Right.
Should you get ‘beaten’ for not showing an ID? Of course not.
Do the police have the right to ID you? I’m not lawyer but I feel like they do.
So if you refuse to comply to showing an ID, should be have the right to detain you?
Now we are getting into some taller legal weeds, but still, I think most people’s common sense would say that they do. For public safety reasons, police often ID people who are involved in any kind of incident, not just because they have to report on it, but also because they could have wants and warrants.
So, did she resist arrest/detainment?
No one has the right to resist, do they?
This is the part that should be obvious.
In lieu of a summons, which they wanted to give her, that can arrest you if the complainant/manager insists.
unless you are being charged with a crime and arrested, they have no right to ID you.
Do I have an obligation to HAVE an ID on me, if I'm not driving a motor vehicle? I don't think so.
Stop and ID applies in Ohio only when the police have an articulable suspicion that the person has committed, is committing, or is about to commit a crime.
The woman in this case was leaving when she was asked to leave. No Ohio crime was committed so the demand for ID was invalid.
However, had to cop waited for her to drive off the private property he could have conducted a traffic stop for whatever reason and then had better grounds for demanding ID.
This is a situation where the wisdom of Andy Griffith would have been appropriate.
The officer could have explained what he not only had the right to do, but was under an expectation in fulfilling his job to do. Speak to the woman as if he really were on her side. Empathize with a bad ordering situation, which everyone has encountered.
Note that it somehow escalated, and give her credit for deescalating by leaving the store, as well as not looking for anything she didn’t pay for, etc. But as a favor let her know what he could be and was expected to be doing in response. Make clear that she should indeed select another nearby McDonald’s in the future, because if she didn’t and there was a complaint, they’d really have to deal with it.
But also leave her with the friendly advice to disengage and deescalate a little sooner in the future. Ask her to try to imagine that the server is having a bad day or maybe is dealing with something we don’t know about—just as she may be, without either the server or him as the cop knowing about.
Leave the woman with a positive sense of the police being civil and human and fair.
I’ll bring race into this, because this woman has been told by authority figures all through her education, probably within her community, and throughout the culture that AAs don’t get a fair shake and largely live lesser lives as a result.
I’ve taught in some inner-city colleges with such students who have admitted to some less-than-civil moments, but because I consistently adhered to kindness and respect in dealing with everyone in my classes, they consistently responded with the same in return.
That woman was looking to maintain her dignity and act appropriately. IMO she could easily have been left with a positive encounter, probably both by the server inside and by the cop.