School Board President Arrested for Lewd Behavior at Splash Pad

Fred Koss is a man who truly and deeply believes his own bullshit.  I hope they checked his wife's immigration status from Stepford, too.

Fred's narrative is classic.  And it's so refreshing to see it fail 100% this time.  Officer Beckett pounced on this from a dizzying height and sealed the deal.  This was such an enormously satisfying arrest that I transcribed it with notes below.  Beckett made me so happy as a survivor with the way he handled this, I'm sending him some donuts IRL. 

Also Fred is the actual poster child of rape culture.  He's shocked that he didn't get away with it.  The wrist slap that he got won't convince him that he did anything wrong.  And, like the two ding-dongs parked in the wheelchair spot while they have warrants who flip out when videotaped, Fred mistakenly believes he has a right to privacy while breaking the law in public.

The facts, from WCIA:
"CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — The president of the Unity School Board in Tolono has been charged with a public indecency misdemeanor after he was arrested on Tuesday.

Champaign County State’s Attorney Julia Reitz said that 70-year-old Frederick Koss of Pesotum was in his car at Hessel Park when a trained sexual assault nurse allegedly saw him touching himself while looking at the splash pad. She got out of her car, approached him in his car to confront him and took photos of him. She also recorded his license plate and contacted police."

According to The Edgar County Watchdog, Koss resigned from the school board, pled guilty to public indecency and lewd exposure, a Class A misdemeanor, and got $1,440 in fines and a year of probation.

TRANSCRIPT OF ARREST

Officer Beckett:         I’m Officer Beckett.  I work for the City of Champaign Police Department. 
Fred:   Hi.
Officer Beckett:         I know you have a concealed carry permit.  You don’t have any guns on you right now, do you?
Fred:   No.
Officer Beckett:         Okay.  I’m gonna be 100% honest with you, so I’ll ask you to be 100% honest with me, okay?  I’ve got something to ask you.  I already know the answer, okay?  You are not free to leave. So I’m gonna read you your rights, okay right now?  [Reads Miranda.]  So you were at Hessel Park in Champaign within the last couple of hours, correct?
Fred:   Yeah.

[Okay.  I'm going to break in just to point out the stellar job that Beckett did here.

• All of this happened within a couple of hours of the 911 call about someone wanking at the splash pad, and he's taking this over from another officer from a different jurisdiction.
  
• The 911 dispatcher called Beckett.  Beckett had to leave wherever he was and go to the splash pad.  He then talked to the complainant, the lady who screamed, "I know you, I know who you are!" at Fred, causing him to flee.  Reviewed the lady's cell phone video. 
  
• Beckett then had to look up Fred's plate, find out who he was.  Found out he has a concealed carry license.  Ran him for warrants.  Got his address. 
  
• Called somebody from the splash pad to get and review the video.  All of that takes time.
  
• Sent somebody over to his house to detain him while he investigated.  Within an hour and a half Fred's in his car?  Beckett wasn't fucking around.  He contacted 20 people and did all the things, and got Fred to admit everything by being very empathetic and low-key.
  
• Meanwhile, in that very small-town environment, he didn't tip off the personal friend of Fred's what it was about when he was sent over to detain him ;) ]
  

Officer Beckett:         Can you explain to me what you were doing there?  And keep in mind I have photos and videos.
Fred:   Well, I stopped there.  I used my cell phone looking for messages.  I opened up my pants.  I readjusted myself and so forth because I was hot and sweaty.
Officer Beckett:         Mm-hm.
Fred:   Uh, I sat there for a little bit.  A car pulled in beside me.  And I was finishing that up.  Somebody pulled in next to me.  The next thing I knew, some lady came around yelling and screaming.  “I know you!  I know who you are!”  Something like that, and taking pictures, and all that kind of stuff.
Officer Beckett:         Remember I asked you to be 100% honest with me, and I told you I have pictures and video?
Fred:   Yeah.
Officer Beckett:         Why were you masturbating in your vehicle?
Fred:   What’s, what’s wrong with that?
Officer Beckett:         Well, No. 1, you’re in a public place.  No. 2, the only thing in front of your car was a bunch of children on a splash pad.  So you were masturbating?
Fred:   I suppose you could call it that. 
Officer Beckett:         I could call it that?  Or you were?
Fred:   I don’t know what you’d call [inaudible]
Officer Beckett:         Why would you have your – adjusting yourself.
Fred:   Every guy does that from time to time.
Officer Beckett:         Why would you adjust yourself at the splash pad?
Fred:   Well, that’s just normal for me.
Officer Beckett:         Well, sir, you were in a public place.  Put your hands behind your back.  You’re under arrest for indecent exposure.  It is a misdemeanor.
Fred:   You’ve got to be kidding me.
Officer Beckett:         I’m not kidding you.  It is a misdemeanor.
[Other stuff]
Fred:   God dammit.  Good gosh. 
[It is, after all, the Midwest.  You can jerk one at the splash pad, sure.  But you wouldn't blaspheme twice in a row.]
[Other stuff]]
Officer Beckett:         So, man to man, you understand why you’re here, right?
Fred:   Well –
Officer Beckett:         You understand why that’s inappropriate at a, at a park?
Fred:   Yeah, I picked the wrong spot to stop.  I realize that.
Officer Beckett:         Okay.
Fred:   And I was not looking at any kid.
Officer Beckett:         Okay.  You gotta understand.  That’s what’s directly in front of you at that splash pad there.  It’s full of kids.  And when people see what’s going on there, that is the first thing is gonna come to anybody’s mind. 
Fred:   Is it right for somebody to be looking in my window?
Officer Beckett:         When you’re in public view, you’re open to recording, on sight, anything light that.  If you’re in public, you can be recorded, filmed, photographed all day long.  Just like you are when you go to stores, when you’re on buses, when you’re anywhere anymore.  People walk up to us all the time and record.  And they can, because we’re in public.  And if your vehicle, there’s a thing called “the plain-view exception.”  It even works for law enforcement.  A car’s parked in public.  I can stand there and look in the windows all day long, as long as I don’t enter that vehicle.
Fred:   Okay.  I didn’t know.
Officer Beckett:         Yeah.  And you gotta understand, this has happened at that park quite a few times in the past.
Fred:   Not me.
Officer Beckett:         I didn’t say that.  But it has happened in the past there several times.  Why would you stop there to masturbate?
Fred:   I stopped there to use my phone.  And then I opened my pants because my shorts were pulled up tight.  I pulled them down.  I had video on my phone.  I looked at the video.  It made me feel like I wanted to try to get erect, which I basically don’t.  [Remember above when he said he was checking messages?]  So and then about that time’s when this – I don't know.  I know it was a woman’s voice started yelling and screaming, “I know you!  I know you!”
Officer Beckett:         Okay.  [To other personnel] Thanks for coming out.  It was hot. [To Fred]  So I’m gonna go in with you.  We put those on in front of you because it was hot and sweaty.  He should have family coming to bond him out.