[dhuffman@awod.com]

I doubt that they were arrested for skateboarding since the officer isn't likely to be given that much discretion. More likely they were arrested for breaking a law, probably a law against skateboarding. Don't cry to the officer or the court that are just doing their job. Cry instead to your legislator and the guy YOU elected.

[Hemingway's Ghost]

Don't cry to the officer or the court that are just doing their job.

These kids were cuffed and thrown in the clink, shackled, for two hours, for the grand crime of skateboarding in front of their house. That doesn't sound to me like a cop doing his job; that sounds like a robot or a computer following source code.

Common sense: an uncommon virtue.

[eno_]

since the officer isn't likely to be given that much discretion

Unlikely to be true. Which is why you get "contempt of cop" cases where something vague is ocnjured up to put you in handcuffs.