Woman fined for interfering with police after aiding pepper-sprayed suspect

[zabet]

Woman fined for interfering with police after aiding pepper-sprayed suspect

By David Reynolds
[e-mail]

A woman who poured water into the eyes of a man who had been pepper sprayed and handcuffed was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of interfering with a Wilmington police officer on Tuesday in New Hanover County District Court.

Judge Russell Davis ordered Lynn Ingram, 54, of Oak Island to serve one year of unsupervised probation, in lieu of a 30-day suspended jail sentence, and also fined her $50.

Her attorney, Thom Goolsby said he appealed the conviction and the case is headed to superior court for a jury trial.

On Tuesday, Ingram testified that she believes she was charged in retaliation for calling the Wilmington Police Department soon after the incident to ask about filing a complaint against the officer. The misdemeanor charge against Ingram was issued two days after the Feb. 12 incident outside the New Hanover County Public Library on Chestnut Street.

(snip)

Ingram, who had no prior criminal record, testified that her religious views and professional values, she is a psychologist, compelled her to intervene.

She also testified that Knight's report of the incident says he gave Ingram numerous instructions that Ingram says he never told her.

Weatherly testified that the water did help his eyes. Tyrone Ricks, who was standing nearby and saw the incident testified that he didn't think Ingram interfered.

"It was a humanitarian effort," Ricks said. "She was trying to help the guy."

More in detail here: http://www.starnewsonline.com/article/20100727/articles/100729674&tc=yahoo

[LostinVA]

1. Oh, I know ALLLLLL about the Wilmington, NC, police department

It's because of their harassment that I ha to move from there. My Ex was a cop on the force, and they harassed me for a year after we broke up, until I couldn't take it anymore and left. They even used to come in when I was working and saunter around to make sure I saw them. Calling and reporting it to the higher ups had zero effect.

I know for a facet many of them listened to cell phone calls, and would run the plates and get the addresses of girls they thought were cute. They targeted black males and interracial couples in pull-overs. They sucked. Several of them got in trouble within about six months because of domestic violence or assaulting their Ex's new SOs.They drove drunk and got away with it, used drugs seized, and were the most sexist, racist, homophobic group of people I have ever been around.

Maybe this culture has changed, maybe not. I know at the time they gave no financial incentive for higher-education degrees, and didn't actively try to recruit a diverse force. I also know that during their police academy training, they brought in actual homophobes to talk about how to handle GLBT citizens, and they harassed at least one gay male off the force after he was seen coming out of a local gay club.

The Thin Blue Line is real and insidious and disgusting.

So, this is small potatoes.

Oak Island is also where mainly wealthy people live, just to give posters an idea of the folks involved in this.

[seabeyond]

2. this is not about a few bad apples. it is about the whole department. this is why people are angry

at the cops.

and posters can say dont broadbrush, just a few, all they want, but it is this that people want to make changes and are angry.

[LostinVA]

3. Culture of Corruption

An abuse of power.

I saw it first hand, and it REALLY opened my eyes to how this dynamic starts and continues in a Police Department. They hire like-minded individuals, and for the few who aren't like that, they either have to turn a blind eye or leave, and these nutcases become the Watch Commanders, and Sergeants, and Detectives.

I have a relative in law enforcement who drives 90-100 mph on 95 when he goes on vacation to FL. He rarely gets pulled, because of his LEO stickers on his car, but if he does, he shows his ID and badge, and gets waved on. He brags about it. An aunt was kidnapped and abused for days by her LEO BF. Nothing happened to him, except he had to give up his guns for a year, was suspended without pay for a month, and had to go to anger management classes. She worked in the same facility he did, and was harassed until she left.

[seabeyond]

6. i watched a cop at stop lite. under pass, access road, mess of a place. turn left

no lites on, no sound, red light. jsut got bored sittin there and made his turn going on his way. my mouth dropped open. now, i am not the best to follow traffic law. i drive safe, that doesnt always require following law. but this, even i would not have done. noon traffic, flow from different directions. wrong.

they dont care.

it turns every person off that watches a cop do this. a little jab of pissed off.

THIS is what people are yelling about. yes there are too many single cases. but those too many single cases are going to continue to escalate, because this is inherent in the system.

the higher ups fail their cops by not enforcing and making clear strong boundaries and lines for behavior

any parent knows, that with two year olds and teens there must be strong boundaries. and that the two years olds want and need that.

[LostinVA]

9. Or having on their lights and zooming through stoplights

Then, ten minutes later, seeing them in Starbuck's. True story, last November.

[mrcheerful]

5. The folks who say a few bad apples crap have had no criminal contact with police and haven't a clue

about how police work to get convictions instead of protecting or serving the public that pays them. Few have ever been questioned by police and fewer have had police trick them into giving up their rights and confessing to crimes they didn't commit. Few realize that having tools laying in the back of their cars can lead to a charge of possessing burglary tools as well as being charged with any burglaries in the area they are stopped around.

They seem to forget that for every innocent person convicted or charged with a crime means that the criminal that did actually commit the crime is still left out on the street. They also don't know that once the police focus on a suspect they stop looking for other suspects and will do everything they can to get the person they suspect convicted. This is not the behavior of a few bad apples, this is how police work and it is how they are trained to work.

To use the few bad apple excuse for bad police just doesn't cut it when your dealing with reality. Police work is not about proving anyones innocence its about proving ones guilt and no matter how many police say they can help you get out of a charge if you come clean, just remember the police are lier's, they are just after anything you say that they can use against you in a court of law.

[seabeyond]

7. we are all criminals. we are all animals. somewhere along the way, the attitude shifted

with the cops. when they see people as all being criminals or animals, it is going to effect how the cops are seen and treated.

reality

[Pavulon]

15. Funny. I have interacted with police drunk out of my fucking mind

and later in life armed, but never been treated badly. Pulled at least 10 times in 10 years. Plenty of parties and drunken shit in school and around shitty army apartments.

Because I never acted like an asshole I never got arrested. Even when I should have been. Nor did the others with me including people who were black, and I live in the south.

Can you believe that? However when seeing my moron friends being arrested for pissing in a parking lot, I decided not to fight them man. Dumb as shit 20 year old right out of bct but smart enough to figure that one out.

Cops do a shitty underpaid job and most of them are decent people.

[mrcheerful]

17. Not saying that every now and again you don't get breaks as I have had more

then my fair share of getting away with crap that should have ended up with my doing time.but that doesn't have a thing to do with the cop being nice it had more to do with the cop not wanting a bunch of paper work at the end of his shift.

[seabeyond]

18. and then there are those that will ignore all the information to blindly support, ultimately

hurting the very group they support. your blind support, reinforcing the attitudes adn behavior, ultimately hurt the cops the most. so bully for you in yoru righteousness. where my goal is to promote an attitude where support will be there for cops.

instead, close eyes to, submit, ignore, dismiss.... like that is going ot help the men and women on the force.

[Pavulon]

20. What do you propose? You going to go H Rap Brown

when you get pulled over. How do you suggest "helping" the police?

Blind would assume I did not read the article where a he said she said situation occurred.

[seabeyond]

23. there are facts. facts that are clear like, she went to the handcuffed man, put water

on his face and the cop did not say anything that is not a part of a he said, she said. fact.... AFTER she inquired about a complaint, he filed charges.

even with his feeble he said, those facts pretty much tell the story.

no

when the cop gives me a ticket, nothing i can do. it has to be the people and the govt convincing the higher ups that it would behoove them to create a boundary, lines, rules implemented in the force that will altimately help them. but it has to be the people not ignoring, or pretending this isnt happening. cause it is. adn the anger from people only escalates. and support of the cops only decreases. and THIS hurts the cops. the very people you defend. so i would say my position supports the cops more than yours.

[Pavulon]

24. Well it all boils down to he said she said. She has a version

and the police and ADA have a version. She has been convicted, and is appealing.

The facts are she was convicted in a court of law. Lets see if she wins on appeal, and if so on what legal grounds...

Wilmington is not much of a fuck the police town. Not a lot of anger there. Nor where I live, in the RTP area. Police never fucked me over when at NC State and have never had a problem in carrboro or chapel hill.

Course I dont go running up to them while the arrest a person. Having being gassed with CS myself I would be ok letting the 47 year old guy who got sprayed wait for ems.

She is a talk therapist if she was an MD and he was in anaphylactic shock, different story.

[Dawson Leery]

31. Read the police websites and magazines?

They have articles telling cops how to finagle a confession out of anyone.

:puke:

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

16. +1

Yes, you read it right. +1.

The forecast for Hell today is Max 9°F, Min 3°F.

[Pavulon]

4. Wilmington is full of college kids, not just rich people..

I visited many friends there and acted like a complete ass there. Interactions with the police were cordial and professional.

Now back to the topic. If you wanted to bring up something wilmington police did that is provable they did shoot some kid in the head who was unarmed. Cop shot him through the door with an mp5 submachine gun. Cop lost his cop lost his job, city paid big fines.

No one asked do police need to be using SMG's to raid college kids houses who steal shit. He did use a knife in the robbery, but the shooting was out of line.

Bottom line, this person had no right to interfere with a person being arrested. That is very stupid and I am surprised they did not arrest her too.

I would fully expect to be arrested if I did that.

[seabeyond]

8. interfer? was she in the way. i saw nothing in the story of her either interferring or

being in the way. in any way stopping cops from doing their job.

for real? she interferred? how would that be?

[Pavulon]

12. Drive to your nearest shitty part of town and give it a spin.

when you see an officer arresting someone run up and wipe of his face with some wet naps or tie his shoes. The tell me how much fun jail is.

Any person with an IQ above room temperature would not expect to INTERFERE (sorry about the earlier spelling error mein Führer) with an arrest and not go to jail.

[seabeyond]

13. it was a college. they were sittin and waitin. the cop did not have issue

the cop did not say stop. the cop did not say "dont interfere". at any point the cop had issue with woman "interfering", all he had to do was ..... fuckin speak. he did NOT

until

2 days later after she filed a complaint

this is really why people have issues. and issues with supporters. forget reality. forget using the brain. bow your head, no eye contact, tails between legs and submit.

[Pavulon]

14. Like I said IQ room temp. I went to college, and did plenty o dumb shit

and saw many people arrested for doing dumber shit. The thought of INTERFERING with the police did not cross my mind because I did not want to sit in a piss reeking jail cell.

The cop probably did not say please dont hit him with a tire iron either. It is assumed that everyone does not need to be spoon fed and told you cant interfere with police arresting someone.

Common sense is really dying. And in a nation of idiots a democratic system can not function.

[seabeyond]

19. this, the blindly defending. you know well that if the cop had a problem with woman, he would have

told her to back off. that simple.

that he said nothing for two days, only after her complaint makes it clear.

no fool is going to buy the story the cop stood there, with his mouth shut, allowing her to put water in the mans eyes, while they waited, while he was handcuffed.... if the cop had a problem with it. how foolish is the person that would buy into that crap

[Pavulon]

21. Sounds like he did. He said he did, ADA said she was in the wrong.

and she says the opposite. Only a MORON would go interfere with the police arresting someone.

[msongs]

10. policie put jesus in jail for comforting blinded suspect lol nt

[bigmonkey]

11. Why doesn't the police culture have an honor system?

Like Annapolis, or other organizations? Why is it exactly the opposite? Police blanket apologists, why is this?

[Ignis]

22. "WE'LL tell YOU when we're done torturing the suspect, Stupid Citizen."

Interfering with torture is laudable. The suspect was already 'cuffed and under control.

[Pavulon]

25. meh, we got sprayed with OC and gassed with CS

it sucks, he would have lived and did. Shit we did not even try to brawl with the police. Unless she had some talk therapy to give she should have moved on along..

Stupidity is multiplying like roaches out there.

[Ignis]

26. I do not applaud authoritarian violence against citizens when it's not required.

YMMV.

[Pavulon]

27. Read the article, dude went hard hands and got sprayed.

just the right amount of force required to remove the guy from the fight without beating his ass with a baton.

The article does more to identify the fast spreading disease of stupid gripping our nation.

[Ignis]

28. So don't knee-jerk, read my first post in the thread.

Did I say the Stupid Citizen should have placed herself between the spraying LEO and the suspect? Or did I say she was right to help the suspect with his pain after he was under control?

[Pavulon]

29. She was wrong to interfere with a prisoner in custody.

if they asked her to help she has a gripe, if not, well she now has a criminal record.

[Ignis]

30. You're wrong: Humanitarianism trumps authoritarianism.

I break the law all the time to distribute food/clothes/supplies to the homeless, despite local laws. I don't plan to stop anytime soon.

Once a suspect is cuffed and under control, there's no reason for him to suffer further pain--unless, of course, one is an authoritarian asshole who gets his jollies off on that sort of thing. I think most DUers would strongly agree that helping those in pain is a progressive value.

YMMV.

[Pavulon]

33. As long as you don't mind jail, great. Water makes it worse

she was convicted and the ADA (not the much hated police) reiterated that people should not interfere with police. Way the hell back when I got sprayed we used baby shampoo to get it out.

So she was dumb and dumber, she made it worse. Another reason not to go fucking about in problems where you are not needed.

I assume most on du aren't stupid to get in the mix with the police who have a person in custody.

[Ignis]

35. For some, The Law is the only ethical framework they have.

The rest of us understand that something can be both ethical and illegal, or legal and unethical.

Best of luck getting there someday.

[defendandprotect]

32. Torture and creating suffering is now an important part of police enforcement -- !!!

[Pavulon]

34. OC beats a spiral fracture. Stupid people who want to fight

now have a better option that a baton.

[Ignis]

36. Pain-based compliance isn't just a method anymore; it's the goal.

Hang in there, D&P. :hi:

[Javaman]

37. Human compassion on trial.

we have reached a weird reality in this nation.

[USArmyParatrooper]

38. She shouldn't have interfered

I think it's common sense that if the police are handling a situation you should stay out of the way. You especially shouldn't approach subject who's being arrest, or has been arrested. And if the police tell you to back away then back away. They don't know if you're going to hand something to the suspect or even take something away that could be evidence.

All of this being said I personally wouldn't have charged her for it.

[lonestarnot]

39. Disgusting!