Arrest Documentary, Parts 1 & 2

2008-05-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Justin was driving for only .3 miles in an old manual truck before Adam Brown was on his tail. Brown gets Justin to admit to drinking a beer (while shifting uphill onto a highway!), but the rumors which the arrest and Adam Brown's now infamous police report inspired are untrue. We regret that correcting the more egregious of the rumors means that Adam Brown's actions have to be questioned, and would like to express our respect for law enforcement in general.

Adam Brown's back-up crew "destroy the evidence" accidentally after Justin is handcuffed and put in the cruiser (see "Justin Good Arrest Video Uncut pt. II", available on YouTube). A photograph of the beer bottle "1/3 full" mysteriously appears in the police report, cited as evidence. The photograph has yet to be produced to the accused, although it has been requested for months.

Events of the Arrest

2008-05-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

On the night of August 29th, 2007, Justin Good swam across Lake Cockaponsett and back with his mother, Janet Cummings Good, and his friend, Jeremy Ziemann. An athlete, Justin makes this swim regularly spring through fall, using a wet-suit in the colder months. Also a well- known environmentalist running for Chester’s 1st Selectman on a forward-looking platform, Justin met his mother in the commuter parking lot off exit 6 on this early evening, to drive together to the lake. After the swim they each had a beer. Justin didn’t finish his. There are no trash receptacles at Cockaponsett and a visible sign asks that visitors bring all garbage out with them. After the swim and watching sunset for 15 minutes, Justin and his mother said goodbye to Jeremy, and Jan drove Justin to the commuter parking lot. Justin neither chugged the beer, nor littered a state park.

Out of the commuter parking lot and on the up-hill ramp to rte. 9 southbound in an old manual truck, Justin was only driving for .3 miles shifting uphill before Adam Brown was on his tail.

How much drinking and driving could Justin have done?

More importantly, why does Adam Brown handcuff and arrest Justin for an offense that is releasable on a ticket?

Unless someone is also drunk, no one gets handcuffed and arrested on a drinking and driving charge alone.

In the police video, Brown’s own footage (for which he backs up his police cruiser two times!) we can see Brown intimidate Justin through aggressive interrogation tactics into admitting he was "finishing" his beer. A remarkably honest but ambiguous reply. After this, however, Brown demands that Justin only answer "yes" or "no" to his questions. Brown needed an admission because driving with an open container is not illegal in the state of Connecticut.

As for the “naked in the car” picture that Brown paints by repeating the question over and over again in the interrogation AND in his written police report, Brown admits himself that Justin has a towel on in the truck. How could he ever (and why would he) make an assumption to the existence of a bathing suit until Justin gets out of the truck and shows him?

Shortly after Justin passes the field sobriety test, Adam Brown slips and catches himself saying Justin has a bathing suit on TWO times in his dogged repetition of the "driving with no clothes on" picture. An interrogator tries to wear down the accused in this way, but Adam Brown wears himself out instead.

Strangely, even though he goes to the trouble of arresting and handcuffing him, Adam Brown never affords Justin the opportunity to take a breathalizer once at the barracks. Simply stated, he arrests someone who is running for 1st Selectman, a fact which Brown reveals he is hyper-aware of, and this person passes the field sobriety test. Why wouldn’t Brown protect himself of suspicion in a politically charged arrest by administering a breathalizer?

Justin doesn’t produce his license at the time of the stop, and although Justin calls him by name, Adam Brown does not reciprocate. When he gets back into his police cruiser after the initial interaction, Brown reveals he knows exactly who Justin is while calling for back-up on the radio. His own footage contradicts what he writes in his police report: that the occupant of the vehicle was “later id. as Justin Good.” Given its falsity, it's an odd detail to include, and Brown didn't have to write it. Why does he?

Brown’s written report also states the accused spoke with slurred speech. The audio of Adam Brown’s own footage shows that Justin speaks clearly throughout, eloquently even, and maintains his cool. Drunk people have a hard time doing both of these things. Strangely, Brown will not go so far as to call Justin drunk in the interrogation ("Did I say you were drunk?!!"), but goes to great length to paint that picture in his written report.

Brown has years of police experience. He should know and does know a drunk person by now when he sees one. If he needs back-up for this arrest, who does he call if he has an actual situation on his hands, the whole barracks? Why is he expecting a fight anyway?

Why does Adam Brown keep calling Chester "my town"? He doesn't live here. Why does he joke that they call him "Resident" but he doesn't have a vote in his town? (See Justin Good Arrest Video Uncut pt. III) Given that Brown is about to single-handedly destroy Justin's campaign and he knows it ("This is never easy to do." See Uncut pt. II), this is an understatement or a poor joke.

The 20 minute ride to the barracks was taped with the camera zoomed in on Justin’s face, unbeknownst to Justin. They talk most of the ride, begging the question, why doesn't Brown ever read Justin his Miranda Rights?

Adam Brown’s written report also states the accused stank of alcohol. Non-verifiable. But a breathalizer would have been. Why does Brown paint the picture of Justin’s state of intoxication with non-verifiables such as smell?

Why doesn't he protect himself of suspicion in a politically charged arrest by administering a breathalizer?

Brown’s written police report description of ‘the chase” does not match the footage. (Justin Good Arrest Documentary, pt. I)
If Justin is driving so slowly, why does Adam Brown have to pass another vehicle to get to him? The car that Adam Brown passes never overtakes them.

Right before gaining the exit ramp, Justin appears slightly to the right, but he is anticipating the opening of the lane for the exit. All locals know that this part of the highway widens for the exit ramp lane. Brown regularly patrols the stretch between exit 5 & 6 and can be expected to know the highway well.

The car Adam Brown passes to get to Justin actually is over the line in the break down lane.

Brown also accuses Justin of swerving into the emergency lane on the curving exit 5 ramp. Anyone who knows this exit, can see that Justin clearly finds and maintains the middle of the road the entire length of the exit, and further, the vehicle never swerves and never even crosses over the line. Again, a police officer who constantly patrols these roads can be expected to know his terrain.

Lastly, 17 minutes into the arrest, the attending officers inform Brown that they "destroyed the evidence." Brown gets really upset and instructs the officers to search the truck for "anything this guy shouldn't have." They find nothing. Beyond the fact that in a questionable arrest this is a questionable search, why in the arrest report is a photograph of an "Old Speckled Hen" beer bottle "1/3 full" cited as evidence?

"Destroying the evidence" would amount to breaking the beer bottle or spilling the liquid out of it. In either case, evidence was fabricated and the photograph has never been produced to the victim, even though it has been requested for months. Falsifying evidence falsifies the arrest, and the search of the truck is now no longer questionable, it is illegal.

In this arrest, Brown is incompetent at best, purposively erroneous at worst. Is this the type of policing intelligence we can expect out of a Resident State Trooper?

These are just the obvious questions.

Justin Good Arrest Information

Arrest Documentary, Parts 1 & 2

Events of the Arrest