Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Posted on 03/14/2006 4:16:00 PM PST by Ellesu
A Lawrence County man has filed a federal lawsuit against a police officer who wrote him a ticket for directing an offensive gesture toward a road construction worker.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported that Thomas Burns was driving on Brodhead Road in Center Township, Beaver County, last April when he and other drivers had to stop in a construction zone.
Burns became frustrated after waiting in traffic, then raised his middle finger to construction workers.
An officer pulled Burns over and cited him with obscene disorderly conduct.
The charge was dropped in October after the police officer and witnesses didn't show up for court.
Burns said the charge never should have been issued in the first place. He thinks the officer violated his constitutional right to free speech.
It would be fun to get a bunch of people to follow this guy around all the time and give him the finger. See how long it takes him to flip out.
Let it go man, let it go.
Okay, so exactly how did this guy suffer? Did he lose time from work? Did he become disabled or die? Boo-friggin-hoo!
This has an ACLU smell to it.
He had to show up in court, which is more than the cop did. That can be a lost day right there.
He'd probably use it for something, like a coathook, maybe. Imagine: you give him a finger - and he hangs a dirty baseball cap on it.
So how was the guy wronged? Did they tape down his middle finger? What a wuss.
I'll bet the guy didn't flip them off until the traffic started moving. Flipping off construction workers can be hazardous to your health.
The officer and the municipality employing him should be financially responsible for any inconvienience caused in this instance. If there was a law broken the officer should have shown up in court and the offender should be prosecuted. Otherwise this is just a case of an officer giving someone a bad time because he can get away with it.
Imagine how many of those would be written in Philly. Hell, the Blue Route and the Shore-kill ALONE might put a sizeable dent in the Federal deficit!
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here
Let's assume he spent a half day in court. Since there are no details regarding the lawsuit amount, should I assume that he is suing for a half day's wages? If he is suing for anything other than the time missed from work, that will put him in the "girly-man" category.
Sad to see America become a police state!
That would be great, all of us could then go the ACLU offices and give them the finger all day long and they couldn't do a damn thing about it.
Oh wait, libs and the ACLU are hypocrites..."Free speech for me, but not for thee"
It really looks like the cop got sense later and let the matter drop while this mope with the active digit found a lawyer with too much time on his/her hands. It really sounds like a lawyer-state issue to me.
This officer didn't even charge him with a thought crime (probably let him off with a warning), and this is the thanks he gets from this commie troublemaker?
"Peace Officers don't get to pick and choose what laws to enforce."
They don't?
Gee, then I hope they arrest themselves for their March Madness football pools (illegal gambling) and issue tickets to everyone's house or business they visit that has such a pool.
I also hope that they stop and issue tickets to every jaywalker they see, and stop everyone going 1 mph over the speed limit.
Peace officers have broad, broad discretion as to what to enforce and what to let go. If they didn't, and if they didn't use it, the laws would have been changed long ago.
After having spent 12 years going to Beaver County to visit my former in-laws, I don't blame this guy a bit. Western PA is one of the armpits of America.
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