LOL That’s nice to know.”
Anybody care to test this by walking up to the next cop they see and saying “F*** You.”
Well, here's what happened to a guy who tried giving a cop the finger... :-)
Posted on 10/16/2007 8:26:58 AM PDT by John Cena
A West Scranton woman could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 for allegedly shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet while inside her Luzerne Street home.
Dawn Herb, whose potty mouth caught the attention of an off-duty police officer, was charged with disorderly conduct recently, prompting her to fire off a letter to the editor and vow to fight the charge.
“It doesn’t make any sense. I was in my house. It’s not like I was outside or drunk,” said Ms. Herb, who resides at 924 Luzerne St. along with her four young children. “A cop can charge you with disorderly conduct for disrespecting them?”
The obscenities hit the fan when she battled her overflowing toilet around 8 p.m. Thursday, she said.
Although Ms. Herb doesn’t recall exactly what she said, she admitted that she was frustrated and let more than a few choice words fly. Unfortunately, it was near an open bathroom window.
“The toilet was overflowing and leaking down into the kitchen and I was yelling (for my daughter) to get the mop,” she said. “A guy is yelling, ‘Shut the f--- up,’ and I yelled back, ‘Mind your own business.’ ”
Her next-door neighbor, Patrick Gilman, a city police officer who was off-duty at the time, apparently had enough of Ms. Herb’s foul mouth and asked her to keep it down, police said. When Ms. Herb didn’t stop, he called the police.
Patrolman Gerald Tallo responded and charged Ms. Herb with disorderly conduct.
The citation accuses the defendant of using obscene language or gestures “with intent to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm or recklessly (creating) a risk ...”
“There was no intent to do anything,” Ms. Herb said. “I just feel so violated and irritated ... I don’t even have a criminal record.”
Efforts to reach Patrolmen Gilman and Tallo were unsuccessful.
Scranton Public Safety Director Ray Hayes said if anyone feels they were unjustly accused, they can address it before a judge.
“At the end of the day, the opinion that counts is of the magisterial judge,” he said. “It may be something open to interpretation. The officer has his own and this person had the opposite opinion.”
The use of obscene language or gestures is an offense under the state criminal code. But cursing at a police officer isn’t a punishable offense, said Mary Catherine Roper, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union based in Philadelphia.
“It cannot be the basis for a citation. You can’t prosecute somebody for swearing at a cop or a toilet,” she said. “We bring one of these cases a year and sue some police departments because they do not remember that they are not the language police.”
~Speech, spelling and grammar police~, at your service in West Scranton.
F both of those cops.
Next time, she wont answer the door...
LOL That's nice to know.
She’s lucky the gestapo police didn’t shoot her.....or her dog....this scumbag should be kicked off the force...as should most of the scumbags sworn to “protect and serve”...
They do if Dwight K. Schrute, volunteer Lackawana County Sheriff's Deputy, is on patrol...
...and in her own home, to boot! Truth be known, there’s probably more to the story about exactly how well she gets along with her cop neighbor, who called one of his buddies in to confront her after she cussed the toilet. But still, this is just ridiculous and make Scranton’s police department look both petty and stupid.
Just wait 'til Director Hayes is on the receiving end of that one...I bet his tune changes real quick.
“...But cursing at a police officer isn’t a punishable offense...”
LOL That’s nice to know.”
Anybody care to test this by walking up to the next cop they see and saying “F*** You.”
Anti-Porcelain hate speech?........
If a neighbor, who just happens to be a police office, can arrest a person for using profanity in one's own home, even when one's window is opened, the police state is here!
What a poor use of the court’s time...
In this woman’s defense, the overflowing toilet was giving her crap prior to her outburst.
It happens in MI. foul language in front of a woman is a crime here.
In a country where one can get seven years in the slam for criticizing homos, not much makes sense anymore.
Complaints like this from ordinary citizens are--and probably should be--promptly ignored. But anything a fellow LEO wants, he usually gets.
Probably not a good idea. I've also determined that avoiding a speeding ticket by asking the cop: "What's the matter, is Dunkin Donuts closed?" is not a good idea, either.
Yeah, but was it a white or colored toilet?
A koran might have been in it as well...
It was the neighbor cop who yelled “Shut the F*** Up!!”??
Why shouldn’t he be charged with disorderly conduct?
Colored?...........You RACIST!!!..................../s
Seems the guy (the off-duty policeman) should face charges too.
I caught that too, I guess some pigs are more equal than others.
It's not illegal, but it's very annoying. To me, it is like those people who pull up alongside you with those horrible loud stereos playing horrid music and have their windows rolled down .. its their right to free speech. Or ugly old men who parade naked in the parks, because it is their right to free speech. Or people who stand at an open window and shout beligerant curses for you and your family to hear, because it is their right to free speech.
Forcing people to listen to your stereo music is unreasonable. Nobody takes their children to the park to subject them to the view of a fat, ugly, naked old men. Thats unreasonable. And if you want to cuss, don't force me to listen to it. I don't think children should be FORCED to listen to a filthy mouth. It's unreasonable.
I'm sorry .. but your rights end where mine begin.
I think everyone in this town should call the police when their toilet backs up from now on. They apparently have protocol and training that more qualifies them than the average citizen.
The NYT gave a discount to a group calling an active General a traitor, and this woman gets arrested four hurling four letter names at her toilet. America turned upside down.
She’d better be careful not to invite her husband to have sex with her in the bedroom if he’s in the bathroom when she propositions him.
I better go into hiding now.
Really though, it’s so funny because when something like this happens, cursing isn’t gonna make that toilet stop the turds in the river flowing into your kitchen. She should really be cursing the 3 gallon toilets and the stupid laws that preCURSED them, or just give herself a curtesy flush. (That’s what I do-I don’t pretend that mine don’t stink :) !!!!!!!!!!!!
She was cursing at a low-flush toilet. That is a hate crime against Gaia and the environment. A very, very serious state matter.
Apparently free speech is as alive in Scranton as it is on FR.
Anybody care to test this by walking up to the next cop they see and saying “F*** You.”
I saw a YouTube clip of someone who did that on a dare. Ran up to the cop, gave him a double rigid-digit and shouted something to that effect, "Pig".
The result wasn't pretty.
What kind of idiot would do that to ANYONE, and not expect some kind of response?
Note to self: Do not curse toilets when in Europe.........
Take it to court. When the judge hears it, he or she will throw it out.
Where it belongs
What was that silly joke about the guy standing outside a public toilet thinking his wife was still inside, saying, “you’re a peein?” A gruff voice answers, “no, American!!!”
What part of no violence posts do you not understand?
Not a ping.
A good attorney should be able to help her sue the cop and the city and to file civil rights criminal charges and civil complaints. That’s just for starters...
.
In his memoirs, MLB umpire Ron Luciano mentioned that whenever a manager argued a call with him he would walk towards the stands because “profanity audible to spectators” is grounds for throwing them out of the game.
She should claim she has Tourette’s Syndrome, and sue her neighbor and the police department.
What would her friendly cop next door do if she was watching a DVD that was laced with profanities? Arrest her,the TV or the DVD?? This bozo cop thinks he has more rights as a citizen than you or me.
Me too. Plus...an overflowing toilet is CERTAIN to cause profanity to issue forth...how else are you supposed to warn everyone in the floors below???
Well, here's what happened to a guy who tried giving a cop the finger... :-)
Well, here's what happened to a guy who tried giving a cop the finger... :-)
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