go skateboarding day: cop v.s. skaters

[mtm1963]

what do you think?

a little out of control cop IMO.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH6AYVn2yw4

mtm1963

[beg your pardon]

What an jerk. Wow, thank God he got that 13 year old girl skateboarder off the street!

[Equinox]

What an absolute prick. Choking that girl too? Jeeez. I hope he lost his job.

[steveksux]

1) there's an anti-skateboarding ordinance he cited, so he had grounds to step in.

2) You don't see what led up to this point, so you don't have any idea why the cop decided to arrest rather than ticket them. He might indeed have been an *******. You don't know that. He might have given them merely a warning at first, at which time they blew him off, kept on skateboarding, etc. You can't come into a situation at the end and start monday morning quarterbacking.

3) Once you resist, they are entitled to use whatever force is necessary to subdue you and place you under arrest. Don't like it? Stop resisting. They are only required to ease up once you stop resisting. He only applied enough force to restrain people. He didn't hit anybody, didn't mace anybody.

Common mistake people make who don't know the law. You want to fight it? Fight it in court where you can win. Not on the street where you cannot win. You'll just earn yourself an *** whippin. If you resist hard enough, they can legally beat the crap out of you until you're in cuffs or restrained. Whatever it takes to effect the arrest.

It ain't always pretty. People should be smart enough to not resist and flee over stupid stuff like a skateboarding ticket. And it certainly won't result in a promotion for the cop either, but he was most likely within his rights. He certainly didn't use very much force in the video. No way that'd be excessive. He didn't write the anti-skating ordinance, but his job is to enforce it. Its the kids choice to heed the warning, or take the ticket, walk away. Or take the hard way, and resist. They chose poorly.

Randy

[IDK]

Saw this on cnn. What it doesn't show is that the kid was fighting the cop before the cameras got there. The cop was suspended indefinitely pending an investigation.

[steveksux]

I should add that I've been stopped by the cops for rollerblading in the street, and one of our group got ticketed for being too mouthy, essentially. However we were smart enough not to provoke the cops to the point of arresting us. Barely, as it turns out...:lol: They did threaten us with arrest at one point... but that's a long story..

And another time we were stopped and told we were legally supposed to go against traffic. A lengthy argument ensued. Its dangerous, I was right, he was wrong. His supervisor came out, and took the position we're "pedestrians" and have to go against traffic. I actually convinced the original cop he was wrong, based on our velocity making us more like bikes as opposed to mere appearances making us look like pedestrians, so the bike laws apply to us. However, as he pointed out, once his supervisor said "Pedestrian", it didn't matter what he thought anymore.

Everyone else started skating against traffic to avoid a hassle. I refused. Ended up as "I understand why you guys think we're pedestrians. And I apologize for not cooperating, but I have no choice. Physics trumps appearances. I am not required to follow an unlawful order, and it is an unlawful order on your part to command me to place myself in jeopardy and violate the law, even though you mistakenly believe you are correct in the law in this matter. You can't know all the laws inside and out. I've studied this, I'm a subject matter expert. On skating in the street, I know more than you do, with all due respect. And so, with all due respect, I must regretfully refuse to follow your orders. You may ticket me, or arrest me if you feel it is necessary, and I won't resist. However I will not place myself in physical jeopardy based on your well meaning, but ultimately misguided attempt to watch out for our well being. I appreciate the effort, but with all due respect I cannot and will not comply with what I know to be an unsafe and unlawful order."

We parted agreeing to disagree, with no ticket, no arrest, and no beatdown. Detroit cops.

You can argue with cops. But you'd better show respect if you expect them to listen. Once it gets physical, you comply, let them handcuff you, then see if you can continue to argue your case. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO ARGUE YOUR CASE WHILE THEY'RE TRYING TO ARREST YOU. You will lose every time.

Randy

[Billie-Joe]

Skateboarding isn't a crime :)

Seriously, if it's on public property, why is it illegal?