Police arrest jogger for warning motorists about a speed trap

Lorenzo the Magnificent wrote:

http://www.ktsm.com/local/police-arrest-jogger-after-he-warns-drivers-of-speed-trap

At least according to the jogger. A bully thin-skinned cop -- no way!

What about the 1rst amendment?

1st amendment doesn't apply if you are an accessory to a crime. By helping these speeders to not get caught, you are enabling them to not realize there are consequences for their illegal actions, and the next time they speed they may run over someone. Do your share to make the world better!!!!

i'm sad to say that this happened where i live. the cops here are pretty bad when it comes to holding grudges but the guy shouldn't have been warning drivers. if people want to speed, then they should do so knowing that police could be hiding around the corner.

the real crime here is being described as a jogger - the embarrassment

Why shouldn't he warn the drivers of a speed trap? These cops sound like pricks to me. I live near Madison WI and everyday on the radio they tell motorist where the speed traps are.

stayingwithinthelines wrote:

1st amendment doesn't apply if you are an accessory to a crime. By helping these speeders to not get caught, you are enabling them to not realize there are consequences for their illegal actions, and the next time they speed they may run over someone. Do your share to make the world better!!!!

They have no way in telling if the cars speeding in the first place. So they cannot say the jogger was an accessory to a crime.

Funny because I was actually doing this in my neighborhood recently. There's this one street that is notoriously known for having cops randomly flogging multiple drivers with tickets, so after I ran past him, I stood on the corner and signaled to people for a little while. It was actually really fun, because I was getting great responses from people and it felt like we were all sticking it to the man together.

Do it if you ever have a chance.

I got pulled over by an undercover cop once a few minutes after flashing my lights to warn oncoming cars of a speed trap I had passed. It didn't seem like there was a legal justification for that as I wasn't speeding or driving in a reckless way.

Pretty much all court cases say its a violation of 1st amendment rights for being arrested for flashing your lights to warn oncoming cars of a speed trap. The jogger is just giving information, not assisting in a crime, they have no way to tell if the driver is speeding.

Protect your local runners, give the speeders a hefty fine.

Protect your local runners, give the speeders a hefty fine.

he was actually helping them NOT COMMIT A CRIME.

irony killed the cat wrote:

Pretty much all court cases say its a violation of 1st amendment rights for being arrested for flashing your lights to warn oncoming cars of a speed trap. The jogger is just giving information, not assisting in a crime, they have no way to tell if the driver is speeding.

That's only true in free countries.

Actually, he is preventing people from committing a crime.

stayingwithinthelines wrote:

1st amendment doesn't apply if you are an accessory to a crime. By helping these speeders to not get caught, you are enabling them to not realize there are consequences for their illegal actions, and the next time they speed they may run over someone. Do your share to make the world better!!!!

stayingwithinthelines wrote:

1st amendment doesn't apply if you are an accessory to a crime. !

This is a ridiculous statement. If this were true, the exception would swallow the rule. If what is alleged is-in fact--true, it is about as clear a violation of first amendment rights as we see in law.

this is a great story to bring out all the apologists for The Man in flyover states who believe in, "Guilty until proven Innocent".

Speed Traps are designed to

A. slow people down

B. Deter people from speeding

C. Make money

the real answer is C, we'd like to think its B, and we should be happy with A.

The guy was arrested because municipalities are broke and they NEED to shake down drivers (speeding or not) to pay the bills.

Heroic jogger IMO; jailed 5 hours for jaywalking; WTF? Why is jaywalking even against the law? Of course the real charge was 'interfereing with an official police revenue-raising operation.'

There was a somewhat similar case a few weeks ago in Rochester NY where a woman was arrested for filming police from her own yard, while dressed in pajamas and bare feet. A clearly cowardly cop was afraid she might harm him, and arrested her for 'obstructing government administration.' The charge was later dismissed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtJpL2ZdWVI&feature=related

Jogging should be a crime. Run or go home.

irony killed the cat wrote:

Pretty much all court cases say its a violation of 1st amendment rights for being arrested for flashing your lights to warn oncoming cars of a speed trap. The jogger is just giving information, not assisting in a crime, they have no way to tell if the driver is speeding.

Care to site the case law?