NEW YORK (AP) — A federal appeals court in New York has reinstated a lawsuit brought by a man who was arrested after giving the finger to a police officer and sued for what he calls a malicious prosecution.
The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday restored the claim brought by John Swartz and his wife after their May 2006 encounter with police as they drove through the upstate New York village of St. Johnsville, 50 miles west of Albany. The couple is seeking unspecified damages.
A lower court judge in Albany had tossed out the claim after police maintained they stopped Swartz’s car because they feared the finger gesture was a sign of a domestic dispute.
The appeals court says such a conclusion is unreasonable given “the nearly universal recognition that this gesture is an insult.”
Yet we wonder why no one has respect for our law enforcement officers.
New York doesn’t have a law against Public Assholery but they have one against Soda?
No one has respect for “law enforcement officers” because they pepper spray you if you look at them cockeyed. They’re hired merc’s for corporations. There is no law enforcement involved. Ask ANYONE who has been detained under NYPD’s ‘Stop and Frisk’ program.
That stop and frisk program is pretty terrible….
First stop and frisk is not a program. Second stop and frisk has nothing todo with flipping off cop. If your going to open your mouth at least educate yourself first.
When you are under immediate scrutiny by the police, it’s a good idea to be on your best behavior.
Does anyone remember the Story Serpico about Dirty NY Cops or the story of the foreign man who could not speak english in a dark hallway, where police shot him because, he went to pull out his wallet for identification? Or how about the story about the NY cops who placed the baton up a man’s ****** and did so much damage internally, that, the guy is forever irrepairably harmed? Hmm, and we respect police? Granted their not all bad, but generally those at the top are corrupt and many bullies on the force were bullies in the playground. Something wrong when, you get your job from political nepotism. I agree Police are alligned with corporations and politics. I have seen TOO MUCH CORRUPTION AT ALL LEVELS with excuses abounding and no ACCOUNTABILITY. Whatever happened to FREE SPEECH? It can be good or bad. In some places giving the finger is outlawed, as it is termed “Unfair Sportsmanship”, but, Enforcement of the laws that, truly count are not implemented or acted upon. This fact, while, easy targets are PERSECUTED. People please look at all the attrocities across this country with police and yet, it continues! Remember Kent State? he LA Riots, Remember the innocent student killed outside of Fenway Park with the Rubber Bullet? How about Mel King with Boston Police Civil Rights Abuse. I can show everyone how police, the courts, local politics and corruption all connects from the bottom to the top. Often the line between law and crime is blurred.
I agree with Matt DelNegro and Mr. Carelton. Whatever happened to Probable Cause? Not, that, police can not make up excuses to find it! I have seen many officers in Springfield stopping anyone they wish to detain, frisking them without probable cause in ho[es to find contraband (An illegal search and seizure and violation of the doctrine of the Poison Tree which means anything obtained illegally and all else thereafter, is void and illegal and inadmissable in court. That only applies if you have a competant and ethical attorney, as the system is a rigged deck that will throw you under the bus unless you find an ethical judge.)
To demonstrate how much is wrong, this maybe getting off of the subject, but, HOW COME NOONE IS PUBLICIZING WHAT IS GOING ON WHEN THE HAMPDEN COURT IS BEING INVESTIGATED FOR PUBLIC RECORDS FRAUD?