Hi, Sheriff Joe Arpaio here. I know first-hand what it’s like to be the target of a District Attorney’s Office determined to prosecute police officers to satisfy a political agenda.
Today I’m reaching out to you on behalf of the National Center for Police Defense (NCPD) to tell you about Austin Police Department Sergeant Josh Blake.
Josh’s journey on this nightmare started on Friday, May 29th, 2020, when hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Austin Police Department’s Eighth Street headquarters.
Josh and dozens of other Austin Police Department officers stepped up to help control the crowd, to ensure it was peaceful, and to protect life, limb, and property.
Protesters’ energy began to swell. They started throwing rocks, frozen water bottles, fireworks, and other dangerous objects at the police. Buildings were damaged, vandalized, and looted. Vehicles belonging to the police department and innocent persons were destroyed and set on fire.
Then, on Sunday, May 31st, the crowd again focused on the police department headquarters. A mob of rioters went so far as to completely block the IH-35 highway directly in front of the headquarters. Nobody, not even those driving emergency vehicles, could get past. An important, busy interstate highway was forced to a standstill.
For the radical District Attorney José Garza, the riot was not the crime -- but the police trying to stop the riot!
D.A. Garza has now used this specific event -- firing nonlethal beanbags at people seeking to defeat the gas canisters -- to indict Josh and other officers for multiple first-degree felonies nearly two years after the fact.
That’s outrageous!
Garza has charged Josh with two counts of aggravated assault -- and Josh now faces 99 years in prison.
Is this how our country rewards brave police officers who stop dangerous mobs -- using NON-LETHAL methods? Josh is under attack from a legal system that’s been hijacked by a politically-motivated, anti-cop prosecutor.
NCPD’s work of helping law enforcement officers who are wrongly accused and railroaded by a corrupt political system is more vitally needed now than ever.
In the past, NCPD has helped Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Tulsa’s Police Officer Betty Shelby, New York Cops Anthony Federico and Hugh Barry Jr., Michigan’s Mark Bessner, and many more.
Will you help today? I urge you to please consider rushing a tax-deductible gift to NCPD in the enclosed postage-paid envelope. Gifts of $35, $50, and $100 are the backbone of NCPD’s support.
