Police arrest man over Facebook post (Grafton, West Virginia)

The incident

On July 12th 2023, Grafton resident Paul O'Brien made a post on Facebook, stating he wished he had an M80 firework to give a local police officer (Deputy C. MacQueen) that had set up a speed trap near his home a "heart attack", Paul also blamed the Grafton PD for the deaths of three people, including a lawyer named "Howard Ferris" who died in 2011.

This angered Deputy Cody Mayle, who visited the residence of Mr. O'Brien along with Deputy G. Ware.

Deputy Mayle alleged that he visited Mr. O'Brien to "make sure things were okay between him and Deputy MacQueen."

However, O'Brien stated that his first amendment right to freedom of speech allowed him to freely make comments like the one made on his Facebook post.

O'Brien then attempted to walk past Deputy Mayle as he was running late for work and Deputy Mayle did not have a warrant so therefore could not arrest him.

Deputy Mayle then grabbed O'Brien and arrested him under the frivolous charge of "Obstruction."

O'Brien spent two nights in jail, causing him to lose his job.

Almost 3 months later on October 3rd 2023, the charges against O'Brien were dropped, as they were admittedly frivolous.

According to the prosecutor, Paul had submitted a complaint to the Grafton PD afterwards but nothing came of it.

The initial police report.

The dismissal order.

The leaking of the body cam footage

On June 21st 2024, YouTuber "The civil rights lawyer" posted a video, showcasing the bodycam footage of the arrest of O'Brien.

As of June 27th 2024, the video has amassed 975 thousand views and can be watched here.

The response from Sheriff Terry Austin

On June 25th 2024, a meeting was held by the Taylor County commission at 9:30 AM to discuss the YouTube video.

Normally, such a topic would be discussed in an executive session, which would not be public.

Commissioner Sam Gerkin said "Because of the topic of conversation, we agreed to keep the meeting open instead of going into an executive session."

Sheriff Terry Austin claimed that the footage was edited and an investigation had already been conducted on the officers involved and that O'Brien did not want anything to happen to Deputy Mayle or Deputy Ware.

There is no evidence to back up Sheriff Austin's claims.

Further updates

As of June 27th 2024, there is no further updates to this case, however I will update this post accordingly.