Watch What You Say, Part #379

Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words might get you arrested. That's what Steven Howards discovered over the summer. According to a story in The Denver Post, Howards was in a shopping area in Beaver Creek, Colorado, and saw the Vice Prez "shaking hands and posing for photos." Seeing an opportunity he couldn't pass up, Howards approached Cheney and offered a few choice words: "I think your policies in Iraq are reprehensible." Having said his piece, he walked on. A few minutes later, he returned to the area, this time with his 8-year-old son, and was confronted by Secret Service Agent Virgil Reichle, Jr.

"He came out of the shadows," Howards said. "He didn't accuse me but asked me if I had assaulted Cheney. I said no, he grabbed me and handcuffed me behind my back in front of my son. As he led me away, I told him I can't abandon my son. He said he'd call social services."

Howards said Reichle told him he was being charged with the felony crime of assaulting the vice president.

Howards was taken to jail, where his wife bailed him out three hours later.

But a funny thing happened to those charges. The felony assault charge was downgraded to a misdemeanor harassment and then was dropped altogether.

"We filed a motion to dismiss the charge because we didn't think we could prove it beyond a reasonable doubt because we had gotten word that the vice president did not wish to prosecute Howards," [District Attorney Mark] Hurlbert said Monday. "Originally, he was going to be charged with assault because the information we got from Secret Service was that he had pushed the vice president. We learned later that it had been only verbal."

Howards filed suit against Secret Service Agent Reichle for violating his civil rights. According to The New York Times, Howards is not seeking specific damages, so it'll be hard to entice him to settle. If the Secret Service arrested Howards for no other reason than to make a point, it seems like Howards has a point to make of his own.