Federal authorities on Friday turned back a bus carrying protesters who were making a highly publicized effort to gain entry into the Denver Federal Center without showing identification.
Avoiding a showdown, an auxiliary Regional Transportation District bus was waiting to carry passengers who showed ID through the compound as scheduled.
The event was part of a protest ride staged by supporters of Deborah Davis, an Arvada woman who was arrested in September after she refused to show ID as the public bus she was riding in prepared to drive its regular route through the federal center.
This week, the U.S. attorney’s office in Denver announced it would not pursue two misdemeanor charges against Davis.
So the protest rally scheduled for Friday outside the federal courthouse in Denver turned into something of a victory celebration.
The case has drawn national attention as civil liberties advocates have called the identification requirement an imposition that doesn’t make a facility safer since names aren’t checked against any database.
Homeland-security officials, however, say it is a necessary layer of protection.
While pleased she wouldn’t be prosecuted, Davis said Friday the dismissal on a “technicality” fell short of a solution. A U.S. attorney’s office spokesman said the signs outside the federal center were problematic, but declined to elaborate.
By Friday, the signs had been replaced and are similar to those posted outside other federal facilities, such as the U.S. District Courthouse in Denver.
Davis vowed Friday that she would board the Route 100 bus in the future and again refuse to present identification.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or acaldwell@denverpost.com.
Post columnist David Harsanyi contributed to this report.
