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.”
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.”
[…]
Within minutes, the officer had cuffed Tuma. The charge: disorderly conduct — just like Gates, who was arrested after police responded to a report of a possible break-in at his home and Gates protested their ensuing behavior.
[…]
“People talk about the Gates thing in terms of race, but it’s an ongoing problem of police using disorderly conduct to shut people up,” Tuma said.
If Tuma was being excessively loud when saying that, then yes. That is disorderly, and he can be cuffed. It’s on the line, but it is “legal”
Sue em. beat the cops at their own game. Hurt em where it hurts the most: their wallet.
He may have the right to say it, but he also deserves to get punched in the fucking mouth for being a douchebag.
#3 No he does NOT deserve to get punched.
If you do mouth off to cops you are likely to get hurt or arrested, but it is not right. This is not a black or white thing. Try your luck and the same thing is bound to happen to you.
Telling the truth can be dangerous…
whoa. when the hell did it become “douchebagery” to hate the cops? thats a perfectly valid opinion. in fact ill say it here. (whispers) “i hate cops.”
#3: whew, are you dumb!
#3
You realize you just elevated yourself to same level of douchebagery.
is a police state…
We need as renewed debate about the role of law enforcement in our society.
Moronic headline – the 1st Amendment is not dead. Just take a look at all the stuff that Uncle Dave posts every week.
A more appropriate comment: It’s crap headlines like this that destroy respect for bloggers.
If the 1st admendment were really dead biased “news” services like the Huffington Post would have already been shut down.
Most cops are decent people doing an often thankless job. A lot of cops are ignorant thugs compensating for their low self-esteem by over-reacting to any perceived (valid or otherwise) disrespect. I suspect that the traditional “code of silence” about police wrong-doing is the biggest part of the problem. Higher recruiting standards and higher pay might be a good solution but I don’t see that coming any time soon.
If you play with a rabid dog expect to get bit. It may not be right but no one seems to be able to police the police unless they do something stupid on camera. Some times not even then.
#12, Steve,
Good points.
While most cops are decent people, if they cover up wrong doing by other cops then they become just as bad. Too many police forget who they work for.
I wonder who Tuma would call if his house was being burglarized or his family was being assaulted… I’m guessing he’d call: the cops! So many people say they hate cops, but then they change their tune at the drop of a hat when things go wrong… Saying “I hate cops” is meaningless. If you’re going to be smart, say something like, “I hate cops that let the power go to their head…” or something like that but saying you hate cops in general is stupid…
Ok so you are saying your free speech allows you to go anywhere and scream at any one as much as you want anywhere you want as often as you want because you have free speech, and I have the same freedom so I can come to your front door and keep ringing your doorbell as much as I want any time I want incessantly because it’s protected by free speech and I can honk my horn as much as I want because it’s free speech and I can call you a stupid shit at the top of my lungs in your face as much as I want any time I want as long as I want because I have free speech protections under the Constitution you stupid shit.
On the other hand, the police routinely scream at people at the top of their lungs and never get arrested.
I guess we have to find some balance somewhere. Let’s create a justice system and symbolize it with a woman balancing scales.
Oh, silly me, that’s not a new idea.
I hate some police actions. I like some cops. So I hate what police sometimes do. But I keep my mouth shut, and prepare for the future.
I don’t believe he would have acted like this unless he expected to be arrested and had friends in the media to highlight this ‘story’.
If you walk through any capital city in the world shouting ‘I hate police’ you are going to find yourself in trouble – this is not a modern phenomenon.
A quick search on this guy’s name shows that he’s a practising attorney and civil/gay-rights activist. What luck, he now has an ongoing case involving something he’s interested in.
@#16
-freedom to “come to your front door and keep ringing your doorbell as much as I want any time I want incessantly” is regulated by my doorbell being my property. You can’t do that legally.
-freedom to “honk my horn as much as I want” is regulated by both traffic laws and various localities. You cant do it as much as you want anywhere and sometimes at all.
-freedom to “call you a stupid shit at the top of my lungs in your face as much as I want any time I want as long as I want because I have free speech protections under the Constitution”- as long as it is done in public place, not on my property, is there and fully granted by the Constitution. It is consequence of protections needed for us to have real and full freedom. You (or police) can only try to help and mediate such situation as long as some other local law is not affected (ex. you must be careful not to yell louder than approved dB noise amount at that locality).
Fuckin’ pigs.
#19, dusan,
While you are correct in your first two examples, you are slightly wrong in the third.
Yelling “‘stupid shit’ in someone’s face” could be considered an assault. That could make it illegal. However, because assault has shades of gray, much would depend upon the loudness, intensity, how close they are, the words used, the amount (or time spent yelling), and possibly where.
Someone yelling in your face for three seconds from a distance of two feet in their home would not have the same degree as would someone much larger yelling in your face from a matter of
inches for an extended period of time in your own home.
“Officer, Officer! Please help me! Someone just stole my car! Oh, by the way, I hate you. Anyway, you think you can get my car back?”
Gang, the right to free speech is not absolute. I do NOT have the right to scream in the face of anyone I like so long as it’s a public place. That IS DISORDERLY CONDUCT. Everyone who thinks there should be no such law, raise your hand. You will ride the short bus from now on out, since you’ve obviously got no imagination.
Ever been in a rowdy crowd? Ever notice that there are cops there, keeping the rowdy down? Ever been in a crowd that was getting out of control? I have. I was frickin’ terrified of my fellow citizens at one point, who were mostly just feeling rowdy but were certainly engaged in free expression. I was very glad when a (female) cop came by, got the offensive party’s attention, told them to calm down, then cuffed one of them when he didn’t respond quietly to her lawful instructions. She did not ultimately arrest this person, but she was willing and able to do so AND HE KNEW IT. The whole bunch of them went away quietly and I was not the only one to thank the police officer afterwards.
I do agree that we need to monitor the police. As I’ve said before, they should wear recording devices at all times while on duty. I see the fact that the police themselves don’t want to wear such devices as downright sinister.
Maybe these broadly-interpretable laws, like disorderly conduct, should be subject to review when they’re enforced? What I’d most like to see is a cultural change among cops, so that individual officers were bitterly angry and offended at their peers’ improper behavior (criminality, abuse of power, etc.) It’s not in the cards, I don’t suppose. I’d also like to see the use of police power in the commission of a crime made a strongly aggravating factor in sentencing.
We were foolish enough to take sentencing discretion out of the hands of judges, and the injustices that have flowed from that stupidity have been numerous and foul. I have seen this happen, and talked to the DA and the judge about it and heard their frustration at the stupidly, mindlessly excessive penalties – but the only other choice was to let the criminal act with impunity.
Let’s not be so stupid with the police. We have given these people guns and asked them to risk their lives to keep the peace. We are trusting them. Let’s not pretend otherwise via legislative micromanagement.
@KarmaBaby
I would like to see the statistics about police actually recovering stolen property. I don’t think it happens very often. You mostly want the cops to show up so you can file police report for an insurance claim, not to get your property back. For the most part police are janitors with guns.
So let me get this straight, this rocket scientist decided he was going to act the fool and interfere with those policemen ?
I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding. Maybe Obama will invite him to come over and have a beer with the object of his hate at the White house.
I hate the police too.
#23, bob,
Gang, the right to free speech is not absolute.
Who said it is?
Ever been in a rowdy crowd? Ever notice that there are cops there, keeping the rowdy down? Ever been in a crowd that was getting out of control?
Actually I have and almost half the people there were cops. All the retarded, drunk, bellicose, idiot ones were cops. When uniformed cops arrived they settled down only when a high ranking superior arrived.
The point you miss is we hire police to police our laws for us. We don’t hire them to put their lives on the line any more than we hire fire fighters to put their lives on the line, or electrical workers, or commercial pilots, or truck drivers, or crab fishermen, or fire works assemblers. All these people (any many many more) are hired to do a job. Police don’t even make the top ten list of most dangerous occupations even though they outnumber most of them.
What we need to do is have a citizen’s complaint bureau that answers to the citizens, not the police. As long as we allow the same group to police themselves, be it police, Judges, doctors, lawyers, etc., the people will be denied justice.
#3 Really! COOL
Thanks for reminding me the next time I see some Republican douchebag protesting gay marriage, I’m going to punch him in the face and remind he ‘deserves’ it and just deal with it. Thanks!
what happened to cops having a sense of humor?
Big deal. Guy says “I hate cops” Cop should shrug and let it go. It’s not personal. It’s just a sentiment, an opinion. The guy wasn’t getting in the cops face. The cop had a chip on his shoulder….and just because he COULD arrest someone, doesn’t mean he should just to be an a**hole.
Power should be used with restraint — something the newer generation of cops seem to not get.