New Zealand legal rights activist arrested in Nashville after alleged drunken run

Nashville police arrested a New Zealand legal rights advocate on Tuesday after allegedly finding him drunkenly running after a tow truck, screaming “I love that car!”

The car wasn't his.

Vincent Siemer, 56, is the man behind several controversial websites that seek to expose “corruption” of the judicial system in New Zealand. He was sentenced to six weeks in jail last year after publishing a “suppressed” court judgment on his website, according to The Dominion Post [1] in Wellington, New Zealand.

As recently as May, Siemer was ordered back to jail in New Zealand after an appeal was denied.

But on Tuesday night, Siemer was arrested by Metro police officers while running after a tow truck, loudly professing his affection for a car that he apparently had no connection to, according to a police affidavit. The truck had to stop in order to prevent Siemer from hurting himself.

Police charged him with public intoxication and disorderly conduct. Those charges were retired because Siemer was heading out of the country in a week, according to the Davidson County District Attorney’s Office. If Siemer doesn’t leave the country and is charged with another crime, his charges could be reactivated.

Siemer, whom The Dominion Post called a “bankrupt businessman,” was found guilty in the largest defamation case in British Commonwealth history in 2011. He attacked Michael Stiassny, a company chairman, on the Internet — and Stiassny and his company were awarded more than $700,000 U.S. dollars in defamation damages.

On his website, Siemer claims Stiassny obtained the verdict through “fraud and perjury.”

Siemer didn’t return a request for comment as of Thursday morning. It is unclear why Siemer was in Nashville. The mailing address on his bonding information was listed as Springfield, Mo.