Althouse: "I'm an American citizen... I'm allowed to stand on American ground... You're harassing me as an American citizen""

May 3, 2013

"I'm an American citizen... I'm allowed to stand on American ground... You're harassing me as an American citizen""

"I'm obstructing your justice?"

The best part is when her husband tells the cop "I'm sorry, I had nothing to do with that!"

91 comments:

Dante said...: I'm certain I would have the same reaction to someone telling me to confine myself to a location, despite that I had done nothing wrong.

Then the cop tells her that she is potentially obstructing justice, though I don't see that at all. He could have been a bit more polite about it, such as "Ma'am, the law states that I have a right to perform my duties as a police officer, and it's my view you are interfering with my job. Please remove yourself from the vicinity: the safest place is in the car."

She obviously felt her rights were being infringed upon, and I would have too.; 5/3/13, 4:11 PM
Scott M said...: But she's just so darn cute...; 5/3/13, 4:13 PM
Sydney said...: She didn't sound so crazy. I've had worse confrontations in my exam room.; 5/3/13, 4:14 PM
David said...: "I had nothing to do with that."

Nice move, husband.

Your driving drunk and getting stopped apparently had nothing to do with it at all.

Reece doesn't sound drunk. She sounds like a spoiled child.; 5/3/13, 4:20 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: I dare say the officer found her lacking in greatness.

She marched right up to him and he marched her right back in cuffs.; 5/3/13, 4:20 PM
David said...: Dante, the cop does not have to explain the law to her. Or describe good sense.

There are times when it's best to just shut up. This was one of those times. Life is not an endless campaign to exercise one's supposed rights.; 5/3/13, 4:24 PM
ricpic said...: "YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT JUST WHO I AM!"

Isn't there a law on the books that the cop can just shoot the bitch at this point?; 5/3/13, 4:26 PM
robinintn said...: I noticed that too; she doesn't sound drunk, just entitled and kind of stupid.; 5/3/13, 4:26 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: Reese Witherspoon is beautiful. Shut up.; 5/3/13, 4:29 PM
Methadras said...: I don't like the fact that once an officer gives you what he believes to be a lawful order that you are somehow qualified or even aware that you have to follow it or that he is qualified to give it said advice against say my better judgment. I won't go out of my way to be a dick, but I'd at least like an explanation of why. I'm not exactly against Witherspoon in this regard. Yeah, her drunken nonsense notwithstanding makes her become an ass, which would be irritating, but last I looked that wasn't illegal. If she impeded the officer from doing his job like touching him or preventing him from his duties, then yeah, I'm on his side. Maybe I missed something from the video.

David said...

Dante, the cop does not have to explain the law to her. Or describe good sense.

There are times when it's best to just shut up. This was one of those times. Life is not an endless campaign to exercise one's supposed rights.

I don't agree with that at all. If I'm polite and ask an officer for an explanation and I get none and yet I'm told that I'm being confined or held on his whim without at least a telling of the probable cause, then I'd say that would irk me too. I'm not going to go out of my way to be a dick, but the "it's best to just shut up" doctrine doesn't sit well with me. Why should I go out of my way to make the officers experience easy while begins to commandeer my life?; 5/3/13, 4:32 PM
D.D. Driver said...: As much as I like snickering at celebrities: she didn't DO anything.

Contempt of cop.; 5/3/13, 4:35 PM
D.D. Driver said...: "I noticed that too; she doesn't sound drunk, just entitled and kind of stupid."

She IS entitled. We are ALL entitled to "not get arrested" under those circumstances.; 5/3/13, 4:37 PM
edutcher said...: What did she do that was so bad?

Doesn't sound as if she did anything but nag the cop a little. She certainly didn't interfere with him cuffing Hubbo. I'm told most cops have at least one horror story where the wife, girlfriend (hooker) comes at him fingernails first in similar circumstances.

I mean, it's not like the time The Blonde got pulled over while she was pregnant and barfed all over the cop's shoes.

Or the time she got nailed by a radar gun and warned the cop the thing would give him testicular cancer.

, but I digress...

WWAD?; 5/3/13, 4:41 PM
Wince said...: Given the client's act, shouldn't one expect a lawyer to answer malum in se, because the state has to prove intent (actually making it less of a challenge to defend)?; 5/3/13, 4:46 PM
kcom said...: Well, she came up behind him while he was a questioning a suspect in a crime. That's had enough bad outcomes in cop world that I don't doubt there's a very low tolerance for that sort of thing - even if it is a cute, little blonde woman.; 5/3/13, 4:48 PM
kcom said...: Also, do you see her mea culpa and full apology? (On Good Morning, America maybe?); 5/3/13, 4:51 PM
Baron Zemo said...: She should file a complaint. Let a jury of her peers decide. Just because she is a celebrity doesn't mean that she gives up her rights.
Cops get the idea that their shit don't stink and they can just order you around when there is no justification for it. Someone already said it. Contempt of cop.

You can be a law and order guy and still know that 99% of the time the cops are full of shit.

You have to have a bunch of them as friends and relatives to realize what lazy bastards they really are in real life; 5/3/13, 4:52 PM
Patrick said...: She didn't start looking really bad until she went with the "do you know who I am" bit.; 5/3/13, 4:56 PM
Cedarford said...: Liberals and libertarians are especially enamored about being a US citizen under the Sacred Parchment with all the Rights! and no Responsibilities!

Pity they have devalued citizenship by giving it to any illegal or terrorist making it into this country.
And all the Rights, no Responsibilities talk will soon give way to a sense that without enough people being contributors and taking responsibility for their lives...precious few Rights! will be sustainable.; 5/3/13, 4:57 PM
Sydney said...: The police do seem to throw out that "obstructing justice" canard an awful lot. She didn't seem to be obstructing anything in that video.

There was case in our area not long ago where a mother was arrested for "obstructing justice." Here's what she did:

Police say Carr was being held in a police cruiser when his mother tried to approach the vehicle. Officers ordered her away, prompting the mother to continue yelling at police and tell her son, “Don’t you talk to the [expletive] cops,” police said.

Isn't that the good advice every defense attorney gives their client?; 5/3/13, 4:57 PM
Baron Zemo said...: I was called for jury duty a year ago. It was a case of a guy arrested for speeding and they piled on charges like resisting arrest and disobeying the lawful orders of a policeman.
Now it so happened that this guy was about 6' 2" and close to 300 lbs. A big guy.

When the prosecutor got to me in the voir dire he asked me if I thought the police always did their job professionally. I said that most of the time they do. But sometimes they have a chip on their shoulder. Especially if they are short.

The worst cop to deal with when you are a big guy is a short little Napoleon dude. Midget cops are the worst. Well not just that. Midget Lesbian cops are the worst.

Guess what kind of cop threw the book at this dude?; 5/3/13, 4:58 PM
kcom said...: "Pity they have devalued citizenship by giving it to any illegal or terrorist making it into this country..."

How quaint. The fact is, you don't even have to have citizenship to get all the rights and none of the responsibilities.; 5/3/13, 4:59 PM
kcom said...: "Guess what kind of cop threw the book at this dude?"

A tall heterosexual male?

Do I get another guess...; 5/3/13, 5:05 PM
robinintn said...: Entitled: "YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT JUST WHO I AM!"

That kind of entitled.; 5/3/13, 5:11 PM
Dante said...: She didn't start looking really bad until she went with the "do you know who I am" bit.

This bugged me too until I started to think about how she felt. She thought as an American citizen she had a right that, according to the cop, doesn't exist. She was humiliated, and she backed up on that statement.

Could be wrong about that, but that's what I get from listening to her.

The woman's freedoms were restricted. In my view, the cop was a prick.; 5/3/13, 5:11 PM
Astro said...: Gotta watch out for those Legally Blonde women...

And her husband - so chivalrous!; 5/3/13, 5:20 PM
dbp said...: She is being kind of un-PC. What? Is it okay with her if police push-around legal residents or other non-citizens?; 5/3/13, 5:21 PM
Amartel said...: Mr. Witherspoon is quite the Profile in Courage.; 5/3/13, 5:42 PM
Amartel said...: "Midget Lesbian cops are the worst."

Midget lesbian judges are worse.; 5/3/13, 5:42 PM
Amartel said...: They overcompensate.; 5/3/13, 5:44 PM
The Scythian said...: "What did she do that was so bad?"

She got out of the car during a routine traffic stop, after she had been told to stay in the car.

"She obviously felt her rights were being infringed upon, and I would have too."

No. She was pissed that her husband was getting arrested for drunk driving. When she got out of the car and said, "I'd like to know what's going on," that was a bullshit, disingenuous question. She knew what was going on. Her husband was driving drunk, he got caught, and he was being arrested for that. The whole incident from the point at which she got out of the car was, in fact, an attempt to obstruct the officer while he was performing his lawful duty.; 5/3/13, 5:54 PM
William said...: Don't act like a jerk with a cop because he might be a bigger jerk than you. You're not vindicated if the charges are dropped after you've spent ten hours in a holding pen....She wasn't all that obnoxious. This won't hurt her career. The husband should have tactfully dropped his wife's name while apologizing for her. There's an art to pulling rank. She did it in such a clumsy way that one thinks it possible that she doesn't do it very often. She probably doesn't have to.; 5/3/13, 5:55 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Whenever they handcuff somebody and start pushing them around and it's totally real and right in front of me, I'm oddly aroused.; 5/3/13, 5:59 PM
Baron Zemo said...: Amartel said...
"Midget Lesbian cops are the worst."

Midget lesbian judges are worse.

So why does Obama keep appointing them to the Supreme Court?; 5/3/13, 6:10 PM
edutcher said...: Astro said...

Gotta watch out for those Legally Blonde women...

Especially with a law degree from Haavahd.

But at the time she was illegally brunette.; 5/3/13, 6:13 PM
Left Bank of the Charles said...: They won't let you ride to the police station with your spouse unless you get arrested too. So assuming she wasn't fit to drive the car, this may have been her best play.; 5/3/13, 6:18 PM
The Scythian said...: "The woman's freedoms were restricted."

Which "freedoms" were being restricted, exactly?; 5/3/13, 6:24 PM
Anonymous said...: I didn't watch the video. But from the transcript, seems the husband was nice, the wife was a bitch.

Baron Zemo said...
"Midget lesbian judges are worse.

So why does Obama keep appointing them to the Supreme Court?"

Anywhere in the Constitution says the Supremes have to be nice?; 5/3/13, 6:25 PM
Methadras said...: sydney said...

Isn't that the good advice every defense attorney gives their client?

Yeah, but she didn't have ESQ. at the end of her name.; 5/3/13, 6:40 PM
Methadras said...: robinintn said...

Entitled: "YOU'RE ABOUT TO FIND OUT JUST WHO I AM!"

That kind of entitled.

I was really kind of hoping she would whip out her SAG card and say, "See, what I tell you... Mmmm hmmm..."; 5/3/13, 6:45 PM
sakredkow said...: Reese Witherspoon is beautiful. Shut up.

I agree with this. In fact she doesn't have to pay taxes, does she?; 5/3/13, 7:02 PM
Methadras said...: Chip Ahoy said...

Whenever they handcuff somebody and start pushing them around and it's totally real and right in front of me, I'm oddly aroused.

That's just he masochist in you. Being a submissive will do that.; 5/3/13, 7:05 PM
sakredkow said...: The husband should have tactfully dropped his wife's name while apologizing for her. There's an art to pulling rank.

"I'll take care of this, Academy Award Winning Actress Reese Witherspoon. Get back in the car, darling."; 5/3/13, 7:06 PM
Methadras said...: CEO-MMP said...

Reese Witherspoon is beautiful. Shut up.

Honestly, she is cute. Beautiful? Mmmm, not for me. Although I thought she was really hot in Election.; 5/3/13, 7:07 PM
dreams said...: I'm glad there isn't video of some of the stupid things I've said and done both sober and under the influence of alcohol. I'm sure she is punishing herself with guilt and shame for her revealing words.; 5/3/13, 7:13 PM
Crunchy Frog said...: IM IN UR DASH CAM

OBSTRUCTING UR JUSTISS; 5/3/13, 7:15 PM
kentuckyliz said...: The stupidest thing is that she knows the dashboard cam is running and she detonates this PR bomb. It totally undermines the sweet image she has carefully cultivated.

If she didn't know the dashboard cam was running, well, she's even dumber.; 5/3/13, 7:15 PM
dreams said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/3/13, 7:24 PM
dreams said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/3/13, 7:29 PM
n.n said...: She should have identified herself as an illegal alien (aka undocumented Democrat). She would have received the full support of Obama and various civil rights businesses. It is not safe to be an American citizen in the age of PC (Progressive Corruption).; 5/3/13, 7:36 PM
sakredkow said...: It totally undermines the sweet image she has carefully cultivated.

I wasn't really buying that anyway. I still like her.; 5/3/13, 8:15 PM
Julie C said...: Well at least she took responsibility and made an actual apology rather than a weasel one.

I always love the "don't you know who I am" routine. Do celebrities and politicians actually think it is helpful? If you have to ask someone if they know who you are, you aren't that freakin' important!; 5/3/13, 8:38 PM
Dante said...: Youngblood:

Which "freedoms" were being restricted, exactly?

Well, the right to travel, for starters. That right has cost Californians billions.

She was forced, at the point of a gun, to sit in the car. She was imprisoned, though she had done nothing illegal. "Obstruction of Justice," give me a break.; 5/3/13, 8:40 PM
Synova said...: I know that some cops are on power trips but I've got no problem with requiring that someone not interfere with them while they are doing their jobs... and distracting them counts.

I've heard too many anti-self-defense arguments that rest on the sacred value of "civilian" life (we're not to put ourselves at risk by dealing with bad guys EVER) and the expend-ability of the life of cops (it's what they're paid for) to not apply those dynamics to something like a traffic stop. It hasn't been long enough and those conversations had too great an impact on me.

It's not "hero police officers" or some special untouchable quality about law enforcement, just a simple acceptance that them getting paid money doesn't compensate for the danger involved in their job and that not interfering with (or gratuitously harassing) the police is a reasonable expectation for decent behavior from the rest of us.; 5/3/13, 8:41 PM
Synova said...: Though the "demand a plan" posters of Witherspoon explaining how many people are killed by drunk drivers (do it for the children, Reese) are pretty funny.; 5/3/13, 8:44 PM
Dante said...: K-Liz:

It totally undermines the sweet image she has carefully cultivated.

I love your posts, but disagree with this one. She was trying to stand up for her man. I fail to see how talking can "Obstruct Justice." Or resisting being confined can "Obstruct Justice," if you aren't trying to physically resist.

For the folks who find the husband's actions execrable, I agree. He is a fucker, and I hope the chick divorces him if they have no kids.

You can see her back down in the face of "Authority." Fuck Authority. It killed 16 million Jews, 80 Million Chinese, 1.3M Cambodians, and some millions of Russians in the great purges.

That's the problem with this woman, not that she tried to stand by her man, in a non-violent way.

I hope she makes good with her "Do you know who I am?" statement. Yes, let the husband get his rightful DUI, but fuck over that asshole cop. Hopefully get him fired.; 5/3/13, 8:52 PM
Dante said...: I know that some cops are on power trips but I've got no problem with requiring that someone not interfere with them while they are doing their jobs... and distracting them counts.

What was the immediate danger? There wasn't any. I do not like the abuse of power, and here you have it.

"Do what I say."

"Why?"

"I don't have to tell you that."

"You can't do that!"

"I'm going to restrict your freedoms and take you to jail."; 5/3/13, 8:54 PM
Mark Daniels said...: I thought the same thing when I saw the video yesterday. He left Reese twisting slowly, slowly in the wind. Here.; 5/3/13, 8:55 PM
sakredkow said...: I always love the "don't you know who I am" routine. Do celebrities and politicians actually think it is helpful? If you have to ask someone if they know who you are, you aren't that freakin' important!

To me it's a real turn off. I don't care who it is laughing in their face is an option. "Oh, you must be one of the immortal ones."; 5/3/13, 8:58 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I still don't think it's a big deal. People say incredibly stupid things when they're drunk. She is only one such person.; 5/3/13, 9:03 PM
Dante said...: To me it's a real turn off. I don't care who it is laughing in their face is an option. "Oh, you must be one of the immortal ones."

To me it is too. In this case, I think it was all she had. I'll bet she regrets saying that, a lot. Because it is not a part of what she is.

By the way, I have no idea who she is. First time I've ever seen her, and if it were a guy, I would feel the same way.

It's about the cop, using his authority in a capricious manner, not about some random citizen living their lives.

Imagine what it must be like with the "Stop and frisk" in NYC. I'll bet it pisses a lot of people off.; 5/3/13, 9:08 PM
Synova said...: "What was the immediate danger? There wasn't any."

Oh bull shit. A traffic stop is about the most dangerous thing a cop can do. And you're saying with so much confidence that things can't turn crazy in an instant, when in real life they do turn crazy in an instant. And you're saying you can tell that wasn't ever going to happen, and it was obvious. What you're *saying* is... that without a whole lot of warning and a crazy-ass ghetto mama yelling obscenities that if a cop makes a stop and the happy soccer mom grabs his gun and he dies that THAT'S OKAY WITH YOU.

It's his job and he gets paid for the risk.

Also, it's dangerous simply being on the road because other cars plow right into the stopped cars often enough. The safe place for Reese was in her car with the seat belt on where the cop told her to stay. The safest thing for the cop, and for her husband, was not to have unnecessary distractions.; 5/3/13, 9:09 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: I also think people are overly offended by the "do you know who I am" stuff. Why does that make people angry? Doesn't it just make you cringe for the person who said it? How embarrassing to have said that. There's also humor in the public being so outraged about it when she is almost certainly treated specially by the public on a routine basis because of who she is.; 5/3/13, 9:09 PM
Synova said...: "Do you know who I am" offends people, not because it reveals something about her character, but because of the assumption that it might actually matter who she is.

People are offended at the idea that the law is not equal. Even if we sort of believe it's not equal, we believe that it's supposed to be equal.; 5/3/13, 9:14 PM
dreams said...: "Then the cop tells her that she is potentially obstructing justice, though I don't see that at all. He could have been a bit more polite about it, such as "Ma'am, the law states that I have a right to perform my duties as a police officer, and it's my view you are interfering with my job. Please remove yourself from the vicinity: the safest place is in the car."

She obviously felt her rights were being infringed upon, and I would have too."

That cop was in a potentially dangerous situation for all he knew, cops get killed all the time in situations like this. He was having to deal with a drunk driver and another person gets out of the car after being to told to stay in the car, the cop doesn't have eyes in the back of his head and doesn't know if the other person might try to harm him. By disobeying his orders she created a more dangerous situation for the cop.; 5/3/13, 9:15 PM
Dante said...: Synova:

Oh bull shit. A traffic stop is about the most dangerous thing a cop can do.

OK, I don't know, how about some stats.

Compared to:

A) Going to an armed Robbery
B) Gang shooting
C) Domestic Violence
D) Driving down the road

I know, for instance, it is far more dangerous to be a garbage man than a police officer.; 5/3/13, 9:18 PM
Dante said...: That cop was in a potentially dangerous situation for all he knew, cops get killed all the time in situations like this.

Except, that wasn't what the cop was concerned about, now was it? He was concerned about the chatter that was screwing with his pinhead brain, such as "You can't constrain me."; 5/3/13, 9:22 PM
Synova said...: "Except, that wasn't what the cop was concerned about, now was it?"

Was it?

You don't know at all what the cop was concerned about. Maybe he was concerned about controlling the situation so it never got to the point where it got dangerous. There's no reason at all that he ought to have to wait until that happens.

Unless you're arguing that the cop actually does have to wait until after a situation gets dangerous before he's allowed to try to control it, because without that proof of everything going south he's supposed to let himself be part of an escalating situation.

That's not safe for him, and it's not safe for anyone (not just brat celebrities) that he's interacting with.

Escalate first? Really?; 5/3/13, 9:34 PM
Dante said...: Despite anecdotal accounts that show particular instances of danger confronted by law enforcement officers, there are few research findings or statistics to support the assumption of police dangerousness during traffic encounters. Additionally, no data exist to support the proposition that greater intrusions of citizen privacy rights will ensure greater safety to police officers. In fact, during the oral argument of Maryland v. Wilson, Justice Scalia asked counsel whether any data existed to establish that ordering a passenger from a stopped automobile improved officer safety (Maryland v. Wilson, oral argument). No data were offered because none existed. In the Maryland v. Wilson decision, the Chief Justice made specific references to the need for empirical research on officer safety and danger in the traffic encounter:
‘‘It is, indeed, regrettable that the empirical data on a subject such as this are sparse, but we need not ignore the data which do exist simply because further refinement would be even more helpful’’
(Maryland v. Wilson, footnote 2). Most, if not all of the assertions that routine traffic stops are dangerous rely on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)’s data on police homicide and assault victimization during traffic encounters. All of these assertions share one crippling methodological flaw. They fail to appropriately account for the frequency of the police activity in the risk calculation (Garner & Clemmer, 1986). This study was designed to address this specific limitation in the Court’s use of unrefined data by examining dangerousness relative to the frequency of traffic encounters. This research sought to advance the understanding about the danger of routine police–citizen traffic stops, to examine the assumption of ‘‘danger’ to police in these encounters, and to fill the empirical void identified by
Justices Rhenquist and Scalia.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:htVEVl7J5DgJ:blog.lib.umn.edu/jbs/Criminal%2520Procedure%2520in%2520American%2520Society/OfficersAssaulted.pdf+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

One might think that all these databases around these days might help, Synova. I would guess you have that you care about in law-enforcement. Does it justify this man's preposterous actions, of "Arresting" someone because she was being simply annoying? I think not.; 5/3/13, 9:35 PM
Darrell said...: I've seen people get arrested arguing with Chicago cops over the years--mostly when I used to go to bars in the ten years after college. What Reese did would not have even gotten their attention. Chicago cops should get a special award for their infinite patience.; 5/3/13, 9:41 PM
Dante said...: You don't know at all what the cop was concerned about. Maybe he was concerned about controlling the situation so it never got to the point where it got dangerous. There's no reason at all that he ought to have to wait until that happens.

Cop: "Ma'am, what did I just tell you today?"

Reese: "I want to know what's going on."

Cop: "If you don't get back in that car, . . ."

Reese "I'm a US citizen, I'm allowed to stand on American ground and ask any question I want to ask."

Blah Blah

Cop: "I told you to get in that car and stay there, didn't I?"

Yeah, all I see is a cop pushing his authority. There is no danger there whatsoever, but a person trying to assert their rights as an American Citizen.

I suppose if the cop where beating the crap out of the coward husband, and she tried to stop it, he could have shot her.; 5/3/13, 9:50 PM
dreams said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/3/13, 9:55 PM
Anonymous said...: When people used to ask me "do you know who I am?" I would ask them how long they had been suffering from amnesia.; 5/3/13, 9:58 PM
Anonymous said...: When people used to ask me "do you know who I am?" I would ask them how long they had been suffering from amnesia.; 5/3/13, 9:59 PM
Dante said...: And for the record, if this Witherspoon person, whoever she is, doesn't make a stink about this, then she is as worthless as her cowardly husband.

What a fucking poor male specimen that asshole is.; 5/3/13, 10:05 PM
traditionalguy said...: Reese is being more Presbyterian than she should have. Those blue eyes were burning with rebellion and the State's Trooper did the only safe thing to do when faced with that.

Toth was the player. Reese was being successful herself.

As lawyers, we love Reese's type of self assertive client. All they need from us is good council; and they can pay well.; 5/3/13, 10:22 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: ""Do you know who I am" offends people, not because it reveals something about her character, but because of the assumption that it might actually matter who she is."

I bet it usually does!; 5/3/13, 10:33 PM
The Scythian said...: "Well, the right to travel, for starters. That right has cost Californians billions.

She was forced, at the point of a gun, to sit in the car. She was imprisoned, though she had done nothing illegal. 'Obstruction of Justice,' give me a break."

During a traffic stop, the police have the ability to order not only a vehicle's operators into or out of the vehicle, but also the vehicle's passengers. This isn't some new controversial development.

And, yes, the police also have the ability to arrest those who do not comply with such lawful orders for obstruction of justice.

Her freedoms were not restricted. She was a passenger in a vehicle that was pulled over because police suspected (correctly, as it turns out) that the vehicle's operator was intoxicated. While the investigation (the sobriety test) was ongoing, she violated the police officer's order. (See the other video, where she claimed to be pregnant and needed to use the bathroom.) While the drunk driver was being arrested, she violated the order again and asked a bullshit, disingenuous question.

And yes, walking up to a cop and demanding to know what he's doing after watching him administer a sobriety test on someone you know has been drinking is a bullshit, disingenuous question.

No freedoms were restricted. Sorry.; 5/3/13, 11:14 PM
The Scythian said...: "Does it justify this man's preposterous actions, of "Arresting" someone because she was being simply annoying? I think not."

Arresting someone for being annoying while a cop is doing his lawful duty (lawfully investigating a crime, lawfully arresting the suspect/perpetrator) is perfectly legitimate.

I don't know where you got this strange idea that it's only lawful for a police officer to arrest(or even merely detain) someone who is a direct danger to that police officer but, I assure you, that's not how things work out there in the real world.; 5/3/13, 11:26 PM
Dante said...: During a traffic stop, the police have the ability to order not only a vehicle's operators into or out of the vehicle, but also the vehicle's passengers. This isn't some new controversial development.

You are ignoring the point, about the "Right to travel." And I suspect that false imprisonment is also a pretty serious offense.

So tell me how this serious constitutional right, according to the ninth circuit court of appeals, and a serious crime, false imprisonment, is trumped by some asshole cop who simply isn't willing to say "Sorry, Ma'am, I have the right to do this, and you must obey my order to imprisonment despite that you have done nothing illegal."

Really, this is pretty simple.

The fact is this whole idea of Cops live Dangerous lives is a bunch of BS. Garbage collectors have more dangerous lives, with 1/5th the pay here in San Jose, CA. So do fishermen, construction workers, and particularly roofers. All less well paid.; 5/3/13, 11:46 PM
Levi Starks said...: If the officer had been investigating a possible break in of a home, and arrested a black professor,
Whose side would you be on?
The president calls that "acting stupidly"; 5/4/13, 12:27 AM
The Scythian said...: "So tell me how this serious constitutional right, according to the ninth circuit court of appeals, and a serious crime, false imprisonment, is trumped by some asshole cop who simply isn't willing to say 'Sorry, Ma'am, I have the right to do this, and you must obey my order to imprisonment despite that you have done nothing illegal.'"

Terry v. Ohio, primarily.; 5/4/13, 12:37 AM
Emil Blatz said...: So many people have reached the "Don't you know who I am?" moment, it's hard to know which is best. I do not travel with celebrities so, this was pretty choice. I know in Madison there have been plenty of examples of legislators getting pulled over and hauling out the "Do you know who I am?" card, which is promptly ignored.

My favorite example of that came from former longtime legislator "Snarlin" Marlin Schneider. He stopped in a store where I worked while in college, and purchased something with a check. We were told to always get ID on checks, in those days by writing the D/L# on the face of the check. So, as he presents the check, I ask for ID, and he goes through a pantomime routine which expressed "Do you know who I am?", by opening the tri-fold wallet in very exaggerated fashion to show his Auxiliary Deputy Sheriff badge, then his Capitol ID and then finally his DL, which I read and transcribed to the check. What an asshole!; 5/4/13, 2:10 AM
Darrell said...: Actually, "do you know who I am?" is not an irrelevant question in this instance. Do you think a famous actor would represent a real threat to a police officer's life? Knowing that she is Reese Witherspoon DOES make a material difference.

One of the first acts of Lisa Madigan as Illinois' new Atty General was getting charges dismissed for the daughter of Minnesota's Atty General--a hero of hers because he was bending the law to benefit the Left (she also mention Eliot Spitzer in NY for the same reasons.) Darling daughter got put out of a night club in Chicago because she attacked a woman in a party of twelve and a fight broke out. When she insisted on going back in (to retrive her jacket), a police officer politely told her she couldn't--and she took off his glasses and broke them on the sidewalk and started scratching his eyes. When she was arrested and put in the back of a patrol car, she kicked out the back window. Little Lisa Madigan had all charges dropped and said that the police over-reacted with the arrest and the charges.; 5/4/13, 4:28 AM
Astro said...: Edutcher - I was of course thinking of more than one legal blonde.; 5/4/13, 8:07 AM
bleh said...: I think it's fair to say the police acted stupidly and this calls for a beer summit.; 5/4/13, 8:35 AM
Dante said...: Youngblood:

I'll try one more time. The cop restricted her freedom by telling her to sit in the car. The cop had a gun. When she got out and tried to ask a simple question, and even though she thought she wasn't committing a "crime" the assumption is that she was, the cop used his authority to arrest her.

The husband is a coward, but the cop is a prick. And Witherspoon was guilty of being ignorant.

Not only did she not try to "Obstruct Justice," she did not know that her actions were deemed by the courts as "Obstructing Justice." And I put it to you she was not Obstructing Justice, merely asking a question.

The cop didn't like being talked over, and being a prick, arrested Witherspoon.

And yes, the cop was legally restricting Witherspoon's freedoms. He forced her to stay in the car. If I forced someone to stay in a car, I would be guilty of false imprisonment. But here, the cop is allowed to, presumably because it is deemed legal.

The cop made a choice to be a prick. I don't like people who throw their authority around that way, even if the courts currently deem it legal.; 5/4/13, 9:20 AM
ken in tx said...: I am pretty sure this traffic stop happened in Georgia, not California. If you grew up in the south, you know not to argue with a man with a gun and a badge. Most of them are pretty decent, but I would not push my luck.; 5/4/13, 11:43 AM
D.D. Driver said...: I think people are misinterpreting the "do you know who I am" moment.

This was AFTER the cop already arrested her for no reason. Let me be fair---arrested her for not playing "Simon Says" with him.

Her message was: don't think you can bully me and abuse your authority with me in anonymity like you do every other day.

It's really too bad that she apologized the next day.; 5/4/13, 12:12 PM
The Scythian said...: Dante,

You keep coming up with stupid standards to judge this situation. Yes, if you went out and started ordering people to stay in their cars, you would be guilty of wrongful imprisonment.

So what?

You're not a cop. It's illegal for you to do the things that cops do. I'm sorry that you don't like the fact that cops are given a degree of authority that you are not, but that's how things are.

As far as the rest goes, you're making the assumption that the first interaction between the cop and Witherspoon was when she got out of the car during the arrest. It wasn't. She tried to get out of the car before that, while the cop was administering the sobriety test. He told her that if she got out of the car again, she would be arrested.

And, although the video of the first portion of stop hasn't been released, I am willing to bet all the money in my wallet that the cop told her, more or less politely, to stay in the car then, too.

This assumption you are operating under, that Witherspoon got out of the car to ask an innocent question, is pure, unadulterated bullshit. She got out of the car in an attempt to make the cop deal with her during the course of his duties. As I've already said, the question was disingenuous. She was looking for an excuse to get the cop's attention (just as she did earlier when she tried to get out of the car and lied about being pregnant and needing to use the bathroom). If you try to get a cop's attention to distract him from doing his legally appointed duty, that is obstruction.

Which is why Witherspoon, despite being rich and being able to afford a really good lawyer, ended up pleading "No Contest" to the charges of obstruction and disorderly conduct. The cop was in the right.

Welcome to the real world.; 5/4/13, 2:54 PM
Anonymous said...: Policing: The only endeavor that most people don't want to do but that everyone has an opinion upon how it should be done.; 5/6/13, 1:46 AM