The police and St Troopers involved look like clowns --Keystone Kops. Meanwhile taxpayers are out $50000
Posted on 12/19/2023 4:24:36 PM PST by nickcarraway
Police also wrongly cited him for "improper hand signal" after the man flipped them off.
Last year, Delaware police prevented 54-year-old Jonathan Guessford from holding a sign warning drivers about a speed trap and wrongfully cited him for "improper hand signal" after he flipped off the officers who seized and tore up his sign. Police have now agreed to pay Guessford $50,000 as part of a settlement reached in a lawsuit alleging that police violated his civil rights.
Following several run-ins with the police, Guessford decided to "stage protests whenever he saw police officers stopping unsuspected vehicles using a radar gun," according to legal documents. On March 11, 2022, his protest consisted of standing by the side of the road, holding a homemade sign reading, "Radar Ahead!" Guessford was soon confronted by several Delaware State Police officers, who took his sign and tore it up.
As Guessford drove away after the encounter, he flipped off the officers, leading them to eventually cite him for "improper hand signal" under a statute governing hand signals for nonmotorized vehicles like bicycles. However, body camera footage showed that officers knew that the citation was incongruous and would likely be dropped.
"Yeah, you can't do that. That'll get dropped," Officer Christopher Popp said during a phone call to another officer, who replied, referring to a third officer, "I told him that's going to get thrown out….Eventually, [Guessford is] going to do something really stupid, and then we are going to be able to really lock him up."
Guessford filed a lawsuit against the officers in February, alleging that they violated his First Amendment rights by destroying his sign and issuing an improper citation. Last week, the officers settled the lawsuit, agreeing to give Guessford a $50,000 payout.
The officer's "initiation of the traffic stop, and issuance of a bogus traffic ticket to Plaintiff Guessford, was an adverse action taken in retaliation for his exercise of constitutionally protected symbolic speech and expression," reads the lawsuit. "As a direct and proximate result of Defendants' violations of the First Amendment, Plaintiff Guessford has suffered irreparable harm, including the loss of his clearly established fundamental constitutional right to free speech and expression."
Fantastic!
If he broke a fingernail in the incident that’s a few more millions in damages.
It would be if the people behind it had to pay, instead of the public.
What do they mean the Officers settled, they aren’t paying anything.
Best news I’ve read all day.
The article says the officers agreed to the settlement so I take that as inferring they are paying. But likely you are still correct, local taxpayers will pay it. Hopefully they will demand these officers be fired as well. And with this on their record, how can these officers have any standing in court against future defendents?
I guess he is lucky they didn’t shoot him.
“”Delaware police prevented 54-year-old Jonathan Guessford from holding a sign warning drivers about a speed trap””
Kinda like waving an American or Israeli flag?
.
We the People University on YouTube has dozens of video’s of cops abusing their power and abusing people civil rights under color of what they call the law.
One the other day was a kid walking down his street going to work.
I’ve never had a bad interaction but I’ve also realized the games they play trying to get me to implicate myself
Record everything
I'll bet he wears his moms underwear.
Remember that when the police tell you to put away your American flag, maybe Trump hat, or whatever.
Watch the video then tell us he shouldn’t be concerned about his civil rights being violated.
https://youtu.be/ezl2LKOgATs?si=5ZQdJhEIb-2jfeMY
They should have been Criminally Charged for Felony ARMED ROBBERY by the US Attorney, Conspiracy to Commit FELONY KIDNAPPING, using a firearm during the commission of a violent felony.... The list goes on and on for anyone that doesn’t have a Magic Blue Costume.
Never come complaining here when the government violates your rights; you’ll find no sympathy.
So all this time yer tellin me a couple of signs can pay off my mortgage?!
The police and St Troopers involved look like clowns --Keystone Kops. Meanwhile taxpayers are out $50000
“I’ve never had a bad interaction”
You’re lucky. California cops are not much better than Gestapo. I live in Wyoming and the cops here are much better.
Which means there’s no excuse for the gangsters in California to behave the way they do.
Two armed men behaving like that won’t live long in Constitutional carry states.
When thugs are doing you harm you say/do what you have to do.
E.g., if some thug forces his way into your house with obvious intent to do harm (e.g., he is not fleeing a lion) you say:”You are making me fear for my life.” and put him down.
Were you really afraid at that moment? Prove otherwise.
The coppers were acting like children and deserved all the grief they got.
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