Thursday, July 30th, 2009
…because I have a deadline today, and way too many browser tabs open.
D.C. man arrested for disorderly conduct for singing “I hate the police” as a (admittedly odd and juvenile) form of protesting the disorderly conduct arrest of Henry Louis Gates.
Grandstanding pols still going after Craiglist.
Brits take aim at next class of weaponry citizens can’t be trusted with: pizza cutters!
Man gets six months in jail for punching a police dog.
Philly residents caught having fun. So city bans it.
Eugene Volokh weighs in on the blogger arrested for blogging about a local undercover narcotics unit.
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on Thursday, July 30th, 2009 at 4:20 pm by Radley Balko
and is filed under General Criminal Justice, Nanny State, Police Professionalism.
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TheAgitator.com
I hate the police.
Come arrest me motherfuckers.
So the guy (a lawyer no less) was arrested for criticizing the government, police being agents of the government. I thought that only happened in police states?
“Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?”
Who do you think you are to think you can keep and bear arms? Who do you think you are to think you can be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures? Who do you think you are to think you can not be deprived of due process of law? Who do you think you are to think you have a right to assistance of counsel?
Not to mention the danger of the sharp edges on the pizza wedges.
;)
Pickle @ #3, that is so 1789!
“I have an actionable claim,” he said”
Yeah, no shit.
The arrest of this douche, err, man, was illegal, and those involved committed a crime. Almost as galling was the stupidity of the incident (and I will not apologize car calling this police action stupid…cuz it was!!!). Is it really that easy to goad a D.C. officer into an illegal arrest? That is pretty sad. And now the taxpayers will have to fork over money to this attention-starved tool because some thin-skinned whiner of a cop couldn’t deal with an obvious attempt to provoke this very response.
Grow a pair, officer.
How about the latest outrage du jour–the 4 Hollywood, Fla. cops who attempted to frame a woman for DUI after one of them rear-ended her? Spookiest part of the whole video is how casually they discussed and rehearsed it–this is clearly SOP with them.
So this guy can beat up a police dog with his hands but the police need to shoot even little dogs huh? pussies.
I am so tempted to flip off the next cop I see, or if he’s within earshot, to shout, “Fuck you, pig!”. My fear is not that I’ll be arrested, but that the cop will do nothing more than give me a disapproving look and shake his head as if to say, “What a dick“.
I honestly think it is only a matter time before the British outlaw martial arts. Then the UFC will be banned from the country.
Maybe Philly won’t be far behind.
Hey! Those Pizza Cutters are serious bizzness!
I hear the Yakuza uses them to cut off your finger(s) after you steal from them.
Chuck Norris got in a fight once with a guy that had a Pizza Cutter. Now he has to wear a beard to hide the scars.
When Giacomi Pastaoli developed the gas powered Pizza Cutter in 1986, it was immediately outlawed by an emergency meeting of the Geneva Convention. (That’s right, it was so dangerous they DUG THOSE PEOPLE UP so they could convene!)
Re: D.C. man arrested for disorderly conduct
The more they tighten their fist, the more citizens that will slip through their fingers…
Three boxes to use to defend your freedom.
In this order: Ballot, Soap, Ammo
With Acorn fraudulent voter ID’s and illegal amnesty the first one will soon be void if you oppose the government.
Soap: Any political speech is becoming “disorderly conduct” couple that with free speech zones that are becoming de rigeur near officials and they are de facto outlawing the second.
They don’t seem to understand that they are leaving the last as our only option.
@4
Hot wing sauce contains capsacin-just sayin’.
“Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?” the police officer said.
Man, I have been reading and commenting on this site for years, and I don’t think any comment better illuminates the problem with police today than that quote.
Okay, man punches dog — here’s the most interesting part from the article:
For some reason I think the lawmakers and judges in Ohio need to “calibrate better” when it comes to assigning sentences.
//Three boxes to use to defend your freedom. In this order: Ballot, Soap, Ammo//
Four boxes: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Though the jury box should actually be used to some extent in an ongoing fashion, it is also to be used as a backstop should the first two fail. Given that crooked judges have effectively undermined jury’s ability to examine aspects of a case the judge doesn’t want them to, it’s unlikely that the jury box will be much of a backstop. Nonetheless, it’s important to recognize its function in legitimate constitutional governance.
Suppose John Smith is accused of a crime, evidence of which was discovered in a search of his property. Mr. Smith claims his actions were accidental, but some witnesses of dubious credibility claim his they were deliberate; the statute Mr. Smith stands accused of violating makes no distinction between willful or accidental behavior.
Unreasonable searches are illegitimate, so if the search of Mr. Smith’s property was unreasonable the jury should not regard any evidence resulting from it in any manner unfavorable to Mr. Smith. Clearly, the reasonableness or unreasonableness of a search is a factual matter; further, it is a matter which may not always be resolvable until all the evidence in a case has been heard. Because it is a factual matter, it should be a fair subject to raise before a jury, but most judges won’t allow such things.
Further, if the defendant’s action was slightly careless but not deliberate, it may be just and proper to impose some punishment, but not to impose an overly severe one. An overly harsh sentence in such a case would be cruel and unusual, and thus illegitimate. If a jury is informed what sentence would be implied by a finding of guilt, they can determine whether the defendant’s demonstrated sufficient criminal intent to justify such a sentence. For a judge to decide whether the sentence would be “cruel and unusual” would require that the judge ascertain the credibility of the witness that claimed the defendant acted deliberately (usually deeming the jury to have found the witness credible, regardless of whether the jury actually did). Unfortunately, crooked judges often don’t allow juries to be made aware of sentencing rules, claiming such information to be “irrelevant”. The truth is that the judges know the sentences may be “cruel and unusual”, and don’t want jurors to expose them as such.
I’m not sure the jury box is going to do much good, but it’s still an avenue which should be pushed to the extent possible.
Thanks. I got the story with a minimun of googling. Next time, help a buddy out and provide a link. ;-)
What I got from that video is that the girl actually was drunk, but the officers were setting it up so that the accident was all her fault, despite one of them rear-ending her.
Maybe this link will work?
“The police officer or his canine partner are on the job and are present as a matter of duty, and so a crime against them takes on a greater harm to society than an act between two private citizens,” Yost said.
Does this mean when a cop commits a crime against a peasant from atop his state-constructed moral pedestal that his punishment should be twice that what a peasant would receive?
For others looking for the story about the Hollywood, Florida cops and the attempted framing:
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/hollywood/sfl-hollywood-cops-fake-report-b072809,0,350771.story
With bonus video of the cops talking about faking a story.
Andrew, you beat me to it! :D
Who wants to lay odds that the investigation will result in a “no department policies were violated” result?
Anyone?
Judge Bobby DeLaughter of Hinds County Circuit Court pleaded guilty to a federal obstruction of justice charge. The plea avoids a trial. Prosecutors dropped charges of conspiracy and mail fraud and recommended an 18-month sentence for Judge DeLaughter. He faces as much as 20 years in prison…He is accused of giving an unfair advantage to Richard F. Scruggs, a former lawyer, in a dispute over millions of dollars in fees from asbestos lawsuits.
Mississippi: Judge Enters Plea
Now THAT is a sucker bet. I’ll buy a lottery ticket first.
#22 | scott — “Who wants to lay odds that the investigation will result in a “no department policies were violated” result? Anyone?”
I’m actually going out on a limb on this one and will take the bet that these officers will be substantially disciplined. Would giving me 3:1 odds be sporting?
The reason why I think they will be in trouble is because, while they are State agents and were acting in the line of duty, the scheme they concocted was essentially for personal gain. I expect them to lose their jobs but face no criminal charges.
The video evidence is so damning, and the police need to make an example out of them to other officers that when you are concocting a scheme for personal gain, DON’T DO IT ON CAMERA!!!
How often do you get arrested for discussing your hatred of police with cops within earshot?
I say 80% of the time. This has to be an opportunity to set up a taped sting and get some settlement money…from taxpayers.
It ain’t gonna change until the green starts flowing.
So right on it needed repeated
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
I don’t approve of hitting dogs, even police dogs, but that is a long way from shooting them.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
I read that book again recently. Everyone needs to read it once every couple years. We could learn an awful lot from it.
#25 | “I expect them to lose their jobs but face no criminal charges.”
And before that happens, they will probably be put on paid administrative leave (paid vacation) for the months/years it will take for the very thorough investigation to complete.
All in all probably not a bad deal, considering they were committing some pretty serious crimes.
The only drawback for them could be if it puts their pensions in jeopardy, I think I read that a couple of them had been police for a long time.
Ted Rall is a moron, but I thought some of you might find this column interesting, if depressingly familiar: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ucru/20090730/cm_ucru/everyonehatesthecops
No, Ted Rall is not a moron. He’s actually pretty bright.
And he’s right, we hate cops.
The cop-civilian relationship in America needs to change.
Right now, they’re offense, we’re defense.
I don’t know how it got so stupid, but until this
changes, these stories of abuse are just going to
keep on coming. And until we force a change, we deserve it.
Yizmo Gizmo, you’re right it needs to change, but how? There media blackout on almost all of it and the public is genuinely unaware that there even is a problem. Our spineless legislators of course won’t do anything to make themselves look like they are the anti-law and order tough on crime candidate, so until perceptions change I see absolutely no hope of it ever getting better.
I don’t know…all I have is a spork, a screwdriver
and a bunch of darts. I don’t feel I have quite the manpower for a violent revolution.
I wonder if Billy Jack is still available.
Look at the Gates case to see how far we have to go with this. Seriously, wander over to any conservative blog out there and read all the various reasons that Gates deserved to be arrested for being belligerent. People come up with all kinds of reasons that he was disturbing the peace and all that. Just amazing.
Incidents like this in Hollywood, FL are seen as anomalies, just a couple of rogue cops, no big deal. They’re being punished, right?
The problems that are glossed over by this attitude are two-fold. First, they’re not really being punished properly. They committed a felony. Reading the article, one of the comments was about how this would affect their ability to perform their duties in the future. Amazing. Why would anyone even *think* that they could keep their jobs?
Second, the police aren’t taking it seriously. According to the article, “it’s being investigated”. Um, what? It takes about 5 minutes to listen to the audio, there’s no more investigation needed to charge them. Seriously.
For those who believe on being tough on crime, here’s a crime. Oddly, the TOC folks usually get all sympathetic in cases like this, where they should be the polar opposite…
Yizmo Gizmo “I don’t know…all I have is a spork, a screwdriver
and a bunch of darts. I don’t feel I have quite the manpower for a violent revolution.
I wonder if Billy Jack is still available.”
lol I don’t even have a screwdriver.
Michael Chaney Great post! Totally agree. But until the msm shines the light on it nothing will ever change.
According to the comments, the guy got 6 months for his other crimes, not for punching the dog.
“No, Ted Rall is not a moron. He’s actually pretty bright.”
I’ll grant you that for a moron, he is fairly bright.
As stupid and inane as the Today show is, I gotta give them props for reporting on stuff like this from time to time. It’s usually running in the background as I get ready for work in the morning. That is where I first heard of the Hollywood, Fla incident, the break-in in the Ohio surrogate mom’s home, and the tazering of the 72 year old granny. From time to time they’ll report on other outrages committed by the police. Wish the rest of teh MSM would do so.
Ted Rall is an establishment tool who occasionally, like a blind squirrel finding an acorn, gets something right.
He’s another one of these perpetual “if only we can get the right people in office” fantasists.
#26 #27 The green has been flowing for decades, but it doesn’t faze the cops one bit. That’s because the green comes from insurance or the taxpayers and not the cop’s pocket.
Now, if you take the cop’s homes, cars, boats, planes, bank accounts, put their kids in a cardboard refrigerator box over a steam vent and force their wives to sell snatch for food, then maybe, just maybe, the cops will get the message. Until then, bend over and pray they use Vaseline in your crack.