"The Walter Jones SituationShare
Today at 3:52pm
Ok since it's post con, and since someone at the Huntsville Police Department was out to make a quick buck, we can post this.
Sunday morning around 4 am, after leaving a gas station (where he'd stop to ask for directions), Walter was pulled over. The reason was written as "failure to dim headlights". I'm sure we all know with the current "taking back our highways" thing that they seem to be pulling people over for anything nowadays. Walter had not had any alcohol except for one beer late in the afternoon on saturday. The cop demanded for Walter to get out of his car, tried to pin a DUI on him. He forced a very competent and alert (obviously not drunk) Walter to perform the various field sobriety tests. For those that don't know, those tests consist of testing your balance, awareness, and even a breathalyzer (which checks how much alcohol is in your system).
Walter passed all of those tests with flying colors, and yet he was still handcuffed. He was not explained anything outside of that he was being arrested for DUI. Needless to say it was bogus. I will not state my personal opinion on this cop's motive for the arrest. However I will say that it is completely wrong, and the arresting officer is being looked into for this incident.
Walter was held at jail longer than he was supposed to. An innocent man was kept in an overcrowded jail which SHOULD be filled with Huntsville's ACTUAL criminals who are still walking our streets this very second.
We are all saddened that Walter had to go through this, however he did the bail and got out. Then he was recommended to a wonderful lawyer who will be proving the actuality of this incident.
Walter is an innocent man, a responsible adult, and a good friend. I hope you will all continue to respect him and I hope that you will not allow a shady cop to ruin your memories of a fun weekend.
Now to address the issue of why we said Walter had "food poisoning" at Closing Ceremonies. The staff was prepared to tell the truth about the terrible injustice brought upon one of our beloved guests. However when I saw people filing in the closing ceremonies, i saw lots of very young kids. Whether you think I was right or wrong for this, I do not care; but I felt it was better to not state to small children such an incident. For young kids it is really hard to understand this kind of situation (especially when we're all brought up thinking cops only get bad guys and protect innocent people). The situation was too much to explain and we would have rather kept young children from thinking their hero was a "bad guy". I hope you will all respect PersaCon's decision to do so.
Everything is getting worked out for Walter, however, the internet is a powerful tool and it seems this story has spread like wildfire. What I would like to ask all of you is please repost this story/share the truth with anyone who may doubt Walter. He's a good friend and was a great guest at PersaCon. We are continuing to support him in this troubling situation and we hope you will too.
-Sincerely
Lauren Cullen and the PersaCon Staff"