Basically that is partially true, my main point was that I was glad that I was not trapped behing this apparently stubborn lady who rightly or wrongly refused to comply with a policeman's request.
Here's my point. The law should be enforced as equally and as consistently as possible. The absolute worst reason for enforcing the law selectively is to allow the enforcing agent to have greater power in his personal life.
Here, I think you are reading WAY too much into what happened at that McDonald's. Way too much. And for me, the telling thing is that the McDonald's manager backs up the cop's story.
At the age of 42, my life experience is that a police department would either ignore such a call from a store manager, or put it at the very bottom of their priority list, responding long after the problem had gone away of its own accord.
I am age 55, and I see where you are trying to go with this that the cop acted simply out of his own personal convenice. Why is he not entitled to do so? I guess your point is that the cop, especially being a cop, should have just sat there until the lady decided she was ready to move her car. Even though apparently she had not moved up far enough as McDonald's had requested her to do so as to clear the lane for people behind her to be able to get their orders and thus to keep the drive up line moving as it is intended to be keep moving.
Although I no doubt would have been happy about the officer's intentions (if not his methods) if I was in line behind him, we should be unhappy with a society where we must share the personal interest of the enforcing agent to get a good outcome.
Wow, now you admit that you also would have been irriated by being blocked in, but that the cop I guess just because he is a cop had no such right to get irriated, in particular because he had the power, unlike the rest of us poor saps who might have been stuck behind the stubborn lady, to do somthing about the blockage?
I will admit to being biased by my personal experiences, e.g. police who are disinterested in filing criminal charges or following up on property crimes, police who regularly pass me doing 15 mph over the speed limit in the same strip of road where they regularly set up a speed trap and give tickets for 5 mph over, police who have stood by while I've had to protect children from a raving loon threatening to kill them (and showed no interest in pursuing said loon), and it goes on.
Wow, tell me more about the raving loon.
Am I anti-police? I don't think so, I've also stood by on many occasions to assist an officer if they needed it, and I've helped subdue a suspect on one of those.
I would say that you are anti-police.
I just have high expectations of the police and incidents like this tend to highlight their deficiencies to me.
I think most police are just like the rest of us, trying to make their way in life. Sure there are bad cops out there, but this cop was not a bad cop and was entitled to do what he did, and if I had been stuck behind this woman in line I would have been cheering him on......
My point is that cops shouldn't abuse their position. Doing something that they would not normally due, because they themselves benefit, is an abuse.
I suppose that you would like a doctor to provide you with the same level of care as they would to their own family? Would you consider it wrong if you got your broken arm triaged behind the doctor's buddy's blister?
I expect professional behavior and I've defined my idea of that rather well, if that makes me anti-cop in your view then oh well.
Wow, tell me more about the raving loon.
Homeless 40-50 year old man appearing to be on crack on top of an underlying mental disorder. He was beating on the windows of cars with 4-12 year old girls and their mothers (coming to a dance competition) and charging them when they were out of their cars. He was screaming that they were racists bitches and telling them that he was going to cut their throats and cut out their guts.
Two policemen were half a block away at the entrance to the competition and were looking down the street at the scene the whole time, which according to the people I knew at the entrance was quite clearly understandable to all. I had already put myself between the man and the girls and continued to block him from getting to other families. I called 911 on my phone while doing so. About five minutes after multiple women had run down to the police, one of the police officers finally walked down to where I was. The man saw the officer and started to walk away, he was about 50 feet away when the policeman finally walked up. The police reaction was an annoyed, "Nothing I can do." and he walked back to the entrance. I remained there to protect other families that were parking in that area.
Had that been the officer's little girls, I'm quite certain the guy would have been cuffed and Baker Acted. Which you would say is a good thing no doubt.