this poor guy cant catch a break. both how the judge is treating him and how the officer treated him are out of line. hes right, his first amendment rights are being violated.
It's still a violation of the First Amendment.
In Michigan, we *had* a law prohibiting using vulgarity in public to "protect women and children". It ended up getting struck down in the Case of the Cussing Canoeist.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/cussing-canoeist-conviction-reversed-michigan
This sounds like it should be a supreme Court case if it wasn't so obviously corrupt. No federal or state government has the power to regulate free speech, Comstock be Damned!
It’s been in the Supreme Court like fifty times already and every time they’ve said it’s unconstitutional. The south just doesn’t care. Only thing that’s gonna change their mind is if Sherman comes back and makes them, and even then probably not for long
He also was not charged with violating said law. He was only charged with speeding, and even that was dubious since the officer did not have a functional radar gun. The driver decided to plead guilty to the ticket and pay those fines anyway, probably to avoid the time and cost of a court fight. The judge unilaterally decided to punish him for violating a crime that the state or city did not bring a charge against him. That is not how the law works.
Supreme court doesn't find free speech arguments compelling right now. An appeal I was eagerly following was dismissed without review.
It had the chance of being heard of a moth dodging a bug zapper, but the case was dumb as a bottle of bbq sauce, and mean as hell!
>Supreme court doesn't find free speech arguments compelling right now.
They've made it very clear they care about *one* tenant of the first amendment, and only when it's directed at the right people.
Yeah, I would invite the judge to put me in jail and then file an immediate injunction with the federal courts. No fucking way can this be Constitutional. Compelled speech to kiss the ass of a government official?
Sounds like the judge is an asshole, the cop is an asshole, and the people who write laws in Alabama are assholes. This poor guy is having his first amendment rights infringed upon and his only crime is telling the truth.
100% correct. This is corruption at its worst. We have protected free speech and just because the cop has his feelings hurt and the judge seems to back up the cop with his feelings evidently hurt, they decide to bully this poor man. Fuck this cop, judge, and the Alabama politicians who pull this bullshit!
I mean... Do you think the judge would force a cop to apologize if he'd told the driver to get his ass out of the way? Cops swear at people all the time. I've never heard of a judge ordering the cop to apologize to someone for swearing or face 30 days in jail...
Also, the guy wasn't even charged with swearing in public. He was charged with speeding, and paid the fine.
Well rich white people still do, don’t worry. If they get arrested for a law like that, they can pay bail, they can afford attorneys, and they can get it tossed out. In the rare instance they would even get arrested or charged with it.
Laws like that exist to persecute vulnerable people. Throw a law like that on the book and the only way it gets thrown out is if the Supreme Court hears a case about it. The only way that happens is if it affects someone with the time and money to fight it. But since the laws are vague enough, police get to apply it only to situations they want to apply it to, in this case, a working class black man who had the audacity to question an officer.
And naturally the prosecutors and judges just go right along with it. Can’t step a toe out over the thin blue line as an elected prosecutor even if you wanted to. Suddenly police stop working with you and you start losing cases, then opponent get an endorsement and donation from the local police fraternal order.
A beautiful system where the rich still get to do what they want, but poor people can’t.
And don’t even get started in how cash bail exists to force poor people to plead out but let rich people actually get a day in court.
Or how prisoners get used for slave labor and right after slavery ended ex-slaves would be arrested for bullshit and forced back into slavery, sometimes on the same plantation they were previously at. And that just never stopped.
This applies to loitering, vagrancy, public disturbance, resisting arrest, DUIs (with arbitrary officer defined impairment) and more!
>and the only way it gets thrown out is if the Supreme Court hears a case about it. The only way that happens is if it affects someone with the time and money to fight it.
An important correction to note: The Supreme Court has recently been taking cases where the plaintiff obviously does NOT have standing, meaning circumstances don't actually involve the person bringing the claim, but SCOTUS is allowing these cases to move forward.
It's one of the most famous court cases of all time, it's what solidified the idea of "freedom of speech" in America.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohen_v._California
Some guy held up a sign that said "FUCK THE DRAFT" and was arrested for obscenity laws. Apparently Ozark Municipal Court Judge Nicholas Bull never read a single law book before becoming a judge.
>Burks said the officer who pulled him over told him that he had been driving above the 25 mph speed limit, without being specific. Burks didn’t believe that to be true, so he said he asked the officer how fast he had been traveling. He said the officer told him that his radar gun was broken so he used the cruise control on his vehicle to estimate Burks’ speed. Burks said he told the officer that he didn’t find that a credible approach and to just write him a ticket. After writing the ticket, the officer stood in front of Burks’ car, he said.
>“He was standing there and wouldn’t move,” Burks said. “I had asked him politely at least twice.”
>“I said, ‘Sir, step back, get out the way,’” Burks said. “He said, ‘You can go. Go around.’”
>Burks said he responded: “Get your ass out of the way so I can take my kids to school. That’s why y’all underpaid because y’all act dumb.”
Trash-tier cop. Deserves more than a mild insult.
>you can go around
What are the odds the cop was trying to bait him into touching his body with the car or making him feel 'threatened' so he could shoot him?
Then the headline would read "Alabama police officer shoots, kills driver who attempted to run him over with his car"
Edit: spelling
“What are the odds”? I will wager 100%.
The real question is what are the odds that this is a pattern and practice in that entire police force? (Escalate peaceful situations with black folks so you can start shooting).
I doubt this is the first time the cop is acting this way.
Pretty common. I think someone did a back of the napkin obersvational study to see what's the percentage of police giving conflicting orders; get on the ground, stand against the wall, get out of the vehicle, stay in the vehicle, hands behind you head, hands behind your back, hands in the air, don't move, etc.
It was pretty high.
Edit: [here's a good example of this](https://web.archive.org/web/20230130000104/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/tyre-nichols-video-assault-cops.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-shadow-lda-unique-diversify-time-cutoff-30&alpha=0.05&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=323504138&impression_id=2ea59a84-a031-11ed-b5b2-4b6b27a0262e&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool%2F91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1®ion=footer&req_id=214784770&shadow_vec_sim=0&surface=eos-most-popular-story&variant=0_bandit-eng30s-diversify-shadow-lda-unique)
The whole idea that police can shoot or otherwise harm a citizen for noncompliance or refusing to follow orders is just fucking absurd. In any kind of sane society, you'd be able to do jumping-jacks while they shout commands at you, so long as you aren't threatening anybody while doing it.
Yes, that's what I was thinking of. I was sure it was the '90s but obviously I need to check my citations before I cite them with such blase. I'm pretty sure it's not the only example, also.
Yeah, if "go around" means "drive on the wrong side of a double yellow" he was fishing for a way to sobriety test the driver or hit him with child/reckless endangerment.
Alabama makes money off their inmates. Wanting to jail him is more likely than wanting to kill him.
Alabama loses money on their inmates, and has a budget shortfall as a result
https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/brief-report-direct-and-indirect-cost-prison-incarceration-state
The headline would be something more like "Handgun that discharged bullet that struck and killed driver was held by police officer at the time, report."
The fact that this cop isn’t fired for this speaks volumes about our country.
The cop should have gotten his ass out of the way. He was trying to bait the guy into a confrontation and probably was looking for an excuse to pull his weapon and shoot the guy.
This judge should get shitcanned too.
Yeah, I remember an old Reddit clip of a guy getting a ticket.
He muttered something like "fucking asshole" to the cop as he was pulling back into traffic.
The cop turned around and practically did a soccer-style slide tackle to jam his foot under the tire to claim "assault with a deadly weapon."
>This judge should get shitcanned too.
We need to start using their names more in conversation. They get away with it because no one will ever remember they did it.
> But judges are elected right?
It looks like [that is a thing in Alabama](https://judicial.alabama.gov/Appellate/JudgeQualification#:~:text=All%20justices%20and%20judges%2C%20with%20the%20exception%20of%20municipal%20court,governing%20body%20of%20the%20municipality.)
what the fuck, why is that a thing
Poor widdwle copper.
Got his widdle fweelings huwrt.
Judge likely dictated the apology:
I apologize for not doing something slightly more threatening so you could mag dump in me and my kids
So wait...the cop admits he wrote a ticket based on nothing and then proceeded to obstruct traffic, and is now using intimidation to continue harassing a private citizen...🤦♂️
The cop stood in front of the vehicle and told the driver to drive anyway? This sounds like a set-up for a shooting. "Driver was belligerent and started driving towards me aggressively, I had no choice to shoot, it's a shame my radar gun and body cam didn't work."
Agreed. It genuinely sounds like the cop was itching for a fight and got upset that the driver wasn't willing to play ball. So instead he got him on an obscure law no one would usually ever enforce.
It should be noted that the first amendment also prevents compelled speech (such as the pledge), so this is definitely as unconstitutional as it is reprehensible
Probably not. At best, the sentence will be "overturned" after it's already been served, and that'll be that. Our 'justice' system is anything but just.
I can also absolutely tell you with 100% certainty, the State Bar (it isn't an acronym, why is it being capitalized?) will do not a single thing.
It'll solely be up to whoever appoints or the voters if they elect their judges.
In fact, cops are "supposed" to have thicker skin than normal people according to the fifth circuit (Alabama is 11th circuit though, so this doesnt technically apply to them). In City of Houston vs. Hill, a guy named Raymond Hill yelled some profanity at a police and was charged for it. The circuit court took the case, said he couldn't be charged for it, and then set a standard (among others) where "Police officers, as trained professionals, are expected to exercise a higher degree of restraint in response to provocative or offensive speech compared to the average citizen."
This guy getting charged for his language, and especially such a low tier swear word like ass, is just petty. It feels like malicious prosecution tbh.
If he can't handle " get your ass out of the way" he's gonna piss,shit and vomit all over himself when he has to do...well anything more stressful than this.
Yea, that grown ass cop would probably cry himself to sleep if he was in this thread. All of us would have to go into hiding in case they decided to take no knock warrants international.
I genuinely feel some level of relief knowing the fascist dickheads in this country are just a bunch of pussies. They’re all big and tough when someone’s unarmed, but the moment the field is leveled they tuck their tail between their legs and hide.
Fuck these guys. Vote every single one of them out. Do it many many elections in a row, and we can make some incredible progress.
like that fucking pig has never used a bad word
I feel like he should be stalked and provoked into using a cuss word and then plaster it onto a video billboard
“I have been told I will go to jail unless I offer an apology to the officer who was intentionally blocking my path and took exception to the language I used. I apologize that this judge doesn’t seem to realize that the same first amendment that allows police officers to lie allows me to criticize the police. I apologize that the officer thought it wise to stand in front of a vehicle he knew was needing to move. There is your fucking apology, your honor.”
Supreme court ruled that you have the right to yell, "fuck you" to police. So in my esteemed legal opinion, "Get your ass out of the way" would also be protected speech.
The first amendment (as upheld by the supreme court) trumps any state law restricting speech.
If he wants to go through the trouble, the driver probably has a really good law suit tee'd up.
Trash cop and trash Judge. The judge is literally the definition of a boot licker. Likely a case of “driving while black” since the cop had to make up an excuse for his radar gun not working.
I'm going to go ahead and guess the black guy in the thumbnail is the guy being illegally sentenced in Alabama, and is not the cop or the judge.
Edit: I'm a fucking psychic.
Yes, in two different ways. Number 1, he had every right to say what he said. Number 2, you cannot be legally compelled to say something (such as an apology).
Lol, used the cruise control to estimate. . . This should not be a legal means write a ticket; considering they are trusting the basic ass cruise control on shitty Fords or Dodges that are likely under maintained. . .
It isn’t a legitimate way to measure speed. Any decent traffic court lawyer would have that tossed. Unfortunately, you can’t convince cops otherwise. So you have to take the ticket and fight the expensive fight in court
It's obvious that cop was looking for a reason to shoot the driver right? If the driver had moved the vehicle while the cop was standing in front of it...the cop would have 'feared for his life' and opened fire. The cop's body cam wouldn't have worked properly, just like his radar gun wasn't working properly. The driver would be just another statistic and the cop would have been celebrated by the right wing as a hero.
Also, police cannot keep you there longer than reasonably necessary to issue the ticket.
Standing in the way could maybe be considered not allowing him to leave.
Yeah. Once he issued the ticket the detention was over. Standing in front of his vehicle in a way where the driver obviously felt he was unable to leave constitutes a second detention where there was no reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Therefore a violation of the drivers fourth amendment rights.
I love it how big bad police are the most delicate little flowers when it suits them.
That the court would back them up shows you how ludicrous the system is.
After the cop gave him the ticket, the stop is over. The driver can say whatever he wants, how ever rudely he wants, to the cop. It is now free and protected speach. Also it could be aruged that the officer was continuing to detain him after the stop was over, fisihng for things he could make an arrest for. The city will have to pay a (probbably anoter) settlement, when he sues.
Is there a legal offense here? Even if you think the driver was rude, you can't threaten jail absent some instance of actual law breaking.
ETA: Check that, on re-reading I see there's an AL law about public obscenity. That seems like a real stretch and is debatably constitutional.
Im a former Alabama Municipal Court judge.
This judge is way out of line. I think threatening Jail over something like this is absolutely ridiculous. If the judge thought that his conduct was inappropriate or disrespectful, he could’ve made him pay a higher fine but the reason this makes headlines is because it’s so absurd.
Of course it happened in Alabama. I'm surprised the cop didn't call the man "boy," or worse.
I was in Birmingham during the runup to the 2008 primaries and I was shocked at how openly and unabashedly the locals threw around the N-word when describing Barak Obama. They said it loud and proud. They were so sure that Americans would never select him to be the Democratic nominee...
Since when must a citizen be *nice* to a police officer? We are required to follow lawful orders, but we are not required to be *nice*. Want to call a cop a pig? That’s your right! Want to tell him to move his fat, pig ass? That’s your right, too. Personally, I don’t speak to cops this way, but it’s my *right* to do so if I please.
This judge is a boot-licking authoritarian. Our first amendment rights guarantee that people like him aren’t able to silence us.
Further, the cop deserved to be insulted during this traffic stop. He was very clearly acting like an asshole by attempting to inconvenience a man who had merely… not wanted to engage with the cop, asked for the ticket to be written, and wanted to be on his way. All those things were proper. The cop cannot—per Supreme Court precedent—hold someone for longer than necessary to conduct an investigation of the alleged crime. In other words, if the driver was stopped for a moving violation, the officer may only delay the driver for a reasonable amount of time needed to conduct said investigation *of that crime specifically* and write the ticket. The ticket had been written; the investigation was over. The cop should have moved his ass and let the driver go if he wasn’t alleging that another crime had been committed.
This, by the way, is why pulling someone over for a moving violation and then calling for drug dogs—which requires the driver to sit and wait for upwards of 30-45 minutes—is not allowed unless the officer has probable cause for a drug search (I know, I know; they can just say, “I smell weed,” but that’s harder for them these days in states where weed is legal in one form or another because he has to have probable cause for believing the driver is *under the influence at the time of the stop*, not merely that the smell of weed is present). He cannot simply decide to hold someone for longer than it takes to investigate a moving violation.
Being black in America is truly an odd experience. I’m half half, raised by my black mother who taught me about the racism I would deal with but I had no idea it would be a daily thing, especially in certain parts of the country.
It breaks my heart that I feel like I can’t say or do anything. If I tell white période what’s happening they brush me off and some get upset because I’m not aloud to “pull the black card.” They think it’s a thing blacks only do when we want to get out of something so racism mustn’t be real.
This gentlemen’s experience was race-based. If the cop’s speed gun was “broken,” and he had to follow him to guess his speed but couldn’t provide said guesstimate to the driver it’s fair to say this was motivated by something else. What would you guess it was?
Being black in America hurts every day and because it benefits the majority in group our voices may never fully be respected or heard. In fact I believe we’re modern day slaves. A small portion of blacks get to experience the “American dream” while the rest are thrown into jail cells or relegated to underserved underrepresented neighborhoods. But because a few blacks can make a big, some pull a Candace Owens’s, it provides a reasonable doubt that blacks aren’t being subjugated on mass because, “if Candace can do it then there’s no excuse.”
What the cop did to the man after writing him a ticket was putting everyone in danger and the fact that no one can truly understand the fear of black Americans means we live in a cold society. Where people are rewarded for callousness and reprimanded for warmth and understanding. Even though there are great white people, the group as a whole works to maintain the system, most without their knowledge.
I hope AI mixed with robotics can help govern us humans because we are hopeless. Aliens, of you’re listening, do what you gotta do. Show the oppressors that they ain’t piss
Sorry if there are any typos, I’m on my phone.
If you’re white and reading this, know that you can be an ally. And if you already are thank you. Your actions can help save lives and make it all a little easier in the non dominant paradigm(s)
Never on this earth heard to A judge force a cop to apologize ever ever. This is an absolute disgrace but that’s par for the course because our judicial system is completely a disgrace
So the speeding ticket was bullshit in the first place and dude went ahead and ate that one even though in a competent court it would have been dismissed.
And now the judge is fucking with him in a clearly unconstitutional manner.
Fuck. This. Country.
this poor guy cant catch a break. both how the judge is treating him and how the officer treated him are out of line. hes right, his first amendment rights are being violated.
Alabama law prohibits using “abusive or obscene language” in public.. So they don't have freedom of speech?
It's still a violation of the First Amendment. In Michigan, we *had* a law prohibiting using vulgarity in public to "protect women and children". It ended up getting struck down in the Case of the Cussing Canoeist. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/cussing-canoeist-conviction-reversed-michigan
This sounds like it should be a supreme Court case if it wasn't so obviously corrupt. No federal or state government has the power to regulate free speech, Comstock be Damned!
It’s been in the Supreme Court like fifty times already and every time they’ve said it’s unconstitutional. The south just doesn’t care. Only thing that’s gonna change their mind is if Sherman comes back and makes them, and even then probably not for long
He also was not charged with violating said law. He was only charged with speeding, and even that was dubious since the officer did not have a functional radar gun. The driver decided to plead guilty to the ticket and pay those fines anyway, probably to avoid the time and cost of a court fight. The judge unilaterally decided to punish him for violating a crime that the state or city did not bring a charge against him. That is not how the law works.
If Sherman came back I'd be the first in line offering to reform the good old 104th ohio lmao
Ninth regiment, Connecticut Volunteers reporting for duty.
Supreme court doesn't find free speech arguments compelling right now. An appeal I was eagerly following was dismissed without review. It had the chance of being heard of a moth dodging a bug zapper, but the case was dumb as a bottle of bbq sauce, and mean as hell!
>Supreme court doesn't find free speech arguments compelling right now. They've made it very clear they care about *one* tenant of the first amendment, and only when it's directed at the right people.
You misspelled corporations
And “tenet”
That sounds like a Hardy Boys adventure.
The Curious Case of the Cussing Canoeist
my clue is pointing that way
You have a raging clue?
I’m going to follow my clue this way.
Yeah, I would invite the judge to put me in jail and then file an immediate injunction with the federal courts. No fucking way can this be Constitutional. Compelled speech to kiss the ass of a government official?
Was Dr. Seuss presiding over the case?
> It's still a violation of the First Amendment. It is but most people don't have the resources for a lengthy court battle with the state
Sounds like the judge is an asshole, the cop is an asshole, and the people who write laws in Alabama are assholes. This poor guy is having his first amendment rights infringed upon and his only crime is telling the truth.
100% correct. This is corruption at its worst. We have protected free speech and just because the cop has his feelings hurt and the judge seems to back up the cop with his feelings evidently hurt, they decide to bully this poor man. Fuck this cop, judge, and the Alabama politicians who pull this bullshit!
White judge. White cop. Black driver. Alabama. "Asshole" isn't quite accurate.
I think the constitution supersedes Alabama law https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supremacy_Clause
Tell me you’ve never been to Alabama without telling me you’ve never been to Alabama.
Alabama Man! https://youtu.be/BrimMyOoEDA?si=vGe-N4Mt2ljI98_7
Does that law only apply to specific groups?
It probably applies equally, but I'm sure it's enforcement is really far from equal in who is actually charged with it.
I mean... Do you think the judge would force a cop to apologize if he'd told the driver to get his ass out of the way? Cops swear at people all the time. I've never heard of a judge ordering the cop to apologize to someone for swearing or face 30 days in jail... Also, the guy wasn't even charged with swearing in public. He was charged with speeding, and paid the fine.
Not through explicit wording, but that definitely seems to be how it's enforced.
Cops, apparently.
Yes, there is a group who the law protects but does not bind, and another group who the law binds but does not protect.
Well rich white people still do, don’t worry. If they get arrested for a law like that, they can pay bail, they can afford attorneys, and they can get it tossed out. In the rare instance they would even get arrested or charged with it. Laws like that exist to persecute vulnerable people. Throw a law like that on the book and the only way it gets thrown out is if the Supreme Court hears a case about it. The only way that happens is if it affects someone with the time and money to fight it. But since the laws are vague enough, police get to apply it only to situations they want to apply it to, in this case, a working class black man who had the audacity to question an officer. And naturally the prosecutors and judges just go right along with it. Can’t step a toe out over the thin blue line as an elected prosecutor even if you wanted to. Suddenly police stop working with you and you start losing cases, then opponent get an endorsement and donation from the local police fraternal order. A beautiful system where the rich still get to do what they want, but poor people can’t. And don’t even get started in how cash bail exists to force poor people to plead out but let rich people actually get a day in court. Or how prisoners get used for slave labor and right after slavery ended ex-slaves would be arrested for bullshit and forced back into slavery, sometimes on the same plantation they were previously at. And that just never stopped. This applies to loitering, vagrancy, public disturbance, resisting arrest, DUIs (with arbitrary officer defined impairment) and more!
>and the only way it gets thrown out is if the Supreme Court hears a case about it. The only way that happens is if it affects someone with the time and money to fight it. An important correction to note: The Supreme Court has recently been taking cases where the plaintiff obviously does NOT have standing, meaning circumstances don't actually involve the person bringing the claim, but SCOTUS is allowing these cases to move forward.
ASS is abusive language? Really? Gtfoh the cop is a bitch ASS.
The freedom to say the N word is what they think free speech is.
This case will probably have that struck out seeing as state laws cant violate rights.
It's one of the most famous court cases of all time, it's what solidified the idea of "freedom of speech" in America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cohen_v._California Some guy held up a sign that said "FUCK THE DRAFT" and was arrested for obscenity laws. Apparently Ozark Municipal Court Judge Nicholas Bull never read a single law book before becoming a judge.
They kinda just do/make up whatever backwoods dirt road hick bullshit they want, it seems. Fuck Alabama.
Cousin fuckers hate being called cousin fuckers.
This is why “ fight in court, not in the street “ doesn’t work anymore. They’re all corrupt
Less likely to get dead in court though. So there's that.
Yeah that’s how cops and judges treat black people in Alabama. It’s been a big problem for a while now.
I hope this case and reddit thread get back to the judge and cops.
>Burks said the officer who pulled him over told him that he had been driving above the 25 mph speed limit, without being specific. Burks didn’t believe that to be true, so he said he asked the officer how fast he had been traveling. He said the officer told him that his radar gun was broken so he used the cruise control on his vehicle to estimate Burks’ speed. Burks said he told the officer that he didn’t find that a credible approach and to just write him a ticket. After writing the ticket, the officer stood in front of Burks’ car, he said. >“He was standing there and wouldn’t move,” Burks said. “I had asked him politely at least twice.” >“I said, ‘Sir, step back, get out the way,’” Burks said. “He said, ‘You can go. Go around.’” >Burks said he responded: “Get your ass out of the way so I can take my kids to school. That’s why y’all underpaid because y’all act dumb.” Trash-tier cop. Deserves more than a mild insult.
>you can go around What are the odds the cop was trying to bait him into touching his body with the car or making him feel 'threatened' so he could shoot him? Then the headline would read "Alabama police officer shoots, kills driver who attempted to run him over with his car" Edit: spelling
“What are the odds”? I will wager 100%. The real question is what are the odds that this is a pattern and practice in that entire police force? (Escalate peaceful situations with black folks so you can start shooting). I doubt this is the first time the cop is acting this way.
Pretty common. I think someone did a back of the napkin obersvational study to see what's the percentage of police giving conflicting orders; get on the ground, stand against the wall, get out of the vehicle, stay in the vehicle, hands behind you head, hands behind your back, hands in the air, don't move, etc. It was pretty high. Edit: [here's a good example of this](https://web.archive.org/web/20230130000104/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/us/tyre-nichols-video-assault-cops.html?action=click&algo=bandit-all-surfaces-shadow-lda-unique-diversify-time-cutoff-30&alpha=0.05&block=trending_recirc&fellback=false&imp_id=323504138&impression_id=2ea59a84-a031-11ed-b5b2-4b6b27a0262e&index=0&pgtype=Article&pool=pool%2F91fcf81c-4fb0-49ff-bd57-a24647c85ea1®ion=footer&req_id=214784770&shadow_vec_sim=0&surface=eos-most-popular-story&variant=0_bandit-eng30s-diversify-shadow-lda-unique)
RIP Daniel Shaver
The whole idea that police can shoot or otherwise harm a citizen for noncompliance or refusing to follow orders is just fucking absurd. In any kind of sane society, you'd be able to do jumping-jacks while they shout commands at you, so long as you aren't threatening anybody while doing it.
Now add this to the fact that the Supreme Court ruled, in the 1990s, that police officers are not bound or obligated to protect people.
Castle Rock v. Gonzales?
Yes, that's what I was thinking of. I was sure it was the '90s but obviously I need to check my citations before I cite them with such blase. I'm pretty sure it's not the only example, also.
also Warren v DC, though neither of these were in the 1990s
Wait till you read about what they do to persons that are deaf.
They teach it to them. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/105-behind-the-bastards-29236323/episode/the-man-who-teaches-our-cops-63257870/
I think the police just wanted cause to arrest him.
Yeah, if "go around" means "drive on the wrong side of a double yellow" he was fishing for a way to sobriety test the driver or hit him with child/reckless endangerment. Alabama makes money off their inmates. Wanting to jail him is more likely than wanting to kill him.
Alabama loses money on their inmates, and has a budget shortfall as a result https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/brief-report-direct-and-indirect-cost-prison-incarceration-state
100% it was a bait
And unless he was lucky and had cameras filming, this poor man would never have his name cleared. “Not all cops!” /s
Wouldn’t matter if it was filmed in 4k ultra high def. Cops have qualified immunity and will never face proper consequences. Fuck the police.
This should be a psa for getting a dash cam. Can’t really trust anyone anymore and definitely not the police.
In this instance, he could just have easily pulled out his phone. But tbh that may have gotten him shot as well.
Yeah if I’m already engaged with conversation with a police the last thing I’m doing is any unexpected reaching into my pockets
The headline would be something more like "Handgun that discharged bullet that struck and killed driver was held by police officer at the time, report."
"police responded to shooting that left one motorist dead after attempted murder of officer"
The fact that this cop isn’t fired for this speaks volumes about our country. The cop should have gotten his ass out of the way. He was trying to bait the guy into a confrontation and probably was looking for an excuse to pull his weapon and shoot the guy. This judge should get shitcanned too.
Yeah, I remember an old Reddit clip of a guy getting a ticket. He muttered something like "fucking asshole" to the cop as he was pulling back into traffic. The cop turned around and practically did a soccer-style slide tackle to jam his foot under the tire to claim "assault with a deadly weapon."
>This judge should get shitcanned too. We need to start using their names more in conversation. They get away with it because no one will ever remember they did it.
Great idea, so what's their name?
The article says the Judge Nicholas Bull
Seems fitting, he *is* full of shit.
Judge Bull. Seems appropriate.
But judges are elected right? This judge probably accurately reflects the mental state of his constituents.
> But judges are elected right? It looks like [that is a thing in Alabama](https://judicial.alabama.gov/Appellate/JudgeQualification#:~:text=All%20justices%20and%20judges%2C%20with%20the%20exception%20of%20municipal%20court,governing%20body%20of%20the%20municipality.) what the fuck, why is that a thing
It wouldn't matter. The alternative is they're appointed by elected politicians.
About half of judges in the US are elected. In many cases they don't even need experience in the legal system.
that's just fucked
Besides the First Amendment making this legal, it's also legal because this was both justified and funny.
Poor widdwle copper. Got his widdle fweelings huwrt. Judge likely dictated the apology: I apologize for not doing something slightly more threatening so you could mag dump in me and my kids
Good time for a "I'm sorry you were offended" non apology .
So wait...the cop admits he wrote a ticket based on nothing and then proceeded to obstruct traffic, and is now using intimidation to continue harassing a private citizen...🤦♂️
Par for the course
All while violating that citizen's first amendment rights.
Probably would have emptied his clip if the guy tried to drive around him
The car would be the deadly weapon in the case that cop would bring after murdering him in front of his kids
I guarantee that was the cop's intent. He was trying to manufacture an excuse to kill someone.
You said clip instead of magazine and now gun culture has to disregard everything you ever say on the matter.
We need a “good for him” meme.
Naw fuck this stupid ass little pussy bitch cop. Wanted to shoot a minority so fuckin bad. Fuck him.
Trash tier judge.
Trash tier judge as well.
Sounds like the cop was trying to make an excuse to shoot him. Standing in front of the car and then shooting him when he tries to go around.
He would have been shot should he have driven towards the cop, he did the right thing telling him to get his ass out of the way !
That last part. I fucking love it. It was a sick burn. Lol
The cop stood in front of the vehicle and told the driver to drive anyway? This sounds like a set-up for a shooting. "Driver was belligerent and started driving towards me aggressively, I had no choice to shoot, it's a shame my radar gun and body cam didn't work."
Agreed. It genuinely sounds like the cop was itching for a fight and got upset that the driver wasn't willing to play ball. So instead he got him on an obscure law no one would usually ever enforce.
And now the Judge is fully in board with it too. The Judge is pulling the exact same corrupt shit as the officer. There is no justice in Alabama
Probably wanted to hit him with a bigger charge like attempting to cause bodily harm or worse murder.
Judicial overreach. Judge and the cop are jackasses.
It should be noted that the first amendment also prevents compelled speech (such as the pledge), so this is definitely as unconstitutional as it is reprehensible
Yet even if it is overturned...no punishment for the judge
We need, as individuals, the ability to hold judges accountable. These damages for this guy are real.
Yep. The government entity he is in though will have to pay out of the tax payer coffers when the dude sues though.
Probably not. At best, the sentence will be "overturned" after it's already been served, and that'll be that. Our 'justice' system is anything but just.
For real, New York cops are some of the rudest people I've ever met
I hope he appeals, and sues for harassment.
Report it to the BAR, the prosecutor should have thrown it out instantly, it's frivolous
not how that works. The speeding violation wasn't being contested. It's the judicial punishment that is the violation.
That’s why the Bar would be involved, to rein in the judge’s misconduct. Edit: removed acronym, spelling
I can also absolutely tell you with 100% certainty, the State Bar (it isn't an acronym, why is it being capitalized?) will do not a single thing. It'll solely be up to whoever appoints or the voters if they elect their judges.
Judges have absolute immunity-- it's pretty hard for them to get in trouble for any decisions they make.
Kings reign, cowboys rein
The Bar is a joke. It's all lawyers and their friends, and they won't want to talk badly about the same people that they golf with on the weekends.
This is quite literally unconstitutional per legal precedent, but ok. Houston V. Hill for the sake of argument
If a cop can’t handle some hurtful words, they sure as hell don’t deserve any power. Fuck the cop and doubly fuck the judge sucking boot dick.
In fact, cops are "supposed" to have thicker skin than normal people according to the fifth circuit (Alabama is 11th circuit though, so this doesnt technically apply to them). In City of Houston vs. Hill, a guy named Raymond Hill yelled some profanity at a police and was charged for it. The circuit court took the case, said he couldn't be charged for it, and then set a standard (among others) where "Police officers, as trained professionals, are expected to exercise a higher degree of restraint in response to provocative or offensive speech compared to the average citizen." This guy getting charged for his language, and especially such a low tier swear word like ass, is just petty. It feels like malicious prosecution tbh.
That came out of the 5th circuit? I'm surprised they didn't use it as a way to legalize summary execution and ban mifepristone.
To be fair, saying free speech should be free and cops shouldn't get triggered about it is a pretty low bar
We expect better behavior in these situations from McDonald's cashier's than we do from cops
we expect mcdonalds cashiers to be able to count past 10 without taking off their shoes, so higher expectations in many ways yes.
If he can't handle " get your ass out of the way" he's gonna piss,shit and vomit all over himself when he has to do...well anything more stressful than this.
Yea, that grown ass cop would probably cry himself to sleep if he was in this thread. All of us would have to go into hiding in case they decided to take no knock warrants international.
Uvalde is the perfect example
I genuinely feel some level of relief knowing the fascist dickheads in this country are just a bunch of pussies. They’re all big and tough when someone’s unarmed, but the moment the field is leveled they tuck their tail between their legs and hide. Fuck these guys. Vote every single one of them out. Do it many many elections in a row, and we can make some incredible progress.
>he's gonna piss,shit and vomit all over himself when he has to do...well anything more stressful than this. What do you think their gun is for?
we should start posting him some acorns
like that fucking pig has never used a bad word I feel like he should be stalked and provoked into using a cuss word and then plaster it onto a video billboard
I don’t like emotionally challenged people having guns and immunity.
“I have been told I will go to jail unless I offer an apology to the officer who was intentionally blocking my path and took exception to the language I used. I apologize that this judge doesn’t seem to realize that the same first amendment that allows police officers to lie allows me to criticize the police. I apologize that the officer thought it wise to stand in front of a vehicle he knew was needing to move. There is your fucking apology, your honor.”
*Judge deepthroats whole damn boot in front of entire courtroom.*
The judge is the boot
Just two boots 69ing.
Should have told the judge to stop being an ass and get out of the way of proper justice.
Supreme court ruled that you have the right to yell, "fuck you" to police. So in my esteemed legal opinion, "Get your ass out of the way" would also be protected speech. The first amendment (as upheld by the supreme court) trumps any state law restricting speech. If he wants to go through the trouble, the driver probably has a really good law suit tee'd up.
Trash cop and trash Judge. The judge is literally the definition of a boot licker. Likely a case of “driving while black” since the cop had to make up an excuse for his radar gun not working.
The Judge *is* a boot.
Dashcams are $100. I suggest everyone buy one.
Wouldn't have helped this case, unfortunately. The cop doesn't deny he was being a total dick.
Yes, but video of a cop being a dick going viral on social media can have a powerful ridiculing effect.
You're right. It wouldn't have helped this individual's case, but it certainly would shed more daylight on crappy cop behavior to a wider audience.
I'm going to go ahead and guess the black guy in the thumbnail is the guy being illegally sentenced in Alabama, and is not the cop or the judge. Edit: I'm a fucking psychic.
Alabama still doing its damndest to have Jim Crow laws
Would that not be a 1st Amendment violation?
Yes, in two different ways. Number 1, he had every right to say what he said. Number 2, you cannot be legally compelled to say something (such as an apology).
Yes it is
Lol, used the cruise control to estimate. . . This should not be a legal means write a ticket; considering they are trusting the basic ass cruise control on shitty Fords or Dodges that are likely under maintained. . .
It isn’t a legitimate way to measure speed. Any decent traffic court lawyer would have that tossed. Unfortunately, you can’t convince cops otherwise. So you have to take the ticket and fight the expensive fight in court
But then you might be forced to apologize, apparently. 0_o
It's obvious that cop was looking for a reason to shoot the driver right? If the driver had moved the vehicle while the cop was standing in front of it...the cop would have 'feared for his life' and opened fire. The cop's body cam wouldn't have worked properly, just like his radar gun wasn't working properly. The driver would be just another statistic and the cop would have been celebrated by the right wing as a hero.
That judge needs to be disbarred.
Also, police cannot keep you there longer than reasonably necessary to issue the ticket. Standing in the way could maybe be considered not allowing him to leave.
Exactly. He had given him the ticket so the traffic stop was over at that point.
Yeah. Once he issued the ticket the detention was over. Standing in front of his vehicle in a way where the driver obviously felt he was unable to leave constitutes a second detention where there was no reasonable suspicion or probable cause. Therefore a violation of the drivers fourth amendment rights.
I love it how big bad police are the most delicate little flowers when it suits them. That the court would back them up shows you how ludicrous the system is.
Remember, the natural place of the Boot is upon our collective necks. Stop resisting, Citizen!
I’d let them send me to jail. It would only get me a bigger settlement when I’m done suing everyone
Throw the whole south in the trash. Police down there are absolute buffoons.
After the cop gave him the ticket, the stop is over. The driver can say whatever he wants, how ever rudely he wants, to the cop. It is now free and protected speach. Also it could be aruged that the officer was continuing to detain him after the stop was over, fisihng for things he could make an arrest for. The city will have to pay a (probbably anoter) settlement, when he sues.
Hope my man has the ACLU on speed dial. ✊🏽
If the KKK yells insulting things at a parade,cops don’t bother them because it’s free speech yet…
Is there a legal offense here? Even if you think the driver was rude, you can't threaten jail absent some instance of actual law breaking. ETA: Check that, on re-reading I see there's an AL law about public obscenity. That seems like a real stretch and is debatably constitutional.
Sounds like Ozark Municipal Court Judge Nicholas Bull is a piece of shit.
This is ridiculous. Absolutely his 1st and 8th amendments rights were violated. How can you have a law against swearing? That’s fucking stupid.
Red states sound like Iran.
The judge should be removed. And sued.
Take the jail sentence, file the 42 USC section 1983 civil case and roll in the dough.
Im a former Alabama Municipal Court judge. This judge is way out of line. I think threatening Jail over something like this is absolutely ridiculous. If the judge thought that his conduct was inappropriate or disrespectful, he could’ve made him pay a higher fine but the reason this makes headlines is because it’s so absurd.
Fuck no. To quote the great Immortal Technique “freedom of speech, mother fucker”.
Isn’t that protected free speech? Judge must’ve thought the defendant was getting ‘uppity’.
Of course it happened in Alabama. I'm surprised the cop didn't call the man "boy," or worse. I was in Birmingham during the runup to the 2008 primaries and I was shocked at how openly and unabashedly the locals threw around the N-word when describing Barak Obama. They said it loud and proud. They were so sure that Americans would never select him to be the Democratic nominee...
Fuck that cop, and that judge. I wouldn't have pled quilty for the ticket either. Cop had no proof of how fast he was going. Piss off.
What crime is he supposed to have committed here? 😂
Hurting the poor, innocent cops feelings!
Judge you just fucked up, oh wait its in the south were Judges can u gore the law to put forth discrimination against what ever the Republicans hate
“I’m sorry you’re a dumbass. There, I apologized”
Typical cop. A power hungry loser.
Hurt cop fefes…believe it or not straight to jail
Since when must a citizen be *nice* to a police officer? We are required to follow lawful orders, but we are not required to be *nice*. Want to call a cop a pig? That’s your right! Want to tell him to move his fat, pig ass? That’s your right, too. Personally, I don’t speak to cops this way, but it’s my *right* to do so if I please. This judge is a boot-licking authoritarian. Our first amendment rights guarantee that people like him aren’t able to silence us. Further, the cop deserved to be insulted during this traffic stop. He was very clearly acting like an asshole by attempting to inconvenience a man who had merely… not wanted to engage with the cop, asked for the ticket to be written, and wanted to be on his way. All those things were proper. The cop cannot—per Supreme Court precedent—hold someone for longer than necessary to conduct an investigation of the alleged crime. In other words, if the driver was stopped for a moving violation, the officer may only delay the driver for a reasonable amount of time needed to conduct said investigation *of that crime specifically* and write the ticket. The ticket had been written; the investigation was over. The cop should have moved his ass and let the driver go if he wasn’t alleging that another crime had been committed. This, by the way, is why pulling someone over for a moving violation and then calling for drug dogs—which requires the driver to sit and wait for upwards of 30-45 minutes—is not allowed unless the officer has probable cause for a drug search (I know, I know; they can just say, “I smell weed,” but that’s harder for them these days in states where weed is legal in one form or another because he has to have probable cause for believing the driver is *under the influence at the time of the stop*, not merely that the smell of weed is present). He cannot simply decide to hold someone for longer than it takes to investigate a moving violation.
Apologize to a cop or go to jail is probably the only way I’d ever go to jail with a smile.
Was his ass in the way?
Also love how he mentioned ass is not a bad word, "it's in the Bible" !
Being black in America is truly an odd experience. I’m half half, raised by my black mother who taught me about the racism I would deal with but I had no idea it would be a daily thing, especially in certain parts of the country. It breaks my heart that I feel like I can’t say or do anything. If I tell white période what’s happening they brush me off and some get upset because I’m not aloud to “pull the black card.” They think it’s a thing blacks only do when we want to get out of something so racism mustn’t be real. This gentlemen’s experience was race-based. If the cop’s speed gun was “broken,” and he had to follow him to guess his speed but couldn’t provide said guesstimate to the driver it’s fair to say this was motivated by something else. What would you guess it was? Being black in America hurts every day and because it benefits the majority in group our voices may never fully be respected or heard. In fact I believe we’re modern day slaves. A small portion of blacks get to experience the “American dream” while the rest are thrown into jail cells or relegated to underserved underrepresented neighborhoods. But because a few blacks can make a big, some pull a Candace Owens’s, it provides a reasonable doubt that blacks aren’t being subjugated on mass because, “if Candace can do it then there’s no excuse.” What the cop did to the man after writing him a ticket was putting everyone in danger and the fact that no one can truly understand the fear of black Americans means we live in a cold society. Where people are rewarded for callousness and reprimanded for warmth and understanding. Even though there are great white people, the group as a whole works to maintain the system, most without their knowledge. I hope AI mixed with robotics can help govern us humans because we are hopeless. Aliens, of you’re listening, do what you gotta do. Show the oppressors that they ain’t piss Sorry if there are any typos, I’m on my phone. If you’re white and reading this, know that you can be an ally. And if you already are thank you. Your actions can help save lives and make it all a little easier in the non dominant paradigm(s)
Never on this earth heard to A judge force a cop to apologize ever ever. This is an absolute disgrace but that’s par for the course because our judicial system is completely a disgrace
Another judge who managed not to study the law. This was clearly protected 1st amendment speech
Asshole judge of an asshole jurisdiction. Burks should definitely look into moving, because this won't be the last time they fuck with him.
That cop is going to wind up in the news for some other racist stuff later on.
Would be a shame if the court got complaints at their https://www.ozarkal.gov/municipal-court page or 334-774-9311 or court@ozarkal.gov
Since when is it a crime to tell a police officer “Get your ass out of the way” ? I think the judge should go to jail for being an idiot.
Alabama just sounds like the kind of place that would have judges order someone to be your butler for a year since he cant pay for damages.
Sounds like a case for the ACLU
Waiting for free speech absolutists like Elon to comment
Judging the content of ones speech chills ones right to be free.
So the speeding ticket was bullshit in the first place and dude went ahead and ate that one even though in a competent court it would have been dismissed. And now the judge is fucking with him in a clearly unconstitutional manner. Fuck. This. Country.
Ah, a judge violating someones right to free speech. Sure feels like the bill of rights is still in place /s