Last night, the Westport Police Department responded to a call that a woman inked the words “Save Gaza” on a Post Road East crosswalk near Main Street.
Temporary repairs to the crosswalk were made last night. The Highway Department completed repairs today.
A Bridgeport woman was identified, and turned herself in to Police this morning. She was issued a misdemeanor summons for criminal mischief.
The WPD says: “The Westport Police Department is committed to protecting the public’s right to exercise their constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech. Freedom of speech, however, does not include the destruction or defacement of public or private property.
“The town respects and encourages the citizenry to express their opinions regardless of point of view. However, this must be done in a peaceful manner with respect to others’ personal safety and property.”
Writing on the crosswalk yesterday.
Dis she stop at each crosswalk between Bridgeport and Westport, or only just here in Westport … I wonder, what could be the reason that this person would drive through other towns to come to Westport “express [her] opinions [and] point of view” by to vandalizing our specific streets?
I hope the authorities are not lenient with this person.
Exactly this, thank you.
Thank you WPD!
wow! I’m terrified now.
Oh? Something tells me you wouldn’t be so terrified if someone was arrested who wrote “Bring them home,” “Defeat Hamas” or some equally reasonable message.
Not a matter to be taken lightly. Slippery slopes are dangerous.
Congratulations on taking a lawful, reasonable approach to lawlessness in this situation. Now if only the rest of the country would adopt the same approach!
what would hamas do to her for writing something that they did not approve of on public property?
Clearly not the smartest way to express her views on what is happening in another part of the world.
Will probably only get a slap on the wrist for misdemeanor criminal mischief. Anything stiffer would be punishing her for her expressed political views, not for defacing a crosswalk.
Getting really tired of the save Gaza people when there are still hostages being held by these lunatics.
A chilling but likely true comment recently in the times of Israel.
The young women held hostage will likely not live to tell their story of the abuse they have frighteningly been subjected to.
These women have been subjected to horrors we pray our children never should experience.
Save the hostages is the only acceptable rhetoric right now.
Perhaps you could explain why Save the Hostages is, in your words, “the ONLY” acceptable rhetoric right now? Wanting the hostages home and safe in no way prevents someone from wanting the women and children of Gaza to be spared from the continued assault on their lives. Surely one can look on both sets of victims with compassion, yes?
when the Palestinians elect a terrorist government whose charter says to hate Jews and to kill Jews what should Israel do ? Hamas hides on dense population shielded by mosque schools family populations. Why don’t you tell us what the USA would do if Americans were burnt alive at their homes? USA woman raped and tortured in front of their children and parents Please tell us how Israel should prosecute cowards that Jose under children and in hospitals
Thanks, Richard.
Richard – The people of Gaza elected Hamas because the Palestinian Authority was ineffective and corrupt. The suggestion that they elected Hamas because of rhetoric about Jews is simply incorrect.
There is no need to address your hypothetical, because we all have the example of 9/11. What did the U.S. do? We got into two quagmires. We squandered the goodwill of the world. We passed the so-called “Patriot Act” that led to a loss of our own freedoms.
30,000 Gazan civilians are dead at this point. Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to bring hostages home. The families of hostages are expressing increasing anger because bringing back hostages has become a secondary goal. The IDF censors news coverage within Israel. Netanyahu’s actions, like ours after 9/11, are serving to alienate many of those who were sympathetic to Israel in the immediate aftermath of the 10/7 attacks, as they witness a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Mo Husseini wrote a brief piece that everyone should read:
https://mo-husseini.medium.com/50-completely-true-things-1ce672087b28
Have we had a terrorist attack on the scale of 9/11 since we went after the Al-Qaeda/the Taliban/Bin Laden? You can argue the war in Afghanistan was poorly executed, and that the war in Iraq was completely unnecessary (which it was), but it’s hard to argue against the notion that on the whole, we’ve been pretty safe and secure against international terrorism since 9/11. And I guarantee you – if we ever experience an attack on the scale of 9/11 or 10/7 again – we will go in full force against the entity attacking us, and the civilian casualties will be similar to if not larger than what Gaza is experiencing right now – regardless of who is President.
Re: 35k civilians killed – that is just factually wrong. The number of TOTAL deaths reported by HAMAS is 35k, and Israel thinks half of those are militants. If you’re going to believe Hamas’ numbers you should also believe Israel’s numbers (both are equally suspect in my view), but the truth probably lies somewhere in between.
You also seem to have an interesting twitch whereby instead of directing at least some of the blame towards Hamas for using their people as human shields, stealing aid for themselves and perversely, valuing the lives (or dead bodies) of Israeli hostages greater than their own people, you constantly point back to the Netanyahu government as the main problem. But if you followed Israeli politics, you’d know there’s actually not a ton of daylight between Netanyahu and centrist politicians like Benny Gantz. Yes, Gantz rightly wants more accountability for a post-war Gaza, but as far as executing military tactics against Hamas I don’t think his actions would look significantly different than Netanyahu’s. So I’m not sure you realize that your beef may be more with Israel’s general stance of aggressively going after terrorists that attack it (even if it unfortunately results in many civilian casualties), rather than a single politician like Netanyahu.
All that said, that article you posted is excellent, and I hope most people agree with virtually all of the 50 points as I do.
she probably did this in Westport because the town is known to have a significant Jewish population.
As long as we enforce the law across the board, which Dan’s article does indicate, this is great. The real slippery slope, though would be arresting this woman for her message, not for her vandalism.
You are right that the issue is selective enforcement of the law simply because one doesn’t like a message being spread. I note that there are few calls for enforcement of the same law when people regularly deface (aka decorate) a certain Minuteman statue in town. Would the police even respond if someone called in a report when that was being done and, if they did, would they similarly arrest the individual or individuals?
Certainly, there is real risk of selective enforcement of the law if a certain orange man is elected in November. I’m guessing few here would be on board with that.
Or when pictures of missing Israelis are posted on the RSC bridge. Was anyone arrested for that crime? Or would it only be a crime if they posted Save Gaza messages? The hypocrisy here is off the charts, though this being Westport it is not surprising.
sure and presidential candidates should post videos of a string USA Reich ? it’s ok to say in after a Natzi match there is good Natzis ?
Actually, you have a point on that. I’ve long believed that if we’re allowing Israeli flags and posters of missing Israelis on town property we should allow the same for Palestinians.
But if we’re going to talk about hypocrisy, we’d be remiss not to acknowledge the massive hypocrisy occurring on college campuses, where free speech is shut down if it’s not of the variety approved by the far left but encouraged once it turns to anti-Israel (and sometimes anti-semitic) speech and action, including just 30 miles away at Yale. The fact that some colleges are just starting to right this wrong is just barely starting to make a dent in the problem.
She’s more than welcomed to fly there and help in the aid and protection of innocent civilians while looking for the 135 hostages that are still missing.
Defacing a crosswalk and then berating a citizen for calling her out and catching her in the act of a crime solves nothing and is counterproductive to peace and capturing Hamas.
Andy
The article or WPD ported posted on their FB page does not mention “berating a citizen.…” Where did this fact come from? She was appropriately arrested for defacing public property. Can you enlighten us on this other conjecture?
Wait, wait…please explain the process by which defacing a crosswalk in Westport is counterproductive to peace in Gaza?
It may not help produce peace but just how is it counterproductive??
I wonder if she used chalk instead would it make a difference??
Keep repeating the same lies that have been proven false regarding the so called rapes, beheading children and so on. As far as Hamas you can thank Netanyahu for them as it well documented that they chose to deal with theocrats as opposed to a secular organization.
And here’s the mirror image of this incredibly stupid statement from the far right:
“Keep repeating the same lies that have been proven false around the civilian death toll and famine in Gaza. As far as Netanyahu you can thank the religious zealots on the Palestinian side that prefer to fight to the death to destroy the State of Israel to any reasonable peace treaty that recognizes Israel as a Jewish state.”
It’s comments like Mr. Meuchner’s that unfortunately embolden the extremes on both sides and virtually guarantee additional suffering by both Israelis and Palestinians.