Posted on 12/14/2014 11:35:26 PM PST by Hojczyk
A Long Island federal jury rewarded Nancy Genovese, 58, a mother of three, $1.12 million in compensatory damages after being arrested in 2009 for attempting to photograph a helicopter at a Air National Guard base in the Hamptons. Genovese intended to use the photo on a “Support the Troops” website; she was arrested for trespass and insulted as a "Teabagger."
From The New York Post: Southhampton cops searched her and found a legally owned rifle that she was transporting from a nearby rifle range. She contends a deputy sheriff arrived on the scene later and said to her, “I bet you are one of those Tea Party people.” When Genovese said she’s gone to Tea Party rallies, he allegedly said, “You’re a real right-winger, aren’t you?” and “You are a ‘Teabagger’” and then added that she’d be arrested for terrorism to make an example of other “right wingers.”
“What they took from this woman cannot be measured in money,” said her lawyer Frederick Brewington.“There is no reason to treat another human the way they treated her.”
“Ms Genovese was subjected to a level of abuse because they did not share the same political views as she did and saw this as an excuse to deny her even the most basic civil rights,” he said. After she won, Genovese said she wants to start a foundation to help others who were wrongly arrested.
"This was the ultimate rude awakening," she said. "At any given time, anybody can be arrested and can be held on excessive or no bail."
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
Isn't it grand to live in the " Land of the Free ".
Here’s an idea, an example should be made of the cop that did this to her.
Public humiliation will be the least of his problems.
This is the kind of behavior by cops that just drives me nuts. When a cop does this crap, he/she should be stripped of the right to ever be a cop again anywhere in the US.
A few dozen examples like this might just bring such behavior to a halt.
such punishment for a cop is appropriate because he/she holds a position of public trust with enormous power to harm citizens.
It is only proper that when given special power, a person who violates that trust should be punished far more harshly than an ordinary citizen.
The suit should have been an 18 USC sec 242 suit, deprivation of rights under color of law. A LEO or other official is personally liable under those suits.
18 U.S. Code § 242 - Deprivation of rights under color of law:
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
In addition to it being a criminal charge...
“then added that she’d be arrested for terrorism to make an example of other “right wingers.”
-anyone can be labeled a terrorist these days.
I disapprove of what this cop did, but I don't really see anything in the Constitution that prevents cops from saying insulting things.
The New York Post also mentioned Genovese “was armed to the teeth with a licensed assault rifle.” The description is very misleading since the police only found one rifle in her car
How many rifles do you have to carry to be "armed to the teeth?" How many can you shoot at one time?
Even Breitbart gets this wrong. The Post claim is not only misleading but false unless she was transporting a legal fully auto rifle. Since that's pretty unlikely, what he should have said was she was armed to the teeth with a licensed "assault weapon."
The term has, at most, a legal meaning in the state of NY, but at least it's not false.
Finally, the Post article doesn't say, but I suspect the claims of abusive language are made by Ms. Genovese and contested by the cops.
They may very well have been made, but considering all the recent accusations by leftwingers against the cops, possibly we should not automatically assume any accusation by someone on our side is necessarily the truth.
The Post and Breitbart articles, as usual, both blend together facts and assertions by one side in the case.
An “armed to the teeth” comment makes slightly more sense based on another website I found, which says she had a shotgun in the car as well as the rifle, along with over 500 rounds of ammo.
What neither Breitbart nor the Post points out is that it’s perfectly legal to be armed to the teeth in a legal way.
Sorry, just reread the article, which does use the appropriate skeptical language about her claims.
Jumping to conclusions is about the only exercise I get nowadays.
Neo-"McCarthyism" (Stalinism really) and the MSM is silent.
I loathe the militant Left.
Is the cop paying the million or is the county?
If in the course of a conversation someone that uses the label “teabagger”, I ask them if they have enough intelligence to be able to discern between a political movement and a beverage?
Stripped of their job? How about jailed for 20 years.
Filthy lowlife scumbag blue state slimey cop alert!
Show me the man, and I will show you the the crime. Works as well today as under Stalin.
When people use the term “teabagging”, they are not referring to a beverage.
What the word refers to is best left unsaid. I will not explain it here.
In before the badge-lickers!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.