In February, police in Claremore, Oklahoma
arrested farmer Darren Blanchard
for speaking a little too long during a community meeting about data centers. The city charged Blanchard with criminal trespass, a crime with a $200 penalty, but he’s
vowed to fight the charge
. He recently shared video of the bodycam footage for the first time with 404 Media and answered our questions about the moment cops arrested him for going over his time at a February 17 community meeting of the Claremore City Council.
The plan in February was for the City Council to listen to the concerns citizens had about a planned
data center
called
Project Mustang
. The residents of Claremore
don’t want the data center
and largely feel like the construction project was approved without their input. City officials signed non-disclosure agreements on behalf of the project’s developers and haven’t been forthcoming with details about its construction.