Need further proof we’re falling deep into becoming a Big Brother, totalitarian, fascist (don’t start with the nit picky complaints about the exact definition!) nation? Step by step, it’s happening everywhere.
A Times Square Pedestrian Is Giving No Ground
Millions of people have paused to stand amid the hustle, bustle and neon of Times Square.
And sure, those who pause — to gawk, talk or eat a gyro — can slow the progress of pedestrians around them.
But when Matthew Jones of Brooklyn lingered on the corner of 42nd Street and Seventh Avenue in the early morning of June 12, 2004, gabbing with friends as other pedestrians tried to get by, something unusual happened: He was arrested for it.
A police officer said Mr. Jones was impeding other pedestrians and charged him with disorderly conduct.
12. “If there’s one thing I can’t stand it is people who won’t get the F out of my way when I’m trying to get somewhere.”
In a public space, what right do you have to be in the place I’m standing? I’m only impeding you if I’m interfering with one of your rights. As far as I can see we both have the same right to the same public spot. If you want the spot I’m in, wait your fricken turn.
2am,
bored cop,
Loitering kids…
Bad place BAD time..
Even though I find it hard to side with someone blocking a sidewalk they should have been issued a warning – a.k.a. a stiff shoulder brush to the back.
So Jones, of Brooklyn, is in Manhattan, talking to (Manhattan?) friends, at 2:00am? The dissenting judge needs to understand that the disorderly conduct wasn’t his standing there, it was his refusal to move along when requested to do so by the police.
Guess none of you people ever lived in Manhattan…
#34 As a resident of Brooklyn I must remind you that those in Brooklyn also reside in the exact same city as those who live in Manhattan and it is therefore not very strange to be in Manhattan at any given hour. That is unless they have changed the rules recently. And as far as I know the police must have a reasonable reason to insist that someone moves along and then a reasonable reason to arrest someone. As far as I can tell “hanging out” at 7th and Broadway is not a crime… nor it ever should be. I also would be questioning the police what I had done to deserve such a request.
Another typical exampe of the white man harrassing people of Color. Typical.
36 – D, I’ve seen more racist behavior from “persons of color” than from “persons of pallor”.
What first came to mind was that this was a black bigot hassling whitey.
18 JimR And that description has what to do with the sidewalk situation at the time Jones was arrested?
Hope I too can pick & choose whichever laws I might want to obey, like Jones. If he has all the time in the world to resist and get himself arrested, he has the time to change these obvious-to-all unjust laws in City Hall.
RBG
OMG, what has happened to this site. This is the type of story that Alex Jones would post.
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=14122
and
http://tinyurl.com/25gcxb
Since when is 2a.m. a bad time to be out and about in Manhatten?
And just how mush ped traffic could he be blocking at that time?
And christ on a crutch….Times Square is MEANT to be stood in, on and around.
#37, Phillep,
Good call. Those Black cops giving white guys trouble really annoys me too.
Actually, it doesn’t matter what color he is. He has as much right to stand on the sidewalk as anyone. If he stood on the street then he would be jaywalking or impeding traffic. If he stood in a doorway, then he would be trespassing.
Let’s wait until more asshats show up and try telling us that he is lucky the cop didn’t shoot him for disobeying a police order at that hour.
@ #25, re: In Shanghai and Beijing its against the law to spit.
Actually, this is illegal … or at least fineable … in many places (many just city by-laws), wisely put on the books during the days of rampant TB.
Bored cops = asshole cops.