Jason Smathers, who runs the Witness Unto Me blog, has finally received copies of the arrest records and other documentation he requested at the end of June relating to the Dearborn Arab International Festival and the arrest of the Acts 17 Apologetics team. While very little of the information is new, the documentary evidence is appreciated for proving which side of the story is more reliable and trustworthy (when compared against what the camera recorded). What is essentially ‘new’ to the ongoing story are the unedited statements from the Dearborn police regarding (a) the circumstances surrounding the arrest, (b) the original “criminal complaint” from Roger Williams, and (c) the testimony of Amal Alslami, who supported Williams and his complaint. The other documents included, e.g., Food Booth Rules & Regulations, are interesting for the insanely curious but otherwise contain little of probative value to the case. Smathers requested all such documents primarily because he wanted to know what the rules and policies for the festival were (that Acts 17 Apologetics was supposed to know).

Click here to see Smathers’ blog entry, and here for the PDF document collection. Below is a breakdown of what information the various pages contain.

  • pp. 1-5: Open letter from Mayor John B. O’Reilly Jr. This is a copy of the letter that O’Reilly had published previously, “Please consider the following before condemning us,” which Qureshi had responded to (and so did Mary Jo Sharp from Confident Christianity).
  • pp. 6-9: Police mugshots of Nabeel Qureshi and David Wood. When it comes to the facts of the case, these are of no value; and the quality is so bad the images are barely discernible.
  • pp. 10-25: Arrest report entered by Officer Brian Kapanowski (19 June 2010, 2:39 AM) detailing the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the arrest of Acts 17 Apologetics from the perspective of the police involved, plus a list of the video equipment seized.
  • pp. 26-28: A follow-up report entered by Officer Michael Sabo (22 June 2010, 2:16 PM), describing further details of the events leading up to and surrounding the arrest of Acts 17 Apologetics from the perspective of the police involved.
  • pp. 29-32: Food Booth Rules & Regulations for the Arab International Festival.
  • pp. 33-36: A description of the businesses, ministries, and sponsors participating at the festival and the tents and booths they occupied.
  • pp. 37-39: Emergency (Evacuation) Plan for the Arab International Festival.
  • pp. 40-41: American Arab Chamber of Commerce letter written to the Dearborn City Council for approval of the Arab International Festival; includes the dates of the festival and the public streets it would occupy.
  • pp. 42-43: Special Events Application and Request Form.
  • pp. 44-46: Proposal for the Arab International Festival, from the American Arab Chamber of Commerce, detailing the dates, times, locations, and responsibilities required for the festival.

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