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Could you be arrested for this?


Alpo

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Novel, fiction. And I think he was just trying to throw a scare into him. But I wondered.

 

Unmarked car cut a guy off on the freeway. Other driver honked his horn. Cop ignored that. Other driver pulled up next to the unmarked car, cussed at him and flipped him off.

 

Cop lit him up. Checked the car for anything easily visible to arrest him for. Driver is about to piss his britches.

 

Cop tells him he needs to learn some freeway manners. Then tells him, “I could arrest you as a public nuisance.”

 

Then he let him off with a warning.

 

My wonder - COULD you be arrested as a public nuisance for shooting a bird at somebody?

 

Los Angeles, if that would make a difference.

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Try this:

 

https://www.shouselaw.com/public-nuisance.html

 

Around here, "disorderly conduct" would be the more likely criminal citation.

 

Some locales have specific statutes or regulations forbidding the display of gun-like hand gestures.  Talk about trivializing the role of a police officer - sending him out to arrest a kid for pointing his unloaded finger "in an aggressive manner".

 

LL

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 And it’s harassment on the part of the unmarked police car’s occupants.  Crawling right back up his butt would shut him down pretty quickly, I’m thinking.  If not, who cares?  There’s always a way to get back at people like that. And, they know it.  

 

 Could he be arrested for that?  You could be arrested walking down the street minding your own business.   As I said, there’s always a way of getting back at people like that if you’re dead-on set to do it.  

 

 

 

 

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Many videos on YouTube where citizens flip cops off, call them pigs or outright cuss at them. Supreme Court ruled its part of the 1st Amendment as in freedom of speech/expression. So while legal to do so it still doesn't mean you're not going to get hassled, pulled over, arrested etc.

Ike

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Hell, in Texas you could be shot just for eating ice cream and watching TV!

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3 minutes ago, Arkansas Jim 107095 said:

Or standing at a window pointing a gun at someone out side the window. 

 

I'm pretty sure most of us here would've done the same thing if we heard a noise in our backyard at 2am and saw a dark shape just outside our window.

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Might have to agree, except I’ve been taught to be sure of your target. Shooting at shapes is a bad deal. Hunters have shoot people doing that.  Could have been a drunk neighbor. Bad deal all around. Cops should have identified themselves. He’s most likely going to pay big time for this 

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6 minutes ago, Arkansas Jim 107095 said:

Might have to agree, except I’ve been taught to be sure of your target. Shooting at shapes is a bad deal.

 

For both cop and homeowner that is correct. I assume however the cop could see his target while she couldn't. You can't just blast the first person you see holding a gun, especially when said person is inside the home and could very well be the homeowner.

 

And back to Alpo's question, I think in many states the cop could probably arrest the driver for road rage. The cop might have been wrong to cut him off, but pulling up alongside other drivers and making obscene or intimidating gestures is definitely NOT in the driver's handbook.

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Regardless of this story, you are really being stupid to flip off another driver.  You never know the temperament of the flipee. He/she might just pull a gun and shoot you!  Bad drivers cutting you off happens so often it is disgusting.  If you see another driver acting recklessly (weaving in an out of traffic, etc.), and if you can get the license plate or description of the vehicle, call 911 and report him.  But don't get hurt trying to repay in kind! 

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3 minutes ago, Sixgun Sheridan said:

You can't just blast the first person you see holding a gun, especially when said person is inside the home and could very well be the homeowner.

Oh, yes you can! In the case of the cop who killed the homeowner, it can get you charged...with MURDER!  Usually there is no law against being stupid, but in this case... :angry:

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2 hours ago, Alpo said:

My wonder - COULD you be arrested as a public nuisance for shooting a bird at somebody?

Did that once, unmarked actually ran me off the road.

So I showed him how many friends I thought he had.

He rolled down his window and proceeded to shake his fist at me and yell.

His arms inside his uniform were about the size of my chest.

A couple of months later, got a ticket for speeding in a work zone from a Deputy Sherriff who had arms about as big as my chest.

I wasn't speeding according to posted sign and there no workers present.

Still...Ticket cost me $200, but I didn't get arrested.

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36 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:

Regardless of this story, you are really being stupid to flip off another driver.  You never know the temperament of the flipee. He/she might just pull a gun and shoot you!

 

Unfortunately drivers with bad temperaments are commonplace. Twice this past summer I got flipped off just for passing a slowpoke on a two-lane road. Apparently not only is it their right to drive under the speed limit on a bright sunny day but nobody is allowed to pass them either. In both cases I simply ignored them rather than acknowledge their selfishness.

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My Constitutional Law instructor used to answer that question thusly:

”You’ve got a badge and gun. You can arrest anybody for anything. Question is, Officer......is it legal and will it stick?”

;)

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Again watching You Tube more and more officers/Cities etc. are getting sued over false arrest. As in illegal detainment, no actual crime was committed, officer overstepping RAS. Lots of money being paid out. More and more citizens are pushing back against civil rights abuse by officers.

Ike

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Years ago a police officer was flipped off here in AZ and arrested the flipper for Disorderly Conduct.  The flipper had his day in court and it was determined that this was a unoffensive gesture and therefore all charges were dismissed.  The officer respectfully flipped the judge off and politely stated, have a nice day judge.  So the story goes.....

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23 hours ago, Utah Bob #35998 said:

My Constitutional Law instructor used to answer that question thusly:

”You’ve got a badge and gun. You can arrest anybody for anything. Question is, Officer......is it legal and will it stick?”

;)

 

+1

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