1 Rally Canceled, DA Warns About Threats as Ugly Weather Approaches

The counter rally scheduled to gather in support of the Tullytown Police Department was cancelled, an announcement on social media said Sunday afternoon.

“At the request of the Tullytown Police  and in the interest of everyone’s safety, we are postponing our rally that was planned for Wednesday 6 p.m. , until further notice…Please realize the safety of everyone involved, is the driving force behind this decision,”  the message said  on Support  for the Tullytown Police Facebook Page.

Tullytown officials and organizers of the Justice for Joey rally are scheduled to meet Monday morning to discuss preparations for the rally Greg Brinkley said last week.

“We plan  to hold a peaceful demonstration and want the community of Tullytown to know that” adding the issue not with residents but with the police department.”

Brinkley also said last week organizers would meet be meeting with Tullytown solicitor Michael Sellers to insure the rally scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday  is peaceful while supporters are allowed to express their constitutional rights as citizens.

Saturday morning the Tullytown Borough Police Department  posted a public information message on its Facebook page saying, “We are aware of the continued misinformation circulating and ask everyone in the interests of all concerned to remain calm and not to rush to judge the actions of the Police Department.  The Police Department has been directed not to release further information to the public until the conclusion of the investigations of the Bucks County Detectives and the F.B.I which were requested by the Chief of Police.”

Meanwhile, as  temperatures continue to plummet a Nor’easter is expected wreak havoc in the region beginning Tuesday night and into Wednesday with a downpour of rain.  The storm is expected to  arrive prior to the beginning of the first rally on Main Street in front of the Tullytown Borough Police Department on Wednesday.

In a related matter, the vitriolic exchanges between  supporters of each group and people trying to discuss the issues in a reasoned way has tamped down over the weekend, however, Bucks County District Attorney David Heckler warned that “credible” threats would be investigated by county detectives.

“We will investigate threats to citizens and officers and prosecute the people involved to the fullest extent of the law,” the Bucks County district attorney said.

Adding, ” we are monitoring the situation on social media”  but can’t take every cross exchange and consider it a threat”

“The internet,”  he said,  “is like standing on any busy corner in a major city where any jerk can say something and then disappear into the anonymity of the crowd” till the person in question decides to weigh in on some other issue.

The district attorney’s office is now investigating allegations that Tullytown Police officers abused a 14-year-old Joey Williams by tasering him as he was pursued by officers who arrested  him on retail theft charges with his 19-year-old uncle Jordan Gibson who is currently in Bucks County Jail. Williams mother, Marissa Sargent alleged officers used excessive force while executing the arrest of her son who was able to escape police custody and allegedly ran towards Route 13 traffic, which lead to police tasering Williams.

A photo posted on social shortly after Williams release from a juvenile detention center on Friday Nov 15 created a controversy as facts of the case were still unclear.

So far three questions remain to be answered

1. What’s on the Walmart Surveillance video?

2. What’s on the dash-cam  video of the Tullytown Police cruiser?

3. Where is the black BB gun that a “mystery shopper” observed being stolen that lead to the alleged retail theft?

Passions reached a fever pitch while citizens took sides and heated threatening exchanges ensued on Twitter and Facebook, including threats to police, Sargent, Williamson, and locals commenting or expressing their opinions in the “marketplace for ideas”,  the internet.