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In Lakeway, TX (a suburb of Austin) a man was arrested and held for wearing a T-shirt reading "Speed Trap Ahead." (Lakeway has a well-deserved reputation for being a speed trap - I've literally seen police on foot hiding behind trees in the median with radar guns, and several chase cars on the next side street ready to stop speeders.)

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He was charged with violating the Lakeway sign ordinance and "engaging in construction operations that produced noise disturbances" . . . a charge which even baffled the prosecutor.

In court, the arresting officer testified "he was simply following orders" from a senior officer, who'd told him a local judge had issued a standing order to have the guy arrested.

The presiding judge "jumped 3 inches out of his chair" when he heard that, and ultimately found the man not guilty on all counts. (He basically said that if Leslie, the City of Austin's unofficial bearded transvestite mascot can parade around in skimpy women's clothing and not get arrested, Lakeway can't arrest this guy for his T-shirt.)

Not quite the end of the story . . .

After being acquitted, the arrestee filed suit against the city. A "confidential settlement" was arrived at, and the currently-unemployed arrestee says he doesn't have to worry about working for 4 or 5 months.

A pity the settlement didn't come out of the arresting officer's paycheck . . .

HankB wrote:A pity the settlement didn't come out of the arresting officer's paycheck . . .

A pity they didn't ship him off to Nuremburg to try his "defense" there.

doesn't have to worry about working for 4 or 5 months.

Wonder how much that freedom of speech cost/earned him in the bottom line.

A pity they didn't ship him off to Nuremburg to try his "defense" there.

Everytime I hear someone say "Just doing my job... or Just doing what I was told/taught," I respond with "So were the Nazi's at Nuremburg." (This is assuming they are enforcing sometime unconstitutional like the OP's story"

They usually look at me funny and have no clue where Nuremburg is or what the Nuremburg Trails are. I tell them to google it. Maybe it will enlighten them, but I doubt it.

There must be some pretty large budget shortfalls for the Austin area PDs.... They are like locusts out on 35 with all the speed traps. I drove to Belton just the other day and passed no less than 8 squad cars and 4 motorcycles between 183 and Pflugerville. I got popped last night in Round Rock, first time my "Laser Alert" alarm went off. It doesn't do you much good.

Ronald Reagan BLVD./W. Parmer Ln., avoids 35/183 for a while. ...If it's not out of the way. I take it sometimes, just cause I like that route

While I am highly un-fond of speed traps and their ilk, I would like to point out that obeying the posted speed limits has worked better for me than ANY radar doo-dad ever could.

If you really, really need to blast down the road at 70mph from the north/south end of Austin to the other side, the 130 tollway is MUCH cheaper than a ticket (and FAR less crowded, so you don't run the risk of accidents when things get really congested in the downtown area)

I understand you guys are upset for the officer making an arrest after being told to do so but.... REALLY? A comparisson to being a nazi? Look guys I've worked in Law Enforcement and I'm currently taking classes to get my TCLEOSE license up to date in order to possibly get back into it again (I got laid off recently). The nazis sent people to their deaths in gas chambers and invaded other countries killing their inhabitants. This officer followed an order and believe me with NOBODY hiring cops right now saying you won't follow an order could result in you getting the ax.

I wouldn't go so far as to say this was the Gestapo, but it was without a doubt an attempt to intimidate - not to serve and to protect - if not on the individual officer's part, then certainly on the part of whomever issued the orders.

gregthehand wrote:I understand you guys are upset for the officer making an arrest after being told to do so but.... REALLY? A comparisson to being a nazi? Look guys I've worked in Law Enforcement and I'm currently taking classes to get my TCLEOSE license up to date in order to possibly get back into it again (I got laid off recently). The nazis sent people to their deaths in gas chambers and invaded other countries killing their inhabitants.

Right you are, issuing a ticket, incarcerating a guy for 13 hours, and forcing him to hire an attorney to defend against phony trumped-up charges is NOT the same as putting people in gas chambers.

It's more like what Robert Mugabe, Hugo Chavez, and any of a number of other tinhorn dictators did to get started, not the overt genocide of the nazis.

gregthehand wrote:This officer followed an order and believe me with NOBODY hiring cops right now saying you won't follow an order could result in you getting the ax.

Please ask yourself this: if you do get into law enforcement, do you have enough integrity so that your oath to uphold the law and the Constitution will outweigh your inclination to obey an order that makes you violate that oath? If the answer is "yes" you'll make a fine cop. (If the answer is "no" . . . please seek another line of work.)

gregthehand wrote:I understand you guys are upset for the officer making an arrest after being told to do so but.... REALLY? A comparisson to being a nazi? Look guys I've worked in Law Enforcement and I'm currently taking classes to get my TCLEOSE license up to date in order to possibly get back into it again (I got laid off recently). The nazis sent people to their deaths in gas chambers and invaded other countries killing their inhabitants. This officer followed an order and believe me with NOBODY hiring cops right now saying you won't follow an order could result in you getting the ax.

They didn't start with the gas chambers though...

At least the officer wasn't wearing a "para-military" black hood when making the arrest :)

Where are the conspiracy charges to violate the man's civil rights? Let's see: 1) A judge said arrest him. 2) A senior officer ordered a subordinate to arrest him. 3) The officer followed the illegal order and arrested him.

That makes three (3) members of the judicial branch of the government conspiring to arrest this man for exercising his rights guaranteed by the 1st Amendment.

If a judge did, in fact, order the arrest of this person, if the officer refused to carry out that order could he be charged with contempt of court? He may have, in fact, realized it was a bogus arrest but when a judge issues the order, he must assume it is a legal and valid order.

Seems to me we should be scorning the judge, not the officer who was following a judicial order.