Judge Stays Own Ruling, Nixes Search Warrant Sought by Lampooned Wash. City to ID 'MrFuddlesticks'
A Washington judge has temporarily stayed his own ruling granting a search warrant sought by the Renton city prosecutor after a lawyer for an unidentified videographer known as “MrFuddlesticks” provided more information.
His client has done nothing criminal in creating online videos that apparently lampoon local police, and should not be subjected to a search warrant, attorney Harish Bharti tells a reporter for KIRO, a local FM radio station.
Police had sought the information to pursue a possible cyberstalking case. The videos, although they apparently don’t identify anyone by name, seemingly refer to some police internal affairs investigations, reports a KIRO television story that also links to several of the videos.
City officials declined to comment.
Audio excerpts from a couple of the videos is provided by KZOK, another local FM station.
A subsequent Seattle PI article discusses the case at length.
Additional coverage:
Reason: ” ‘The Department Does Not Like Laundry Being Aired in Public’ “
Reason: “Renton, Washington: Where Cartoons Are a Bigger Offense Than Gross Abuses of Police Power”
Updated at 6:16 p.m. to link to Seattle PI article.
