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Ty Turner, a black LGBT activist and former North Carolina state Senate candidate was detained by police Monday after placing voting rights flyers on cars in a parking lot. According to Turner, he was handcuffed and driven to a parking lot where he sat in a police car for over an hour before eventually being taken to jail and then released. ThinkProgress:

“They said they would charge me for distributing literature,” Turner told ThinkProgress after he was released from jail. “I asked [the policeman] for the ordinance number [being violated], because they can’t put handcuffs on you if they cannot tell you why they’re detaining you. I said, ‘Show me where it’s illegal to do this.’ But he would not do it. The officer got mad and grabbed me. Then he told me that I was resisting arrest!”

The police took Turner to an empty parking lot after handcuffing him, rather than transporting him directly to the Mecklenburg County jail.

“They took me to three different spots other than the jail,” he told ThinkProgress. “They knew they were in the wrong.”

Though the officers told Turner he was “under arrest,” a police department spokeswoman told a local LGBT publication that he was detained, but not charged.

About 30 rally attendees marched to the Charlotte jailhouse to demand Turner’s release. The marchers included the Rev. William J. Barber II, the state NAACP president; the Rev. Kojo Nantambu, the Charlotte NAACP president; and Mecklenburg County Commissioner Pat Cotham. Turner was ultimately given a citation but was not processed. Read more.

[VIDEO] Activist Detained For Distributing Voting Rights Information  was originally published on newsone.com