Olympia SDSer Arrested!

Free Forrest Student!

On Tuesday, March 18, local activist Forrest Student and member of SDS at The Evergreen State College in Olympia was targeted by Officer Perez of the Evergreen Police. Perez has a history of harassing and abusing students and other people on campus. When Perez approached him and started questioning him, the person said he had the right to have an attorney present and because of that, Perez arrested him for obstruction. Forrest continued in his refusal, demanding an attorney while in jail and at his arraignment. In response his charges were increased to misdemeanor criminal mischief. The judge refused to set bail and Forrest is still sitting in jail. He will not be released until he appears before a judge, which at the earliest will be on Friday.

Forrest has been very involved in local politics of late, participating in the Port of Olympia protests in November and being very vocal in his criticism of the conduct by the Administration on campus in the wake of the events on Feb. 14th. In the current environment of political repression on campus and elsewhere, this development proves significantly troublesome. Forrest has been held in jail and is facing charges for exercising a right protected by the Fifth Amendment, the right not to speak to law enforcement without representation.

If you would like to lend assistance to Forrest for legal matters, send check or money to:

Forrest Student
910 4th Ave. E
Olympia, WA 98506

Also, please call the Thurston County Jail and demand that Forrest Student be released as soon as possible. The number is 360 786-5510. You will be given a list of options to respond. It should take no more than a minute.
The more people call, the more the jail will get bothered and the quicker Forrest will get released. A little bit of pressure goes a long, long way.