Posted on 04/07/2005 2:46:06 PM PDT by TitansAFC
What a coincidence! I know a lot of non-teachers who should be teaching.
Sounds like a match made in Heaven; they should get together....
"so if the cop is ignorant in matters of currency"
Well, they always tell us plain citizens that "ignorance of the law is no excuse." I am certain that the same test, more stringently applied, will be used on a police officer.
When you arrest someone, you are depriving them of their freedom, which should not be done without a very good cause. To make matters worse, the man was publically humiliated by the actions of the store personnel and more importantly the police. He was handcuffed to a pole? In the open view of the public? You can't place a dollar amount on the reputation damages inflicted on him.
I hope he gets a good attorney and attempts to get this heard in a Federal Court. I don't go in for the ACLU's nonsense and don't want to sound like them, but in this case, this man's civil rights were violated. There just isn't any excuse for this type of behavior on the part of law enforcement. The store is especially going to be toast.
The only thing I can see that might act as a mitigating factor regarding the store & police action is that this man intentionally used 2 dollar bills to force the clerk to count out a large sum of money, and it was obvious he was angry at the store for a charge he didn't believe he owed. It could be argued that he was acting in a hostile manner and provoked an incident by his actions. I wouldn't agree with this position, but I can see how a jury might.
Silly. It's only no excuse for civilians. Cops are special.
Yes, they use them in the bill changer where I work.
Isn't turnabout funny? Of course, these rules only apply to us lowly citizens. I hope to find out what happens when this whole thing pans out.
Compare this case to the Sandy Berger case to see how gratuitous both parties are to each other. This poor guy is put in handcuffs for doing nothing. Berger gets not even a slap on the wrist for endangering our national security. Maybe these abuses have aways happened, it's just that now we find out about them because of the net.
perhaps it's time to shake things up a little bit.
Sounds like we should be working something out.
At my sons middle school, he would pay for snacks from the cafeteria with dollar bills, and they would give him those Sascajawea dollars as quarters back. These were adult female cafeteria employees of the school district.
If that is not a kick in the head.
\
I called the local paper and they wrote a humorous article about it.
I agree with your statements, but remember that no matter what we believe, this must still be decided by a jury. I would lean to a heavy verdict in his favor, but often, the police do get a break from juries. Time will tell.
I don't know either. I do know the guy has probably had the bill since at least the sixties and possibly earlier. In the 80's when I lived in Mississippi, $500 bills were still in circulation. The lady we dealt with at the bank offered to hold one for us. I never took her up on the offer.
I think at one time the larger bills did circulate. With the rise of money laundrying and the drug problem, the fed has taken everything but $100s out of public circulation.
Wrongful arrest.
Could be some money coming Mike Bolesta's way.
Sounds to me like Best Buy is going to be writing this guy a check for far more than $114 very soon.
2 dollar bills are works of art... Sacajaweas are Chuck E Cheese tokens.
Who in this country has not seen or heard of a $2 bill? Bleh - they are so wierd.
"You must use the bill! Or sue, I will!"
Sheesh!
Teachers?
Having been to several Best Buy stores in Maryland and knowing the caliber of dumbass clerks usually infesting the place - this surprises me very little.
They are usually the "Look at me, world!!!" type of idiot you can almost always hear long before you see them.
You probably get the picture....
I'd ALMOST say I'm surprised that the cops fall into the same idiot gaggle....but then again - we ARE talking about Maryland here.
Yeah... I remember reading the alert from the dept of homeland security... "Be on the lookout for terrorists weilding two dollar bills... Be careful... You can identify the bills by this discription: That guy Jefferson on them looks particularly dangerous. He's known for writing some of the most dangerous documents ever seen by any government! And on the back of the bills, you'll see a bunch of troublemakers planning and colluding to overthrow their lawful government!"
Can't do racial profiling, because it's wrong... It's nice to know that at least they can do currency profiling... You know, most cash register drawers don't have enough cubbyholes, so thank goodness they got this anarchist off the streets!
I hope this guy sues EVERYBODY involved! And I hate it when people do that!
Mark
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