Dr. Peter Watts, a 51 year old Canadian science-fiction writer, was found, against all odds, guilty of…well, I’m not sure what. Apparently he asked why his car was being searched at the Sarnia/Huron border, which got him pummeled while still in his car. Then they ordered him out of his car, which he complied with. Then they asked him to get on the ground, and he made the mistake of asking what the problem was. Then they maced him and arrested him.
Despite his attorney completely decimating the border guards testimony (she had accused Watts of choking her amongst other things that turned out to be wholesale lies) and showing how contradictory their written and verbal accounts were, that one fateful question, “What’s the problem?” has made him a felon in the U.S.. I have no doubt he’ll never see the inside of a jail…but, then, I never thought he’d be convicted either.
Despite this shitty situation, Watts remains very classy and writes about the ordeal on his blog here.