The twin towers of totalitarians. You pay and/or you die.
I was thinking about this case last night. I got arrested for a stupid misdemeanor crime that was cooked up in the first place and did a lot of research. I checked out 4 yrs worth of arrest records by METRO police and found that some folks were put in the slammer for smoking at the bus station.
Seems to me that with all the larger chaos in felonies and riots (blocking traffic), releasing IA’s that have committed far more serious crimes yet its hands off illegals and even the increase in child molestation, sex slave trade....cops must find arresting for misdemeanors the only easy turf left.Perhaps even encouraged to get the stats up.
Then there was the SCOTUS ruling in Atwater that allows cops to arrest for misdemeanors.
However, in this case the guy was a repeat offender. I agree with Paul though that the cig tax was a relevant factor.