11-11-2010, 06:33 AM
Two diferent stories with same outcome.
(CBS/ AP) An Overland Park man who flashed an obscene gesture at an Olathe police officer after getting a ticket is getting rewarded for his behavior.
The city of Olathe has settled a civil rights complaint filed by Scott Schaper of Overland Park. He was ticketed in September for disorderly conduct for flipping off an officer who had given him a ticket for running a stop sign.
The city of Olathe last week agreed that its insurance company would pay Schaper $4,000, with another $1,000 for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri.
Olathe police also must train its officers that they are required to take such verbal abuse.
The Kansas City Star reports that Doug Bonney, legal director for the ACLU chapter, says Schaper reacted angrily because he was taking his children to school and the traffic stop caused them to cry.
Olathe fared better than Pittsburgh did in a similar case of angry gesticulating.
The Pennsylvania city paid $10,000 to a citizen ticketed for giving a police officer the finger and $40,000 more to the ACLU for legal work, reported the Star.
In that case, the citizen flipped off a Pittsburgh officer who had told him to stop giving the finger to another driver.
Prairie Village's police chief, Wes Jordan, the outgoing president of an association of Johnson County police chiefs and the sheriff, said of such abuse: "We have to just swallow it."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/16/national/main6402999.shtml
A suburban Oregon police department is paying a local man $4,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit in which he claimed he was pulled over for flipping off the cops in traffic.
Twice he saluted with his middle finger while driving, and was pulled over each time by a Clackamas County patrol officer, resulting in what he said was a tongue lashing and “bogus” citations that were later dismissed. He sued (.pdf) in March.
“It was just time to settle,” the plaintiff, Robert Ekas, said in a brief telephone interview Thursday. The retired Silicon Valley systems analyst declined to elaborate.
Edward McGlone III, the counsel for Clackamas County, just outside Portland, said the local government settled (.pdf) rather than litigate for “business reasons.”
“It was just cheaper than proceeding in the case at this point,” he added. McGlone, too, declined to elaborate.
There’s no law against directing to police what might be the world’s oldest insulting gesture. But it’s not advised, as it may lead to a confrontation.
In a March interview, however, Ekas told us that he performed the middle-finger salute to the cops because “it seemed like the right thing to do.” He said it was a form of protest against a department he claimed was abusing its citizenry.
The settlement comes a year after a Pittsburgh man was awarded $50,000 after he was wrongly cited for disorderly conduct after flipping off a cop.
For an authoritative legal and historical discussion of flipping the bird, read “Digitus Impudicus: the Middle Finger and the Law. (.pdf)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/middle-finger-case/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Fpolitics+%28Wired%3A+ Politics%29
(CBS/ AP) An Overland Park man who flashed an obscene gesture at an Olathe police officer after getting a ticket is getting rewarded for his behavior.
The city of Olathe has settled a civil rights complaint filed by Scott Schaper of Overland Park. He was ticketed in September for disorderly conduct for flipping off an officer who had given him a ticket for running a stop sign.
The city of Olathe last week agreed that its insurance company would pay Schaper $4,000, with another $1,000 for the American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas and Western Missouri.
Olathe police also must train its officers that they are required to take such verbal abuse.
The Kansas City Star reports that Doug Bonney, legal director for the ACLU chapter, says Schaper reacted angrily because he was taking his children to school and the traffic stop caused them to cry.
Olathe fared better than Pittsburgh did in a similar case of angry gesticulating.
The Pennsylvania city paid $10,000 to a citizen ticketed for giving a police officer the finger and $40,000 more to the ACLU for legal work, reported the Star.
In that case, the citizen flipped off a Pittsburgh officer who had told him to stop giving the finger to another driver.
Prairie Village's police chief, Wes Jordan, the outgoing president of an association of Johnson County police chiefs and the sheriff, said of such abuse: "We have to just swallow it."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/04/16/national/main6402999.shtml
A suburban Oregon police department is paying a local man $4,000 to settle a civil rights lawsuit in which he claimed he was pulled over for flipping off the cops in traffic.
Twice he saluted with his middle finger while driving, and was pulled over each time by a Clackamas County patrol officer, resulting in what he said was a tongue lashing and “bogus” citations that were later dismissed. He sued (.pdf) in March.
“It was just time to settle,” the plaintiff, Robert Ekas, said in a brief telephone interview Thursday. The retired Silicon Valley systems analyst declined to elaborate.
Edward McGlone III, the counsel for Clackamas County, just outside Portland, said the local government settled (.pdf) rather than litigate for “business reasons.”
“It was just cheaper than proceeding in the case at this point,” he added. McGlone, too, declined to elaborate.
There’s no law against directing to police what might be the world’s oldest insulting gesture. But it’s not advised, as it may lead to a confrontation.
In a March interview, however, Ekas told us that he performed the middle-finger salute to the cops because “it seemed like the right thing to do.” He said it was a form of protest against a department he claimed was abusing its citizenry.
The settlement comes a year after a Pittsburgh man was awarded $50,000 after he was wrongly cited for disorderly conduct after flipping off a cop.
For an authoritative legal and historical discussion of flipping the bird, read “Digitus Impudicus: the Middle Finger and the Law. (.pdf)
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/middle-finger-case/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Fpolitics+%28Wired%3A+ Politics%29