Posted on 06/30/2014 2:17:27 PM PDT by Red Badger
TEMPE, Ariz. (CBS Las Vegas) - An Arizona State University English professor is claiming self-defense against a campus police officer who slammed her to the front of a police car last month.
Dr. Ersula Ore was walking near campus when she was stopped by an officer while crossing College Avenue near Fifth Street.
“The reason I’m talking to you right now is because you are walking in the middle of the street,” Officer Stewart Ferrin said in a video recording obtained by KTVK. “Let me see your ID or you will be arrested for failing to provide ID.”
“Are you serious?” Ore asked.
“Yes, I am serious. That is the law,” Ferrin replied.
The professor stated that she was trying to cross College Avenue like several other people around her in an attempt to avoid construction, a police report explained.
“I never once saw a single solitary individual get pulled over by a cop for walking across a street on a campus, in a campus location. Everybody has been doing this because it is all obstructed. That’s the reason why,” Ore told the officer. “But you stop me in the middle of the street to pull me over and ask me, ‘Do you know what this is? This is a street.’ ”
Ferrin asked her if she knew that it was street. Before Ore could finish her statement, he demanded that she put her hands behind her back.
“Don’t touch me,” Ore said. “Get your hands off me.”
The officer demanded for her to comply again.
“Put your hand behind your back. I’m going to slam you on this car. Put your hand behind your back,” Ferrin stated.
“You really want to do that? Do you see what I’m wearing? Do you see?” Ore said.
At the time of the incident the professor was wearing a black dress. The police officer “slammed” her onto the car and she was then wrestled to the ground where her dress rose exposing her body.
Ferrin and Ore suffered minor injuries and she was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, criminal damage and obstructing a thoroughfare.
The video shows Ore also kicking Ferrin while he was arresting her.
Ore plans to fight the charges and her attorney, Alane Roby, explained that she responded in self-defense.
“She was exposed, told officer she was exposed,” Roby stated of Ore to KTVK. “Her dress was up; the officer was reaching toward her anatomy. She felt uncomfortable with hands going there.”
The university released a statement to KTVK explaining that “ASU authorities have reviewed the circumstances surrounding the arrest and have found no evidence of inappropriate actions by the ASUPD officers involved. Should such evidence be discovered, an additional, thorough inquiry will be conducted and appropriate actions taken.
“Because the underlying criminal charges are pending, there is not much more we can say at this time. The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has reviewed all available evidence, including the police report, witness statements, and audio and video recordings of the incident, and decided to press criminal charges of assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, refusing to provide identification when requested to do so by an officer, and obstructing a highway or public thoroughfare.”
I don’t think so. I saw a video of a person legally carrying a firearm openly in Wisconsin when a policeman approached and asked for ID. The person carrying simply asked what crime they were committing. The cop said, “Well, let me see your ID so I can determine that.” The person carrying refused and eventually the cop had to relent and allow the person to continue on.
My point is the idiots that automatically assume the cop is in the wrong without considering the facts. If you are one of those, carry one.
I have found the most of the people that hate cops are the ones who have had their ego bruised because they got caught (or their family got caught) breaking the law and they are unwilling to accept responsibility for their actions.
If you have read any of my posts, you will see that I have no problem pointing out wrong doing by a law enforcement officer. I sincerely doubt it though.
Again, don’t let facts get in the way.
Doh!
The Supreme Court has held that is it NOT against the law to fail to provide police officers with ID no matter what the cop says.
There.
bump
She won’t make that mistake twice.
You can be required to tell who you are, but that’s different.
If you consider minding your own business going about your life a mistake.
“I have found the most of the people that hate cops are the ones who have had their ego bruised because they got caught (or their family got caught) breaking the law and they are unwilling to accept responsibility for their actions.”
Sorry, but I find most of the people who hate cops simply have their eyes open to the corruption, bad attitudes, poor accountability, and violent prone tendencies of modern LE.
There are a lot of bad cops out there, and very few who want to do anything about it. Officer Harless of Canton OH is a prime example. What I learned about cops did NOT come from him. It came from how the other officers bent over backwards to defend him.
It is easy to paint everyone who are sick and tired of cop attitudes with a negative brush, because you then are free to ignore criticism.
But a cop put it best to a badge I go back and forth with on another site.
“When people rooted for that Dorner nut, then maybe LE needs to take a good look at themselves and ask ‘why’?”
Of course their behavior during the Dorner hunt didn’t exactly help their image as protesters of the innocent. Nor did the lack of punishment for the offending cops who lost it.
As for facts in this case? Apparently there was a construction issue that was causing people to have to go around. If so, it appears this cop chose to ignore that. And one has to wonder why she was targeted. He is a campus cop. Maybe he has issues with the staff. I don’t know. But it is odd he chose a construction area to make an issue of jay walking.
The cop got way out of hand but the woman should not have been resisting arrest. They are both assholes. The difference is the cop is a public servant and is trained (supposedly) to deal with jerks.
How far would this have progressed if the woman had handed him her ID as requested?
Civil, but just failed to comply. Hmmmm.
“Apparently there was a construction issue that was causing people to have to go around. If so, it appears this cop chose to ignore that.”
Some pretty loose reasoning here. She was walking in the street that allowed traffic both ways. Construction does not preclude safety. All she needed to do was hit the crosswalk. She did not comply, and then got argumentative. Not only that, she’s an AA. She should know how cops are. Bad move! Stupid is as stupid does.
The process is the punishment. Even if the prosecutor drops all the charges later, it doesn’t unslam you from the pavement.
The request for the ID seemed unnecessary, but it’s required to issue a summons.
The individual’s refusal to cooperate caused the aggravation. I’m having a hard time finding fault with the LEOs on this one.
And what if she were drunk and foolishly motioned towards his sidearm? The individual made it ugly.
You made your conclusion based on a “what if”?
Well said.
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