Only recently, the media revealed a case where an officer arrested a fast-food employee for putting too much salt in his burger. Now, another officer has arrested a motorist for coughing in his direction during a traffic stop. For the story, click here It is an issue that repeats itself with some regularity, arrests that are caused by officers wanting to punish citizens for questioning their judgment or simply irritating them. In most cases of abuse, an officer does not charge for assault by cough but comes up with a more conventional claim that escapes public notice. While most officers are responsible and respectful, such abuses are rarely subject to the spotlight of public review.
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The guy who was arrested for the coughing incident happens to be my brother, so it’s interesting to see his story popping up around the internet. It sounds like the officer has a major chip on his shoulder, so hopefully the extra exposure from the news will bring him down a level in humility. Should be an interesting hearing, and hopefully the judge has the sense to see the absurdity in the incident.
The man who just wrote the previous post happens to be my brother.
The cops in Morrisville are known for pushing the boundaries of their authority, my case just happens to be the most news getting. We’ll see how it goes.
I find it nothing short of astonishing that you are being pulled into a hearing at all. One would think that quickly dropping the charge and apologizing would be the most rational approach. It does show the depths of arrogence to pursue such a baseless charge, even after a national outcry. The citizens of good Morrisville need to reexamine their choices in prosecutors and law enforcement. Fighting to preserve an abusive charge only magnifies the image (no doubt erroneous and undeserved) of a town led by moronic throwbacks.
Thank you, JT, and to both Jess and Kent for speaking up as well. JT is 100% correct in saying that we as citizens, not just in Morrisville, but in every other city and town as well, need to reexamine who they are selecting to be their prosecutors and police officers.
Too often, they go with the person(s) who makes promises to “keep you safe.” But who keeps CITIZENS safe from the prosecutors and police officers who give themselves a pass to use their police and prosecutorial power to bully, intimidate and arrest innocent citizens for the “crime” of ticking those officials off? Other prosecutors and police officers? Hardly. Especially who rationalize such abusive behavior “to catch the bad guys.” They obviously fail to grasp the obvious; that their behavior MAKES them one of the bad guys.
Hello everybody,
I am absolutely shocked and saddened to learn of this nasty abuse of power by the “cop” who should actually be not only fired but arrested for police brutality. He should never be allowed to work in any security job again. These are the kind of evil “bad apples” that ruin the reputations of even good cops. This case should and most probably will be dismissed and the judge will reprimand the cop, who should not even be a cop. We live in a free society. I something as human as a simple cough can get one arrested, what’s next, will one be arrested for walking down to work with a flu, exposing his/her germs to the air? I hope the defendant wins the case and gets a huge compensation from the wallet of the “officer”, who should be immediately fired.
ABUSE OF POWER plain & simple…..governments sole creation is for the GOOD of the people……PROTECT the RIGHTS of the individual & SERVE the public…..NOT INTIMIDATE & EXTORT FROM IT….People NEED to wake up….IF ALL YOU HAVE IS VIOLENCE & COERCION then YOUR SUPPOSED POWER has NO , I REPEAT NO LEGITIMATE AUTHORITY…..Everyday Gov’t makes new “statutes” criminalizing everyday behavior & for some unknown reason people accept this & let the gov’t corporate agents {“peace officers”}
get away w/doing as they wish….HOW IS THEIR WORD SO GOLDEN ?
They are HUMAN yet they are ALL ANTI-SOCIAL PSYCOPATHS!!!!!!
SORRY , I forgot to say that only COWARDS handle their business this way…..
Unbelievable. A cop can literally pull any random person over and charge that person with anything they want…
I went to basic training with kent kauffman. I heard this story and didnt believe it. finally got around to looking it up. all I really have to say is if this charge had stuck I would have moved to canada