Posted on 12/30/2008 4:48:03 PM PST by vivalaoink
A Belleville Police officer arrested a St. Charles man for wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the word "POLICE."
Now, Adam C. Weinstein, of St. Charles, has sued the department for what he calls a violation of his constitutional rights.
According to police documents, Weinstein was arrested in 2006 outside a bar in Belleville for "impersonating officers." He was wearing a black t-shirt with the word police striped across the front and back under a sweater. The t-shirt became exposed when he removed the sweater because he was hot.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
He will lose and rightfully so.
Why? I see FBI, CIA, POLICE, SWAT tee-shirts all the time.
And ball caps, too.
I don’t know, Synchronicity was one of my favorite albums back in the day..
This is completely absurd.
It’s more like entitlement.
Wow! What would this idiot have done if he was wearing an FBI hat?
Post 9/11 in NYC, NYPD & FDNY items were a big seller. Why do I think this guy did something else other than wearing the tee-shirt?
Obviously, the cops have a lot of time on their hands. But I wonder, what is the point of bringing suit? The worst that happened was he had to wear handcuffs for a bit, right? Or is this a symbolic suit, so that no one will ever be slightly harrassed by an officer ever again? ‘Cause I don’t think it’s possible to have cops without having cops abuse their power.
By the way, criminals verbally abuse the police all the time without consequence. Law-abiding citizens should do the same. I, for one, am absolutely unafraid to give the fuzz what for if they give me any guff. Thankfully, it doesn’t come up very often.
I didn’t know it was illegal to own a shirt with a single word on it.
I hope the police lose this case.
I didn’t know being the last remaining fan of a 70’s gay rock group could get somebody jailed.
Is it part of the new austerity plan in Belleville that they just put cops in t-shirts instead of uniforms? Perhaps it’s the bicycle patrol folks who got jealous cause he looked better in a tight t-shirt.
This is just too good.
According to WikiPedia: The Police were a three-piece rock band consisting of Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar, vocals) and Stewart Copeland (drums, vocals, percussion). The band became globally popular in the early 1980s.
So, what’s the problem with wearing a Police Tee Shirt?
The Officer who got upset was a blond, wasn’t he?
Why? I own and wear an offial BATF t-shirt and have never been, nor should I ever expect to be, arrested.
The shirt is legal for civilians to wear and unless he indentifies himself as a LEO, which the police report indicates that he did not, he has not committed a crime.
“Vernatti, Weinstein alleges, asked him for his police credentials. Weinstein says he told the officer he didn’t have any credentials because he wasn’t a police officer.
That’s when, according to Weinstein, the police officer started screaming curse words and became physically and verbally abusive. Weinstein says he was cuffed and later released by the officer, but made to take the t-shirt off while standing in the cold.”
What’s the problem? /s
people who buy and wear “police” t shirts are buttholes anyway I hope he loses.
I agree that only morons where that kind of crap - However, I am not at all alright with him being arrested for it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.