Man Flips Off Cops, Wins 15K

MJS

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http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/201...-15k-settlement-from-city?utm_source=outbrain

MANHATTAN — The man who fought for his right to flip the bird now has some cash in his hands.
Robert Bell, 26, won a $15,000 settlement from the city Tuesday after he sued, arguing that his First Amendment rights were violated when Greenwich Village cops arrested him in 2011 for flipping off a group of officers, federal court records show.
Bell, an information technology recruiter who said he'll use the settlement funds to pay for law school, said he felt vindicated by the decision and that he'll give the NYPD the middle-finger salute again.
"If I thought [an officer] was in the wrong for something, I would do it," he said. "I would just ensure that I prefaced any criticism with 'With all due respect.'"
As DNAinfo.com New York was first to report, Bell, an Edison, N.J. resident, was leaving the Slaughtered Lamb Pub on West Fourth Street about 10 p.m. Aug. 6, 2011, when three officers walked past him, he said and legal documents showed. With the officers' backs to him, Bell raised his middle finger for "one to two seconds," he said.
But little did he know that a fourth officer who lagged behind his colleagues spotted the offending gesture. He swooped in and arrested Bell, he said.
"Do you think that's funny?" the officer said as he handcuffed Bell, according to the lawsuit.
The officers searched Bell's pockets and asked him why he had made the gesture.
"Because I don't like cops," he said, according to the lawsuit.
Bell was held at the 6th Precinct stationhouse, released after about two hours and charged with disorderly conduct for making an "obscene gesture" and causing "public alarm and annoyance," the suit said.
Represented by the New York Civil Liberties Union, Bell pleaded not guilty to the charge in Oct. 2011 and the case was dismissed after the officer who filed the police report failed to appear in court to testify against Bell, according to the lawsuit.
He decided to file the lawsuit — which charges police with violating the Constitution, assault, false arrest and imprisonment, and inflicting emotional distress — because he thought he had been wronged, his attorney, Robert Quackenbush, said.
Quackenbush argued that the city's settlement with Bell fits into a bigger context of perceived challenges to police, in which he included stop-and-frisks.
He said he believes the city opted to settle the civil liberties suit because city lawyers knew they had "no chance" at trial.
"With outrageous facts like these, they knew they didn't want a jury to hear about it," he said.
City attorney Ryan Shaffer, who handled the case, said in a statement that the settlement is not an admission of NYPD error.
"The settlement is in the parties' best interest," Shaffer said. "It is not an indication of any police wrongdoing."


So, for all the LEOs we have here, what are your thoughts? Of course this is open to everyone as well. Personally, I think the guy was clearly a dick. Akin to an 'ambulance chaser', I think this guy was hoping that he could roll the dice, and get some quick cash. Sadly, thats what happened. OTOH, I'm sure these NY Officers have had worse happen to them, so while I'm certainly not giving the OK to what this jackass did, IMO, I think they'd have been better off ignoring it.
 

crushing

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I agree this guy is probably a dick. He likely doesn't like cops because he thinks they are too authoritarian. The cops obliged in helping him prove his point.
 

Drasken

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I don't believe a cop should be legally able to arrest you for flipping them off. However this is a stupid move because if a cop really wanted to they can find SOMETHING to arrest you for. And with that being said, flipping someone off or verbally telling them f@#k you is bordering very dangerously on verbal assault I believe.
 

ballen0351

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I think its funny he waited until they passed and tried to do it behind their backs and got caught. Real brave guy. I personally wouldn't have waisted my time. I'd have called him a d bag and walked on about my day.
 

Drasken

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I think its funny he waited until they passed and tried to do it behind their backs and got caught. Real brave guy. I personally wouldn't have waisted my time. I'd have called him a d bag and walked on about my day.

That seems like the more intelligent thing to do. Most cops I know would have told him to stop acting like a child and walked off.
 

Instructor

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I see flaws on both sides here. He should not have been arrested for being an ***. He should also not have been awarded anything for being an ***. I know if I were a cop and you flip me the bird it might be time to give you as a person a closer look.
 

jks9199

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Can an attitude like that be read as an invitation for some special attention? Sure. Should it lead to an arrest without further behavior? No. I sure wouldn't arrest some for a gesture like that alone -- in fact, Virginia rulings pretty much say that cops don't have the right to be offended by speech or actions like that, even if they would otherwise constitute a violation of our "curse and abuse" statute.

I don't like that the cop charged him, then didn't show for trial. Kinda puts a huge hole in the defense for the city. But the civil case here was almost certainly fishing for a settlement, not a matter of principle or anything similarly altruistic. (If it was -- the money would go to a legal aid fund, the ACLU, or some-such, not the plaintiff's desire to attend law school...) I don't know if he complained on the cop through the administrative channels... which would also be telling about that lawsuit.

With all that -- I don't think the city should have settled. Yes, it's cheaper and "makes it go away." But that sort of thing ends up looking too much like an admission of culpability. And if the cop reasonably believed he was acting within the law (and I'd say he did if the desk sergeant carried it forward), he's probably personally protected by good faith.
 

ballen0351

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Maryland laws is the same way. You can't disturb the peace of a police officer. You can act a fool as loud and nasty as you want in front of a cop as long as nobody else is around to witness it.
 

OzPaul

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Being given the finger by someone is generally one of the nicer things the public say or do to me each day... I would of smiled, tell him to pull his head in then gone about whatever it is i was doing
 
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