Posted on 01/21/2008 10:17:39 AM PST by Abathar
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- A 75-year-old woman was arrested at a Clearwater McDonald's drive-thru, because police say she wouldn't pull her car forward.
Authorities said Jean Merola, a grandmother of eight, was arrested for disorderly conduct after she refused an officer's orders to move her car while she waited for the coffee and fries she ordered at the drive-through window.
Merola said the McDonald's employees told her to wait there for her food.
Merola was handcuffed behind her back and put in the cruiser.
Another officer arrived and took her to the Pinellas County Jail .
Merola said she was searched, photographed and fingerprinted.
Jail records show she was released about 90 minutes later on her own recognizance.
Point One: This was on private property. There was no traffic flow issue, and even if there was, as its on private property, only an agent of McDonald’s could tell the cops to move someone.
Two: read for comprehension, will you, my good man? There was no swearing or confrontation at the outset. The officer first demanded her license and registration. THEN the verbal conflict escalated. According to the Fourth Amendment, the cop had no reason to do so as no crime had as yet been committed nor did he have a reasonable suspicion or just cause to believe there had been.
Three: There was no emergency. I’m sure that if what you’re implying had been the case, the police department would have provided radio logs to back up such a notion. The fact that they haven’t speaks volumes.
Yes if you are parked in a private parking lot. The answer is yes. When did cops become our omnipresent overloads?
He’s a cop. Don’t expect too much!
That actually happened in a "parking lot rage" incident in my neck of the woods.
The main difference was, it was a grandpa, not a granny. And the grandpa happened to be a retired fireman/policeman. That didn't help him get any kindness and consideration from the cop, however.
This grandpa was handcuffed and made to sit alone in the back of the squad car while the officer went around the parking lot, interviewing witnesses.
When the officer got back, the grandpa was slumped over dead from a heart attack in the back of the police car.
Thx for the explanation...that makes some sense of this. It sounds to me like granny had some experience being disagreeable w/the police.
First of all she was not in the traffic flow. She was parked in a designated spot on private property.
There are no traffic laws on private property.
If the cop had an emergency all he needs to do is put his lights on and back up and go to his emergency. Not stay there for as long as it takes to arrest her and impound her car. If he had a true emergency he should have just gone to it and let the non crime go.
I’m sure everbody has had to pull around inconsiderate people who don’t leave enough room for others at drive throughs. It is not a crime to be inconsiderate.
I had a run in with a wannabe cop who told me I could not park in an empty lot near an airport simply because he said so. I was traveling and was just sitting taking a break from driving.
I asked him where the no parking sign was and all he would say was “you can’t park here”
When I asked him why he would just say “because you can’t”
I asked him what law I was violating and he just said “you can’t park here”
That is all he would say.
I left when he started to his radio out because I was having a good trip and didn’t want to have it ruined by some stupid person with a power complex who would probably lie to another cop just to prove his worth.
Why would you have to wait in a McDonald’s restaurant drive-thru for items such as coffee and fries? Were they caught by surprise that someone might order these items. If ordered I that at a McDonald’s in my town, I would expect them to do what they always do throw some 2 hour old cooked coffee at me and some cold rubbery fries. The fact that I might get freshly prepared food if I were willing to wait at an McDonald’s drive thru, is a concept I cannot quite seem to grasp.
OK, I don’t know if this has been posted yet, because I didn’t have time to scan the whole thread, but when I saw this earlier today, I went to the St. Pete Times and Tampa Tribune Web sites to see if I could find some expanded coverage, and in the reader comments forum on one of them, I’d have to go back and find the link, an actual witness to this event posted and said that the woman had pulled into a position where she had traffic completely blocked, no one could get past her (not surprising with a Lincoln Town Car in a narrow Mickey D’s drive-through area), and that the police officer asked her to move the car so others could get past. He wasn’t trying to get past her, he was trying to ensure that others whose orders were completed could get past her. The woman didn’t want to move and got mouthy and wound up handcuffed. I think police officers who cross the line should get called on it, but from that witness’ account I think the woman was at fault here both in not having consideration for those in line behind her, which is not a crime, and for popping off to an officer who was making IMHO a reasonable request of her.
That's not uncommon with dementia. A lot of Alzheimer's patients don't know where these people are and where they are. They're confused, and frightened, even paranoid, and people who are confused and frightened often lash out.
She requested that her fries be salt free, which took extra preparation time.
LOL...your post cracks me up...but in this case, the lady wanted unsalted fries so they had to make a fresh batch.
Who asked him to become a valet at Micky D’s? Were people honking their horns? Was a MD rep unable to direct the traffic and asked him for his help?Seems more likely HE was tired of waiting for HIS food.
Since he decided to argue w/ her and arrest her, the idea that he was called to an emergency is clearly laughable.
You write: “I had a run in with a wannabe cop who told me I could not park in an empty lot near an airport simply because he said so. I was traveling and was just sitting taking a break from driving. I asked him where the no parking sign was and all he would say was “you can’t park here” When I asked him why he would just say “because you can’t” I asked him what law I was violating and he just said “you can’t park here” That is all he would say.
I left when he started to his radio out because I was having a good trip and didn’t want to have it ruined by some stupid person with a power complex who would probably lie to another cop just to prove his worth.”
It was near AIRPORT! Good Lord! Didja ever think someone might think you were up to no good, say terrorism, parking near an airport all alone?????? Heck, I would have reported you parked there also as suspicious.
“but from that witness’ account I think the woman was at fault here both in not having consideration for those in line behind her, which is not a crime, and for popping off to an officer who was making IMHO a reasonable request of her.”
Did MD ask the cop to move her? If not, he did not have any jurisdiction.
“popping” off (aka being rude) to a cop is not a crime. When it becomes a crime we are all lost.
There are, on average, 15 sticks of potato fries in an order; it takes almost 480 milliseconds to remove each grain of salt from each stick. A conservative estimate of the number of grains of salt per stick is 76; that means it would take 547,200 milliseconds to pick all the salt off the order.
547,200/1000=547.2 seconds or NINE minutes; no wonder the cop was P.Oed.
No matter if they have you pull forward or wait at the window, most of them can't get your order right. Inevitably, I end up getting cheeseburgers when I order a hamburger without cheese. Last Sunday on the NY Thruway, I stopped at a McDonald's and ordered two hamburgers without cheese. They were wrapped in a cheeseburger sheet, but had a sticker on them that said "your order made special," so I assumed I'd gotten the correct items and got back on the road. Imagine my non-surprise when I discovered that my order was wrong....again. The scary part is that these friggin' people vote.
When that liberty-killing disaster known as the USAPatriot Act was passed.
Good lord don’t ya know your place smoketree!!!!???
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