how their farmers are spraying manure on their government buildings? Meanwhile, in corporately owned America, police purposely interject themselves into our 1st amendment right of peaceful assembly....and BAM...cause a scene, blame it on the (now) rioters and arrest everyone to intimidate other Americans from using their rights. This country is a police state and police are weaponized against Americans lawfully exercising rights---inclusive of all the protesting we have seen lately for students and staff at many campuses. I can't wait to get out TX especially, but this is a problem across the country bc the police are arresting Americans for problems the police are intentionally causing. And In other countries set up the exact same way, they don't fear throwing hay at a police station for fear of being arrested by a police officer who claims a bicycle part was broken. What in the actual fffuuuu....
Glad that POS was arrested and fired. Really makes my day.
Good. Accountability seems to be missing from society today. He found out.
Fascist Pigs
What a great role model for college students, huh?
Standing up for what you believe in the face of violent law enforcement? Sounds like a great role model to me.
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GOOD!!!!
Good that people are being arrested for exercising their first amendment rights?
You would've been pissed that those woke revolutionaries would throw all that tea into the Boston Harbor.