Respect my authoritah!
Posted on 07/01/2007 10:34:52 AM PDT by John Semmens
Ray Miller of Bradenton, Florida is facing assault charges for pointing his finger and yelling at an off-duty sheriff’s deputy. The charges stem from a confrontation over Muscovy Ducks.
Miller’s property has been infested with these feral ducks and piles of their feces. His efforts to shoo them have been ineffective. When he and his wife observed a woman feeding the ducks they asked her to stop only to be told "I’m a police officer, I can do what I want.”
The woman was Manatee County Sheriff's Deputy Kym Bennett. She and Miller argued for a few minutes about the ducks, and about whether Deputy Bennett was trespassing on the property since she didn't live in the condos there. Miller’s wife decided to call the Bradenton Police department to ask them what they could do about the situation. When police arrived Deputy Bennett said that Miller had disrespectfully pointed his finger at her and challenged her authority. The police then promptly arrested Mr. Miller.
Al Lynch, Public Relation’s Officer for the Manatee County Sheriff's Department, explained that “absolute respect for our officers is the foundation of our efforts to maintain law and order in the county. It doesn’t matter that Deputy Bennett was trespassing on private property and engaging in activities that Mr. Miller regarded as detrimental to his interests. When a law officer identifies herself it is the citizen’s duty to respect her commands.”
Lynch said that “the fact that Deputy Bennett was not in uniform and was engaging in activities that could not be described as official business does not give Mr. Miller license to disrespect her authority.”
“Just because a person says they are a police officer doesn’t prove that they are,” Miller said in response. “She had no uniform. She didn’t show me a badge. Even if she had, she still doesn’t have the right to enter my property without official cause. Feeding these pests is not part of official police duties.”
“If police have to show their badges in order to obtain obedience, chaos will engulf this county,” Lynch countered. “If someone tells you she is a law officer you better listen up. You better not interfere with her. Mr. Miller didn’t listen and tried to interfere. Now he’ll have to face the consequences.”
read more...
http://www.azconservative.org/Semmens1.htm
I'm sure there is someone on FR "cops are always correct" brigade who will defend this.
What’s the over/under on how many posters will fail to recognize that this is satire? 50?
“..is facing assault charges for pointing his finger..”
Was it perhaps his middle finger pointing skyward?
Miller should have bought himself a Dobie dog and told it, “Don’t let a single one of them light on our property.” They don’t work nites, but they get up early and work until it’s too dark to see. Problem solved!
It’s semi-satire.
The events are true. The dialog was obtained via Vulcan mind meld.
“I’m sure there is someone on FR “cops are always correct” brigade who will defend this.”
It would be nice to know if that quote was actually accurate. This is a very one-sided story. I’m not familiar with the “cops are always right” brigade but I am very familiar with the “I believe everything I read that supports my prejudiced opinion” brigade.
For the record, she was nicer to him than I would have been. I’m not saying she should have arrested him but telling him to eff off and mind his own business would have been appropriate...and funny. :)
From the story, satire or not, he lives in a condo. Condo owners have no yard. It belongs to the association.
If the association wants to do nothing about the ducks then he can’t be harassing people feeding the ducks. If there was a “Don’t feed the ducks” sign then she was wrong.
Condo common areas are NOT public property.
The deputy was NOT there on official business. She was trespassing.
Bring felony assault charges against Miller for an incident initiated by this trespassing is an abuse of police power.
Your second could be 50/50. I don’t think the story was clear on the association’s policy on non-owners on the property, at the pond or feeding the ducks.
I totally agree with your last statement.
With that said I think Miller needs to clear up a few things with the association so the rules are spelled out. Around here most of the condos and apartments that have ponds also have signs that state “No Feeding” for the birds, mostly nonmigratory geese.
My homeowners Association has a pond inhabited by ducks.
There also are signs stating that the common areas are for the USE OF RESIDENTS and that the ducks are NOT to be fed.
This doesn’t prevent nonresidents from entering the property or feeding the ducks, but they have no legal right to do so.
I would be surprised if the property in this Florida incident did not also have similar regulations.
Perhaps Miller was rude and obnoxious in his defense of his shared right to the common property. Nevertheless, the police should not be rallying to defend the intrusion of an off-duty officer. The police should be apologizing for the intrusion and advising Miller that in the future, for his own safety, he should call the police rather than confront intruders. The police most definitely should not be making a felon out of this man. It damages the respect for the law and its agents.
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