Pregnant Woman wins right to sue police that arrested her as she was in labor...

[Fryk]

Actually, I don't think the cops were right tackling her because at that point, SHE WASN'T A CRIMINAL. According to Florida law, She eluded the cops UNDER DURESS, which, in Fla. Stat. § 316.1935, IS an affirmative defense. She was bleeding, in premature labor, tried to call 911 and the call got dropped... any prudent person would do whatever they had to to protect their life and the life of their soon-to-be-born child.
In the video, one of the cops chasing her was hot on her heels, which meant he was close enough to hear her shout that she had an emergency. At that point, I can see NO CLEAR REASON for them to treat her as a criminal anymore. Because, you know, SHE WASN'T ONE.

[Greenday]

Actually, I don't think the cops were right tackling her because at that point, SHE WASN'T A CRIMINAL. According to Florida law, She eluded the cops UNDER DURESS, which, in Fla. Stat. § 316.1935, IS an affirmative defense. She was bleeding, in premature labor, tried to call 911 and the call got dropped... any prudent person would do whatever they had to to protect their life and the life of their soon-to-be-born child.
In the video, one of the cops chasing her was hot on her heels, which meant he was close enough to hear her shout that she had an emergency. At that point, I can see NO CLEAR REASON for them to treat her as a criminal anymore. Because, you know, SHE WASN'T ONE.

The law is something that can only be determined after the fact. The ONLY facts the cops had to go on was she recklessly put people's lives at risk, she was running from the police (btw I'm pretty sure you can easily kill someone driving at 40 mph for those who think drving 40 mph means you can't be running from the police). What more are the cops supposed to go on?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

No, not right then. You are being charged. That is all. You show up in court, the cop shows up in court. The judge decides if you are guilty or not.

My husband got pulled for running a stop sign. But the kicker is he didn't run it. No, it wasn't even a matter of he pulled a rolling stop. It was a four way stop in a school zone, one he drove through every single day, and made a right turn at. He came to a full stop, then turned right.

The cop claimed he didn't even slow down. How the fuck do you turn hard right without slowing down?

What it was a matter of was a bored cop wanting to fuck with a longhaired ethnic looking guy in the heart of Klan territory.

Cop didn't show up in court, BTW.

So, no. You are not neccesarily guilty when a cop stops you and accuses you of anything. You are being accused, that is all.

[Greenday]

How the fuck do you turn hard right without slowing down?

I do it all the time back home. To get onto one of the streets on the way home, you turn right off of our main street. People are going so fast you have two options: make a hard right without slowing down or slow down and get hit from behind.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, that's all well and good, but that is not what happened, believe me. He came to a full stop. No way to misinterpret this.

You have no idea of the level of Barney Fife horseshit we have to put up with over here.

[jackfaire]

How the fuck do you turn hard right without slowing down?

*coughs shuffling his feet looking at the ground* You uhm well you slam your mom's pretty sports car into a Yukon and uhm *coughs* beg the emergency crew not to call your mom cuz oh man she is going to kill you.

[Nyoibo]

Not in this country, which is where all this happened. You are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

It doesn't matter what conclusion the cops jumped to.

Ok, I'll give you that, poor wording on my part, but you can still be arrested, which she was, a man that shoots someone in full view of police and is arrested is also innocent until proven guilty too, but the police arrest him because they saw him commit the crime and "jumped" to the conclusion he was guilty.

[Fryk]

Nope. She wasn't arrested. She was PULLED OVER. Huge difference. And yes, the fact that she was under duress could be decided by the judge. Or, you know, also by the cop at the scene when the evidence was staring him right in his face.

[Greenday]

It doesn't sound like she stopped for them long enough for them to actually see what she was talking about. I wouldn't call that staring them in their face.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Well, the panel that found in her favor the right to sue them thought otherwise. That panel decided that "any reasonable person" would have realized that they had the high likelihood of there being an emergency situation on their hands. The judge called the cops behavior "reprehensible." And you know they had more info than we do here.

I'm thinking that even if it wasn't all that immediately obvious, you're in Jacksonville, you are white, the lady is black, and there JUST MIGHT be a situation that could jepordize your job. Why not at least try to find out some more info before you end up with egg all over your face and a potential lawsuit in your lap? I'd want to make damn sure I knew what I was doing before I caused a civil rights incident.

I mean, that is just how the world works, and I would think a cop, of all people ought to know that.

[Nyoibo]

Well, the panel that found in her favor the right to sue them thought otherwise. That panel decided that "any reasonable person" would have realized that they had the high likelihood of there being an emergency situation on their hands. The judge called the cops behavior "reprehensible." And you know they had more info than we do here.

I think that probably referred to the actions of the cops after they had her in custody, that they removed her from hospital and seemingly refused to verify her claims, hence why she can sue them for that and not excessive force.

[Greenday]

The courts found no wrongdoing prior to her being taken out of the hospital. Chasing her car was within the law. Tackling her and immediately restraining her was within the law. The only thing that wasn't lawful was continuing to restrain her.

[Fryk]

It doesn't sound like she stopped for them long enough for them to actually see what she was talking about. I wouldn't call that staring them in their face.

That only works if they walked up to her car, and she already had her info out for them to take, they took it from her wordlessly and walked back to their car immediately. Anytime I've been pulled over, it hasn't worked that way. They always walk up to you and check you and the inside of your car out, and speak with you for a minute, at least to inform you of the reason they pulled you over. At that point, I think it is reasonable to assume that she informed them of the reason why she was driving the way she was. At THAT opint, if it was me, I would probably give her a second glance and try to determine the veracity of her claims. Yeah, she could have been lying about bleeding and her medical emergency, but I would have preferred to err on the side of caution .
And the way I read the article, the judge determined that they should not have gone in after her in the E.R. at all, but that in doing so, they didn't use more force than they would have if the arrest had been lawful. But that would still mean that the arrest was unlawful.

[blas87]

I think it bears mentioning that a pregnant woman in labor is going to have more tell-tale signs than just her large belly.

If she was driving herself, she probably was sweating buckets, I'm sure her face was probably very discolored, and I'm sure as hell she was in a hell of a lot of pain from contractions.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Exactly, Blas. Also, yeah...every time I've been stopped they shine their little lights all around through the windows of my van looking for that eight bales of ganja they just know I am transporting. They look at me, they look at my passengers, they walk around my vehicle looking at everthing.

They didn't see that there was at least SOMETHING alarming going on? If they are that thick, maybe they shouldn't be cops.