[The Great RJ]

Why aren’t illegal sale of single cigarettes just handled with a ticket like overtime parking? Sending a phalanx of cops to arrest a guy for selling single cigarettes seems like a total waste of police resources that could better be used to fight serious crime.

[Citizen Zed]

"Why aren’t illegal sale of single cigarettes just handled with a ticket like overtime parking? "

I suppose a person needs to volunteer who they are before a ticket can be written. I wonder how it escalated to 5 officers. Did it start with one or two officers? Did a resident or business owner make the first complaint? Was the initial complaint about cigarettes or something else? If he also had a 16 oz drink, would they have tazed him?

[RememberRonnie]

Sending a phalanx of cops to arrest a guy for selling single cigarettes seems like a total waste of police resources that could better be used to fight serious crime.

But fighting serious crime is too much like work, and, worse, one of the cops might get hurt!