Anonymous Activist Alex Poucher Facing 3 Years Prison for Protesting in Ferguson
Alex Poucher of STL Anonymous, came to the attention of St. Louis Police after his meeting with Frank Ancona, leader of the Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, to discuss threats made by Ancona against Anonymous and other protesters in Ferguson. At home, Alex Poucher is a 29-year-old father to a 7-year-old girl. But online and in the streets, he’s a member of Anonymous who currently has five charges pending against him in Missouri courts, including two counts of interfering with an officer, impeding traffic, refusal to disperse, and unlawful assembly. Alex Poucher has been arrested 7 times between the dates of November 19th and December 31st, and now faces up to three years in jail.
One of the letters sent to Poucher from the St. Louis County Municipal Court says he was arrested because he was “interlocking arms with other protesters to prevent police officers from moving protesters from the street to the sidewalk and to avoid arrest”. The video of this claim is below.
Poucher’s arrest was captured on video by the Associated Press and shows that he wasn’t near another protester when police reached him. He is clearly seen turning and walking toward the sidewalk, as per police instructions.
“I was targeted for being who I am and representing the collective known as Anonymous.” Alex told Revolution News.
At least one of Poucher’s arrests had a much more immediate catalyst.
Poucher was arrested on Dec. 10, 2014, with four other protesters who were watching a car that had been pulled over by a local Ferguson police officer for allegedly driving without headlights. Having grown increasingly weary of police, Poucher began to record the stop on his phone. As the officers told the group to move their car, one cop suddenly noticed something important in the back seat, according to a video of the incident viewed by Revolution News.
“Wait a minute,” he said. The officer began to question why passengers in the parked car had no seat belts on, as he held up a Guy Fawkes mask that had been laying in the back seat. “Step on out [of the vehicle].”
Realizing then who they had confronted, the officers no longer wanted to the group to leave.
“You were the ones in the parking lot, we told you to leave, but you were saying ‘F the police’ the whole time,” an officer said. “Remember that?” another chimed in. “Now you’re under arrest for trespassing.”
“Fuck the police, huh?” The arresting officer said in a mocking tone.
Poucher insists the group left the Walmart parking lot when ordered to do so by police. A letter from local courts several weeks later informed Poucher that instead of trespassing, he was being charged with refusal to disperse and unlawful assembly.
“Mister Fuck The Police, huh?” another officer said as he searched Poucher.
Later, another officer can be heard saying, “We got ‘em!”
After Poucher and the rest of his group were hauled off to jail, the police searched the car. The gas masks, megaphones, first aid kits, and tool kits—Poucher says he’s a “trained street medic,” the skills of which he used when police and protesters clashed—items that police found in the back trunk were never seen again.
“Under Missouri law, an unlawful assembly is a gathering of six or more people who agree to violate any criminal laws by force or violence. There were only five of us in the car, and none of us agreed to violate any criminal laws nor did we. And we left when asked to. We were lawfully assembled,” he also explained.
The 29-year-old self-described member of the Anonymous group is using the video footage to prove that he never broke the law or disobeyed any orders. Of his seven arrests, Poucher caught at least three on video. Now, he’s using that footage to launch a crowd-funding campaign to raise $12,000, an effort to help him fend off the charges without using a state-appointed lawyer, a system he doesn’t trust to defend him.
Poucher believes he was targeted in retaliation for #OpFerguson, a campaign in which Anonymous hacktivist’s attacked Ferguson’s municipal servers and released the names and addresses of Ferguson police officers to the public.
Poucher reached out to the American Civil Liberties Union but has been declined legal help so far. Poucher, who has raised about $2,391.00 as of publication needs all the help we can give him to reach his goal of 12,000.00 and to stand a chance against the system. More information on this story will be released when we have it.
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