Police Arrest Man For Refusing To Tweet 550
RichZellich writes "Police arrested a senior vice president from Island Def Jam Records, saying he hindered their crowd-control efforts by not cooperating. The crowd at a mall where Justin Bieber was appearing got out of control, and police wanted the man to send a tweet asking for calm; he refused and they arrested him on a felony assault charge 'for putting people in danger.'"
Re:Now this is just Stupidity at its finest (Score:1, Interesting)
Riot control in 140 characters or less. (Score:2, Interesting)
My god, it's full of idiots... (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm pretty sure that he was tweeting to the crowd at the time he was asked to do this, and I'm pretty sure the crowd was reading those tweets, cause they reacted to a tweet about him being arrested. If an exec who helped disorganize (I can't say organize cause it wasn't) this event refuses to help disarm the situation then he should be arrested and charged. Idiots who don't bother to asses the whole situation and knee jerk that he was falsely arrested need to step back and smell the unruly crowd and if you haven't been in one of these you have no idea how dangerous it can become really quickly. Any steps to help keep them calm would help immensely even if it only reached 1 in 25 of them it would still have a calming effect.
Re:How would that work (Score:4, Interesting)
You're obligated to comply with a lawful order from a police officer. Failing to do so is unlawful. So if the cop says,"tell them to leave [because you've created a dangerous situation by being here]" you'd better comply, or you'll get sent down. Just because they told him to do it with twitter makes no difference.
Re:old ways are still the best. (Score:3, Interesting)
People respect individuals far more than the police. After all, we all know the police force is out to get you and is only there for nefarious reasons (like taking away your drugs or your fun). Why should we listen to the police?
Seriously, I don't think this generation cares about the police. We have decided that we'd rather rebel and follow some rich guy (put anyone's name in there, even a celebrity) than submit to an authority.
It's an "against the establishment" thing... doesn't particularly matter what "the establishment" is, actually.
Re:Posters here are like the teens in the vid (Score:5, Interesting)
I Agree.
I once helped organize a peaceful public march on public sidewalks that ended in a public park with a community picnic. I had to obtain indemnity forms from all participants for my own protection (in case someone slipped and twisted an ankle), but more imnportantly, also obtain insurance to compensate the city if there was any damage: $250,000 worth, given the size of the crowd. (It was actually cheap, about $200).
I was also expected to ensure that people acted in an ORDERLY manner, and would have been required to pay for police presence if the crowd was expected to be large.
The point here was that the event was badly organized and the organizers charged regardless of whether they cooperated with "tweeting" or not. They just made a bad situation worse by not cooperating.
Re:Ahh Slashdot (Score:3, Interesting)
by means of any independently unlawful act
Doesn't apply.
Wrong. Failure to comply with a lawful order of a police officer is, by definition, "independently unlawful", within the great context.
Re:How would that work (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Ahh Slashdot (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes.
But when police make a mistake, as in the Professor Gates case, then they should have to serve equal time. If Gates spent a night in jail and was found "not guilty" and released, then the arresting officers should ALSO have to spend a night in jail.
Perhaps it will teach them to be more understanding of the citizens' viewpoint (jail is not fun; neither is being away from home for a night), and they'll be less inclined to pull that "You're under arrest" trigger for trivial stuff. i.e. They would have left Gates rant and not arrested him.
Re:Sounds like an open-and-shut false-arrest case. (Score:3, Interesting)
Last I checked: You have a right to remain silent.
Re:Sounds like an open-and-shut false-arrest case. (Score:3, Interesting)
Second, it frightens me that people like you, people unable to see that I was drawing a parallel between his statemen and mine to show how his point of view was wrong by reductio ad absurdum, can vote in any country whatsoever.
The fact that you thought I actually meant literally what I said boggles the mind.