How NOT to torch the ass of the ruling class

There are many possible morals to the story below.

1. Don't take molotov cocktails to demonstrations. You can do just as much damage with much less incriminating tools.

2. If you take a Molotov to the demo, don't take it out of your bag and leave it laying around RIGHT IN FRONT OF A SURVEILLANCE CAMERA.

3. If you are going to carry a bomb, WEAR A DISGUISE.

4. Or best of all -- stick with nonviolent protest. Keep your powder dry. Don't strike with force until you have a killing blow. Solo bombings have never done much for a revolution. I'm not the "peace police," I just don't see why young guys always need to cast themselves as heros in the struggle, rather than doing the hard work of talking to people who disagree and constantly growing the movement. In short, once the arguments have succeeded, the "system" will be hollowed out to the point that it doesn't take Molotovs to destroy it.

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Surveillance tape points to S.F. bomb suspect
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, April 3, 2003
©2003 San Francisco Chronicle | Feedback

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/04/03/BA284285.DTL


A San Francisco State student who faces a maximum of 10 years in prison on federal charges of possessing a Molotov cocktail was arrested after police recognized him as a protester they had booked just minutes after the device was planted.

Jacob Lehman, 25, of San Francisco appeared in federal court Wednesday on charges of possessing an explosive device -- a Molotov cocktail -- found March 21 on Market Street between Third and Fourth streets, a day after 1,400 protesters were arrested.

Lehman denies the charges and was released on $200,000 bond.

"When everything comes out, it will show he has been falsely charged," said his attorney, Geoffrey Rotwein. "He's a very nice person, he's very intelligent, I just think these are false charges."

Last week, police realized that Lehman had been arrested four minutes after a surveillance tape from a business showed someone placing a device on Market Street that consisted of a wick and gasoline in a glass bottle.

Officer Robert Maddox saw Lehman on the tape, which was distributed to the media, and remembered having to chase down Lehman. Lehman repeatedly sat in front of traffic on Market Street and was arrested after he fled from Maddox and hid behind a homeless man, said San Francisco Police arson investigator Jeffrey Levin.

Maddox saw the tape and contacted investigators to tell them that the suspect he had arrested, who had refused to give his name, appeared to be the same person.

A fingerprint from the device matched a print taken when Lehman was cited as a John Doe.

San Francisco police and federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms searched the Arcata (Humboldt County) home of Lehman's parents on March 28 and an address on 10th Avenue in San Francisco the following day. They found evidence at his parents' home suggesting the making of incendiary devices.

Authorities are still searching for Lehman's alleged accomplice, a woman who accompanied him when a package containing the device was delivered. She is described as slender, white, 5 feet 8, with brown, shoulder-length hair.

E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken [at] sfchronicle.com.

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