Subject: Woman Flipped Off the Mayor, So He Had a SWAT Team Raid Her House Tue Oct 06, 2015 3:53 am
Piedmont, MO – Tina Warren has been fighting her local government over rising water bills, leaving her at odds with the town’s mayor, Bill Kirkpatrick. Warren has been running a number of campaigns against his policies, and she has even been flipping the mayor the middle finger every time she sees him.
Tina’s local activism made her a target for the local police, who pulled her over several times, reportedly demanding that she stop a petition drive that she was organizing about water bills. According to Warren, her house was also raided and searched for drugs on Kirkpatrick’s orders. Now she is filing a harassment lawsuit against the city, stating that the mayor and the local police colluded to intimidate her and prevent her activism. Warren’s feud with the city began last year when she lost water service for nearly a week and was treated rudely by Kirkpatrick when attempting to get answers about the lack of service. She later randomly had her water meter removed by the city and wasn’t given any explanation. The encounter where her water meter was removed can be seen in the video below. Tony Rothert, legal director of the ACLU of Missouri, has pointed out that the mayor was using the police to prevent Warren from speaking freely. “The mayor and police cannot use their power to intimidate individuals who communicate in ways that some may find offensive,” Rothert said. “They have been harassed repeatedly by government officials since Ms. Warren began expressing her disgust with the mayor by flipping him her middle finger,” the ACLU said in a later statement.