“Marshall was in the passenger seat when he decided to stick his head out the window for some air, he said. As he stretched, the seat belt slipped up toward his neck and shoulder area, he said.”
Sorry, I’m a municipal court judge - seen too many people tell me they “just took it off for a minute”, they “were almost at their destination”, they “can’t wear it across their chest because it’s uncomfortable/heart condition/against their religion (okay, a little too far, but you get my drift). This kid put it behind his head or under his arm (meaning it was completely ineffective as a seat restraint), AND was sticking his head out the window. Gimme a break. The only issue for the cop here was procedural: he should’ve ticketed 19-year-old aunt. And before anybody tells me this is a freedom issue, if you’re that jacked up about it, get your representative to change the law. Until then, it’s the law.
Colonel, USAFR
“Until then, it’s the law.”
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH...Ok there, Francis.
Bravo!
When law goes against freedom, to hell with your “law”.
You know you live in “The Greatest Country in the World” when a “municipal court judge” thinks a proper use for law enforcement officers is making traffic stops to ticket 10 year olds for seat belt violations.
“And before anybody tells me this is a freedom issue, if you’re that jacked up about it, get your representative to change the law. Until then, it’s the law.”
[Bleep]
Uh, sorry, Colonel, not so.
FYI, I'm a Texas attorney - though I'm a transactional guy (estate planning and related areas), not a litigator, and most definitely NOT from the People's Republic of Austin. Our police in Bexar County wouldn't issue such an idiotic ticket.
Laws that are contrary to the Constitution are void ab initio. That means that they are void from the beginning, meaning void as if never passed and signed into law. Now, arguably, this particular law is a state law, and states have a police power, so perhaps this particular law is constitutional. But don't tell me "Until then, it’s the law" as a be-all-and-end-all principle because that dog simply doesn't hunt.
Note also that it is "the law" that if you are found with "too much" cash (i.e. $10,000 or more) then the cash itself can be charged with a crime, and taken from you. Then you are in the position of having to proving the innocence of the cash (interesting concept, no?) in order to get it back. Oh, and you cannot use said cash in order to hire an attorney or pay the court costs. So much for innocent until proven guilty - but who needs that, we've got a drug war to fight (disclosure: I don't and never have used drugs, and don't defend those who do).
Saying "its the law" is a mindless phrase that indicates no thought as to what "the law" really should be. I would expect better from another attorney, and particularly one who has sworn to uphold the Constitution.
"Until then, it’s the law." Nice way to increase the contempt for the law that overbearing governmental actions have been doing for decades. Nice way to make sure that people don't cooperate with the police. Nice way to separate the governed from the governing class. Sorry, Colonel, you're dead wrong on this issue.
Oh, and if the correct person wasn't ticketed, then the case is dismissed. Under the law here, a 10-year-old CANNOT be charged with such a crime. Were I the judge here, I'd dismiss and give the officer in question a nice, long tongue-lashing about his lack of common sense, his lack of decency and the role of the police in our society. I couldn't give a rat's ass if the kid lied about sticking his head out the window, etc. - this was not a legal ticket, period (though I would also give the kid a lecture about lying to the police, providing that it seemed likely that he did, indeed, do so).
Once got caught up in one our infamous Traffic Check Points (Texas). The sign said to have your license in insurance card ready.
The cop that came up to my window tried to chew me out for not having mine ready..."I'm not taking my seat belt off until you are at my window!"
The cops were writing seat belt violations for those leaning over to get their insurance card out of the glove box.
The town called that night their "Fund Raiser".
Your Honor:
Why do you always sign-off Colonel, USAFR..?
Do people lacking that title have no credibility?
You do that all the time.
“This kid put it behind his head or under his arm (meaning it was completely ineffective as a seat restraint), AND was sticking his head out the window. Gimme a break. The only issue for the cop here was procedural: he should’ve ticketed 19-year-old aunt. And before anybody tells me this is a freedom issue, if you’re that jacked up about it, get your representative to change the law. Until then, it’s the law.”
Life Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness. That is more important to me than my idiot neighbors who have never met a new law they won’t vote for.
I want LIBERTY! I am sick of being hassled by Union Thugs with guns, and the otherwise unemployable attorneys that make up city hall all over this stupid country. The more restrictive it gets the more irrelevant the laws and judges become. You are a municipal judge, and you and I have talked before.
I am sick and tired of cops and judges claiming that they are simply tools of the collective will.
The collective will is right now completely contrary to the deceleration of Independence. We could organize a new revolution, and we wouldn’t even have to craft a new document. It has already been written.
I WANT LIBERTY! I don’t want the streets crawling with cops, with wide discretionary powers and a code book so huge that no one person has ever read the damn thing.
I don’t see how in the hell anybody, who has ever read the Constitution, read Adams, Locke, Jefferson could be a cop, or a municipal judge. You have taken a vote to defend the Constitution of the United States, yet you can sit as a judge and give judgments supporting seat belt laws. I want FREEDOM not laws.
If they couldn’t find people willing to trade their humanity and self respect in exchange for a pay check these stupid laws would never be enforced. But people are always willing to take these jobs and crap all over the proverbial side walk.
I WANT FREEDOM. I DEMAND FREEDOM FROM LAWS AND TYRANNY! Give us back King George at least that tyrant was all the way on the other side of the Atlantic not my neighbors.
Lets take that stupid song “To Thee I Sing” you know the one “This land of liberty, to thee I sing”, lets throw it in the damn trash can and never ever sing it again.
He should have ticketed the Aunt, but he didn’t. That is the point. So we give the power of life and death to someone that stupid?