DC Lawyer Arrested After Talking About Gates Arrest, Criticizing Police

[kid a]

hmmmm...how much verbal abuse should a cop have to withstand on a street corner before arresting someone?


rom huffpo:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/29/disorderly-conduct-conver_n_246794.html

Disorderly Conduct: Conversation About Gates Arrest Precedes Arrest

"A lawyer who moments earlier had been complaining to friends about police overreaction in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., got a taste of the Gates treatment himself after loudly chanting "I hate the police" near a traffic stop in Northwest Washington, D.C.

Pepin Tuma, 33, was walking with two friends along Washington's hip U Street corridor around midnight Saturday, complaining about how Gates had been rousted from his home for not showing a proper amount of deference to a cop. "We'd been talking about it all day," said Tuma. "It seems like police have a tendency to act overly aggressively when they're being pushed around," Tuma recalled saying.

Then the group noticed five or six police cruisers surrounding two cars in an apparent traffic stop on the other side of the street. It seemed to Tuma that was more cops than necessary.

"That's why I hate the police," Tuma said. He told the Huffington Post that in a loud sing-song voice, he then chanted, "I hate the police, I hate the police."

[marmar]

1. Don't Turn Around.....Der Kommissar's in Town.

Life in a Police State.

[Raineyb]

2. Gee, yet another incident where cops arrest someone for a bullshit reason

And they wonder why people can't stand them.

[ixion]

3. I had a cop threaten to arrest me for saying "good evening" to him

as I passed him on the boardwalk. He didn't like my look, apparently, and got in my face talking about going to jail. I demurred.

So it's no surprise that this guy was harassed, despite the fact that he wasn't doing anything more than expressing his opinion.

[indepat]

4. I don't hate police: I hate any illegal act or abuse of power by anyone in authority

:P

[G_j]

10. "I don't hate police,

I just like it when they are not around"

Charles Bukowski

[sinkingfeeling]

5. I want to know when police officers became gods to the rest of us and must be worshipped.

[Zywiec]

6. Another reason to disrespect and distrust the police. n/t

[rocktivity]

7. From a lawyer?

Not Smart.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[AspenRose]

8. He knew what he was doing....he's a lawyer.

"One officer reacted strongly to Tuma's song. "Hey! Hey! Who do you think you're talking to?" Tuma recalled the officer shouting as he strode across an intersection to where Tuma was standing. "Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?" the police officer said, according to Luke Platzer, 30, one of Tuma's companions.

Tuma said he responded, "It is not illegal to say I hate the police. It's not illegal to express my opinion walking down the street."

According to Tuma and Platzer, the officer pushed Tuma against an electric utility box, continuing to ask who he thought he was and to say he couldn't talk to police like that.

"I didn't curse," Tuma said. "I asked, am I being arrested? Why am I a being arrested?"

It's also reported by one of the witnesses that the cop called the attorney an anti-gay slur.

[madokie]

15. Sounds like a law suit in the makings

[kid a]

9. reminds me of the Corey Smith song...

"Fuck the Po Po"

We toured with him all last summer. Most of the on-premises cops, state troopers thought the song was funny.
A few times, we'd see Corey discussing/explaining the lyrics to the security cops before and after the show.

F the Popo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQTbklADuK4&feature=related

lyrics:
Blue lights flashing, they had traffic stopped
And Highway 11's done turned into a permanent road block
I wasn't driving, my wife was my D.D.
And she hadn't drank a drop, still got hassled by the J.P.D.
And I said hey dude can't you just leave her alone
She ain't done nothin' wrong man and we just want to go home
Woah-woah

And I was mad as hell, thinking fuck the po-po
and they wonder why folks don't trust 'em no more
Woah-hoah
And I'm not gonna let this go, so I'm singing fuck the po-po

So I got arrested, just for speaking up
And that cop said boy the only right you have is to shut the fuck up
Now I'm a jail-bird, I've done time in the pen
And I've got a real messed up story to tell all my friends
And my name was in the newspaper in my home town
They ruined my reputation because I didn't bow down
No-no

And now I'm mad as hell singing fuck the po-po
And they wonder why folks don't trust 'em no more
Woah-hoah
And I'm not gonna let this go so I'm singing fuck the po-po

Two fingers in the air for the J.P.D.
The long-arm of the law coming down on me
Now I understand why all these rappers are mad
They must have been treated as badly as I have
Now I'm screaming thug life, fuck the po-po
Shootin' birds out the window whenever the cops go by
They're puttin road blocks in front of my house
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
Man I'm starting to feel like I live under the Taliban
Can't drive home without a gun in my face
Thursday through Sunday, they're invading my space
Tellin' me its for my sake, they're keepin' the streets safe
By gettin' all the drunks off of the highway
But I say man, that's a big fuckin' lie
It's all about the money from the D.U.I.'s
Otherwise they'd be parked out in front of this bar
Giving free breathalysers before we get in our cars
Instead they just hide about 3 miles away
And sit and wait for one of us to make a mistake
Drink a little to much and you'll be cuffed and stuffed
And probably roughed up if you complain enough
You'll be carted off to jail, in the land of the free
Another victim of the over-zealous J.P.D.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't mean disrespect
There are a lot of good cops, who serve and protect
And they boldly put their lives on the line
To protect our rights and give us peace of mind
But for every cop who thinks his badge is a crown
This song is for you, and I'll never bow down ...

And I'm mad as hell singing fuck the po-po
woah-woah

And I'm not gonna let this go so I'm singing fuck the po-po y'all
Oh no, fuck the po-po

[Towlie]

11. "My brother thinks he's a chicken. We would have had him committed but we needed the eggs."

That's a joke that Woody Allen told at the end of http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075686/maindetails">Annie Hall. He went on to explain how it applied to relationships, but I think it also applies to defenders of corrupt police officers. They defend those officers because we need a force to protect our rights, just as Woody Allen's family needed the eggs, but just as Woody Allen's brother did a poor job of actually producing any eggs, we have this problem with police who violate our rights instead of defending them.

Please, let's not meekly accept police corruption just because "we need the eggs".

[Seen the light]

12. Seems like he was trying to get arrested on purpose to prove a point

Not saying that's wrong, just pointing that out.

[Uncle Joe]

16. And it seems the police made his point for him.

I wonder if this was videotaped?

[E_Pluribus_Unitarian]

13. As I've said here before...

I do believe in showing respect for public safety and law enforcement officials...but I also believe in having clearly-defined expectations of them as well. Within that context--of both respect and expectation--when they fall short of those expectations, I think they deserve the criticism, and people should have the right to openly and constructively voice it.

[safeinOhio]

14. Donate to the ALCU

put it toward protecting our First Amendment Rights.