Laura Bush heckled during campaign speech
HAMILTON, New Jersey (CNN) -- The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq was arrested Thursday after interrupting a campaign speech by first lady Laura Bush. As police hauled her away, she shouted, "Police brutality."
Wearing a T-shirt with the message "President Bush You Killed My Son," Sue Niederer of nearby Hopewell screamed questions at the first lady as the audience tried to drown her out by chanting, "Four more years! Four more years!"
She pressed on, refused to leave and eventually police removed her from the firehouse rally.
The first lady finished her speech, praising the administration's achievements in the war on terror and the economy.
Outside, Niederer said she wanted to ask Laura Bush "Why the senators, the legislators, the congressmen, why aren't their children serving?"
She went on to blame the president for the death of her 24-year-old son, Army First Lieutenant Seth Dvorin. He was killed while trying to defuse a roadside bomb that exploded on him.
"My son was in the Army, and he was killed February third this year," she said.
As the Hamilton police and Secret Service agents surrounded her and reporters pressed her with questions, she held her ground, claiming "I had my ticket" to attend the speech by the first lady.
Police subsequently handcuffed her and she was led away to a nearby van. As she was escorted, she repeatedly shouted "Police brutality" and demanded to know her rights and the charges.
Later, she was charged with defiant trespass and released.
Since her son's death, the bereaved mother has spoken out repeatedly against the ongoing Iraq conflict. She is active in an anti-war protest group, Military Families Speak Out.
The Pittsburgh Independent Media Center reports she recently participated in demonstrations around the Republican National Convention in New York.
In March, The Toronto Star reported that she appeared outside Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. where many of the wounded soldiers are treated; Dover Air Force base where soldier remains arrive; and shouting at Secretary of State Colin Powell's motorcade after a speech at Princeton University.
Neither the Bush campaign nor the Hamilton Police would comment on the incident.
