I can just see someone stealing this graphic, which seems appropriate for this thread.

No other comment.

The Libertarian side of me says that seatbelt should be at the option of the user, not the state. While I was there, Germany dealt with it this way: you could use seat belts – or not.

But if you didn’t the insurance company didn’t have to cover any of your damage.

Your right to swing your fist ends at…

and so on.

It’s a dangerous thing, ceding too much authority to the state. Very often it is a one-way ratchet that takes a major event, such as a civil war, to win back.

This is a reason why we have crime in our state and country because people like this do not respect nor follow the laws. Then they want to be treated as equals. Perfect example here. Irrational people.

She did not comply, that is true. And I don’t blame the officer for trying to arrest her. I think a taser was a bit over the top, personally.

But how many of you really view not wearing your seat-belt as a crime?

Isn’t this more of government interfering in our lives? I would think a republican would feel this way.

I think at times, people who may be struggling for every dollar should try to avoid getting tickets and sometimes policing people for such nonsense causes more harm than it does good.

It further perpetuates the perception that people are deliberately being kept down. When I was a young man, I was laid off from a job I had. I went to the unemployment office and had my car ticketed for my registration having just expired. The policeman got quite a scolding from all of the people coming in and out of the department.

I know I should of had my reg updated, but i had low paying job and I didnt manage my money well as a young man, trying to pay my rent, education and food. I was late on my registration.

Now, as far as things go in my personal experience, I have always received positive reactions from law enforcement when you show respect and you comply. Sometimes they let you off on simple infractions. Other times, you know they are trying to hit their quota. I have had more positive experiences then negative. So I am not trying to bash law enforcement.

I do think some (few) policemen abuse their power at times by purposefully targeting disadvantaged individuals. Not because they wan’t to hurt them economically. But I believe that policeman who gave me a ticket in the unemployment office (the first day I showed up to file) was ticked that I had a nice jeep. He probably thought I had a lot of audacity to drive a jeep and be at the unemployment office, and not realizing I was a hard working student trying to advance myself in life. Luckily I succeeded, despite all the set backs.

Whenever I feel blue, I cheer myself by watching morons getting tased.

Thanks.

If you want laws, then you must obey them or accept the consequences.

I want laws, I just don’t want BAD laws. I can give you another example. I was the DD for my GF some time ago (old girlfriend). We came to a checkpoint and guess what? I got a f-ing ticket because her Mercedes didn’t have a license plate in the front, only the back. I did, not her, me.

Do you think I am likely to offer myself as DD for anyone else? Not on your life.

BTW, my gf paid the ticket of course.

The point is, sometimes we have stupid laws and it sometimes causes people to ignore them. Going out of your way to enforce stupid laws creates unnecessary strains on relations that are already hard enough to maintain.

I was thinking of this today: Dr. King told his followers to accept arrest non-violently. She did not submit to arrest. All she had to do was give license, registration and insurance. She refused a lawful order. She was lawless. She is not the exception.

True, but maybe she felt she was being picked on, and who knows? Maybe she was? I think she was out of line, but IF she had a true grievance, she handled it in the absolute worst way.

1. I agree that Safety Belts is an unacceptable intrusion into our lives, but while it is the law, it must be obeyed or else.

2. The officer was in the wrong, he screwed around far too long, he let things get too far out of control. When I first left the Marine Corps I was a police officer for three years, I was trained by an officer that was always the gentleman and once he warned someone he would take action, after the next refusal he would have pulled her down, hand cuffed her and then returned to acting like a gentleman. But, the situatiuon would never have taken so long or allowed this woman to get so far out of control.

3. RZ is right that this woman as are many younger people today, completely disrespectful of the law, thinking they are pivileged for one reason or another and in this case she already threatened to sue. She deserved arrest, she deserves time behind bars to teach her to obey lawful orders by a police officer.

I ewspecially liked the part where she told him that his little suit didn’t mean anything and he had no right to tell her anything at all.

Well, uh, wrong. That “little suit” and the commission that accompanies it gives him the lawful authority to enforce the law.

As she discivered, much to her chagrin. Oh, and by the way, here in Louisiana if someone threatens an officer with a lawsuit in an effort to make him not do his job, it’s crime. It’s called “Public Intimidation.”

She would have been charged with it had it been me who was the arresting officer.

Sally,

I have no idea about the origins of the law but much of the law here uses some common sense (surprisingly) that you don’t find elsewhere.

Example: You can’t arrest anyone under 10 years of age. It’s called the age of culpability. That’s saying it automatically gives a child the presumption that they don’t understand the nature of committing a crime. I see articles all the time where someone somewhere arrests a six or seven year old.

Flip side of that – you will be charged as an adult here at 17, not 18 like everywhere else. Luoisina law figures that at 17 you know damn well what you’re doing and you lose the protected status of being a juvenile. No catch and release. Jail.

So….things are different down here in a variety of ways.

Chief RZ: I do not disagree with you in the slightest, however the fact remains… they do save lives.

“SEAT BELTS SAVE LIVES” One of those very rare instances when the government is actually telling the truth.

Another tunnel vision afflicted person heard from:

Tracking down and capturing a murder or preventing serious crimes does not generate money. And as a good little public servant, Barney Fife dressed in his monkey suit needs to meet his ticket quota and bring in his share of revenue. .

Those of us who tend libertarian and are pro chocie have a difficult time when some over baering zealot uses his power in an abusive manner.

I’d like to see you call that Trooper “Barney Fife” to his face. Oh, and tell him all about his “monkey suit” while you’re at it, big boy.

She didn’t get tased for not wearing a seatbelt. She got tased for non-compliance to a police officer’s lawful orders.

you weren’t wearing your seat belt, show me your papers. are there any drugs in your car? No. Mind if I search. Yes, take that Zap. lol

Come on the black lady be picked on, just cause she black. does that make her a criminal? Seat belt, It’s a stupid law I tells ya. I tell ya, they ought to be a revolt against that dang law.

It be all about the dollar, it be all wrong I tell ya. The lady she say: what the hell, and the white pig go tazzer happy. It be all wrong from the beginning I tell ya.

These cops, they be hit hard for things they do that was necessary, and they be hitting hard for something unnecessary.

It be all wrong from the begging I tell ya.

What a shame, all this because someone chose not to wear a seatbelt – to bad the cop wasn’t out protecting society and fighting real crime. To those who say seatbelt and other petty laws are about safety or “protecting the children” are wrong, it is about control and revenue generation.

Tracking down and capturing a murder or preventing serious crimes does not generate money. And as a good little public servant, Barney Fife dressed in his monkey suit needs to meet his ticket quota and bring in his share of revenue. .

Those of us who tend libertarian and are pro chocie have a difficult time when some over baering zealot uses his power in an abusive manner.

Thanks for the answer, Pil

It never would occur to me to resist even an illegal arrest in this country. This is just rhetorical so no need to answer, but how would one know?

And if the officer making the arrest thought it was proper, wouldn’t he respond in the same manner? On the other hand if it was a rouge who knew it was illegal, wouldn’t you still be better off not to appear antagonistic?

Hannitized. I believe that the seatbelt was a tack on, but that is besides the point. If you want laws, then you must obey them or accept the consequences.
I was thinking of this today: Dr. King told his followers to accept arrest non-violently. She did not submit to arrest. All she had to do was give license, registration and insurance. She refused a lawful order. She was lawless. She is not the exception.

Hannitized. Back. As a conservative and Republican, I fought to prevent this “crime” from becoming law, but the federal government put pressure on our state by threatening to withhold highway money if we didn’t make the seat belt thing a primary violation instead of a secondary one. “for the children” etc.

In any case, it is on the books and I support laws. If I am caught, I will show my IDs and pay the $25 without acting in such a disgraceful and showing what some people like this have accused others of having: an “attitude”.

Hannitized. Your replies have been thoughtful and respectful of mine. We agree on several points. I will repeat what I typed on another thread. I was stopped about five years ago for no reason. When the two officers in one car turned on their blue light, I pulled over, got out my license, registration and insurance. I asked what they wanted. First it was turning without a signal. I said I had and always signal the 100′ before I turn. Then the other one took the first aside and huddled, came back and said yes, I had signaled, but did not wait the 100′ before changing lanes. I thought and counted the lines in my head and said that I believe I had and their cameras would confirm this. They huddled again and then said, well be careful next time. Truthfully, I think this was a case of one officer instructing the other. I don’t know. It had never happened before and has not happened again. Now. If I were ?a person of color? I might think— humm what is this, driving while Black? Maybe I should have said to them — hummm, driving while white? but it did not.
This question of race that several people have opened lately is good because finally some real discussions are happening. I hope that some people change their behavior and discourage others from immediately taking the “attitude” displayed by this “person of attitude.”

Move_Zig: I just stole your taser graphic. Thanks.

Pil,

Just curious…

The law in Louisiana also states very clearly that you have the right to resist an unlawful arrest.

…How did this come about? What was the precedent?

pparets…I always bow to those older and wiser, well almost always, but you only argued half of my philosopheme; good history lesson though.

The way she’s screaming about a lawsuit, we may see John Edwards or Gloria Allred doing a press conference with her in the near future.

Nothing about this video is surprising.

Having spent the better part of a decade working with low income kids, there is definitely a “you can’t tell me what to do” attitude among many blacks and whites from what is often called the underclass. I think the attitude is much less prevelent among Hispanics, especially those born in Mexico.

I would guess that she has had that same attitude for much of her life, because it’s usually in full swing by 6th or 7th grade.

I really have to hand it to the officer for remaining professional and polite throughout the entire situation. It would have been very easy for him to let it get personal, as she obviously wanted it to.

I don’t think the average person can appreciate just how frustrating it is to have a job to do and have someone who’s attitude and refusal to cooperate gets in the way of doing that job.

KNEW you’d appreciate the video, pilgrim.

I, too, am an anti-seat-belt-law fanatic. I am also a seat-belt-wearing fanatic. I’ve buckled up backing out of a garage, even when I have to get back out to close the door. If you ride with me, you DO buckle up. Period.

But I don’t think it’s any business of the state to force me to do that. If you want to be a moron, go right ahead.

But the place to make that argument is NOT along the road when you get pulled over. Cops do NOT make laws, they enforce them. They have no authority to undo the laws.

The officer made demands upon the woman that he was not only entitled to make, but required to do so. She was obligated to obey his lawful demands and orders, and she refused. The officer had no choice but to exercise his authority and control the situation — or he shreds the authority of every other single cop when it gets around that you can just shout in the cop’s face and drive off after he pulls you over.

Once he chose to pull her over (and it really wasn’t much of a choice), he had a duty to control the situation and make absolutely certain she was brought into compliance with the law. Her continued defiance demanded his escalation of force until she was compliant with the law.

And it was funny as hell. Anyone with that kind of attitude and behavior needs to be brought down a few pegs, regardless of age or sex and race, and it brought a warm glow to my heart to see her get her comeuppance.

J.