Posted on 02/05/2018 10:20:51 AM PST by simpson96
An Indiana man has reportedly filed a federal lawsuit claiming his constitutional rights were violated when he was ticketed for giving an Indiana State Trooper the finger.
Mark May, of Terre Haute, is seeking unspecified damages against Police Master Trooper Matt Ames, the Tribune-Star reported, citing a complaint filed in court on Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana.
May said in the lawsuit that on Aug. 21, 2017, he flashed his middle finger at the state trooper after he claims he was cut off by Ames, who was pulling over another driver on U.S. Route 41.
May was issued a provocation ticket which carries a fine of up to $500 after he gave the trooper the rude gesture, which Indiana Criminal Code states is issued when a person who recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally engages in conduct that is likely to provoke a reasonable person to commit battery commits provocation.
Kenneth Falk, legal director of ACLU Indiana, argued that Mays gesture toward Ames was fully protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
"While perhaps ill advised, Mr. May's gesture, which in no way interfered with the Master Trooper's lawful activities, was fully protected by the First Amendment," Falk told the newspaper.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
http://www.markmaycarpetcleaning.com/
He was just trying to say that he was “Number One in the nation.”
Reasonable people do not commit battery in response to being given "the finger".
Just because you can do a thing doesn’t mean you should do it.
Maybe displaying his IQ?
The law books are filled with cases of people who were sanctioned for disrespecting police and the courts. People write obscene statements on checks written to pay tickets, or mouth off to cops, and they get an extra charge. And the additional sanctions have been routinely upheld.
Maybe he was saying “up your” ticket quota.
While his choice of communicating his displeasure to the office is not something I condone, I do support his 1st Amendment rights to communicate his displeasure and the Officer in question should be punished and the ticket rescinded.
He was just showing the Trooper that he was Number ONE!...............
Reasonable people do not commit battery in response to being given “the finger”.
Reasonable people do not give a LEO the finger.........Therefore, the finger flipper can be judged to be unreasonable and therefore able to commit battery if a finger is flipped to them.
I agree with you.
So basically the reasonable trooper was saying that if he wasn’t already pulling some one else over, he would pull this guy over and commit reasonable battery upon him?
Got to love the whole cop, gun, and badge power trip.
Yes, people on the road are always telling me I’m Number One!........................
You’re not serious with that fascist thuggery sounding rhetoric are you?
I thought Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen was Number One!
Really? You want a guy’s business to suffer after he was rude to a cop after the cop allegedly cut him off in traffic? Aren’t you just special.
Thanks for the extra information. The man was disturbing the cop’s peace. For making the obscene gesture at another human being, the nasty, little hippie should have had his teeth knocked down his throat. It’s time to bring back some of the better old laws.
And yet there’s people on this thread defending this cop. Unreal.
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