Initially reported on Boing Boing, Biologist Dr. Peter Watts, also a highly respected speculative fiction author, was beaten, pepper sprayed, and charged with assaulting a federal officer while returning to Canada (he's a Canadian citizen) from helping a friend move in the U.S.
His car, computer, winter coat, and other belongings were confiscated. He was tossed wet into a holding cell for three hours and kept in a cold jail overnight, at which point he was released without his coat into a snowstorm and instructed to find his own way home to Toronto.
Those who know Watts know him as a gentle (but sarcastic) man who certainly wouldn't have started a fight or any physical altercation.
References:
Boing Boing entry: http://www.boingboing.net/...
His Blog: http://www.rifters.com/...
If events transpired anything like the victim's account--and I realize we only have one side of this story (but, honestly, what could the other side be that would justify this treatment?)--it is a national shame. I have written my representative.