> [Wondering if this is the NLG booklet he was carrying?]
>
> New York Post - March 14, 2002
>
> BUSTED EGYPTIAN PACKED 'HOW TO HANDLE COPS' GUIDE
>
> March 14, 2002 -- LANCASTER, Pa. - An Egyptian arrested for allegedly
> using a fake ID at a nightclub was held without bail after he was
> found carrying instructions on how to deal with authorities if he was
> stopped for questioning, police said yesterday.
[...]
Actually it was the ACLU card that was distributed to immigrants in the area over the last six months. At least that's what I heard from some locals connected to the County gov't.
The charges were dropped and the guy was turned over to the INS, since his Visa has expired. He applied for a green card but hadn't received it.
The ID the guy used was one of the "legal fake ids" that you can get. It wasn't an official New Jersey driver's license or state ID. In PA the licquor control board has a list of IDs that are valid for getting into bars, and the things you can get on the streets of NYC aren't in the book.
The guy was not very bright, and you can't help but feel bad for him. The Village night club is one of the biggest bars in Lancaster. The place is right out of a John Hughes film, with all the patrons stuck in some kind of weird alternate universe where it is still 1986. Most nights it is crap "booty house" dance music or a Top-40 alerna-cover band. Big events are things like an AC/DC tribute band. I admit to going to play the "drink whenever you see a mullet or acid-wash jeans" game. Anyway it is NOT the place to go if you have a questionable ID. The City police station is adjacent to the building! He wasn't "profiled" by the club - they card everyone. I mean *everyone*, no matter how old you are. Well except for almost-legal girls. But a guy, especially one not accompanying one or more women, is going to get carded, and if his ID is not legit, they will call the cops immediately. They have a zero-tolerance policy about everything - fake ids, fights, rudeness to the waitresses, etc. They routinely ban people from the club and if they can call the cops on you, they will.
The ridiculous bail escalation was the prosecutors doing some profiling, I'd say. The city is slowly coming to grips that it is a small town with big-city crime. In the last year or so the cops had a big shoot-out with some gangbangers because they decided that it would be a good idea to arrest them in the crowded business area of the city at lunch when the streets were full of civilians. The cops accidently shot two innocent bystanders; luckily both survived.
Matt
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