WMRA previously reported on the arrests of two protesters on the Quicksburg I-81 overpass on Labor Day. Their accounts of the incident raised questions of whether due process was followed, and what motivated the state troopers involved. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi spoke with the local prosecutor and a retired state police officer, and filed this report.
The Labor Day incident began with about a dozen anti-Trump protesters, most of them over the age of 70, gathering on the Caverns Road bridge for a demonstration. It ended with about a dozen Virginia State Police officers arresting two of the protesters – Mike Dart and Shelley Gingerich, whom we spoke to in a previous report.
Their account of that day raises a number of red flags about the officers' conduct – Gingerich being handcuffed aggressively, the pair being kept in holding cells for multiple hours – even after a magistrate initially declined to charge them with trespassing, and Dart never getting to see a magistrate at all. Dart and Gingerich were eventually charged with three misdemeanors each – for obstruction of justice without force, trespassing, and a traffic violation.
After our last story aired, I heard back from the Shenandoah County Commonwealth's Attorney, Elizabeth Cooper. She said she would not comment on the facts of an open case, but could generally speak to the trend of bridge protests in the county. Separate from the Quicksburg protest, a larger group has gathered on the I-81 overpass up the road in Woodstock every weekend since March.
ELIZABETH COOPER: Since the demonstrations and assemblies on the bridge started, there has been a lot of concern voiced from our citizens. There's been concern about the effects that it's had on traffic in that area. There's been concern about pedestrians being able to get through, and moving the people that are assembling onto the road, or the pedestrians onto the road.
She said these gatherings would pose a public safety issue regardless of whether or not they had a political message.
COOPER: To me, it doesn't matter what group it is that is forming in that number. One of the biggest concerns has been that there's so many people. There's so many people on certain occasions.
So far, groups larger than a dozen have only assembled in Woodstock. Recent correspondence between an activist and state police leaders indicate the top brass may not have been aware of what happened in Quicksburg.
On September 9, Freeda Cathcart, the founder of Indivisible Virginia, wrote to the VSP superintendent asking him to request the protesters' charges be dropped. Superintendent Col. Matthew Hanley wrote back saying, "I assume you are referring to the protest on the Interstate 81 overpass at exit 283." That's the Woodstock location now posted with signs prohibiting "non-travel" use of the bridge, where protesters have been given warnings and citations, but not arrested.
After Dart saw that letter, he sent one of his own, detailing the Quicksburg arrests. He also asked for an internal investigation of the sergeant on the scene.
How unusual was the state police's treatment of Dart and Gingerich? I sat down at a diner with John Thomas to get his perspective. He's the former sheriff of Page County – which borders Shenandoah – and prior to that, he served in the Virginia State Police for 27 years. That's where he met Dart, who, as a probation and parole officer, would sometimes ask Thomas to accompany him if he had to go to a probationer's house and expected trouble "up in the holler."
[background music, diner chatter]
JOHN THOMAS: These are people that have contributed so much to Page County and other areas. They're educated, they're good people, they've raised good families, they've contributed so much to society, and they're not rabble rousers.
Early in his career, Thomas responded to what he calls "bad" riots – like coal miner strikes in Wytheville that turned violent. He retired as a special agent in charge.
THOMAS: In my opinion, the state police were and are the premier law enforcement agency in the state of Virginia.
When Dart first told him about the arrests, Thomas thought he was joking.
THOMAS: I feel embarrassed for the troopers that were there. I feel embarrassed for what I am sure will be the ribbing they'll get. I don't know what they'll be called, but probably, the "geriatric patrol." … It's embarrassing for me as a retired state police officer. I love this agency, but that was so far out of line of what the state police are known for.
We went over some of the stranger elements of the incident.
THOMAS: The code of Virginia requires that all misdemeanors be released on a summons. … If there is a charge to be placed, and you are not considered to be a danger to society or yourself, … by law, you're supposed to be released on a summons at the scene. … If it's determined that an arrest must be made … the next code section says you shall take them before a magistrate. … The magistrate is required to explain to them what the charge is, ask them what they have to say about it, tell them what the bond is going to be, set the bond – personal recognizance or monetary or whatever – and that, you shall do that. It doesn't say "you can if you want to."
I asked if he thought there was a political element to the arrests, since they were protesting the Trump administration.
THOMAS: I would certainly hope that that was not a contributing factor. … My politics are pretty right wing. So Mike and I don't agree on a lot of things, politically, but I certainly stand by him for his right to express his opinion under the First Amendment.
Dart and Gingerich each have arraignments scheduled in the Shenandoah County General District Court next month.
