Shame on Tampa Fl..........arrests 80yr old widow.....

[bluedog]

But Wednesday night Milton was arrested, put in the back of a sheriff's patrol car and carted off to the Orient Road Jail. Her crime, according to the deputy who pulled her car over for a random license tag search, was a bad check written almost 19 years ago for less than $150.

She was there until 4:15 a.m. Thursday, when she posted $1,000 bail.

So she kept her emotions to herself until she got home to the tiny government-subsidized apartment where she has lived for seven years.


http://www.sptimes.com/2004/06/25/news_pf/Hillsborough/Widow__80__spends_nig.shtml


I'm so disgusted with these police officers here in Fl.they always go after the "norm"..........seems they are never around for the real crimes.murders, rapes, thiefs... and by the way.....Tampa ............republican stronghold........

edit for link.

[evil_orange_cat]

1. laws are laws... the courts are for settling this stuff out...

those cops are doing their job... that lady will have her day in court. We can't make exceptions. The law (supposedly) is blind.

[porphyrian]

2. Don't Give Me That Shit

Laws are, and have always been, selectively enforced. If every law on the books were enforced equally, we'd all be in prison. Chances are, most of us are felons without even realizing it. Cops know this, but most citizens don't. Don't get me started on the inequality in sentencing...

[evil_orange_cat]

5. I get it.... 80 year old white women are above the law... but young blacks

deserve to be arrested... the law applies only to some, right?

You do realize you are arguing FOR inequality, right?

This woman (as far as I can tell) isn't disabled... she apparantly doesn't have any physical handicaps... she wasn't harmed in any way. So why should she have been let go? Because she's old? That's a nice way to look at justice. Maybe we should just make it official and say that after a certain age, you can break all the laws you want!

[porphyrian]

7. Um...No...

When you said, "We can't make exceptions. The law (supposedly) is blind," I took that to mean that you were being terribly naive about the realities of our judicial system, and I was trying to say that arresting an 80 year old for a bad check from an administration ago was both wrong and intentional. By your reaction, I can tell that you weren't being naive about the law, sorry for the misunderstanding.

By the way, I am also against the unfairness in sentencing (thus my comment) along racial/socio-economic lines, but I don't think the answer is to start prosecuting everyone with laws created to harm distinct minority groups. Those laws should be rewritten or removed entirely.

[BeFree]

3. Yeah well,

When Ken Lay is arrested and has to post bond I will agree in total.

Being a cop is tough. Especially when one knows how the biggest crooks run around free. That's reason enough to allow 80 year old widows a little leeway, eh?

[tom_paine]

4. BULLSHIT! Imperial Amerikan "Justice" and Law simply does not exist

anymore.

It was pretty bad even during the days of the Old Republic when America was still free.

The "Supreme Court" and the Imperial Fiat (not to mention him committing so many crimes pretty much right out in the open) have convinced me that Imperial Law does not exist.

Imperial Amerika is a Rogue Nation, and a lawless nation with Orwellian Double-Standards far in excess of anything in the Free World.

One of the reasons why Imperial Amerika now belongs to the Third World.

"The law is the law"

That's pretty funny. Hell, it would have even been funny back when America was free.

Now it's more laughable than ever.

[MoonRiver]

9. Yeah? So why wasn't Joe Scarborough ever investigated for the death

of his intern IN HIS OFFICE?? Huh???

The granny was probably a Democrat. We know what happens to them in Florida.

[progressivebydesign]

6. Tough state!!

Bouncing checks is an arrestable crime? Damn! It's one thing to be a forger, or a check-kiter. But I speak from experience.. it is entirely possible to have a bad check floating around for years and years and NEVER be informed of it until years later... Why was there an arrest warrant for something that should have been handled in civil court. Now.. if this was 19 years ago, it was entirely possible that she broke the law when she was 60, and just hadn't been caught. We don't know the whole story... If there was a warrant, I suppose they had to arrest her.. they can't let people go with warrants.

[amazona]

8. this is crazy

No one of us could prove we didn't bounce a check 19 years ago. The lady has no criminal record and has never bounced a check but who keeps records that long in limited space? You're told to toss checks after 3 years.

If this flies, everybody (not just old people) will be targets. Anyone could come back from two decades and say anything knowing you would no longer have proof.

Scary. I'd heard of this happening to a couple of people in the New Orleans area -- maybe this is the new scam. An old creditor can come back and say you've owed money from 19 years past and if by a miracle you still have the check stub, they'll go and harass someone else. If, like a normal person, you have cleaned your house once in awhile, you have to pay again. When I first heard of this, I thought my friends were exaggerating. But if it's happening in Florida too?

[porphyrian]

10. Mostly, These Laws Are Used As A Way To Bust People For Bigger Crimes

Just like pulling people over for a broken tail light hoping to get a DUI or outstanding warrant.

[Bandit]

11. In most states and for most crimes there is A Statute of Limitations

Usually five years or such except for Capital offenses. don't know about Florida though.