Man flips off state trooper, gets cited for 'provocation'
6In the lawsuit, May admits to the incident on Aug. 21, 2017 when he made a gesture commonly known as “giving the finger” to Ames as May drove past Ames, who had stopped another motorist along U.S. 41.
May claims just prior to that incident, he was cut off in traffic by Ames, who was pursuing another motorist.
After Ames saw May make the gesture, the lawsuit claims, Ames pursued May, pulled him over and ticketed him for “provocation.”
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http://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-2nd-circuit/1619484.html
Fuck around fuck around
Years ago I was walking with some friends one beautiful evening through an affluent neighborhood to a neighborhood restaurant. One friend got to the 4 way stop ahead of us and was about a quarter of the way across the intersection on the crosswalk when a police car just drove through the stop sign without even tapping their brakes. My friend said “Assholes”, didn’t shout it, just said it in a normal tone of voice, but the cops had their windows down and heard him. Whipped the car around, threw him up against the car and read him the riot act. Ran his license, asked him a bunch of groundless questions about why he was in the neighborhood when he lived across town, general harassment. He asked them why they ran the stop sign and they said they were responding to a call, which was obviously complete bullshit as they spend a good 15 minutes threatening and humiliating my friend before finally letting him go. Not a race thing, just a couple of assholes with badges abusing their authority.
@moondrake I’ve had this happen prior to a parade when the roads are closed and people are gathered… Someone I was with said something like that and the officer got out and gave him hell. The only thing was the windows weren’t down. I don’t know if it was lip reading or what.
@moondrake That happened to me the night I got engaged! My new fiancée and I were walking from the park where I had proposed at around midnight and a cop ran a red light. I kinda waved my arm* like “come on, seriously?” and he saw me, slammed on his brakes, and yelled “you got a problem? I’m on a fuckin’ call!”
My heart was still racing from the proposal, and I was so shocked that he was 'roid raging enough to interrupt his “call” that I just stared at him in disbelief and mumbled something about not knowing what he was talking about before he sped off.
*
Indiana Criminal Code states “a person who recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally engages in conduct that is likely to provoke a reasonable person to commit battery commits provocation, a Class C infraction,” which carries a penalty of up to $500.
What I can’t get past is that this cop’s fuse is apparently so fucking short that being flipped the bird will drive him to violence.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
@Pavlov I think they missed the “reasonable person” part of the statute.
@Pavlov I was thinking the same thing, apparently this officer was about to commit battery, by his own statement.
@aetris Why are the taillights on the front of this car?
@Pamtha - Well spotted - permit me to correct:
Where are all the “this happened but they sued because it is an infringement on the first amendment” links?
@caffeine_dude Suing for your rights is the province of the rich. Suing at all isn’t easy for those without wealth, and suing the government is especially costly as they have a battery of lawyers on salary, if you win you may get satisfaction but not likely a big payout, and worst of all, the judges are in the employ of the defendant.
When I was … younger… we had a hang out spot and the cops regularly came busting in to try to catch us doing anything they could bust us for (which usually caused a scatter). One of those times a friend told a cop to ‘kiss it’. So, he busted her, cuffed her and took her to the station. She bailed out and when she went to court the Judge asked the cop… kiss what? and the cop said… well, she just said kiss it… but you know Judge. The Judge said… no I don’t… kiss what? The cop replied the same. This happened one more time and then the Judge just said… case dismissed. Just a funny story I remembered when I saw this thread. I guess the judge makes all the difference.
The intimidation is in the arrest, detention, and time/money spent on defense.
How long was his finger?
@ELUNO Apparently long enough to do the job.
@therealjrn hawt