Posted on 05/14/2015 8:37:16 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Justin Palmer, 36, was at the public car-charging station at Virginia Avenue Park (map) on the evening of April 21 when he was approached by officers who said the park had closed at 11 p.m.
Palmer refused to leave, according to police, who issued him a citation for violating the park closure ordinance. He also refused to provide his identification, a Santa Monica Police Department news release stated two days after the incident.
Palmer said he told officers it was not yet 11 p.m. and asked why they needed his identification since he had done nothing wrong.
Then, abruptly, he was swept off his feet and fell head-first, hitting the side of his head and briefly blacking out, Palmer told KTLA on Monday.
He “actively resisted” arrest, police said, prompting them to restrain and pepper-spray him. After being taken to jail, he was hospitalized and “medically cleared,” according to police.
Thirteen days later, the Santa Monica City Attorney’s Office announced that no charges would be filed against Palmer
(Excerpt) Read more at ktla.com ...
Oops, let’s try that again.
I was 16 seconds too slow. Must have been that Jack in the Box Peanut Butter Pie I had at 4 a.m. yesterday.
And this happened in the People’s Republik of Santa Monica where the cops are more friendly than those next door in Los Angeles.
When I lived near there 15+ years ago the SM cops had trouble with yutes at their July 4th fireworks on SM Pier. They did not want help from LA cops...
The fix at that time was to move the fireworks display to dawn...:^)
I’m calling BS Donna.
This law was not in urgent need of being enforced - and it was before 11 pm anyway, so they were not enforcing the law, they were flouting their authority - and as such, had no right to demand ID, nor did the victim have a duty to produce it.
The cops were out of line - WAAAAAAAAAAY out of line - clearly shown by the city dropping the charges. The city should be sued, the cops should be sued - and not for just a little bit, for big, huge, city bankrupting, ex-police soup line, piles of cash.
My problem is with:
The cops who broke the law while claiming to enforce it. The park didn’t close until 11, it wasn’t yet 11.
The cops for spinning up what at most should have been (if legit) a minor citation for unintended trespass, and really should have been, “I see you’re charging your car. You know, the park closes at 11, including this parking lot - but we’ll stick around to make sure you get your car charged ok and are on your way home safely.” See, that is serving and protecting - and these cops have gotten that so mixed up, they believe it is OUR job to serve THEIR magnificent uniforms and to protect THEIR overblown egos.
The city for having such a stupid law that would close the chargers, just because the rest of the park was closed - why have them there if the people who need them can’t use them when they need them? The signs are not prominent, and the law is stupid, so people will unintentionally violate it (first clue of a bad law) - and remember, the guy was not violating any law when he was accosted.
The city for having such idiots, armed and in uniform, bullying its citizens. Dimes to donuts this wasn’t the first time they strutted around on some trumped up pretense in order to DEMAND that they respected. Their jobs should likely have never gone this long, and should definitely have ended when they brought the guy in.
You have to remember, sometimes the person to blame is someone else. In this case it is. This only required minimal human decency to go right. These cops had a wonderful chance to do the right thing, foster good relations with a citizen and burnish the reputations of themselves, the department and the city....so what did they do? They chose to take the opportunity to harass a citizen, knock him around and throw him in jail. Because he dared to be charging his car in a parking lot that was going to be closing in a few minutes!! Brilliant move, you fools!
They weren’t enforcing the laws in this case. Their own records show the arrest as 10:54pm, while the claim is that they wanted him out because it was after closing time (11pm). Changing the laws won’t make any difference at all if the ones enforcing the laws don’t care about following the laws.
So bottom line - you want cops to decide which laws to enforce, just not all of the laws.
You trust cops more than I do.
You would be perfectly satisfied if it had been 11:00.
I understand - you want every dot and tittle of the law enforced.
Well he was driving an electric car.......
Oh yes donna, that is EXACTLY what i said, wasn’t it?
I want cops to use intelligent discretion....and do you understand that THIS GUY DID NOT BREAK ANY LAW when they accosted him?
And my dear, you do NOT want the cops enforcing the letter of every law every time. That is just an idiotic way to think.
LOL - misuse, I meant flaunt.
But in a sense the did flaut their authority - they expressed contempt for their legal authority by misuse of their badge and their office. But I intended to use flaunt.
He didn’t break the law.
What Hitler did was legal.
I’m pretty sure he meant “flaunting.”
But they just might be stupid enough to flout their own authority. Who knows?
That’s a Leaf in the picture. Black guy driving a Leaf? This story must be a hoax.
Giles, you are so right. They actually knock this man out with their heavy handedness, send him to the hospital and WHY??? He wasn’t breaking the law, he wasn’t doing anything, and apparently he needed his car charged.
sheesh. what beasts.
“So bottom line - you want cops to decide which laws to enforce, just not all of the laws.
You trust cops more than I do.” donna’s response to me
“You would be perfectly satisfied if it had been 11:00.
I understand - you want every dot and tittle of the law enforced.” donna’s response, one post later, to digitalbrownshirt
donna, you are either certifiably insane, or the most blatant troll I have ever seen. Either way, I don’t want anything more to do with you. Please don’t respond to me ever again with your lunacy.
I would have taken the ticket, fought it, and then sued the pigs. Not providing ID is generally not an option if one is in operational control of a vehicle...as he found out.
You Must Comply or go to the hospital. Nice.
“I resist the racist labels, but does anyone believe they would have treated a similarly dressed, similarly groomed white man the same way?”
I’ve been treated like that by the pigs, and only because I happened to be driving a route where drunks come off the mountain (Angeles Crest Highway, in Los Angeles). Of course I wasn’t either drunk or speeding, but that didn’t seem to matter to the pig.
I got over it.
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