Prosecutors drop sign-burning case

ANCHORAGE (AP) -- Prosecutors have dropped charges against a man who stood on a sidewalk last month and burned a Murkowski-for-governor campaign sign.

Patrick Blomquist, 26, had been charged by police with criminally negligent burning, a misdemeanor that carries a jail term of up to a year and a fine of up to $5,000.

Heidi Peters, a spokeswoman for the district attorney, said the case was dropped for ''discretionary reasons.''

Blomquist filed a complaint with the Anchorage Police Department, saying that the officer who arrested him used unnecessary roughness and made an offensive remark. The department has been conducting a routine internal review, a spokesman said Wednesday.

The Alaska Civil Liberties Union also is investigating.

On Oct. 14, Blomquist stood on a sidewalk holding the small campaign sign as it burned.

Someone called police, and an officer in plain clothes showed up in a patrol car. The officer forced Blomquist to the ground, twisting and cuffing his hands behind him, Blomquist said.

Blomquist, reached in Steamboat Springs, Colo., where he is traveling, said the district attorney's decision made him feel vindicated but that it only made the incident more troublesome.

''I'm not a police officer, and I can't say what's appropriate or not appropriate to do, but I know he crossed the line,'' Blomquist said.