Reporter doesn't like questioning

Washington Post ^ | 3/24/03 | Courtlan Milloy

[thatsnotnice]

That can't be legal, can it?

Yes, it can.

[lilylangtree]

The twit should have been reminded that the state of the country is "red" which means high alert.

[Truth29]

"Air quality testing device."

[Centurion2000]

. I'm shocked that the reporter didn't have them mounted on armored, rabid rhinoceroses covered long, poisoned spikes. And the radioactive goggles -- can't forget those.

You mean they sell armored rhinos to ride ??? CRAP where can I get one. ;)

[sinclair]

“That can't be legal, can it? “

I will bet money that Wyatt and his brothers did the same thing in Tombstone back in the eighteen hundreds. Legal? Questionable. Effective? Yep.

[TigersEye]

I'll be following it closely.

Why? Who are you and what are you up to?

[weegee]

The twit should have been reminded that the state of the country is "red" which means high alert.

Life during wartime means nothing to these fools. He seems smarmy from the outset, "I'm being 'observant' because the government has asked all Americans to be observant".

It's like a small child asking "Why? Why? Why?".

Maybe next time he'll ask if there's anything "unusual" about the third light in the ceiling being "out".

[TigersEye]

Eight officers responded to the call for backup. One told me that, legally, I was not being arrested, just subject to "investigative detention."

That can't be legal, can it?

Why not? Abortion is legal.

[NetValue]

" That can't be legal, can it? "

Sure is. If the police have "probable cause" based on your actions they can detain you and question you.

Police, like most of us, don't like people who make their job more difficult. This reporter was being uncooperative. They did not know what they were dealing with. Challenging the police has its own risks. Washington Post reporters, who make sure "race" is prominent in every incident, are not the brightest bulbs on the tree. Most are "Diversity hires".

[scott7278]

It's obvious from the second sentence of the article that this is a smart-aleck reporter who went looking for trouble and found it.

This is like one of those immature, MTV-like stunts where people are trying to do their job seriously and some nitwit comes up -- in a time of war and heightened security -- and acts like an idiot.

He got off easy, IMHO. Those officers showed great restraint, because in these times punks like this are endangering other people. He was baiting the officers -- and using "life, liberty, and the pursuit of hapiness" as his justification. Played the race card, too.

[Pagey]

So, this sorry excuse for a reporter,wasted an hour and a half of their time to get a story and HAD to ask (and infer ) if he was being detained because he was black? When he could've told them who he was immediately and gone on his merry little way.Some types of people will never change.

[Henrietta]

"Sure is. If the police have "probable cause" based on your actions they can detain you and question you."

Not exactly. They have to have "reasonable and articulable suspicion" that you have committed, or are about to commit, a crime. Last time I looked, asking questions about shiny things in trees and taking pictures was not a crime.

Now I realize that we are under an "orange alert" and all, but if the cops wanted to stop and frisk this guy, then they should have waited until they had a R & A suspicion. Why not just keep an eye on him for awhile, and then step in an start asking questions? Why attempt to escalate things and intimidate people by calling for backup? Why didn't they just answer this citizen's questions?

This reporter had every right to be what some of you are calling "uncooperative." People have the right to go about their business unmolested by the police or anyone else. Where are we headed as a society if we all are now forced to justify why we are doing what we are doing just because some guy in a uniform asks?

I'll probably get flamed for standing up for our rights to be left alone, but it wouldn't be the first time...asbestos panties on!

[Archangelsk]

Orange.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

That can't be legal, can it?

Sure. You don't think the police arrest everybody they question do you?

[CrimeOf73]

Constitutional Law Center > U.S. Constitution > Fourth Amendment > Annotations

the standard for stops for investigative purposes evolved into one of ''reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.'' That test permits some stops and questioning without probable cause in order to allow police officers to explore the foun dations of their suspicions

[delacoert]

You know what, sometimes I could care less whether or not a stop and frisk is constitutional or not.

Here was a wise@$$ with chip on his shoulder taking time out of his busy life to bust the b@lls of the establishment... and he gets his b@lls busted in return... so what.

I sometimes whistfully long for the days when a nice crisp punch in the nose was an acceptible response to a wise@$$.

[weegee]

These men were in uniform and near the object in question but anytime a lone person on the street starts asking me anything that doesn't sound like "directions", I think: "sales pitch", "beggar", or "crazy person" (not necessarily in that order).

I've seen people who were certifiably crazy (talking to themselves and forming no cohessive thought) out on the street and in bars.

This can also be a factor in detaining someone asking "odd" questions.

I don't avoid all people on the streets but then again I learned long ago not to talk to "strangers".

[U S Army EOD]

I don't think the woman turned him in, I think he set off the air quality alarm because the guy stinks.

I sent him an e-mail telling him this.

[cardinal4]

I recalled that as I began photographing the metal box, a woman pulled out her cell phone and began keeping a not-so-discreet eye on me.

Good for her,citizens are an itegral part Homeland Security.

[Michael.SF.]

"I could have told him right then that I was a journalist.

But instead you decided to lie, thus wasting their time and getting you this crappy story.

I pointedly asked whether I had been detained because I was African American or whether I looked Middle Eastern.

Liberalism 101 - Play the race card play it often, play it loud.

This guy is real lucky he ran into some very nice officers, who did their job in a professional manner. A lot of Policemen would have ran his sorry ass downtown in a proverbial NY minute for being such a smart ass. And they would have been justified in doing so

Washigton Police should bill the Post for the time this jerk wasted.