Vigil Planned for Blogger Who Broadcast Standoff

A small group is planning to hold a vigil for the blogger A.F. James MacArthur, who broadcast his negotiations with police over the Internet during a standoff in Waverly earlier this month.

According to a Facebook event, a group of about 28 people currently intend to hold a vigil and press conference from 4 to 7 p.m., on Dec. 20, outside of Baltimore Central Booking and Intake.

"AF James MacArthur is an independent journalist with ‘The Baltimore Spectator.’ He was reporting on police brutality in Baltimore when he was arrested on very tenuous charges. It is evident that police, like most perpetrators of violence, don't like the spotlight to be on them," according to the Facebook event.

MacArthur, who occasionally blogged on Patch, was denied bail by a judge last week after police charged him with allegedly having a sawed off shotgun in his house where the standoff occurred.

Police initially went to arrest MacArthur at his Waverly home on Dec. 1 for allegedly violating the probation he agreed to after facing gun charges in 2009. When MacArthur refused to come to do the door, the police called in a SWAT team, ostensibly over concerns about threatening messages MacArthur posted on social media in the week leading up to the confrontation.

The standoff ended peacefully after about five hours when MacArthur surrendered to police outside his home. But MacArthur’s standoff and his use of Twitter and www.spreaker.com to broadcast his negotiations brought national attention to the incident.   

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