Road rage may get the best of us sometimes, but is it illegal to express this kind of anger to others?For David Hackbart, he found out the hard way that one police officer considered his rude gesture to be enough to cite him for disorderly conduct.A recent Time magazine article reports about Hackbart’s case in which he got into a slight altercation with another driver while parking his car and ended up shooting his middle finger.
Hackbart reports that he then heard someone else yell out that he should not make that rude gesture.Hackbart said, “So I was like, How dare that person tell me?They obviously didn’t see what happened.Who are they to tell me what to say?So I flipped that person off.And then I looked and it was a city of Pittsburgh cop in his car right next to me”.(Insert a big “Woops”.)
Hackbart was then given the citation from police sergeant Brian Elledge for disorderly conduct.But, when one examines the law it appears that Hackbart may have been well within his legal rights regarding freedom of expression.
According to American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) legal director Witold Walczak, “The law is clear that people have the constitutional right to use profanity, especially when it comes to government officials, because that is a form of political speech.But despite that, we have police officers regularly misapplying the law to punish people who offend them ? that’s really what it comes down to.”
Being cited for disorderly conduct under these false pretenses is nothing new.Back in 2007 one woman was cited after she was overheard by a neighbor yelling obscenities inside her home when one of her toilets was overflowing.The neighbor was an undercover police officer.After going to court the woman was acquitted on all charges and given a $19,000 settlement from the city.Walczak believes the state police need to revise their training manuals and guidelines so as to make it clear to officers what type of behavior is legal.
Do you think Hackbart should have been cited for disorderly conduct after flipping off a police officer?
Should it be legal for police officers to hand out citations to people who use bad language or hand gestures in public?
NO its not ok to shoot the bird in public. Its disrespectful and tacky. Its just not right, what if other people have their small children around while you are doing that. Deal with a bad situation in a classier way in public.
UCILikeFrogs::
on Oct 07, 2009
I think he was in his rights to do what he did.
maggie_elizabeth::
on Oct 13, 2009
monetz says: September 23, 2009 03:55 PM
If those who make the laws had to follow them or else pay the penalty, then there would not be anyone around to enforce the laws! The government has been flipping the bird to the tax payers of this country for years but they use the excuse that they are doing it for the common good. Thus I see nothing wrong in flipping the bird right back at them.
YOU GO GIRL!! I TOTALLY AGREE!!!!
brandy09::
on Oct 15, 2009
The "middle finger".......here we go! It is our right to flip the bird, you are not saying anything right? I mean give me a break, if I have Tourrette's Syndrome should I stay in my house? People are too busy in their own lives to worry about which finger we are holding up......at least they should be!
AimeeAken::
on Nov 19, 2009
I think people have freedom of choice to do what they want in life..
They should at least have common sense and be decent enough to make sure they are not doing anything stupid in front of children, but other than that you are free to be.
Aspiringauthor09::
on Jul 14, 2010
That's ridiculous! Flipping someone off is just a form of freedom of expression just like this blog is right now. I think that "some people" are trying to make this world a better place, not by becoming a better person or changing themselves, but instead by controlling people's lives in order to make them "fit the great-neighbor-clean-town-happy-family mold that they've set up. Nevertheless, they have no right to control other people. What they did to that man is illegal, and they better not do it to me or I'll do a like more than give them the middle finger; I'll sue!!!
