Lawsuit of the Day: God Bless the Yankees, And Nobody Else
As we mentioned this morning, just because the Yankees are opening a billion dollar ballpark today doesn’t mean that people can’t bitch about the Yankees. A 30-year-old Red Sox fan from Queens is suing because he was kicked out of old Yankee Stadium for his failure to observe the sabbath seventh. The New York Post reports:
In a suit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union, Bradford Campeau-Laurion is challenging the Bombers’ “policy” of forcing fans to stand still during the seventh-inning singing of “God Bless America.”Campeau-Laurion claims he was the victim of “political and religious discrimination” when he was booted from the Stadium for trying to take a bathroom break as the patriotic piece began last year.
He’s a Red Sox fan (Boston) and he lives in Queens (Mets), but he was in the Bronx (Hell)? Maybe that explains the NYPD’s conflicting report:
In a statement, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne disputed Campeau-Laurion’s version of events, saying the officers “observed a male cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior.”
Of course, Mr. America Hater disagrees. More details after the jump.
It’s not uncommon to be drunk, disorderly, and in desperate need of a bathroom at a baseball game. But Campeau-Laurion claims he wasn’t acting like the vast majority of Yankee fans:
The 30-year-old Web designer said he drank two Bud Lites and munched some peanuts before nature called at the Yanks’ Aug. 26 game against his beloved Bosox.
If he wasn’t (unusually) drunk, the cops may have overreacted:
As he headed toward a tunnel to the concourse, a uniformed NYPD officer blocked his path, “indicating that he could not leave during ‘God Bless America,’ ” his Manhattan federal suit says.Campeau-Laurion told the cop he didn’t care about the song and tried to get past, but was quickly grabbed by the officer and a colleague stationed nearby.
The cops then allegedly twisted his arms back and frog-marched him to the exit.
But what makes this more interesting than your run of the mill, “I’d pray to Allah if he could make them stop playing that damn song during my baseball game” problem is the state action issue. The Yankees (and many other major professional sports teams) pay the NYPD and the officers individually to act as security for the stadium. The officers dress up in their NYPD blues, but they are technically off duty while they are employed by the Yankees.
Of course, the New York Civil Liberties Union couldn’t care less about this technical distinction. New York 1 reports:
The [NYCLU] claims NYPD officers are enforcing a policy that’s unconstitutional because it forces people into a patriotic and religious act.The NYCLU is suing the NYPD, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and the Yankees on behalf of Campeau-Laurion.
“They’re enforcing Yankee policy but they’re doing it as New York City police officers paid by a private entity. Even though the Yankees are paying for it, they are there as police officers,” said Donna Lieberman, NYCLU.
That argument makes sense to me, but I don’t have a dog in this fight. In a battle between the Yankees and the NYPD against an annoying Red Sox fan living south of the accepted “neutral zone” of Connecticut, I root for whatever causes the most pain to everybody.
Fan’s Bathroom Trip At Yankee Stadium Leads To Lawsuit [NY1]
7TH-INNING ‘KVETCH’ [NY Post]
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Comments
first
second
Locke Lord has a box at the Astro's. Suck on that prestige.
35000 sq ft wife and a Lexis
@3 - Please shut up. Locke Lord's offices in Houston stink like rotting garbage.
Red Sox fans hate America. I am not surprised.
- NOT a Yankee fan
Typical d-bag Red Sox fans....
Screw him, screw Boston.
@3- You have a 35000 sq ft wife?
I thought Elie WAS a Yankee fan. This fan is a dousher. Is he looking for damages? The cops (suprise surprise) obviously overreacted here no matter what happened. But, why sue over this? Crap like this is what gives the NYCLU a bad name unfortunately.
LETS GO YAN-KEES! # 27 BABY
I thought Elie WAS a Yankee fan. This fan is a dousher. Is he looking for damages? The cops (suprise surprise) obviously overreacted here no matter what happened. But, why sue over this? Crap like this is what gives the NYCLU a bad name unfortunately.
LETS GO YAN-KEES! # 27 BABY
Fuck you Boston.
Popes & Gay
Has the NYCLU ever taken up the cause of men who have had to pay the bowling alley across the street to check their bags thanks to the team's sexist and indefensible policy about who can bring what into the stadium? Maybe some firm lacking for business can institute a class action.
this is newsworthy?
@8 - Yes, including a large back porch.
10-
$$$
The cops should have taken this jackass out back and beat the hell out of him.
This fan is looking for what every Boston fan is looking for, a big tossed salad.
Yankees suck!!
3 - A "Lexis" is half the name of a legal research computer system
A "Lexus" is a brand of luxury automobiles
We all have Lexis, and I have a Lexus.
I thought Elie WAS a Yankee fan. This fan is a dousher. Is he looking for damages? The cops (suprise surprise) obviously overreacted here no matter what happened. But, why sue over this? Crap like this is what gives the NYCLU a bad name unfortunately.
LETS GO YAN-KEES! # 27 BABY
I still have an offer from Nixon Peabody. Am I a winner?
@19, you also forgot to mention that you have the Texas Big AIDS as well. Douche.
I'm glad their suing. The seventh inning stretch is for take me out to the ballgame, not god bless america. We already start with the anthem--do we really need a second patriotic song for the game?
The Yankees Suck. A-Rod sucks a fat one. Jeter sucks. Joba sucks. The new stadium fucking sucks. The city and state of New York both suck. The Yankees are going to fucking blow this year and not make the playoffs. Mark my words.
Go Rays!!!!
The cops who grabbed this guy should be punished--for not dragging him outside, beating him to death and dropping his body in the Harlem River. Somebody or entity should do the same thing to everyone who works for the NYCLU as well.
The Red Sox Hate America, that seems about right. Kevin Youklis is related to Timothy McVey also.
I went to Washington and Lee University.
@26
Indeed. That's okay because the rest of America hates the Red Sux too.
- 5
The Reverend Wright opens up every Red Sox game with a nice prayer damning America.
Go SAUX
1-28=racists.
9/10 - Elie is a Mets fan.
Go Cubbies! Best stadium, best looking women in the bleachers, nothing at the concession stand over $6, and come October a World Series Trophy (or not)...beat that!
-Cub fan living in the Bronx
The NCLU gives its self a bad name you jacksass.
P.S. Yankees suck.
Not a Redsox Fan.
Go NATs (ha ha ha).
33=racist
@29 - lol
First their sexist bag policy, now this?
26: Talk shit about Youk again and youre going to get your ass kicked.
Also, learn how to spell, ya douche.
DOH!!
-33
Skadden = Yankees
Kirkland = Cubs minor league team
N. Wacker Stud
31- unfortunately the Cubs also make you stand for God Bless America on Sundays and Holidays, pre-game.
@36 = Racist America Hater who can spell Yooklis
Dustin Pederast is a fag.
"The 30-year-old Web designer said he drank two Bud Lites and munched some peanuts before nature called at the Yanks' Aug. 26 game against his beloved Bosox."
So he's a lightweight? Sounds like your typical Boston fan.
"but they are technically off duty and while they are employed by the Yankees. "
I can always count on Elie to make at least one mistake per post. Now if I could only bill my proofing.
- Blackline
12 - Coming straight from work for the game against the Cubs on the 3rd, I had a bag with me. Guy at the gate told me brief cases weren't allowed even though it was smaller than bags that women were permitted to carry into the stadium.
Youkilis looks like one of those monsters from the movie 300 that comes out of a cage flailing its arms with a chain around its neck. Anyone who likes the BosTTTon Red Sox is a douche bag.
Go Rays!!!
What a shitload of fuck. God Bless America, even though I'm agnostic. In God We Trust.
Liberal fucking pussies taking over this country...
Pearl Harbor was Dice K's fault.
Thanks Boston.
39- Yes, but it is only on select days, and I can deal with it before the game. Give me 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame' for the 7th inning stretch. Old Style in hand.
Serious question - did the Yanks always play God Bless America during the stretch or was that something that they started post 9/11?
@48 - Always.
Take me out to the ball game is fucking gay.
The comments on this board seem to be more of the "I never went to law school" variety you typically see on the message board for a local newspaper. Who cares if this guy isn't patriotic? If he was tossed by a state actor because he wanted to go to the bathroom, then the lawsuit obviously has merit.
Sux fans are the worst. Second only to the Sux themselves.
49 hates America.
44 -
Thanks for the tip! I've got tickets to the Cubs-St. Louis game tomorrow, so I now know to leave my briefcase at the office when I leave to catch the Red Line to Addison.
Red Sox > Yankees. Faaahkin' Nomaaaaah!!!!
The Red Sox and KEVIN PUKELISS kill puppies.
Red Sox love dead gay turduckens.
49 - Fail. God Bless America played daily at the stadium started after 9/11. And I bet Kate Smith is hot.
I completely agree with 23 on this one. This new trend of God Bless America is lame.
What is a "dead gay turducken?"
YAWN. BASEBALL IS SOOO BORING. OVERPAID ATHLETES. YAWN.
50,
You expected more out of these people?
The state has no business instructing anyone in the proper deference to show during a song. I hope he takes them to the cleaners. Of course, since he's up against God Bless America AND a pair of cops, the court will probably give find a way to give him the death penalty.
Worst. Comments. Ever. Bad grammar, bad spelling, jingoism, proto-fascism, bad humor, homophobia, you name it. I've seen all of that before on ATL, but never in such quantity. Bravo to all.
@58 = Al Qaeda
I can't remember the last time the yankees won anything...too long ago
Hey 62, what golden nuggets of wisdom have you added to this clusterf*ck? (other than saying how everyone else sucks)
I am not gay, I am Bostonian.
You don't see Head of State references everyday...ATL, you have outdone yourself.
53- I think think 44 was talking about Yankee stadium. Wrigley is pretty lax.
First this was covered by the WSJ Law Blog. THEN this was covered by Prawsblawg.
This is third generation "news."
66 - same thing.
An asslobster says what?
Jets suck. Yankees suck. Knicks suck. Krypton sucks.
@71 what?
44 - They once refused to let me in with a bag that has been repeatedly described as a "man purse" and which would have fit comfortably in the pocket of the hefty bag the woman in front of me was carrying. They even refused my permission to search it for contraband.
Let me sum it up for you noobs that suck at keeping up with ATL memes:
I detrimentally relied on ass lobster while the dow was down with guys from high school thinking about my monogrammed coat hanger in my Lexis.
@73 is an asslobster
hahahahaahahahah
"In a statement, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne disputed Campeau-Laurion's version of events, saying the officers 'observed a male cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol.'"
Wait, that will get you ejected from a game? I thought it was a requirement for attendance...
72, does your wife sting like when you pee? lol
Perhaps he was found in possession of a bag in contravention of the stadium's sexist and illegal policy or permitting only women the privilege of carrying one.
Fuck the yankees!
Dog gone it, why I say this is not news. Everyone on this side of the Rio Grandee knows that every person on the East Coast hates America. When the roughest toughest Texas decides to secede from the Union, y'all will be jealous.
Is it true that Kevin Youkilis is a Jew? If so, I bet Nick Swisher could strike him out.
- Big Moish.
Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck. A-Roid. Jeter Blows. Yankees Suck.
i'm with 16 & 46!
I don't know how the Yankees do it, but in SF, the Giants pay SFPD to provide special on-duty police officers. I'd like to know if Ellie actually has information here, or if he just asserted that the officers are paid individually and are off-duty. I'm guessing it's the latter.
#12 - Right on!!
Yankees fans = Religious and nationalist sheep. Baaa, Baaa.
Red Sox fans are patriotic because they want to be, not becaused they are forced to act that way. They are not so insecure as to feel the need to shove it in everyone's face or force others ot conform.
I'm sure the Taliban is proud to have the Yankees enforce their way of thinking about religious and patriotic conformity (though without the hand-chopping).