Science fiction writer Peter Watts tussles with U.S. customs agents, faces charges

Last Tuesday, Hugo Award-nominated Canadian author Peter Watts was returning home from a trip to Nebraska when he encountered U.S. customs agents at the border between Michigan and Ontario. His rental car was stopped, and then something happened -- Watts says he was pepper-sprayed and attacked, while agents say he became aggressive. Watts was arrested and charged with assault.

Turns out that even a former marine biologist turned science fiction writer can have friends in the right places. Cory Doctorow, who writes science fiction in addition to contributing to BoingBoing, and science fiction writer John Scalzi, who maintains the popular blog Whatever, blogged about Watts' troubles, encouraging people to contribute to Watts' legal defense fund.

Canadian publishing magazine Quill & Quire notes that Doctorow is not the only one in Watts' corner. Toronto bookstore Bakka-Phoenix is not only accepting contributions on the author's behalf, it's selling out of his books. And author David Nickle was integral to spreading the word and bailing Watts out of jail.

The Toronto Star spoke to Watts about the incident. "Watts is overwhelmed by the online donations," the newspaper reports, "and jokes that while most people must be supportive, 'it's quite possible that some people think I'm a ... jerk, but they hate homeland security more.'" Watts, who has engaged a lawyer, has posted a genre-appropriate response to the incident on his website:

If you buy into the Many Worlds Interpretation of quantum physics, there must be a parallel universe in which I crossed the US/Canada border without incident last Tuesday. In some other dimension, I was not waved over by a cluster of border guards who swarmed my car like army ants for no apparent reason; or perhaps they did, and I simply kept my eyes downcast and refrained from asking questions.

Along some other timeline, I did not get out of the car to ask what was going on. I did not repeat that question when refused an answer and told to get back into the vehicle. In that other timeline I was not punched in the face, pepper-sprayed. ... I was not left without my jacket in the face of Ontario’s first winter storm, after all buses and intercity shuttles had shut down for the night.

In some other universe I am warm and content and not looking at spending two years in jail for the crime of having been punched in the face.

But that is not this universe.

As for this universe, it appears Watts may face felony charges, imprisonment, fines of up to $2,000 and a possible ban from the U.S. He's due in court on Dec. 22.

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo: Peter Watts. Credit: Dan Brooks

Comments

[JMG8]

This is a fascinating little story, not because of what Watts claims happened to him but because of what it reveals about him and his claque.

Watts was stopped by a random exit check at the border. He stormed out of his car, argued with the police, refused an order to return to his car, and then resisted arrest. Once his friends bailed him out, he organized an online protest of his oppression, complete with the usual ridicule of law enforcement.

It's been interesting to read the blogs of Watts and his friends. They argue that hard-edged law enforcement is fine on the Mexican border, but not on the Canadian border. They seem to think that being a white Canadian writer, and the holder of the doctorate, confers an exemption from common sense, civility, and compliance with reasonable directives by police.

Watts has ignored the reality that the Canadian border is a major drug transshipment route. He laughs at his being screened as a potential terrorist, ignoring that it was exactly such screening at the U.S.-Canada border between British Columbia and Washington State that prevented terrorists from carrying out a planned attack in L.A.'s millennium celebrations.

There are millions of border crossings each year. Peter Watts is not entitled to make his own rules when he approaches the border. He must wait his turn like mere mortals, and allow his vehicle to be searched, and answer whatever questions are put to him by border agents.

If he provokes an incident, he can expect to be arrested just like like anyone else. There is no Canadian sci-fi author exemption at the border, Mr. Watts. Grow up, and tell your friends to do the same.

[mike weber]

This is, how you say, domestic-bird droppings.

I will guarantee that there is video footage of the incident, and it might be interesting to see who it supports.

I am inclined to suspect that the Customs agents were at fault - some still exhibit the arrogance of the Bush years, and all are under fairly high stress given the magnitude of the job they were handed by the Shrub and his Merry Morons.

OTOH, sometimes even cops and Federal Agents tell the truth.

[Dr. John Gopal]

JMG8 has been seen on several websites trying to putdown (read belittle) Dr. Peter watts with a astounding amount of enthusiasm.
It is fairly obvious that JMG8 is one of the CBP guards in question trying to get out of the “hole”, which is by now the size of a moon crater.
Good luck at the court, JMG8.

[Alex von Thorn]

Doesn't matter if someone is American, Canadian, Mexican, or whatever. There is no reason for police to beat an unarmed civilian who isn't breaking any law. Even the police statement offers nothing but subjective comments that only reflect the attitude of the police. The claim that Mr. Watts initiated a violent confrontation against half a dozen armed officers is inherently ridiculous. The police were clearly never at risk and had no reason for such an extreme response. Filing charges is just an attempt to cover up the incompetence of the officers involved. This kind of abuse creates a negative impression of the United States that has a negative efffect on tourism that costs thousands of American jobs.