Pete Daoust
The story about the man who was killed for refusing to pay for his Seatbelt Ticket.
4/14/2013
It all started as a routine traffic stop near gallatin road in Nashville,Tn on the corner of Greenfield and Riverside Drive. Officer Jeff Brown noticed that a man driving a violet 1998 Honda Accord wasn’t wearing his seatbelt around 8:30 AM in February of 2012. The officer flashed his emergency lights and issued Jon Culter, 31, a citation for the offense. Culter, signed the ticket “under duress”, and stated that he was not hurting anyone by choosing to not wear the seat-belt and that he had a god given “free-will” to choose his own actions and that the government has no right to get involved in matters where there are no victims.
Culter fought the ticket in traffic court and went on a lengthy tirade stating that,
“If there is no victim, there is no crime. Show me whose rights I have violated and I will gladly pay them.”
The courts ignored his conjecture, and he was issued a fine of 50$ plus court costs. However, Mr.Culter, never paid the fine. After months of delinquencies and ignored notices, his license was revoked for his failure to pay the original citation. Just a few weeks after the suspension, Mr.Culter was apprehended and arrested after being pulled over for a faulty brake light on September 20th, 2012 around 8pm. When the officer learned that his license had been suspended, he informed Mr.Culter that he was being arresting. Culter cried out stating,
— I’m just picking up my daughter from a sleepover at her friend’s house, I am not hurting anyone. I have a right to travel. The taxes on my gasoline purchases pay for these roads, I have a right to use these roads.”
Culter’s story was indeed true. He was picking up his daughter from a sleepover with her classmates. Apparently she had gotten ill and called her father to pick her up. Culter’s wife was also recently diagnosed with a pulmonary disorder limiting her ability to exert physical activity, leaving Mr.Culter to take on a lead role in his family affairs.
After being processed, Culter was given a trial hearing. Upon the trial date, When the Judge asked why Mr.Culter hadn’t paid his seatbelt citation or obeyed his suspended license status, he answered,
— Because, it’s against the law to operate as a mafia. You canât just go around demanding people to pay your protection money. Just because I didn’t wear my seatbelt, doesn’t mean I owe someone money! And sure, you may have revoked that piece of plastic you call my “privilege”, however, a piece of plastic isn’t going to stop me from going to work and taking care of my daughter, I have to work, pay bills, and feed my family…I am a free man on this land and I don’t need your piece of plastic, dismiss this cause your honor….”
Judge Marsha Blackburn did not share his sentiments. He was sentenced to eleven months and twenty-nine days in the county jail. Culter, was described as an insubordinate inmate. A prison guard, who wants to remain anonymous, stated that Culter frequently had hysterical bouts of manic depression and would constantly shout,
— Why are you kidnapping me! I just want to be with my family. You sick bastards! Let me go!”
These outbursts often resulted in Mr.Culter being put in solitary confinement and was later ordered to be administered psychoactive prescription drugs to help alleviate his episodes of emotional distress. Over time, Culter’s attitude began to change. He started to attend classes, interacted with other inmates, and ceased his outbursts. Metro Nashville Judge Marsha Blackburn personally visited him while in custody and remarked on his changed attitude.
“I had heard about the antics he was pulling during his initial few weeks in lockdown. He was always yelling, and refusing to eat his meals, and would kick the bars in his cell for hours. However, after being prescribed Zoloft, we really thought he had changed into a model inmate….”
However, Culter’s docile demeanor would soon change. In late March of 2013, Culter was visited by his daugher, Angela Culter, 12, in the Davidson county jail. She informed Culter that his wife, Susan, had taken a turn for the worst, and was admitted into the hospital the previous day. His daughter also informed him that the Department of Child services had sent a notice letter requesting a meeting with Susan about placing her in adoptive care.
After hearing this news, Culter stood up and grabbed his daughter and began to proceed towards the exit. The doors leaving the visitation area were blocked by two armed guards, Terry Shavers, and Joseph Cuzniak. Both guards ordered culter to stop immediately while having their guns drawn. Terry Shavers recalled,
— He kept saying, “Let us leave”. My family needs me. My wife is sick. Y’all canât keep me locked up like an animal. I will pay your stupid extortion fees. Just let me go. My wife is gonna die, and you guys are threatening to take my baby girl away. I’m not staying here no more, man, get the hell out of the way…..”
Culter let go of his daughters hand and and ran towards the two guards knocking one down. Culter was heading towards the exit doors,however, they were locked. He began kicking the doors trying to force them open. That’s when Joseph Cuzniak grabbed Culter in a bear-hug like wrestling move. Culter was able shake Cuzniak off, while officer shavers grabbed culters daughter in an attempt to lead her away from the conflict. Culter saw that Shavers was taking his daughter away and began to run towards shavers yelling, “Please give my daughter back, she isn’t your child!” , and that’s when Officer Cuzniak shot Culter with his .40 caliber Beretta, hitting him in the base of his skull.
Culter fell to the floor laying motionless. Shavers ran to culter and flipped his body over, asking him if he knew where he was. Culter uttered, “My wife needs me, Angela needs me.” Seconds later he began to convulse, and within minutes, he died on the scene approximately at 2:35 pm Saturday afternoon with his daughter looking on.
Officer Cuzniak could not be reached for comment, however officer Shavers commented by saying,
— I don’t know who the bad guy is anymore. We were just doing our job, but then again, maybe the system is set up this way. They give officers quotas, and we have to justify our jobs. Maybe the law has become too broad and bureaucratic. I just don’t know what I am going to do now, now that I have this on my conscious. The look on his daughter’s face will forever be burned in my mind, and that scream….”
Officer Shavers began to break down in tears and requested the interview to be stopped.
It has come to the attention to our network that Culter’s wife Susan, died of heart complications monday morning around midnight on 4/15/2013. It is unsure at this point on where Culter’s daughter Angela will be placed. Culter did have a sister, however, she could not be reached for contact.
Currently, Angela Culter is in State Custody awaiting further instructions until a full investigation can be done into her family history, to make sure any remaining family members are qualified, as deemed by the state of Tennessee, to be legally qualified to take her into custody.
News channel 12 RSPCT did catch up with Culter’s next door neighbor, Ron Balicki, 83, whom weighed in on the situation,
— I think the state should be sued. He never hurt nobody. All that man did was work at his construction job day and night. Trying to take care of that sick wife. It’s all because of that damn seatbelt ticket. Jon was always talking about the constitution, and the government, he was real big on freedom and talking about politics and stuff like that…..it’s a real shame what happened, he was a good man. He always changed my oil for me and my wife, because we are so old, we canât do it ourselves.”
As of now, there is a full investigation on the matter. Both of the guards who were present during the incident are on administrative leave until further notice. No lawsuits have been filed at this point, however, investigations are still too early to determine whether or not the guards were at fault. Jon Culter’s house was searched this morning, and police discovered books on Anarchism, and constitutional essays. President Obama gave us all a grim reminder in his speech earlier today regarding the news about Jon Culter,
— It’s never a good thing when human life is ended. I am sure Jon loved his family, and his story is a complex one. However, we cannot jump to conclusions until a full investigation has taken place. It has come to my attention that Mr.Culter was some type of anti-government advocate. This is a grim reminder to us all, that those who preach about freedom, the constitution, and abolishing the government may sound like romantic heroes, but can actually turn out to be a fearsome combatant just as dangerous as any Al-Qaeda member. We cannot take anti-government statements lightly. People who subscribe to these ideologies of “extreme” freedom, are really just advocates of chaos.”
- President Obama
4/15/203
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