I’ve got to tell you, I’m glad the Greensboro PD have nothing else more important to do than charge a 78-year-old senior citizen for putting his hand on a cop’s shoulder. Must be a wonderful, crime-free place to live.

Meet Alexander Kohanowich. Alexander is a father, grandfather of six, troop supporter, and overall patriotic American. He has spent the last 5+ years traveling around Greensboro to show his support for U.S. troops serving overseas. According to a local paper, Mr. Kohanowich doesn’t say much, but can be seen holding his signs at intersections. Supporting our troops — it’s what he does.

But now Mr. Kohanowich, who is hard of hearing, faces prosecution for “misdemeanor charge of assaulting a government official”. Why? Because he placed his hand on a cop’s shoulder while standing with his signs by an Obama rally. Pops, as his grandkids call him, received permission from a motorcycle cop to stand there peacefully with his signs and pins. However, due to his hearing problems, he didn’t hear another officer tell him to move while doing an interview with a reporter.

The Greensboro News & Record takes it from here:

You wonder what the cops were thinking about this kind-eyed grandfather, holding signs, wearing a shirt emblazoned with the American flag.

Pop says he respects the police and knows he did wrong by placing his hand on the officer’s shoulder. But he worries about his country — our country — losing its humanity, its empathy, its brotherly love.

That’s Pop’s story. The cops have a different story.

Capt. Robert Flynt supervises all the special operations with Greensboro Police Department. He hadn’t heard about the OK from the motorcycle cop. But he said he heard his colleagues asked Kohanowich to move from the median at least twice. The reason: The median is part of the public road, and no one can stand there for anything.

All Kohanowich had to do, Flynt said, was move to the sidewalk on the other side of the street, with his signs, and he would’ve been fine. Kohanowich didn’t.

Flynt sees the arrest as appropriate without unnecessary force. You put your hands on an officer, you’re going to get arrested. That’s the bottom line.

So, Kohanowich became the only arrest during the event that created a busy day around the coliseum.

“I hate that it occurred,” Flynt said. “Our intention was to get through the day with everyone being safe and with us not having to arrest anyone. As long as people follow our instructions, those things (arrests) won’t occur.”

Pop will plead his case later this month in a Greensboro courtroom. Oh, he’s fine. The bruise on his right wrist — apparently from the handcuffs — is not much bigger than a pencil eraser. Ask him about it, and he’ll tell you it doesn’t hurt. Then, without speaking a word, he’ll tap his chest. That, he says, is where it’ll hurt. Forever.

You can ask a man who can’t hear well to move all day long, but that doesn’t mean he can hear you any better. And when a 78-year-old guy with his signs supporting American troops puts his hand on your shoulder, that qualifies as “misdemeanor charge of assaulting a government official”?

As Michelle Malkin writes:

Is common sense dead? Are they really going to prosecute Pop?

And the editorial writer for the News & Record is dead on:

This is just bull. You want an old man to move across the street, and he doesn’t seem to hear what you’re saying, take him by the elbow and escort him across the street.

The assault charge ought to be thrown out.

Note to Greensboro PD: Let Pops Go.

You can send a courteous message to Greensboro PD here.