Charges dropped against woman arrested for talking loudly on cell phone

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/10/21/national1342EDT0592.DTL

Charges were dropped Thursday against a pregnant woman arrested and forced to the ground by Metro Transit Police for allegedly talking too loudly on a cell phone.

<snip>

"She proceeded to tell him that she is pregnant. But he didn't listen, he didn't comment, and he did put her on the ground, face down, and her stomach was being pressed against the concrete," Henry said. Aaron said she is due to give birth to a girl in February, and that doctors have told her the fetus is healthy. She is now considering suing the transit agency for false arrest.

<snip>

Transit Police remain defensive about their actions in this and other cases which have gained them unflattering publicity. On July 16, a woman was handcuffed and jailed for eating a candy bar on a subway station escalator. In 2000, a 12 year-old girl was arrested for eating a french fry on a subway platform. And in 2002, a wheelchair bound rider was ticketed for using profanity when he could not find a working elevator to exit the system.

...more...

that these Metro Police are all police academy dropouts?

.......' Teamsters Local 639 business agent Terrence Edwards said in a press release last week.

The difference being that Barney's gun wasn't loaded! :scared:

Just the Luddite in me.

Another Luddite

You mean those things hanging over the side of my belt?

BTW, I agree with you about the roughhousing.

Put a jammer in every public venue. Resteraunts, theatres, public transit, etc. If they can't connect, they can't talk annoyingly loud.

wouldn't that affect people like medical personnel who use pagers for emergency situations?

While I generally find cellphone use annoying, I can appreciate that someone who's gone out to dinner might need to know if their house is burning down.

Proper cellphone etiquette needs to be established and published; and people need to discipline themselves enough to practice it.

not just those who do so with cell phones, if you're going to make such arrests in the first place. Plus, being wheelchair-bound and not able to exit the system - that's against federal law providing for accessibility of public places. That's much worse than the worst profanity. The metro police sound like they're borrowing from the Singapore playbook, no offense to Singapore.

There's also no excuse for HER behavior, either. I was horrified at the actions of the cop as far as the force used to take her into custody (although anyone who's taken Metro is well aware of the strict policy on food and drink).

She was verbally abusive. She was loud, profane and obnoxious. Sad thing is, she'll get a big, fat settlement out of it and continue being a loud, profane and obnoxious person.

...that 5 Bosun's Mates, 3 Coast Guard CPO's and 20 members of the Longshoreman's Union were made speechless and BLUSHED?

Glad I don't have transit cops in my truck on the way home most nights. They'd SHOOT me....

What difference does the language make?

Why don't you go downtown tomorrow and stand on the front steps to the bank and scream "SHIT! PISS! FUCK! CUNT! COCK-SUCKER! MOTHER-FUCKER! *AND* TITS!" at the top of your lungs and report back to us. Extra credit if they use the term "Breach of the Peace" as they haul you away.

Remember:
"The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic."
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.