Flip ’em if you got ’em! It is now (or has been confirmed to have always been) legal to give police officers the middle finger. I’d be curious to see if this goes any higher into the court system, but count this as at least a temporary victory for free speech!
Kazzy
One man. Two boys. Twelve kids.
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You know, just because you have the right to do something doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a good idea.Report
I had a friend in high school who yelled “oink, oink” at a cop out his window. Cop followed him home and then wrote him a citation for every single infraction he committed (“driving within two feet of a curb”…).Report
You know, I once sat on a jury for what turned out to be this very issue. Officially, it was for trying to derail a train, but, you know…
We found the defendant innocent, but an idiot.
(I ran into the judge a few weeks after the case, and he gave me the run down.)Report
“As your attorney, and also a sane person, I strongly advise you not to ‘flip the bird’ at random law enforcement officers.”Report
Glyph is not a lawyer nor qualified to dispense legal advice, though he does own a legal pad. Not valid in Micronesia.Report
This is ridiculous. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals would have us believe that fingers are people?Report
Well, I guess maybe if you use a ball-point pen to draw a little face on it, and wiggle it while you’re talking.Report
This development gives me hope for my pending appeal, which I am basing on the novel legal theory that it’s not ‘perjury’ if I was making the well-known ‘air quotes’ gesture at the time.Report
I should say that I certainly don’t advise people to start randomly flipping off police officers. Not only is it stupid and can still bring unneeded trouble (like the folks in this case, your ass still might get arrested and only exonerated after long court battles), but it is needlessly disrespectful and not every cop is deserving of such blatant antipathy, no matter how much it might seem like they are.
Still, I think this is a win for free speech and a much needed pushback against what seems to be an increasing trend towards concentration and abuse of power on behalf of many police officers.Report
I think it actually depends on what the officer is doing at the time of occurrence.
I’ve seen other decisions that deal with both sides of it.Report