Police Brutality and Defunct Courtrooms

I recently saw this link that include a video of police officers arresting children for skateboarding. The brutality is excessive and unnecessary in my opinion.

I don't know how to put up the video by itself. If you can, please do, thanks.

Cops vs. Skaters


On a side note, I am now in court for honking my horn. The official charge is 'Improper Horn'.

Background for charge:

I was coming home after buying a pack of cigarettes at around 2:00 am (The police citation is so faintly written I can't even read it).

Four to six police SUVs were behind a tow truck putting a car up on the back the tow tow truck (truck with a bed, not towed behind) in the right hand lane traffic of a four lane highway. The lane they were in ends and turns into my neighborhood.

I was in the far right hand lane they were in and was stopped at a stop light at the bottom of the hill leading to my neighborhood. I was first at the light and had to make a lane change and there were cars in all three lanes to my left.

I accelerated from the stop light and made the lane change to the next lane over without a problem and avoided the officers and the tow truck with room to spare.

Without any forewarning or blinker, one of the SUVs pulled into the lane I had just changed into and stopped. I thought he was going to continue moving but when he stopped it did not leave me much reaction time to see if the next lane I had to get change into was clear or to just stop and wait.

I changed lanes and honked my horn at the officer because he had cut of the flow of traffic, turning a four lane highway into a two lane highway and jeopardizing the saftey of other drivers. Everyone was aware of the fact that only three lanes were available. I felt justified because they put horns in cars for just such a thing, police officer or not.

Court:

I went to court the other day and had the first two cops at the metal detector laugh when they saw my charge. There was a lady that came before the court and told everyone the procedure and said she would briefly answer some questions.

I went to her and handed her my paperwork and she gave me the same look as that she had never seen or heard of such a charge. I asked her for her opinion on whether to plead innocent or guilty because this charge is apparently not on any books and carries a maximum fine of 10 days in jail and/or $100 fine. I am not about to spend 10 days in jail for honking my horn, especially when it was justified. She said it will have to go before a judge either way because it is not a traffic violation.

My number is called to approach the bench and plead not guilty or guilty. I plead not guilty and asked if I wanted to plead guilty what the fine would be. They said it was not on any books and that I would have to see the judge no matter what.

I informed this lady that they had mispelled my first name and she said "It doesn't matter." I said 'Could you please correct my name?' She once again said "It doesn't matter." I then said "Well how about you do it just for me?" It took three times to get my name corrected on a charge that isn't on the books that I could potentially serve 10 days in jail for.

Not guilty or guilty the court fee is $108 which I consider racketeering.

Racketeer:
noun: one who obtains money by an illegal enterprise usually involving intimidation.
transitive verb: to practice extortion on

I now have a court appearance before a judge at the end of August.

Does anyone have any advice or suggestions?

find where the cop lives..egg his house and key his cars, then leave a big flaming bag of dog poo, oh man would that be funny. Dont really do that, though again i would laugh..

Seriously though, yes i agree it is racketeering, then again so is the entire legal system of any country that has ever been. Just pay the stupid fee and then seek punitive damages from the officer who didnt have knowledge of the law and wrote you a frivilous ticket, even seek to have him put on review.. dont put up with the swine

Dress for success when you go to court. Be clean shaven and look like you're going for a major job interview. Doesn't matter that everyone else is dressed in jeans, show respect to the court in dress and manner.

Speak slowly and clearly. Make eye contact with the judge when speaking to him or her. Answer fully but as briefly as possible. Refer to the judge as "Your Honor" and thank them at the end, no matter what. It might not matter as you're walking out, but the judge will notice. Judges see a lot of the bad in people all the time, so reminding them that some people still act like civilized human beings could help someone not get the shaft next time. Judges are jaded and very tired of taking crap.

Lay out your story the way you did here, with no editorializations, just the facts. They are married to the facts, those judges. They don't like lectures and they don't like TMI. Hold your head high and stay calm.

That's the best court advice for anyone.

As far as cops go ... NEVER honk at a cop. Never ever. I learned that lesson the hard way myself. I was behind a guy doing 40 in a 25 zone (yes, I was speeding too) and he stopped suddenly for no apparent reason that I could see. Turns out there was a cop standing in the middle of the street with a LIDAR gun.

Since we both were speeding, he chose the car that got his attention more, me, second in line, because I honked. And it was only one short beep, too. But he didn't like it one bit.

Lucky for me, when I went to court, the charge was thrown out on a technicality. They couldn't "validate the traffic survey" whatever that is. So I got out of a $200 ticket and did nothing but show up dressed in a suit, and follow the instructions I just gave you.

Don't honk at cops. Now you've had the lesson, too.

UPDATE:

I plead not guilty on two seperate court dates and on the third court date the 'officer had given permission to have the case dismissed'.

The End, I win.

Originally posted by Spoodily
UPDATE:

The End, I win.

Go YOU!!!

Woot!


And that link you provied, wow, cops beating up young kids for skateboarding, INSANE!