I think this lawsuit is valid, because, as I understand it, Dateline was in charge of the whole thing, directing the cops’ actions and orchestrating the drive to the ADA’s house and subsequent attempts to interview him and watch him being arrested on camera.
COPS are the final decision-makers, they should allow NO input into police operations, and that did not happen in this instance.
I know you all think this guy deserved to go down, but imagine the shoe is on the other, Freeper, foot:
One of us is about to be arrested under a new John McCain/Hitlery/Obama Hate Crimes act because we insulted a homosexual or Muslim.
60 Minutes wants to watch the Freeper’s perp walk, so Morley Safer and Leslie Stahl take over the command bunker, telling the cops where to go, whether to go to the Hate Crimes guy’s house or office (whatever location works best for 60 Minutes’ dramatic camera angle) and when/how to best arrest the Freeper so it looks good on camera.
I know it may sound far-fetched, but it’s basically what the lawsuit alleges, and if it IS true that Dateline was in charge of the whole thing, they need to be shut down from police operations after that.
We need sworn Peace Officers running arrests, NOT television producers looking for the best story and best perp walk.
Ed
I understand the point you are making, but even if a law were to be written that makes it illegal to make statements insulting homosexuals, I think there are gradations in the law (of course, there are). To equate what could happen hypothetically with what actually happened in this particular case is not a good analogy.
As for the shoe being on the other foot, I guess it’s pretty simple to say that if you aren’t in search of innocent children to pervert, sodomize, or molest, then you will not have to worry.
Why do people always want to use our ‘rights’ to protect such egregious behavior? Sorry, but I know you are trying to make a point, it’s just that there are legitimate people out their that we should be helping and this guy was not one of them.