Posted on 12/29/2007 6:53:12 AM PST by Bulldawg Fan
Robin Garrison, an off-duty 42-year-old firefighter, was walking in Berliner Park in Columbus, Ohio, in May when he saw a woman sunbathing topless under a tree.
He approached her and they started talking and getting comfortable, the woman smiling and resting her foot on his shoulder at one point.
Eventually, she asked to see Garrison's penis; he unzipped his pants and complied.
Seconds later, undercover police officers pulled up in a van and arrested Garrison; he was later charged with public indecency, a misdemeanor, based on video footage taken by cops who were targeting men having sex or masturbating in the park. While topless sunbathing is legal in the city's parks, exposing more than that is against the law.
The case is just one of the more extreme examples of police stings aimed at luring people into committing crimes, a tactic that has resulted in hundreds of arrests, many convictions and plenty of controversy.
Law enforcement officials say that such sting operations are an extremely effective means of lowering crime rates and stopping the criminally minded before they commit worse offenses. From early 2006 to the spring of 2007, there were 160 citations for public indecency in the city, according to an investigation by 10TV News. Among those who were caught in the stings: an Ohio State University doctor, government employees and a retired highway trooper.
But such operations veer dangerously close to entrapment, say lawyers, civil libertarians and defendants who've been caught in sting operations.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
On entrapment, how can police or police representatives ASK you to break the law and then arrest you when you do? I usually take the side of police here but this seems very unusual to me. Its not like they just had her laying there and the guy walked up and exposed himself. Watch the video at her friskiness and how she comes on to the guy? She physically touched him, put her leg on his shoulder, did everything you would expect a woman in heat to do and the ASKED him to show his stuff.
Also, does anyone know if this woman is a police officer? That raises many questions in itself if she is. If she isnt, would this qualify as pimping on the part of the PD? Is being a pimp a crime in Columbus?
I don’t know about the legality of it, but I think it’s a good idea. It encourages people to avoid breaking the law despite encouragement.
If I was on the jury, I would buy the entrapment defense in this case.
So this woman entices him with partial nudity and lewd behavior, and then having got him in a state of arousal, requests that he commit a specific crime and that’s not entrapment?
My opinion as a prospective juror ... entrapment pure and simple
Berliner Park has seen more than its share of weirdness over the years. Back in the early '90s, there was a series of stings where a bunch of male sodomites were arrested for rendezvousing there. This park sits right across the river from German Village—one of the highest known concentration of rump-rangers in the Midwest.
She had her leg propped up on his shoulder and asked to see his penis?? Come on, looks like she should be arrested.
I imagine it's a seasonal thing like bass fishing, only you probably don't need a license.
I would never,never have fell for this kind of scam.
Liberal law enforcement has learned it is far easier to go after honest citizens than hardened criminals.
After all, a man exposing himself to a seductive, topless woman is far less likely to shoot back than a man dealing crack or robbing a bank.
In my opinion, applying limited law enforcement assets to this type of act is a larger crime than the one being committed. I doubt Columbus has a shortage of other, more severe crimes.
Ping List About Nothing Ping
***Eventually, she asked to see Garrison’s penis; he unzipped his pants and complied.***
ELAINE: Oh, the date. The date.
JERRY: Ya how was it?
ELAINE: Interesting.
JERRY: Really.
ELAINE: Oh ya.
JERRY: Why what happened?
ELAINE: Let’s see, (thinking) how shall I put this.
JERRY: Just put it.
ELAINE: He took it out.
JERRY: (confused) He what?
ELAINE: He took (blows on her glasses twice to clean them) it out.
JERRY: He took what out?
ELAINE: It.
JERRY: He took It, Out?
ELAINE: Yessiree Bob.
JERRY: He couldn’t.
ELAINE: He did.
JERRY: (motions of making out) Well you were involved in some sort of amorous...
ELAINE: Noooo.
JERRY: You mean he just
ELAINE: Yes.
JERRY: Are you sure?
ELAINE: Oh quite.
JERRY: There was no mistaking it?
ELAINE: (looks straight into his eyes) Jerry.
JERRY: So you were talking, (Elaine makes an agreement sound “mmm”) you’re having pleasant conversation, (Elaine makes an agreement sound “mmm”) then all of sudden...
ELAINE: Yea.
JERRY: It.
ELAINE: It.
JERRY: Out.
ELAINE: Out.
JERRY: Well I, I can’t believe this. I know Phil, he, he’s a good friend of mine. We play softball together. How could this be?
ELAINE: Oh it be. (sarcastically) You got any other friends you want to set me up with?
(Kramer enters)
KRAMER: Hey. (to Elaine) Hey how was your date with Phil Titola?
ELAINE: (to Kramer) He took it out.
(Shocked, Kramer acts like he just got a cold shiver down his back)
KRAMER: Maybe uh, it needed some air. You know sometimes they need air, they can’t breathe in there. It’s in human.
Intentional or not, that's clearly the pun of the month!
Scale of one to ten for a mathematically rigorous proof that somebody is a pervert, this doesn’t go any higher than about a one....
This reminds me of the following Email I received some time ago:
WARNING
A scam is being pulled, mainly on older men.
What happens is that when you stop for a red light, a young nude woman comes up and pretends to be washing your windshield. While she is doing this, another person opens your back door and steals anything in the car.
They are very good at this: They got me 7 times Friday and 5 times Saturday.
I wasn’t able to find them on Sunday.
The judge should throw out all these cases and have the chief and officers involved turn in their badges and arrest the gal. BTw, I am a woman.
Me too, I’d rule in favor of the accused on this. This is definately entrapment in my opinion.
This is outrageous. If I were on the jury—in criminal or civil court—I would decide in this man’s favor. With drug pushers in every American city and town and millions of illegal aliens flooding into the U.S.—our policemen are participating in this sort of entrapment!
See!
This is exactly what happened to me!!!
Except for the part about her being topless. And it was on a crowded bus. And her asking to see my penis.
But other than that, a clear case of entrapment.
It makes felons and "sex offenders" out of red-blooded American males who engage in consensual behavior with an apparently willing adult women.
Might as well lock up half the adult male population over 18.
Of course it’s entrapment.
But the “law enforcement” folks and the “justice” folks are counting on the fact that many, probably most of these men have families, significant others, some small amount of standing in the community, and would rather have this go away. Quickly. They’ll Larry Craig it the whole way.
The “law enforcement” folks and the courts of “justice” folks will likely reap a grand or two a pop, and they’ll split the booty between ‘em.
LOL!
1) A man sees a topless woman in an apparently aroused mood.
Do you:
a) Sit down and talk with her, or
b) Assume it’s a police sting and avoid it?
Personally, I’d be a little worried about the guys who weren’t interested in her.
It most certainly doesn't. Especially at 90 W. Broad Street (aka City Hall) where the 'Rat mayor just won a third term and his socialist, über-PC agenda has the backing of a unanimously 'Rat-controlled City Council.
No Republican has held office anywhere at City Hall since 2003.
All right, let’s get “it” all out in the open!
I can’t stand LE pulling crap like this. “Exposing perverts”? Yeah sure...
Hear, hear. No jury on which I sat would convict this man.
If the cops have the time and money to do this, then I guess the war on crime is won and we can start firing some of them.
Plenty of those nearby (see my #6)...yikes!
If sunbathing is indeed illegal in the public parks of Columbus, I don’t understand how the police can legally ask someone to break that law in order to catch someone else breaking a similar exposure law. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and it’s entrapment in my book. How pathetic is it, that Columbus cops have to revert to that tactic in order to catch perverts?
I agree with what you’re saying here...I definitely am on the side of cops, but in this case it’s pretty clearly entrapment, IMHO.
There are pervs in parks, definitely, but this is not the way to get them.
I would venture to say that the defendant in this case is not a pervert ... at least in this case. He may be no saint ... but not a pervert ... not for this incident
Shamansky plans to appeal the verdict on the grounds that the jury wasn't instructed on the definition of entrapment.
I agree that the man was entrapped in this sting operation.
But what is wrong with this lawyer? If he was using an entrapment defense why didn’t he explain entrapment to the jury?
This lawyer must be trying to milk this case for billable hours.
I would like to read ther job description for females officers in the Columbus PD
If it was a good looking woman, I’d naturally suspect something was up. Because I rarely have that kind of good luck. I’d ask her if she wanted to someplace, if she said no I’d know she either was a cop or a woman with a weird fetish. The guy was stupid and he’s now going to have to register as a sex offender.
It does not say that in the article.
It does say that he has to stay away from the park and he may lose his fireman job.
Classic. ;-)
If we start firing every fireman who warms up to a topless woman, get the bucket line ready for the next fire.
I read this last night and it screams entrapment. Doesn’t the Columbus PD have anything better to do, like, gee, arresting killers and illegals ? Pecker peekers in the park just is ridonkulous.
You know, if I were a cop — I would feel demoralized having to work on stupid “stings” like this, or catching “criminals” doing 10mph over the speed limit to gather my quota.
Why is there not more outrage over these sorts of operations? I just don’t get it.
Catch real criminals, not guys who think they are about to get “lucky”.
Second, this guy is a real fool. Walking up to some floozy who wants him to ‘whip it out’ in a public park. Geesh. I’d have run away from that woman, even if I wasn’t married!
But thankfully being a moron is not yet a crime.
It will be, once we have socialized health care however.
Not if you are cop and you are doing it for the kids. :^)
I think that the average woman would need a shrink if she did all this and COULD NOT get a man to put his penis in play.
I would like to see this same scam tried at the typical cop BBQ, or anywhere else in life.
I hope he doesn’t lose his job. He was set up, and as other folks have mentioned the police should stop trying to create crimes and actually do their jobs.
Watch the video. It’s complete horse manure.
Here's the Crime stats for Columbus, OH...
Great Going Brainiacs!!!
Hey maybe next next year try going after Jay Walkers and Litterbugs.
You can have the cops kids set up Lemonade Stands then send the SWAT Team after those who throw the Dixie Cups away on a lawn or illegally cross the street to quench their thirst.
Oh, and don't forget your Tazers for those miscreants who resist arrest!
It’s not entrapment b/c one can always say “no” to the offer here. No pressure was placed on the arrestee.
How is what he did perverted in any way? Sounds like a normal guy to me! Has Ohio declared WAR on heterosexuals? Is the “police” dept run by GAYS?
If this had been an incident with two gay men it would have been fine. To stop such an event would be considered a hate crime today.
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