[pgkdan]

I'm with you. If there are laws against loitering and drag racing and 200 plus people were in a parking lot doing exactly that and got arrested...what's the beef? Had that been in my neighborhood I would probably have been calling the cops myself. Am I missing something here?

[JudyB1938]

They arrested shoppers coming out of the store, even when they showed their receipts.

They arrested people who were eating at a fast food place - including adults. One couple got lucky and talked the cop into waiting until the grandparent could come pick up the child. The only reason why the cars at Sonic weren't towed is because the manger wouldn't let the cops.

There's more stories of the innocents, but I can't remember them.

BTW, neither place of business complained to the police, so the police had no right to go onto private property to arrest people.

[Northpaw]

I admit to not knowing the details of this event, but I am confused. Isn't a K-Mart parking lot private property? I wonder how some of these freepers would feel if these kids decided to loiter in their front yard and not move when asked?

[justlurking]

Am I missing something here?

Yes.

There was no drag-racing going on. That's apparently why the officer-in-command decided to arrest everyone.

Further, a large percentage of the people were customers at an adjacent drive-in restaurant. Some of them were actually departing, and were caught in the dragnet only because they were waiting for a traffic light to change.

Finally, to my knowledge there were no arrests for "loitering". Almost all were arrested for criminal trespass, including people that could document they were customers of the business that had posted "customers only".

[southern rock]

Am I missing something here?

Alot. This "raid" occoured on private property, and the private property owners did NOT call the police.

[Arkinsaw]

Am I missing something here?

Apparently. You should read the other threads which go into many of the individual cases and you will find that they were not "doing exactly that". Some of those arrested were merely customers at the Sonic Drive-In. Apparently a 10 year old girl at the Sonic was arrested and separated from her father. They were apparently not "loitering" because the Sonic refused to allow the Police to tow some of their customers cars after the arrests. One lady sent her son to the K-Mart to pick something up and he was arrested. A teenage girl was arrested as she returned to her car from buying something in the K-Mart.

This is not the first incident. A similar raid was conducted at a Hot Dog stand. A group of motorcyclists were arrested even though their trip to the Hot Dog Stand was a weekly event for 9 years. The people were not "loitering" there since the Hot Dog Stand people were not happy about their customers being arrested.

If you think that all this mass arresting is "OK" then your law and order gene is waaaaaay too strong for a nation whose fundamental underlying principle is individual liberty. We were tasked with keeping our government in chains lest it become a "fearsome master". If law and order trump liberty for you then there are a gazillion places in the world where that is the norm. But not here and hopefully never here.

[Arkinsaw]

Am I missing something here?

Apparently. You should read the other threads which go into many of the individual cases and you will find that they were not "doing exactly that". Some of those arrested were merely customers at the Sonic Drive-In. Apparently a 10 year old girl at the Sonic was arrested and separated from her father. They were apparently not "loitering" because the Sonic refused to allow the Police to tow some of their customers cars after the arrests. One lady sent her son to the K-Mart to pick something up and he was arrested. A teenage girl was arrested as she returned to her car from buying something in the K-Mart.

This is not the first incident. A similar raid was conducted at a Hot Dog stand. A group of motorcyclists were arrested even though their trip to the Hot Dog Stand was a weekly event for 9 years. The people were not "loitering" there since the Hot Dog Stand people were not happy about their customers being arrested.

If you think that all this mass arresting is "OK" then your law and order gene is waaaaaay too strong for a nation whose fundamental underlying principle is individual liberty. We were tasked with keeping our government in chains lest it become a "fearsome master". If law and order trump liberty for you then there are a gazillion places in the world where that is the norm. But not here and hopefully never here.

[SarahW]

Yes, you are missing plenty.

Many of the folks arrested for tresspassing clearly were not trespassing. They were clearly there to patronize businesses that were open and inviting the public onto their property (many still eating the food they had just purchased - or WERE ABOUT TO PURCHASE (watining in the drive-thru of the open business)

In such a situation, a business does have a right to ask someone to leave, but the presumption is that the public has a right to enter the property.

There is no tresspass if the public is invited, and not asked to leave.

[Houmatt]

Yes, I am afraid so.

You are missing the hypocrisy of several people here, who may assert their appreciation for law enforcement, but have no problem thumbing their noses at the police when 278 kids are on private property at 12:30 in the morning breaking the law.

[aruanan]

If there are laws against loitering and drag racing and 200 plus people were in a parking lot doing exactly that and got arrested...what's the beef?

If it's okay with the business establishment (Sonic) for the people to be there (and it was), then the people weren't "loitering". Obviously, they weren't "drag racing" in the parking lot. If there are laws against drag racing, then people should be busted in the act of drag racing not by being with a group of people alleged to be disposed to "drag racing". If you can't tell the difference between targeting unlawful behavior and targeting groups said to be disposed to unlawful behavior, then you've lost touch with what the rule of law means.