West Side woman faces jail time for swearing at toilet

West Side woman faces jail time for swearing at toilet

www.thetimes-tribune.com

A West Scranton woman could face up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $300 for allegedly shouting profanities at an overflowing toilet while inside her Luzerne Street home.

Dawn Herb, whose potty mouth caught the attention of an off-duty police officer, was charged with disorderly conduct recently, prompting her to fire off a letter to the editor and vow to fight the charge.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is just stupid, just another story of cops over reacting, I'm surprised they didn't taser her, or shot her dead on the spot. I'm glad these cops were not around when I put my computer desks together, I would be in Big trouble.

www.thetimes-tribune.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This appears to be an example of cronyism.

If you know someone you can get an arrest, whereas if you don't have the right contacts, the cop will say 'I wasn't there, I can't do anything'.

Looks like the ACLU will be setting them straight.

OTOH, we had some lady up the street and cuss out the cops and the whole neighborhood for an half an hour and the cops just stood there in her front yard and let it go on. Sheesh.

Generally it's a bad idea to have your neighbors arrested for such things.

2 cents.

what are the laws on profanity?
i cuss all the time...every sentence..just habit and honestly it's how i talk. i don't even realize i am doing it anymore.

with the cops getting spunky on everything these days, i figure it is only a matter of time before i get braced for using profane language in public.

fined for swearing at a toilet??

Cops rely on filing phony charges to stop an incident and don't care later when the charges are thrown out; often they don't even show up for court to answer for their deeds.

Here are the FACTS: Disorderly conduct is a BREACH OF THE PEACE. In order to have a breach of the peace there MUST be violence or the IMMANENT threat of violence. Violence is an ESSENTIAL component of a breach of the peace. INTENT is everything.

If you are cursing at a person, trying to get them riled up enough to attack you and start a fight, to respond violently, then that is disorderly conduct. If your intent was NOT to incite any violence, then the language used is PREFECTLY LEGAL. you are legally allowed to cuss cops, there is NOTHING they can legall do about it. you can curce others as long as your words do not intend, or are likley to, incite violence.It is a law that is SUPPOSED to be used for stopping a violent confrontation from happening, giving cops a tool to defuse a situation that is about to get out of control, NOT to punsig someone because some cop is offended.

This charge WILL be thrown out, and if the lady does not sue the cop who placed the charge for civil rights violations, then she is a fool and simply perpetuating police abuse of powers.The ONLY way to stop these kinds of nonsense charges is to SUE the filthy dogs ( cops ) in FEDERAL court, for damgaes. That gets thgeir attention; nothing else does escept force and not many of us have the opportunity to use force against a cop, so the courts are the only way to go.

If every citizen that had a case thrown out for lack of probable cause sued the offending pigs, then we would see a lot less of these ' buddy charges '. where one cop calls another to file a flase charge. They KNOW that it is illegal and improper, but they just don't care!! They don't care because they know that the average citizen is so relieved to just get the matter thrown out that they leave it alone and forget it, considering themselves ' lucky '!! Lucky for being charged falsely, lucky for having to get an attorney, lucky to see justice done when the charge is thrown out..that is NOT LUCK, it is the system working, and we should NEVER allow these filthy cops to disturb our lives by filing bad charges that get thrown out.

Cops are thick as thieves, and we should be as well. If we do not stand up to these scum in uniform, they will falesly charge more often and with a laugh as they inconvenience us and cost us money and time..they think that they win even if charges are thrown out!! So SUE the dogs and believe me you will get their attention then!! Nothing is more gratifying than to see some big mouthed bullying cop get his just desserts in a court of law and ruin his career and take his savings and car and home..THAT is beyond description as a great feeling, and if it happened more often, the scum that claim to be out servants would toe the line more often: Cops only fear two things : Violent retribution, and loss of money and job.

The sad fact is that the police bosses will let cops do anything as long as they don't make attention be drawn to the bosses, and they will back up their piggies every time, no matter how badly the cops act. So the only real relief is to sue em. SUE the cops and watch them squirm!! Sue the cops and watch them get polite, sue them and see some real change; Nothing else will work.

Yay, another cop bashing thread.

Originally posted by elevatedone
Yay, another cop bashing thread.

The more the merrier! We get enough attention focused on the bad cops and perhaps something will be done.

Getting fined for cussing at a toilet is just ridiculous.

reply to post by elevatedone


I hope this does not turn into a cop bashing thread.
Get the hint everyone?

She may have been yelling profanity to the point that her neighbors were complaining. Who knows?

She obviously taught that commode a lesson if it was overflowin' and stuff. Maybe the cop felt sorry for that commode.

EO: It's fortunate that we can do a little 'cop bashing' and not fear retribution - at least so far. Maybe in 10 years it will be different - maybe they'll hunt you down and taze you for dinging them online.

....
This guy abused his authority. I hope this lady raises holy he-double-hockey-sticks, writes the Chief and the newspaper and sues the cops, too.

Now if she was shrieking at the top of her lungs in the middle of the night and was still going on when the cops got there and refused requests to stop, that might be a little different. Even then most of the time they'll just tell you to keep it down.

What's puzzling is why she even answered the door. You don't have to let the cops in and they can't bust down the door to charge you with a misdemeanor if you're not in the midst of commission of said crime - that I'm aware. Make them wait on the doorstep while you call your attorney if necessary.

They can be persistent. Two of this city's finest sat in the park for an hour to wait for me to ride my bike back through the parking lot to ask me if I had a bell on my bike. (they said there was a complaint, but the complaintant was the perp - she almost hit me with her car in the parking lot of a public park, and fearful I'd call it in, she called it in first and lied. I think one of her relatives must have been a cop to get that kind of attention).

So while the criminals are out robbing the banks and shooting people, be thankful that our cops are out busting retirees on bicycles and passionate toilet washers.

Thank God we live in a country that the rights and feelings of our beloved toilets are protected by our ever vigelent law enforcement.

I'm thinking if the cops stop acting like fools, then there would be no need to bash them for stupid or foolish behavior. This woman would not have been charged at all if it wasn't a off duty cop calling this in. What of him, allegedly yelling profanity's at the Suspect. Why wasn't he charged?

She will win this in court, but just a good example of waisted tax payer money, and IMHO a cop that is using the system to get a neighbor he apparently doesn't like.

reply to post by eyewitness86


thanks man..i always dig your posts.
i don't really cuss AT people, i just cuss.
every day, general conversation..

i still figure i'll get braced one day cause someone is going to get offended by the language.

edit*
this is crazy..
cops need bashed for this....i skimmed it real fast thinking that she was at a mall or something.

this woman was in her own home and the off duty fuzz next door couldn't handle the language....

this might be the most bizzare case of 'oilice insanity' i have seen yet

[edit on 17-10-2007 by Boondock78]