Posted on 05/08/2009 9:59:47 AM PDT by BGHater
Action News 7 | Lincoln Park, Michigan, cop hangs up on girl while father has convulsions.
Worth a View.
Cop Arrests Girl for Swearing During 911 Call[Video]
Nothing of the sort. You want to listen to trash, knock yourself out. You want to swear at home, curse your spouse, God, anything? I don't care. Watch any movie you like, listen to rap, go and invent a whole new litany of profanity, I don't care.
When you start to demand that I, or anyone else, HAS TO LISTEN TO IT, then we disagree.
Swearing is Constitutionally protected free speech.
Clearly you don't get out much.
Oh, perhaps, false arrest? Infliction of emotional damage?
Yeah, when I was in ER with my wife; I didn't hear any profanity issued by a single MD. When I was in for surgery, I never once heard a nurse, MD or techican utter a single profanity - so I must be unique.
What branch of the Military did you serve with? Did you use profanity in your radio communications? Must have been some 'group'.
USMC Articles 117 and 134 govern such language. Section 917, Article 117 states: “Any person subject to this chapter who uses provoking or reproachful words or gestures towards any other person subject to this chapter shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”
Section 934, Article 134 states: “Though not specifically mentioned in this chapter, all disorders and neglects to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces, all conduct of a nature to bring discredit upon the armed forces … shall be punished at the discretion of that court.”
But, I guess I must be living in a fantasy, watching TV.
In other words, “I’ll dispatch an ambulance to help your possibly dying loved one, but only if you ask nicely, come on, now. Say Please.”
Did it go unnoticed to you that the cop used profanity to discourage profanity?
And no one is demanding that anyone listen to it, however, if one is refusing to do a job, a job that many people’s life depends on, because the “f word” makes you uncomfortable, then maybe one should find a new profession.
If you’re getting paid to do a job, do it and shut up. This idiot is in the wrong profession if he can’t empathsize with a high stress situation.
Let’s say this girl was being raped, stalked, stabbed...would you feel the same way?
To some extent, you are correct. However, there are limits. For example, if I use rascial epitaphs, or my intent is to belittle, humiliate or intimidate, then you are not protected.
Fighting words The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1942 in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire that “fighting words”— words “which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace” — are prohibited and are not protected by the First Amendment. Almost 30 years later in 1971, the high court limited Chaplinsky in Cohen v. California by holding that an individual could not be held criminally liable for wearing a jacket into a courthouse that said “Fuck the Draft.” The Supreme Court distinguished the two by explaining that Cohen’s action was a “simple public display” as opposed to a direct insult or intent to incite harm, as was the case in Chaplinsky.
We agree that you may say anything you like, whenever you like, within these bounds given above - and you are protected. However, where we disagree is the idea you think that you have the right to force others to listen.
Infliction of emotional distress has to be one-sided and intentional. This is more a ‘mutual combat’ situation. As far as false arrest goes, review the tape. The reporter is claiming there is no such charge as “abusing 911”. Even if you accept that as true, and it’s pretty far fetched since almost every state has a similar charge, there were two charges filed, and the officer clearly had justification for a good faith belief that she was causing a disturbance in the station. That negates the false arrest claim.
Perhaps like "... you stupid ass..." to a frantic 911 caller trying to get an ambulance sent?
Sometimes, when dealing with the insane, one should just recognize that the discussion is unproductive, and move on.
If you watch the video, they said she called once but didn’t get a quick answer, so she hung up and called again. That’s where I’m getting it. It’s at the beginning of the story.
LOL you don’t have to apologize, I had to go back and rewatch it to be sure I heard that.
But, according the transcripts that were posted yesterday (I can't get the Freep search to find the article), he hung up before she stated her emergency. He did no baiting whatsoever. She swore, he hung up. She called again, and started in, he hung up. She called back, and verbally attacked him, he resonded and hung up.
She did not give her name, the nature of the emergency, the address then go into a profane tirade - she initiated the conversation with profantiy. As I have stated in the past, you have the right to talk in any form of profantity that you chose. You do not have the right to demand that anyone else listen.
Perhaps... but those are questions of fact that should be determined by a jury. I disagree about "mutual combat" situation where the 911 dispatcher was willfully refusing to provide service and hanging up. I assure you my language on subsequent calls would have been far more abusive to the idiot who was refusing to listen unless I comported to his idea of telephone etiquette. This officer was supposed to be performing a DUTY, not an optional service, and failed miserably in doing that duty which could have resulted in the loss of life. The first coherent comment addressed TO the officer by the caller was a proper request for an ambulance, establishing that it was a call that required emergency response, and providing the information about where to send it. His response was to change the priority of the call to one about proper 911 phone etiquette. That is not exercising his duty.
I agree.
I guess it irritates me a bit simply because when I was going to school I worked part time as a CSR for a utility company. I worked with fraudulant and past due accounts. I got calls hourly from people who would call me everything from a “b****” to a whore because they didn’t pay their electric bill. If we hung up on customers more than 2 times ever, we were fired. Instantly. No notice, just your papers.
Yet here’s a cop, making way more than I did, whose job it is to protect and serve the community and he hangs up on a frantic girl who is watching her dad potentially die.
Actually, it appears that it was the third attempt that finally got through, apparently after ringing for some time. That would be frustrating and likely to elicit an under the breath curse... which it did... that happened to get heard by the answering officer.
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