Activist offers to help transient arrested
A transient arrested while trying to open the door of his own SUV said there is a silver lining to what happened to him.
Jerry Cox said he is meeting new people who care about him.
Vincent Ward Stallberg met Cox Wednesday near a Laundromat on De La Vina in Santa Barbara. Ward Stallberg described himself as an activist who wants to help prevent the same thing from happening to himself and others. Ward Stallberg said the police might try to discredit him for having a criminal record, but he said that doesn’t mean he can’t help another man.
Ward Stallberg filed a complaint the day after the arrest and he plans to help Cox file a similar complaint at the Santa Barbara Police Department and at the Federal Courthouse in Los Angeles.
He believes racial profiling led to the Taser incident and arrest last Monday.
Charges were never filed against the disabled vet, who sometimes lives in his car, but he would like an apology.
Santa Barbara police have only said they are reviewing the case.