Until a few days ago, Leigh Maibes was known to people online only as ShortStack. Maibes is one of the organizers of the Ferguson protests, but was able to maintain her pseudonym until a troll outed her.
Then the fun began. Here are a few tweets for a taste of what she got from people online:
https://twitter.com/stackizshort/status/522494240979300352
https://twitter.com/stackizshort/status/522500595790262272
https://twitter.com/MikeBsChinHair/status/522500958694035458
And then the fun really began, when a local patrol cop who knows her from the neighborhood he patrols called her boss and her broker to give them a "heads-up" about her activism with regard to Ferguson.
Don't you dare stand up to the police, little girl. They'll get you at your job and with the dude who handles your finances.
This cop ought to be suspended for this. There is absolutely no excuse for him to call anyone's boss and give them a 'heads-up,' particularly when said boss and broker are not located in the district he patrols.
This is intimidation, she told him. He played it coy, saying no, no, not intimidation at all, just 'concern' for her boss.
WTF again? And then said cop whose full name is Keith Novara said that he felt her boss ought to have a heads-up because she was tweeting 'inciteful' things and was somehow against the neighborhood ownership initiative.
Officer Novara says that he called her place of business to let the job know that they might be getting calls about her and her Twitter activity.
“Some of the tweets and some of the… things.. that I was seeing… was just.. inciteful,” he says. He adds that some of the material seems “anti-police.”
When she asks how they were inciteful, he says “well, I’m done with this conversation,” to which she responds, ”well, I’m not, because you called my job. ”
A call to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department for comment was not immediately returned.
This is so far out of line it's crooked. She's going to have to get a lawyer and it's entirely possible she will lose her job for exercising her First Amendment rights because a smartass cop with a power bent thought he had the right to invade her privacy and give a 'heads-up' to her employer.
I won't hold my breath waiting for the St. Louis PD to make this right for her, but I will give her the last word.
