Legal Schnauzer publisher Roger Shuler was the victim of police brutality when he was unlawfully arrested because of a lawsuit filed by Republican political figure Rob Riley. Shuler was returning home from a visit to the North Shelby Library and a brief stop for dinner when a Shelby County police car almost crashed into him in his driveway at roughly 5:45 p.m. on Oct. 23. Deputy Chris Blevins apparently was trying to keep Shuler from entering his own garage and almost hit the Shuler vehicle and their house. Shuler had the garage door open and a free entry into the garage so he drove in and that's when the brutality started.
Blevins entered the Shuler garage which is underneath their house even though the deputy did not show a search warrant or an arrest warrant of any kind. Blevins then proceeded to brutalize Shuler knocking him to the floor three times and spraying mace in his face and eventually pressed resisting arrest charges against Shuler even though there is no evidence that Shuler initiated contact with Blevins at all.
"If a regular citizen had done to me what Chris Blevins did, the individual would be facing multiple counts of felony assault," Shuler said. "This is simple police brutality that I experienced and it's one of the most godawful experiences of my life. I've never been beaten like this. It left me with at least 10-12 cuts, abrasions and bruises on my arms, legs, torso and back. And according to Deputy Blevin's own incident report, he did not show a warrant. He claims he told me he had a warrant, but he didn't. That is a lie. He did not tell me that. And he initiated contact with me and I made no effort to turn away from him or to flee in any way. This is a scene right out of Hitler's Nazi Germany, but it happened right in our garage."
According to Blevins incident report, he knocked Shuler to the ground three times onto a concrete floor, he sprayed mace on him, and all without showing a warrant to Shuler. "Why would an officer of the law not show a warrant if he had one?" Shuler said. "I strongly suspect Chris Blevins didn't even have a warrant. But even if he did, he didn't show it and had no grounds to come in my home. In addition to that, the court had no jurisdiction over me and still doesn't, because we never have been lawfully served because of a bogus traffic stop that Officer Mike DeHart conducted at the North Shelby County Library which we've reported on the blog. So essentially I'm sitting here in jail for over nine weeks now by orders of a court that has no jurisdiction on me and I'm also the victim of police brutality."
"My case has received extensive national and international coverage. It's been reported by Al Jazeera, by al.com, by AlterNet, by many, many news sites on the internet, but very little has been written about the police brutality component of it--what happened during my arrest. I easily could have a concussion or a skull fracture from what was done to me and to say that I'm bitter and unhappy and enraged that this was allowed to happen in our country and nothing's been done about it would be an understatement. I strongly suggest that American citizens take notice of what has become a growing police state in our country, particularly here in the Deep South. Officers apparently think they don't have to have warrants or they don't have to show warrants. They just come inside your home and this form of police brutality was practiced on me," Shuler said.
Matt Osborne of Osborne Ink wrote an article for his blog on Oct. 31 featuring extensive photos and video of the crime scene inside the garage where Shuler was assaulted, beaten, maced and unlawfully arrested by Shelby County sheriff deputies. Here is the link to Osborne's blog post: Exclusive Roger Shuler Arrest Scene Photos.