Video From April Palestine Protest Arrests Shows UFPD Sergeant Violating Florida Statutes; Attempts Entrapment on Protester
On October 31, the UF9ForPalestine Instagram account posted a video from the April 29 University of Florida (UF) Palestine protest arrests.
The University of Florida Police Department (UFPD) arrested nine protesters after three sat in chairs.
The video UF9ForPalestine posted shows a protester asking a UFPD sergeant if “chairs are illegal?”
The sergeant in the video has been positively identified as UFPD Criminal Investigations head Sergeant Gregory Castronover.
The last four letters on Castronover’s name tag can be made out when he turns for a split second on the video, and he appears to have the same build as a picture of Castronover that was published by UFPD.
The sergeant responded to the protester’s question, “It’s abandoned property.”
The protester said, “No, that's my chair.”
The sergeant said, "Oh, that’s your chair. You’re claiming ownership of this chair?”
The protester asked, “Is it illegal to own a chair?"
The sergeant responded, “It's illegal to have one at this protest right now—yes.”
The protester asked, “What law is that?” The sergeant disengaged with him.
UFPD Sgt. attempting entrapment. (Video cred. UF9ForPalestine)
Florida Statute 777.201 prohibits entrapment by a law enforcement officer. The law states:
“A law enforcement officer, a person engaged in cooperation with a law enforcement officer, or a person acting as an agent of a law enforcement officer [perpetuates] an entrapment if, for the purpose of obtaining evidence of the commission of a crime, he or she induces or encourages and, as a direct result, causes another person to engage in conduct constituting such crime by employing methods of persuasion or inducement which create a substantial risk that such crime will be committed by a person other than one who is ready to commit it.”
Many of the UF 9 are still banned by UF and took deferred prosecution agreements in criminal court.
State Troopers proudly assisted in the arrest of the UF 9 under the direct order of Governor Ron DeSantis.
When DeSantis gave a press conference in front of protesters at UF a week after the arrests, Florida Highway Patrol Director Dave Kerner bragged about DeSantis’ authority over him and the Florida Highway Patrol’s movements.
GPD also assisted in the arrests but was quieter than Kerner and UFPD. GPD Chief Nelson Moya didn’t release any statements after the arrests.
In September, Moya was seen exiting City Hall at a protest to urge the city to divest from war profiteers. Moya left the area without paying much mind to the protesters and didn’t attempt to stop the demonstration.
At two other protests on May 27 and October 5, GPD followed Palestine protesters who took to the streets in patrol vehicles. Since May 1, there have been zero sightings and one report of a GPD officer attempting to break up a Palestine protest.
At the May 29 protest, a GPD officer in a patrol car reportedly ordered over his vehicle’s intercom for protesters to vacate the streets. The officer could not be heard due to the volume of the chants and was unsuccessful in their attempt to dissuade the crowd.
The arrest of the UF 9 and other student protesters around the United States issued a response from the Iran Ministry of Foreign Affairs in July.
Acting Iran Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Bagheri (replaced by Abbas Araghchi in August) banned former UFPD Chief Linda J. Stump-Kurnick from Iran, sanctioning her along with several police chiefs who led the arrests of student protesters around the U.S.
It isn’t entirely clear why the Iran Foreign Affairs Ministry banned Stump-Kurnick but did not ban Bart Knowles. Knowles was the Assistant Chief of UFPD in April and led the arrests of the UF 9. Since Stump-Kurnick's resignation, Knowles has been UFPD’s chief.
Knowles did not initially know the charges of one of the former UF 9 defendants when overseeing his arrest.
UFPD, GPD and State Troopers arresting protesters. (video cred. gnvinfo)
UF9ForPalestine has made a call on social media asking for students to contact UF administrators for the specific policy that bans chairs and the identities of individuals who had a hand in Florida HighWay Patrol and UFPD’s level of response.
