Florida Police Vs. HauntWok!

Today I get up, go to the 7 Eleven to get a cup of joe, go down to the river, sit on a park bench, get out my kindle and continue reading "Still Life with Woodpecker" by Tom Robbins. It's a beautiful sunrise by the river and there's few mosquitoes.

Now, I wake up in a bad mood, there is no right side of the bed for me to get out of. (I can't get out at the head of the bed so, that might be the right side, I dunno) As a result, I'm pretty grumpy before I get enough caffeinated sunshine in me.

That's when two Florida city police officers approached me. They wanted to know about a boat that was tied up illegally along this wall by the river. I've met the man that owns the little boat, and he uses it to come in from his slightly larger boat out in the bay. They specifically asked if it was my boat. I said "no it is not".

Then the cop decided to ask me the two questions that really pissed me off.

"Do you have an ID?" and "Can I see it?"

Had I been doing anything at all illegal, I would have complied out of respect for the law. But last time I checked, sitting on a park bench reading a book isn't against the law, so I replied with:

"Yes I do, and NO you may not!"

The cop asked: "Why not?"

Which I replied: "Because I am committing no crime, and therefore there is absolutely no reason you have to violate my constitutionally protected 4th Amendment rights."

The cop came back with "I'm not violating your rights, were having a conversation, I can have a conversation with whomever I want to, I could talk to those people over there if I wanted (he gestured to a couple walking down the sidewalk) and I can talk to you if I want to."

I said "Yes you can, as long as I want to talk to you, I no longer wish to talk to you, and so, you must leave me alone."

The cop said "Sir, you don't want to get on my bad side."

Which I came back with "Officer, you already have gotten on my bad side, and I guarantee that my bad side is far worse than your's is, and if you don't leave me alone to my book immediately, I will have your partner place you in handcuffs and take you to the county jail under harassment charges. Do I make myself absolutely crystal clear?."

At which point the cop and his partner walked quickly away.

Moral of the story, DON'T PISS ME OFF BEFORE I HAD MY COFFEE!

reply to post by HauntWok


god damn coffee fiends
anyway this is a good story, good work for standing up for your rights
its more of a control thing when you think about it, seeing your id would have served no purpose.

haha

"Because I am committing no crime, and therefore there is absolutely no reason you have to violate my constitutionally protected 4th Amendment rights."

I got to remember that line!

The nerve of that cop telling you he could talk to anyone. WTF! What kind of cop points that out and then throws a temper tantrum at your logical actions.

Makes me mad! I can understand cops doing their jobs. I really can. But just wanting to see my ID for reading a book on a park bench is outrageous. I'll be down there at the river tomorrow morning as well, and if that cop even breathes a word to me. I will have his badge.

I like the police in general, I really do, but treat me with respect and don't treat me like a punk.

reply to post by HauntWok


Blessed be,
I can relate, I need 2 cups of coffee in the morning to be able to say good morning to my husband and get a coherent sentence out! BTW nice move, hit them with the law, it hurts the most!

Namasté

reply to post by UniverSoul

its more of a control thing when you think about it, seeing your id would have served no purpose.

It was a control thing, just seeing if I would just roll over and let him search me or harass me without fighting back. A lot of times cops will do what is called a Terry Stop, unfortunately for the cop, he did not have any reasonable suspicion, let alone probable cause to ask me anything. He should have ended the conversation when I answered his question about the boat.

reply to post by Absco

WTF! What kind of cop points that out and then throws a temper tantrum at your logical actions.

Cops are unaccustomed to people challenging their authority. They expect people to be obedient sheep and just lay down when approached. People have to remember their rights. and when a cop has no legal leg to stand on, it's up to the people to exercise their rights. If you don't, the only person to blame for them stepping all over the Constitution is yourself.

Again, most cops are good people, they are just doing a job, and it's a hard job to do. I respect the police when they are in the right. But when they are in the wrong. I take personal offense to it and I don't let them get away with things they shouldn't.

reply to post by KhaliWitch

I can relate, I need 2 cups of coffee in the morning to be able to say good morning to my husband and get a coherent sentence out! BTW nice move, hit them with the law, it hurts the most!

Merry met!

Yea, I have searched the bed for the right side to get out, and I don't think it has one. Coffee is the only thing I want to talk to in the morning and it knows the right things to say.

reply to post by HauntWok


Good on you. Sadly, this is the new norm. If we really sat back and looked at the trashing of the 4th amendment - and the 50 mile "no-constitution applied here" zones on the borders, and the phone tapping, and the free speach cages, etc etc etc we would think we were watching 1984.

CJ

Yup sounds like your having them monthly pms's lol poor cops. You women should wear signs to warn us poor fellows away. Sounds like the coppers learned that the hard way.

reply to post by lokdog

Yup sounds like your having them monthly pms's lol poor cops.

I'm a man.

And just because he annoyed me this morning I decided to send off an angry email to the mayor and all the top cops in town about his behavior this morning and I told them that if he or ANY police officer in this town harasses, attempts to harass me, or intimidate me, I will have a county sheriff arrest them and deliver them to jail.

I frankly don't care if I get on all of their "bad sides" I won't take that sort of behavior.

Homeless man accuses Bradenton police of rights violation

The officers asked if he owned a small dinghy, which was moored nearby.
It wasn’t his boat, he told them.

They then asked if he had identification, and if they could see it.

“I said, ‘Yes, I have ID, and no you may not,’” Hazel told the Herald. “I hadn’t committed any crime. There was no reason for him to ask for my ID.”

Read more: www.bradenton.com...

If the guy wanted a war, he got one!