Police order bicyclist to ground and threaten taser for...waving.

An Indiana firefighter and youth pastor who waved at a police car because he thought he recognized an occupant was stopped and ordered to the ground, threatened with a taser and then cuffed all for waving which the cops misinterpreted as "flipping them off." Totally ridiculous and pretty sensitive if you ask me....

on.aol.com...

reply to post by CosmicCitizen


I would say this situation highlights the perpetuation of hostility between law enforcement and the citizenry.

Cops assume every action towards them is hostile or insulting --> People get angered by reading about this instance --> Those people act disrespectfully to a different officer --> That officer gets increasingly frustrated by the public and the cycle repeats itself, exacerbating the problem with each new instance.

Cliche line: We must break the cycle of hostility.

I do believe flipping off a cop is not illegal. Something to do with the 1st Amendment, freedom of speech but I don't expect the average cop to actually know what that pesky document that they are sworn in to protect actually says. This has even been upheld in Federal Court.

What is even more messed up, this guy got shaken down simply waiving not even giving them the bird.

Why do so many of our fellow citizens look the other way while the police state grows stronger?

What will it take for the average citizen to wake up to the loss of freedom we are experiencing?

Originally posted by jrod
I do believe flipping off a cop is not illegal. Something to do with the 1st Amendment, freedom of speech but I don't expect the average cop to actually know what that pesky document that they are sworn in to protect actually says. This has even been upheld in Federal Court.

What is even more messed up, this guy got shaken down simply waiving not even giving them the bird.

Why do so many of our fellow citizens look the other way while the police state grows stronger?

What will it take for the average citizen to wake up to the loss of freedom we are experiencing?

It takes them waving at a cop who then stops them, takes them to the ground and threatening them with a tazer.

Second

reply to post by Terminal1


For that one guy he now realizes the kind of world we live. It is not enough to wake up the masses. We still have the majority of the population who think the police are there to protect them and for every incident like this they just make excuses and say stuff like the police are under a lot of stress due to the nature of their job, ect..

If they can't handle the stress of being a cop and will vent on innocent citizens then they have no business being a cop. Most of us realize in this brave new world with prison's for profit that the aggressive cop who gets a lot of arrest is worth a lot more to the system than the less aggressive cop who wants to serve and protect.

Originally posted by CosmicCitizen
A firefighter and youth pastor who waved at a police car because he thought he recognized an occupant was stopped and ordered to the ground, threatened with a taser and then cuffed all for waving which the cops misinterpreted as "flipping them off." Totally ridiculous and pretty sensitive if you ask me....

on.aol.com...|main5|dl5|sec1_lnk3%26pLid%3D359 264

Even if he was flipping him off since when is that a crime? I have had many cops tell me that flipping them off is not illegal. Sure cops can be jerks about it but it is not illegal to flip them off!

Wth is wrong with this country and the cops in it? I know not all cops are bad but it seems there are more bad than good ones. It seems there are many on power trips that shouldn't even have a badge. IMO I think there should be strict guidelines including mental evaluations for those who want to be cops.

reply to post by CosmicCitizen


Do you have a working link to the video? Your link had wedding stuff and celebrity gossip.

Originally posted by mblahnikluver
Even if he was flipping him off since when is that a crime?

It's actually been ruled constitutionally protected freedom of expression.

I had an officer harass me when I was 8 and said I gave him the bird...

I told him I had no birds and would never harm a bird, because I had no idea what the power tripper was talking about. He said "No you little brat, the finger! You gave me the finger?" Again I didn't know as I looked at my hand but I told him I was very sorry and I would not let it happen again. He got some call and left me alone, but stared me down until he left.

Had I known at 8 which was the correct "Finger" I certainly would have given him one after he left for treating me like a criminal. That was only my first experience at what a lot of police are like, it is only worse now.

reply to post by jrod

Maybe the cop who was the aggressor had a bad day and was "flipped off" earlier (still....not an arrestable offense) and then he "lost it" but I ask "what was his partner doing? why did he or she not intervene and be the voice of reason here?" Stupidity and arrogance by law enforcers against citizens left unchecked (along with coverups for misdeeds) becomes the culture and widens the divide between law enforcement and the citizenry. "Protect and Serve" no longer applies I fear.

reply to post by mblahnikluver

NYPD cops are notorious for being arrogant and bullying tourists who ask them for directions (denying them help but not sparing them a verbal tirade) even if they are not busy....if one did that to me I would surely be tempted to flip them off along with two choice words. (This did not happen in NYC however).

reply to post by PsykoOps

I copied the url after the video played (HuffPost) so that may be why....I will try it again.
CORRECTED.

reply to post by abeverage


If I came across such an incident cop or no cop I'd slap him up and he would have apologized to you too,,, no way I'd tolerate that, no way,,,, stories like this will make people wonder what the hell is the point in being on this planet at all.. just bloody disgraceful....

reply to post by CosmicCitizen
Tried it again and still get some bridemaids stuff and hollyscoop or something. Not sure what's going on with that.

I guess it could have been worse for the guy....what if the cops "imagined" that he was "waving" a weapon?? Being a firefighter and a pastor I do not believe for a second that he was flipping off the police. This cop ought to really feel ashamed for such anti-social behavior. Technically he was falsely defacto arrested (by virtue of being detained and handcuffed even if no charges were filed). In addition pointing a taser at his head at the equivalent of "point blank" range is a form of assault.

reply to post by PsykoOps

It works for me when I click on the link in the Original Post so....??? Try Googling it then with the key words from the title. I do know that there is a 15 sec video before the news report (with photos of him on the ground next to his bike). BTW, the man was black and the cops were white but the firefighter victim (who tried to call the police chief and that was when he was threatened with the taser) does not think it was racial - he thinks that they thought he was flipping him off (they apparently said so).

reply to post by MDDoxs


How do we break the cycle of hostility? Wave and smile at a cop?

Look where it got this guy.

reply to post by nunya13

And from their side (cops): ordering a citizen off his bike and onto the ground and then threatening to shoot a taser at his head goes a long way to "win the hearts and minds" of the people whom they are entrusted to protect.

reply to post by PsykoOps

I see that there is another thread on the same story and he has the pictures (from the news video) posted. Technically tho his OP is wrong in that it says the bicyclist was threatened with a taser in the face for waving. Actually he was told to dismount the bike and get on the ground for the waving and it was when he pulled out his cell phone to call the police chief that he had the taser pointed at his face. Thankfully they didnt think that his shiny cell phone was a weapon.

And last I checked you are allowed to flip off cops. Supreme court ruled it a constitutional right.

Originally posted by CosmicCitizen
reply to post by jrod

 

Maybe the cop who was the aggressor had a bad day and was "flipped off" earlier (still....not an arrestable offense) and then he "lost it" but I ask "what was his partner doing? why did he or she not intervene and be the voice of reason here?" Stupidity and arrogance by law enforcers against citizens left unchecked (along with coverups for misdeeds) becomes the culture and widens the divide between law enforcement and the citizenry. "Protect and Serve" no longer applies I fear.

I lived in the poorest neighborhood in town and had a single parent. I probably looked pretty rough and was just playing in an abandoned field and was at the top of hill. He flashed his lights told me to come down then said it was private property (nothing was built there and there were no fences or signs). He said he saw me at the top of the hill give him the finger, that I should be mindful of adults and the rest. I told my mom later that night what happened and asked her what the finger is. I got in more trouble LOL

I wondered if he did it to make me fear and respect authority?, It actually caused a lot of resentment instead.

This happened quiet a long time ago and I have only seen that things have gotten worse.

On a funny and strange side note I went to take the entrance exam with a friend of mine to join the local police force a few years out of High School.

We were both denied...the reason? Did we fail? NO! Our test scores were to high and our evaluation showed to much independence...The do not want smart police officers...

Is it any wonder why crimes go unsolved and we have a bunch of power trippers on the force?