Appeals Court: Motorist Cannot be Stopped for Giving Police the Middle Finger
Source: Raw Story
Appeals court: Motorist cannot be stopped for giving police the middle finger
By Eric W. Dolan
Thursday, January 3, 2013 19:31 EST
A motorist cannot be stopped for giving the finger to a police officer, the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled Thursday.
- snip -
The couple saw a police officer using a radar gun to catch speeding motorists at an intersection. John, who was a passenger in the car, stuck his arm outside the side window and flipped the bird over the cars roof. The police officer then followed the couple to their sons home and stopped them. John was arrested for disorderly conduct after other officers arrived as backup.
The officer who initially followed and stopped the couple said he did so because John appeared to be trying to get his attention by waving his middle finger. However, the court didnt buy that argument.
(T)he nearly universal recognition that this gesture is an insult deprives such an interpretation of reasonableness, Circuit Judge Jon O. Newman wrote in the ruling (PDF). This ancient gesture of insult is not the basis for a reasonable suspicion of a traffic violation or impending criminal activity. Surely no passenger planning some wrongful conduct toward another occupant of an automobile would call attention to himself by giving the finger to a police officer.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/03/appeals-court-motorist-cannot-be-stopped-for-giving-police-the-middle-finger
SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)I coulda used this ruling when was growing up!
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)How might you attract the attention of a police officer?
DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)or something
liberal N proud
(60,302 posts)It offers the same insult in some middle east cultures.
Thumbs up" traditionally translates as the foulest of gesticular insults in some Middle Eastern countries the most straightforward interpretation is "Up yours, pal!" [7] The sign has a similarly pejorative meaning in parts of West Africa, South America, Iran, and Sardinia, according to Roger E. Axtell's book Gestures: The Do's and Taboos of Body Language Around the World."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thumbs_signal
Kolesar
(31,182 posts)In our rude, 1970s, vernacular
ReRe
(10,597 posts)1+
gvstn
(2,805 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)SkyDaddy7
(6,045 posts)If you flip a cop off now they will still come after you they will simply do what cops do MAKE UP A DIFFERENT REASON! Cops can literally do almost anything they want especially if they are smart about how they report what they did. However, even when caught doing something unethical or even flat out illegal they rarely get punished & when they do most of the time they are allowed to resign & another law enforcement agency will hire them...You will rarely ever hear of a cop getting fired. That is unless the cop is a whistle blower then they will feel the full force of the "Law"!!
A Simple Game
(9,214 posts)Stupid cop couldn't come up with a better excuse?
caseymoz
(5,763 posts). . . under the NDAA, in which case, the motorist and his passengers can disappear forever.
Hurray for freedom!
WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)like a taillight out, that magically repairs itself, or for looking like a murder suspect.
Cops have many ways to play this game.
supercats
(429 posts)There is a little bit of our freedoms still in tact. Cops serve a valuable purpose but more times than not I believe they abuse their rights and privileges. Glad to see this ruling!
Tempest
(14,591 posts)And it's protected speech.
Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)Why, exactly, is it not the greatest idea?
Please tell us.
struggle4progress
(118,041 posts)Mooning Deemed 'Disgusting' but No Crime in Md.
By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
Acquitting a Germantown man who exposed his buttocks during an argument with a neighbor, a Montgomery County Circuit Court judge ruled yesterday that mooning, while distasteful, is not illegal in Maryland ...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010301509.html