Firstymeister

Don't worry 1, I'll soon be in that spot.

Firstymeister

Kash makes a lot more than $65 per hour.

Moderators,

3 offends me, please remove.

-1

3 - do you really think saying faggot on this board will get your comment removed? I'm going to try to find out!

Over 9000th

Is the stopped motorist liable to Tuma under the applicable DC Good Samaritan statute? If you drive a car in DC, it's predictable that the police will overreact, which will predictably cause passersby to criticize the police overreaction, which will predictably lead to said passersby being arrested and called "faggot."

If you disagree with that analysis, you're clearly a racist.

He's pretty hot.

well played 7, well played.

The gay law community is so fucking GAY!!!

"We don't know all the facts here ..." but here is what I think.

Lat. You are a dummy.

Taunting the police is just plain stupid. The arrest may be iffy, but Tuma is an ass.

"we frequented some of the same watering holes."

So that's what the (gay) kids are calling it these days.

Lat,

Why didn't you call it FagGate, a much better play on words?

Oh God, Lat's on his homo pedestal again. Cue 37 follow-up posts on this completely non-newsworthy issue.

13:

We have a right to free speech, including saying "I hate the police" on public streets. The police conduct in this case is outrageous and utterly intolerable.

The officer may have overreacted, but Tuma acted like a TOOL!

straight from the underground

I HATE THE PIGS.

Who cares if he acted like a tool. What he did was perfectly legal.

These tinkerbells derseve just what they got. Cops aren't paid to take abuse from the lowest of the low-lifers walking the streets. The cop should have busted his jaw with a nightstick.

17 - that's right. And that goes for saying faggot in the street too, right?

Way to go Pepin!

22,

Cops are paid to protect and serve. Those of us with jobs pay their wages. They work for US.

figures this Tuma douchebag went to UVA for his law degree...who really thinks they can walk on the street next to the police shouting i hate the police? for whatever reason, every single person that I've met who is from UVA law is an incredible douche

Silly sailors sailing southward!!!

So it's ok for a member of the gay community to hate a group (e.g. police), but not acceptable for anyone to hate the group of people who are the gay community?

That's why I hate gays.

Can we assume that Tuma was force out of Milbank? He's obviously a complete douche bag, notwithstanding Lat's desire to "stick a straw up his nose" to Tuma's mugshot.

What does his being gay have to do with his arrest?

I have no remorse for this idiot. He obviously doesn't believe that minorities deserve equal protection under the law. What a hypocrite. To deny that Gates was treated unfairly then turn around and use Gates' same defense? This is reminiscent of Ricci, who attacked Equal Employment laws when they favored minorities, but used those same laws when they benefitted him (disability claim in initial hiring). Do these people not view minorities as equals? I'm on the cops side on this one. Tuma is an IDIOT and is totally in the wrong on this one.

I have no remorse for this idiot. He obviously doesn't believe that minorities deserve equal protection under the law. What a hypocrite. To deny that Gates was treated unfairly then turn around and use Gates' same defense? This is reminiscent of Ricci, who attacked Equal Employment laws when they favored minorities, but used those same laws when they benefitted him (disability claim in initial hiring). Do these people not view minorities as equals? I'm on the cops side on this one. Tuma is an IDIOT and is totally in the wrong on this one.

homo's got no one to blame but himself. not like it's hard to mind your fuckin business and not act like an asshole. i've lived in dc for years. you don't fuck with the cops. especially at night when they are already lookin for drunks to arrest and fights to break up. can't live by that simple rule? got to act like an ass? you gonna get what you deserve. frankly, he's lucky it wasn't in a worse part of town with less witnesses.

That Platzer dude has some seriously impressive credentials. I didn't realize Stanford recognized Order of the Coif.

Police are ASSHOLES. Sorry, that's just the truth.

I once got a ticket for jaywalking, the cop treated me like I had robbed a bank at gunpoint.

This is now the BiGaLa/NAACP/NOW blog. I give up. Can some white guy start a legal blog aimed at white guys?

partners at quinn frequent some of the same watering holes all the time. it is no big deal.

quinn stud

Wait, I dislike cops and nellies equally...I'm conflicted, or maybe I just don't care...

Yes, I don't care about this story. Whew, glad I got that straightened out.

PE is a cock-watcher. Always has been, always will be. Not even got the nerve to ask for a fondle, a little dick slap, just a watcher.

30 - Because the officer called him a "f****t." It's as if the officer dropped the N-bomb on Gates.

Mess with the bull, you get the horns....

LOL at the image of a guy name “Pepin” prancing through the street singing “I hate police” I cant think of a more unsympathetic character.

Did Tuma also happen to have a little bit of gold and a pager?

homo's got no one to blame but himself. not like it's hard to mind your fuckin business and not act like an asshole. i've lived in dc for years. you don't fuck with the cops. especially at night when they are already lookin for drunks to arrest and fights to break up. can't live by that simple rule? got to act like an ass? you gonna get what you deserve. frankly, he's lucky it wasn't in a worse part of town with less witnesses.

This reminds me of the time I took a huge crap on top of a pidgeon's head. I LOVE THE IRONY!

29 - I think Lat prefers to be the nose over the straw.

Five complaints against this officer? That seems high. How long has he been a cop?

Tuma -- what a jerk.

31,

even if Tuma is an idiot how does the cop have any right to arrest him? I think this arrest is more inapprorpiate than Gates' because at least w/ Gates the officer had a reason to be at the house and investigate a potential break in. Gates did not comply with police questioning and became disorderly in the process.

Here, you have some dude walking down the street yelling at cops. Its not a civil thing to do, but it certainly isnt illegal and the cop should have the ability to block out some drunken idiot instead of overreacting like a roid-head.

Tuma like ass, are Tuma be ass?

I dunno, I foreign.

Devil's advocate here: Wouldn't public chanting/singing, if loud and/or repeated, constitute disorderly conduct, regardless of the substance of what was being sung/chanted?

As the article noted, "He told the Huffington Post that in a loud sing-song voice, he then chanted, 'I hate the police, I hate the police.'"

Not the smartest thing to say to a cop, but by his own admission, he publicly chanted in a loud sing-songy voice. How is that *not* disorderly conduct?

#17, #21 - you are wrong...

DC's disorderly conduct statute bars citizens from breaching the peace by doing anything "in such a manner as to annoy, disturb, interfere with, obstruct, or be offensive to others" or by shouting or making noise "either outside or inside a building during the nighttime to the annoyance or disturbance of any considerable number of persons."

Ok, so arguably, this law is over-broad. However, the fact of the matter is that this Tuma guy clearly broke it.

IT'S NOT A TUMA!!!

Lat = President Obama acting "stupidly"

His only problem is that his name rhymes with Peeping Tom. Does Pepin Tuma mean peeping tom in whatever country this guy is from?

I think the police officer was in his rights to call the guy a f-got after the guy said "I hate the police." In civilized societies, that's where the dispute should end. The police officer went way over the line by arresting the guy on a bullshiit charge of "disorderly conduct."

Same in Gates' case, when Gates starting yelling at the cop, the cop would have been within his rights to call Gates a "douchebag" or some other race-neutral, derogatory term. And leave. In a civlized society, that's where a dispute should end. He crossed the line when he arrested the guy on the bullshit charge of "disorderly conduct."

If the police can't understand this, they've been listening to Rush Limbaugh too much while eating donuts in their squad cars.

I HOPE ALL FAGS DIE OF AIDS AND I HOPE ALL POLICE OFFICERS GET SHOT IN THE FUCKING HEAD.

-The Extreme WASP.

Classic bad lawyering -- conflating what you have a legal right to do with what is not stupid to do. What do you think a DC cop is going to do when you yell at him during a traffic stop? This kind of thinking is rampant among lawyers.

51 -- LOL
In fact, LOL at almost all of you commenters.

Well played, 52, well played.

39 - I thought he was already being/been arrested before the officer called him any names.

It sounds to me like this former Milbank associate has nothing better to do with his time.

I certainly hope there will be many, many more posts about this! Especially now that the NYU professor incident is winding down! This site should definitely turn into Lat's sounding board about every slight that ever occurs to/within/about the gay community!

Also, this guy is not really the guy you want to be defending... gay or straight, he sounds like a total ass.

The statute clearly gives cops wide discretion in determining what is "disorderly conduct." This idiot clearly was asking for it.

33,

This is America. No citizen "deserves" having his/her Constitutional rights violated. If you don't like the Constitution, then leave.

This guy is an idiot. He was trying to provoke the police and did exactly that. Also, I find it amusing that, in light of the whole Gates fiasco, you STILL assume this whiny ex-biglaw douche was without doubt in the right and the cop was a "washed up high school athlete." Maybe Pepin (get a real name) is a washed out epic failure of a liberal arts major who couldn't hack it in biglaw? Who knows.

DON'T MOUTH OFF TO COPS.

31, read these paragraphs again:

"A lawyer who moments earlier had been complaining to friends about police overreaction in the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., got a taste of the Gates treatment himself after loudly chanting "I hate the police" near a traffic stop in Northwest Washington, D.C.

Pepin Tuma, 33, was walking with two friends along Washington's hip U Street corridor around midnight Saturday, complaining about how Gates had been rousted from his home for not showing a proper amount of deference to a cop...."

He was on Gates' side of the argument; hence the anger at the cops and the chanting. Whether he believes that the Gates arrest was proper or not, however, should not factor into one's analysis of this arrest.

"Oh, he disagrees with my political views, the police must have been right in arresting him!"

Actually, he agrees with you.

"Oh, those damn police over-reacting all the time!"

Agreed. The cop is way out of line but this situation could have been avoided if Tuma could control his douchiness.

57 there is a VERY big difference between walking down the street and being pulled over by the police. It sounds like bad lawyering to consider the two as equals.

57,

"Classic bad lawyering"? You just made that up.

Normal conduct from the crooked fascists at DCMPD. The disorderly conduct charge just means you pissed a cop off. Either pay immediate $50 fine or spend hours in jail and loose a day of work to appear in court. Meanwhile, the same lazy MFers have a 45% case close rate.

Hundreds of these jokers couldn't find Chandra Levy's body in Rock Creek Park, yet a year later a sole hiker and his dog found the body.

Long time residents of DC will remember the scandal of "Fairy Shakedown." DCMPD used to trail gay men leaving Dupont Circle if their car had a baby seat. Upon arriving home, the DCMPD would appear and demand $200 or else they would be outed to the wife.

The DCMPD tried to require all recruits to have college degrees. That suddenly dropped to associate degrees. A year later the requirement is only a certain number of hours of college courses.

Welcome to the nation's capital.

So, a total jackass goes out of his way to provoke a police officer and gets his wish. And this is news on a legal blog...why?

No one wins here, the two parties to the incident were losers long before this happened.

If some guy is marching around screaming "I hate the police," he deserves to get his ass kicked plain and simple.

70 - Maybe because he is a LAWYER? Who got into a run in with LAW enforcement?

Cops (esp. in cities like DC.) put their lives on the line every day. They deal with hard core criminals and thugs who have guns and no conscience every day in order to protect pansies like this guy who like to feel big/rebelious/whatever by taunting and challenging them.

As Lat said, they are there to serve and protect -- not to take shit from big-mouthed assholes like this guy.

So in case you haven't learned yet, if you taunt/talk shit to a cop, you have a high likelihood of getting a ride in his car and a few wasted hours. Seems reasonable to me. Don't want that to happen? Don't be an asshole.

Lat,

I would have thought Platzer is more your physical type. Or is he too muscular for you?

Also you always claim you engaged in gay activities when in DC but I never saw you around.

Drunk prick meets and picks a fight with power-crazed a-hole cop. Not exactly a new story.

72,

If anyone thinks "I hate the police," they should also be arrested.

To be fair, the guy was a freakin' morong AND if he was yelling loud enough, there is a colorable claim for the arrest. However, the law is so unconstitutionally vague both as written and as applied, if any good lawyer challenged it, it will be struck or forced to make more specific.

As applied, its effectively a catch-all that allows cops to arrest you for doing anything other than sitting perfectly still in your house with the lights on. This is no better than the loitering statutes that had been ruled unconstitutional decades ago and this would be a great case to just knock all of them out now (being in DC, this automatically goes to fed court)

Pepin Tuma? Seriously? No wonder he turned out gay.

Maybe the cop just wanted an excuse to frisk the pretty boy?

"9-1-1 Police Emergency, can I have your name?"

"Pepin Tuma! Operator, someone just walked up to me on the street, slapped me upside my fool head and called me an idiot for antagonizing a police officer who was conducting a traffic stop and creating a public disturbance! I want that guy arres...

[click] "beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep..."

I am mortified that anyone would come out in support of the police in this situation.

In a city like DC, the police have much, much more important things to worry about that some guy saying "I hate the police." Is this cop's ego really so delicate? Why did this guy sign up for the force if some gay dude saying that he hates the police is really going to bother him? I'm sensing a ravaging case of small-penis syndrome here.

There is a park not far from where this arrest was made where someone was STABBED IN THE FACE last weekend. Take just a moment to think about that. The cops should be up to other things.

Cops have been abusing the "disorderly conduct "charge for sooo long.

Sorry but telling a cop to F-CK OFF cannot be against the law. Giving a cop the middle finger cannot be against the law either. Some federal courts have actually stood up on this. Most local courts blindly let the cops do what they want. Booo

It is entirely possible to think the officer overeacted and should be counseled and disciplined while also thinking that Tuma acted like a jerk.

It is entirely possible to think the officer overeacted and should be counseled and disciplined while also thinking that Tuma acted like a jerk.

Not sure I agree with your general analysis here, Lat. While the cop dropping the F-bomb is indefensible, the arrest itself was fine. I guess you can object to the fact that disorderly conduct statutes exist at all, but if we accept the fact that they do exist and will continue to, what conceivable construction of disorderly conduct would not include a drunk guy standing on a public street at night and screaming at a group of police officers conducting a completely unrelated arrest? It's not like this guy was at some sort of organized protest rally or something.

I'm pretty libertarian myself, but there needs to be some minimum level of respect for law enforcement or it simply becomes impossible for them to function. We could all move to Athens and barricade the police from our neighborhoods on general principle, but I really don't think that's where we should be headed as a nation. Let's not confuse protecting important civil liberties, such as legitimately protesting against certain police behavior in an organized manner, with the right to get hammered and act like a D-bag.

IMHO, Pepin is not sleepwithable.

This is why people on both sides of the fence need to be a little more understanding.

Tuma absolutely has a right to say he hates the police in public but he should also think about the consequences of saying it in front of police officers who generally just catch crap all day long.

Culp absolutely has a right to detain or arrest people who are disturbing the peace but he should also think twice about detaining some drunk who isn't creating a safety threat to himself or others and he certainly shouldn't take the criticisms of a drunk personally and throw back hateful insults.

If people acted even halfway decently towards each other, none of this bs would happen.

At least he didnt drop an F bomb while speaking at a press conference... being recorded...in front of dozens of reporters... and then try to plead for a cover up, like Hawaiis' football coach Greg McMackin yesterday.

@78

you are exhibiiting what i have always thought to be ass-backwards about law school. in law school, we are all taught to open our big mouths and state our opinions, even when we have no idea what we are talking about. it's just a part of the socratic method that makes law school easier for men than it does for women (for whatever evolutionary reason, men are more brash and overly-confident). this is contrary to the hard sciences, where we are taught that the more we know, the more we realize how tenuous our position may be.

you say that " the law is so unconstitutionally vague both as written and as applied, if any good lawyer challenged it, it will be struck or forced to make more specific"....

have you even looked up to see if this type of disorderly conduct law has been challenged? do you have any idea at all what you are talking about?

...just curious

I should be able to say FUCK YOU to any law enforcement officer, at any time. If he cannot handle it, he should grow a pair of testicles.

And I'm tired of people constantly citing the fact that police work is dangerous to support the idea that cops should never be criticized or expected to take shit. I don't see the connection.

86-

Hear, hear.

All of the contrarian, pro-police commenters aren't representative of the overall readership.

Look at the poll. 60 percent of people are voting for F**K THE POLICE.

Poor Platzer has been outed. Good reason for another stealth layoff.

I find myself disliking police, gays, and black intellectuals from Harvard. Maybe next week will turn out better.

Jesus, Lat. If this is what passes for gay rights activism these days, I think I'll pass on the next LGBT pro bono lunch.

Where's the outrage when fratty-douche-of-the-week gets drunk on the Jersey Shore, calls the cops a "bunch of pigs" and spends the night in the clink? Choose your effing battles man.

"And he smiles as he takes it,
But it doesn't seem to be very hard,
It's no boner,
It's no boner,
It needs to get hard, and hard, and hard, and harder!"

91 - Why in the world should you be able to say things to the police you can't say to regular people? Or do you think you can say fuck you to regular strangers on the street? If you do, do you respect their right to knock your punk ass out?

Suck my cock and and pinch my moobies, copper!

Mystal Power!

He was probably drunk too doing something that stupid, so you add drunk and causing a scene = disturbing the peace.

93-

100% of the "readership" have something fairly significant in common -- *none of us were actually there to witness this incident.* I'd love to hear from someone who was there and get a firsthand account, preferably one unbiased by either cop-or-douchebag sympathies. 'Til then, I will reserve judgment and take a pass on debtaing the relative merits of groundless poll numbers.

"I hate the cops!"...ok, why don't you go live in Somalia? I understand they have no functioning police force, you should be very happy there. As for the "I pay your salary" cliche, while it's true that every taxpayer forks over a portion of the policeman's salary, it does not then follow that the payer has the right to harass the police verbally. But here's a wacky idea; why don't we let this little twerp take his case to court instead of trying it in the comments section of a legal blog?????

The police don't work for you. They work for society. This guy was being anti-social.

/end thread.

98 - That's just the point. I can say FUCK YOU to a random person on the street, and unless I do so in a manner that makes them believe I am about to assault them, they in fact do NOT have a right to "knock [my] punk ass out." I just tried this experiment with an elderly woman and an ex-convict, and the result was the same both times.

102-

Saying I hate the police is not harassing them. If I am walking down the street, see the New York Yankees getting off a bus and I yell I hate the Yankees, is that harassment as well?? No. The only person who was harassed in this story was Tuma, not the fucking pathetic PIGS.

It seems every week there is another story justifying my hatred of PIGS. Yes they have a hard job, but they chose that profession, nobody forced them into it. Just b/c you have a badge does not give you unlimited authority to arrest people for anything you want.

FUCK this FUCKING PIG and all his DOUCHEBAG FUCKING PIG FRIENDS

86 = right on.

-- not 86.

Amen 105.

98, you can say that to a stranger in the street. if he smacks you in the mouth, you deserve it. you can also press charges against him. does that make you a d-bag? of course. does it make his action legal? nope.

if that guy can't punch you for saying something, why should the police be able to do it?

police officers should be held to a higher standard of conduct specifically b/c they are law enforcement professionals. given that they are profesisonals, they should act like it.

105 - I agree with you entirely.

There is no evidence that Tuma was yelling, cursing, making a scene, etc. THAT would be disturbing the police.

Merely expressing a dislike for the police is not "disorderly conduct."

The police are a**holes.

108 - Amen. You can insult a normal person and that's fine. You insult a police officer, and it's criminal.

That is seriously messed up. This is America.

arrested for wlaking while white and talking while stupid. he should hav eksitened to Colin Powell.

to his credit, ge didn't say "I am a lawayer and I know my rights."

how much has these geniuses had to drink?

arrested for wlaking while white and talking while stupid. he should hav eksitened to Colin Powell.

to his credit, ge didn't say "I am a lawayer and I know my rights."

how much has these geniuses had to drink?

The same group that says you have a right to walk up to a cop and tell him to f%#k off would be screaming bloody murder if a cop or any other official used a racial/sexual insult.

My dad is a cop who was seriously injured in the line of duty.

Show some respect, people.

114 - If your father gave respectful treatment to the people he interacted with, I don't think anyone has a problem with him.

We are grateful for the sacrifices of police officers. But that doesn't mean they can or should arrest us if we give them a little lip.

DC cops are a complete disaster. everyone that i know, who lives in DC, despises them. i despise them.

this guy was just drunk enough to say what everyone else really wants to say deep down.

Move to Canada 115 so you make out with a Mounty.

Look--this is very simple. The police should not be arresting people for expressing thier dislike/other negative views of the police, absent it being done in a threatening/incredibly loud manner.

Having said that, however, it is incredibly stupid to walk by police and say loudly "I hate the police, etc")

It's similar to the following: If you are walking around the worst neighborhood by yourself in DC at 3 a.m. and you get attacked, yes you were wronged, and yes a crime was committed on you. However, what you did is basically idiotic and you were essentially asking for it.

Liberals: Face reality. The police in this country are for the most part mean. They will arrest you improperly if you say something negative about them to their face. So don't do it.

Is the cop black?

108 - damn right. I can't repeat this to enough people:

The police should be held to a HIGHER standard than the rest of us, not a lower one, precisely because they are law enforcement professionals.

You have a right to be a jackass any time you want - it's not illegal. That doesn't mean you're always right when you do it, but you do have the right.

The police need to learn how to deal with jackasses the same way the rest of us have to - ignore them. And please, save me all of the whining about how "police put their lives on the line every day so they should get special privileges" - bullshit. They chose that line of work, and if they can't hack it, they can get another fucking job.

114-

I will show respect to cop who deserves it, that's it. The cop in this incident deserves no respect, period. There are very things in this world more dangerous than a pig on a power trip. If your dad was a good cop, good for him, sorry to hear about his injury, but that doesnt excuse the pig in this story, or those garbage pigs in Illinois that tased an innocent juvenile while threatening him with sodomy and watching him urinate and defacate on himself. Should we show respect to those fucking degenerates?? NO, NOT EVER

120, great comment.

Seems to me he wanted to get arrested so he can get strip searched and anally probed in front of a bunch of assraping criminals. ooooooooh.

First Amendment huh? Some guy thinks it's okay to scream he hates the police to a bunch of police officers... Fine, then people should be allowed to yell "I hate f@gs" at a bunch of gay people. Really, what is the difference? Furthermore, that is just as ignorant as hating all lawyers.

I would love it if every officer in this country went on a strike for a week. Notify the fcking ghetto rats, gang bangers, and crack-heads about the strike. We'll see how much you all hate police then. You whinny rich, entitled brats have no idea what your lives would be like if police officers werent here to deal with society's waste

This Tuma dude looks and acts like that "Don't Taze Me Bro" douchebag

Don't worry, the police in Obama the One's new nanny state will never abuse their powers.

'Cause you know, the police in other friendly communist regimes like the Soviet Union, China, Cuba and North Korea, where the government controls your food, health care, and everything else, just as so-called liberals are aiming for here, have never used abusive police tactics to control the populace! We'll all be warm and fuzzy together if we just empower the government to control everything.

121

I hope your kid gets raped. Then u can go handle the problem yourself like the big guy that you are.

- not 114

Which is the more recent picture of Pepin? The one above, or the one on HuffPo? If the former, girlfriend has put on a few ell-bees.

To 114 -- When you say your Dad was "seriously injured in the line of duty," do you mean he was emotional harmed because a gay guy told him he did not like the police? if not, it is of no relevance here.

124-

You are a fucking moron. So because police have an essential function in society (something that no one on here has disputed BTW), we should just tolerate and accept cops harassing people, making false arrests, and committing crimes themselves. Jesus Christ, are you retarded?

Your entire post has absolutely no logic, and is just flat stupid. Do us all a favor, drop out of whatever shitty law school you are in, and go apply at your local 7-11, that's about all your intellect qualifies you to do.

Wow, people really DO NOT understand the first amendment.

Guess what--most disorderly conduct statutes are overbroad. But no restriction can be applied based on CONTENT, i.e., if he had been loudly singsonging "cops are awesome" and they didn't arrest him, they cannot arrest him for singsonging "I hate the police" at the same volume level.

And yes, police officers should be held to a higher standard. They act with the power of the state, which means they are the state and must live up to its principals. Remember your bar oath when you swore to support and defend the Constitution? People in the military and police officers take that same oath. Violating someone's right to free speech is spitting on the Constitution.

If this had really been about his volume, the officer would have told him, you are talking too loudly, I will take you in for disorderly conduct if you do not moderate your volume. But instead the officer challenged the CONTENT of what he said---that he hated the police. Guy couldn't have done a better job violating the first amendment and abusing his office if he tried.

I'm really not sure how to respond to people who think that they have a right to say whatever they damn well please to strangers without repercussions. I find it somewhat mind-boggling. There is simply a huge difference between constitutionally protected free speech and directing insults at strangers. You're right, if you walk up to a person and say fuck you, they don't have a legal right to punch you out. On the other hand, at least where I'm from, nine times out of ten they are going to punch you out and get in no trouble for it whatsoever, which is the way it should be.

Are we really turning into such a nation of spoiled children that people think that their verbal actions, no matter how misguided, should have no repercussions? Have none of you ever existed outside of upper middle class private schools? In the real world, people understand that certain verbal acts should be met with an immediate physical response. I guess the ATL readership never learned that lesson. Maybe your mommies should have spanked you when you mouthed off instead of buying you a toy.

this is clearly a teachable gay moment. cop and tuma are expected at 1600 pennsylvania next week. white wines all around.

Could you be arrested in D.C. for saying the Redskins suck?

Are we turning into such a spoiled nation of whiners that police officers think they can bring the power of the state to bear when somebody says something about police officers that they don't like?

If so, fucking sign me up. I would love to arrest people who say stupid shit.

Idiot.

132,

Your long-winded poorly-reasoned email does not justify a police officer's abuse of his badge. Now go fuck yourself.

114,

Did you father routinely harass the very citizens he was hired to protect?

everyone knows that "disorderly conduct" is police code for "sass-mouth." if you havent learned to STFU at critical moments, you need not be a member of the bar.

And what is this kid complaining about? Now he can taste the rainbow all day long in jail!

How is arresting an individual for clearly violating a validly enacted law an abuse of power? Oh, I get it, you don't like that particular law, so obvioulsy enforcing it is an abuse of power.

There are two issues here.

First, whether the cop had probable cause to make the arrest in the first place. Given the lattitude of the statute (maybe a different problem Constitutionally) and the arrestee's admission re loud chanting, I think the arrest itself was probably facially valid.

The second issue is the epithet by the cop, which there is no justification for whatsoever and was entirely inappropriate (if true). But its use doesn't invalidate an otherwise appropriate arrest (again, for admitted loud chanting), which appears to be the case.

In any event, just another example of the end of common sense in this country (by the arrestee) and intolerance (by the cop).

THE ARREST WAS NOT VALID UNDER EXISTING CASE LAW INTERPRETING STATUTES SUCH AS (AND PERHAPS INCLUDING) THIS ONE.

YOU ARE LAWYERS. LEARN TO UNDERSTAND THE F*CKING FIRST AMENDMENT. Please.

Quite frankly, I really dislike it when people are like "I'm a taxpayer, I pay your salary, so do what I say."

I mean, if I were a cop, I'd be like "What a coincidence, cuz I'm a taxpayer too. And right now, I order myself to kick your ass."

As for interactions with cops, I'm a little mixed. You shouldn't be quaking in fear of them and they should be courteous to civilians. However, it is never a good idea to antagonize a police officer, and I do not think it should be tolerated.

there is nothing surprising about any of this.

124: you most certainly ARE allowed to yell "I hate f@gs" at a bunch of gay people. get a clue.

141, please cite me a case that says this statute does not include drunk guys screaming insults on street corners in the middle of the night, regardless of who or what they are insulting. This wasn't at a freaking protest rally. Get a clue.

86,

", but there needs to be some minimum level of respect for law enforcement or it simply becomes impossible for them to function."

You are correct. The police were not able to function because someone repeated twice "i hate the police." grow up.

I really can't believe how many idiotic commenters seem to think that insults are not constitutionally protected by the first amendment.

Anyone who thinks 141 is wrong clearly has never taken a first amendment class.

-not 141 or any other previous poster on this thread

I would pay money to watch the cops beat down all you elitist law snobs.

Perhaps he can grab a wine cooler with Obama. Instead of having Biden there at the table, Larry Sinclair could show up.

148 = Jaded pussy that was too stupid to get into law school. How sad.

94,

Platzer was not outed by this. Anyone who meets him can figure out he's gay in about two seconds. Unless they were born before 1940 in which case he's that nice young man who just has not yet found the right woman to marry.

My god people, you really have no clue about anything, do you? Disoderly conduct laws are content-neutral time, place and manner restrictions on free speech that have been upheld in any number of cases, including most notably Feiner v. New York. Later decisions have restricted the scope of Feiner, but it is still clearly good law, and arresting drunken idiots on street corners fall within any viable interpretation of Feiner and the later precedent. Before you go mouthing off about what you think your con-law teacher taught you last semester, try actually knowing something.

147, does an insult shield you from accompanying conduct that is otherwise illegal? No. It's like the Supreme Court's flag burning case (forget cite) where the *expression* is protected but the actor could still be violating local law and be charged for other acts that were part and parcel of the speech (igniting a fire in public, littering, etc.). The substance of the sentiment is separate from the way it was conveyed--in this case, in a loud way that was disorderly conduct.

145,

OKAY. The case is Williams v. District of Columbia, 419 F.2d 638 (D.C. Cir. 1969). Although it is not on all fours, it stands for the proposition that profane language is insufficient for arrest unless a breach of the peace is threatened. Google it, it should come up on bulk resource dot org.

AND IN THE FUTURE, DO YOUR OWN DAMN HOMEWORK BEFORE VOICING A LEGAL OPINION.

74 (and everyone else attacking this guy)

You all are the kind of people that the founding fathers WARNED us against.

The USA is not a police state. It is true that the police put their lives on the line to protect us, yadda, yadda, yadda. It's also true that this guy could have AVOIDED the arrest had be not acted like he did.

However, the police are an ARM OF THE STATE and must act within federal CONSTITUTIONAL bounds. They are the ones that CHOSE to put their life on the line and become a police officer. As such, they have a DUTY to act constitutionally. If they can't withstand the horrible torments of a 33 year old white boy singing, then they need to hang their hat up because it is THEM who are the pansy ass flakes who can't take the heat.

I think it's safe to say most USA citizens do not want to live in a country where the police can stop you at will, ask you questions for no reason, and arrest you if you don't act within their "civil code." I refuse to live in such a police state, and find it appauling that anyone could find this guy at fault and the police conduct proper.

I hope he SUES the pants off these guys and serves them with the CONSTITUTION in their face.

154, your failure as a lawyer is exceeded only by your failure as a person. He was a drunken idiot screaming on a street corner in the middle of the night. If that's not a breach of the peace what is? What he was saying was irrelevant, it's the manner he was saying it in.

Feiner is inapposite. Feiner got in trouble because his words were making others angry, and in danger of rioting. Most modern constitutional scholars think that Feiner was wrongly decided.

In this case, there was not a mob ready to riot because this young man was saying he hated the police. Go read Williams, which is the applicable to this circumstance, and then we'll talk.

156, your failure to be able to read facts is disturbing. Where did the article say he was screaming and acting like a drunken idiot?? It didn't, it said he was chanting in aloud voice, which is far from screaming. Just because a person is drunk when they say something doesn't automatically mean they were belligerent while saying it. Your failure as a lawyer is now complete.

Your assumption that he was a drunken idiot screaming on a street corner is completely unfounded.

156, RTFC. (C is for case, if you need any translation.) The post did not say screaming. The police did not take issue with him because of his volume. And the guy in Williams was yelling at the police in that case, who actually were in a way better position than the police in this case, because Williams was allegedly in a group of men who were blocking the sidewalk, AND he swore.

YOU ARE A SHITTY LAWYER IF YOU VOICE LEGAL OPINIONS WITHOUT DOING YOUR HOMEWORK.

To the police I'm sayin fuck you punk
Readin my rights and shit, it's all junk
Pullin out a silly club, so you stand
With a fake assed badge and a gun in your hand

Tuma is the classic First Amendment actor. On the one hand, he's a jackass and people can be completely forgiven for thinking he brought this all on himself. On the other hand, none of that is relevant because his speech was Constitutionally protected and his arrest was illegal.

These cases are always about people like this. If they were about friendly people saying innocuous things they wouldn't exist.

Breach of the peace = imminent violence, btw. Not breaching the peace of your delicate ears. Dumbass.

26: I thought this is America, and we have freedom of speech and shit, or is that just some bullshit liberal propaganda? Or does freedom of speech mean freedom to say whatever the fuck I want but then get arrested and jerked around for saying it?

1 - Okay, I read Williams. The defendants in Williams were innocently minding their own business when the police intiated the contact, at which point a verbal altercation ensued and the men were arrested for insulting the police after they were harassed. In this case, what's his face d-bag was engaging in disorderly conduct long before the police became involved and in no connection with his later interaction with them. He broke the law the instant he started yelling on the street corner. Williams isn't relevant in the slightest

2- Of course Lat isn't going to say that his buddy was acting like a tool. Read between the friggin' lines. It was midnight saturday night in a popular bar neighborhood and he was yelling at police officers. Do you really need it explained it to you in simple language what the probable circumstances were?

160

Big talk - online, on an anonymous blog. You're a tool.

124 said "I would love it if every officer in this country went on a strike for a week. Notify the fcking ghetto rats, gang bangers, and crack-heads about the strike. We'll see how much you all hate police then. You whinny rich, entitled brats have no idea what your lives would be like if police officers werent here to deal with society's waste..."

You obviously haven't spent to much time in the South Eastern quadrant of the District of Columbia or the northern stretch of George Avenue. "fcking ghetto rats, gang bangers, and crack-heads" roam free and pursue their activities in broad daylight while "whinny rich, entitled brats" enter these areas to conduct business with the "fcking ghetto rats, gang bangers, and crack-heads" such as purchasing of drugs or trysts with crack-head prostitutes. Such activity is also visual at K street.

What's up with cop apologists?
Isn't freedom of speech a little bit more important than the poor little hurt feelings of some douche cop?
The right thing for a cop to do is completely ignore people who yell "I hate cops" in the middle of a public sidewalk. The absolute wrong thing is to arrest the person. Engaging the heckler in a pointless conversation about whether or not cops are assholes would have been dumb too, but at least not illegal. Punitive Damages Please!

Yelling alone is not disorderly conduct. It doesn't matter who initiates the contact. Singsonging I hate the police is speech alone, without the necessary breach of the peace element required in Williams, is not disorderly conduct.

So show me how he breached the peace, keeping in mind what that means (riot! violence! fighting words!)

In short, you're still wrong.

155 and 167 nailed it

152: you forgot your common sense at the law school douche door.

Breach of the peace was required in Williams because he was arrested for a different friggin' statute, genius. Williams was arrested for violating DC Code Section 22-1107, D-bag was arrested for violating DC Code Section 22-1321 which says that anyone who "shouts or makes a noise either outside or inside a building during the nighttime to the annoyance or disturbance of any considerable number of persons" can be arrested as long as breach of the peace MAY be occasioned thereby. He doesn't need to be breaching the peace as long as he is shouting and the potential exists for conflict.

Furthermore, while he may or may not be found guilty of this in court, you're nuts if you don't think there was at least probable cause for arrest under this statute.

Do I win yet? Or do you want to keep going?

Breach of the peace was required in Williams because he was arrested for a different friggin' statute, genius. Williams was arrested for violating DC Code Section 22-1107, D-bag was arrested for violating DC Code Section 22-1321 which says that anyone who "shouts or makes a noise either outside or inside a building during the nighttime to the annoyance or disturbance of any considerable number of persons" can be arrested as long as breach of the peace MAY be occasioned thereby. He doesn't need to be breaching the peace as long as he is shouting and the potential exists for conflict.

Furthermore, while he may or may not be found guilty of this in court, you're nuts if you don't think there was at least probable cause for arrest under this statute.

Do I win yet? Or do you want to keep going?

PEPIN, DAMMIT!

Brought to you by the mid-90s at William & Mary

Woops, my bad on the double post

121 - wishing sexual assault on a child makes you a terrible person. no excuse to ever say such a thing. none.

People get all uppity when you disrespect cops. Fuck that. Cops do important work, but so do other people. They choose to do something dangerous, so do miners, lumberjacks and those crazy Alaska fishermen on the discovery channel. Nobody gets all teary eyed about having respect for those crazy dudes. And, fuck, everyone knows there's more instances of police corruption than in most other professions. So, I have more respect for teachers, because they actually have to use talent to gain respect from their wards, unlike cops, who just use the threat of violence.

172: PC my ass.
"Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?" = PC for cop being a douche

meant 127
- 175

I don't know precisely where this incident occurred, but if it happened within earshot of my window at midnight on a Saturday while I was sleeping (some of us go to church on Sundays), I would definitely support of the police. Contrary to what the law students on this site may think, yelling in a loud voice outside my window at midnight is not constitutionally protected speech, regardless of the content.

Furthermore, I shudder for the clients of these people. Being an attorney requires a certain amount of judgment. A guy who yells at the cops at midnight or a guy who hangs out with such a guy shows very poor judgment.

172,

You still don't get it. 22-1107 was repealed, but Williams is still good law. First Amendment cases do not merely apply to a single statute, they set a constitutional floor. I recognize that is different than a lot of cases you are used to reading, if you have any facility with the law at all, which I am starting to doubt, but once again, IF YOU VOICE A LEGAL OPINION, KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT.

If you were right, Williams would no longer have been cited once the statute was repealed, nor would it have been cited in cases involving 22-1321. If you have access to WL, it was cited in Tetaz v. District of Columbia, --- A.2d ---, 2009 WL 2252269 (D.C. Cir. Jul. 30, 2009). In a footnote above that citation, 22-1321 was mentioned in such a way as to suggest that while that statute required breach of the peace as well as speech, the statute in Tetaz was not so limited by the constitution, because it involved punishing people who were blocking access to the senate building based on their physical presence.

Considering I don't feel like working this weekend, you can do the rest of the first amendment research on your own, if you are minimally competent. If not, consider a different line of work.

There was no probable cause. Under the law of D.C., we've got clearly established Constitutional law, which means the police officer in question could well lose a 1983 case.

179,

If he was loud enough volume-wise, that would be a different statute, and you would have a point, but he was targeted by the police officer based on what he said. If he was making enough noise to disturb sleeping people at night, the police asked him to express himself more quietly, and he didn't, that would be different, but the case law on that suggests you have to be somewhere in the 60-80 decibel range to break that threshhold. But they don't slam you against a wall if you do that, they tell you to quiet down. Entirely different.

Do you have any idea what probable cause is? Do you really think that cops are held to complete knowledge of all precedent and possible ramifications thereof? D-bag violated the statute on it's face, plain as day. That statute makes it quite clear that only the potential for a later breach of the peace is necessary. It's entirely possible that if I appropriated my firm's Westlaw account to do research too I could find out that the courts generally find an actual, not potential, breach of the peace to be neccesary, but the cop certainly isn't held to that level of knowledge. The conduct could obviously have given rise to a reasonable suspicion that 1321 was being violated.

175/178 = David Letterman?

#172 wins.

Yeah, considering I worked in criminal defense and criminal prosecution and postconviction and in the court system, I know what probable cause is. And when someone has a clearly established constitutional right, which this guy did, and the police violate it, the person whose rights were violated gets a 1983 claim.

And you just used "reasonable suspicion" as though it were the same as probable cause. It is a lesser standard. Sorry your firm/organization doesn't have WL, but there are free places to engage in legal research.

For a bunch of lawyers, most of you are such idiots when it comes to understanding your basic, Constitutional rights.

You can chant "I hate the cops" or even "Fuck the police", provided it does not present the risk of an immediate public disturbance.

When "disorderly conduct" steps on expressive speech, 1A trumps, and the charges get dismissed.

This is just another "contempt of cop" charge.

Douchebags like this guy don't know what police bad behavior is... try getting stopped in Miami by a cop who thinks you have a ki of coke in your trunk when you don't to see what police bad behavior is.

184: 185 wins. wtf was there PC for? PC for the cop to think that he could get away with abusing the law and violating the 1st Amendment? In that case perhaps there was reasonable suspicion that there was probable cause...182?

Jesus, dude, for someone who has actually worked in criminal law you have fairly poor knowledge of how the real world works. You are correct, reasonable suspicion is a lower standard than probable cause. Shoot me for not wanting to write out "reasonable grounds for a police officer to believe a person is guilty ...". On the other hand, to actually prevail on a false arrest or 1983 claim, this kid better bring something a whole lot stronger than the crap you've come up with to contradict the cop being able to point to a facially violated statute. In real life, you effectively need to prove that there was a whole lot less than reasonable suspicion, and I would think someone with your lofty experience would know that.

In the pic above, Pepin looks like a hot, feminine Rachael Maddow.

But in the HuffPo pic, he looks WAY too skinny. I hope he's not sick, or hooked on coke.

Comment removed by moderator.

I'm actually a woman, if you meant dude in the man sense instead of dude in the person sense.

And while you are generally correct about facial violations of a statute, the rules are different regarding first amendment law, because there are all kinds of statutes that on their face, violate the first amendment.

For a 1983 claim, you have to prove that a clearly established constitutional right was violated. In this case, the clearly established right is the first amendment right to free speech. Your counterargument, which again, in other areas of the law wouldn't be pointless, is that there is a facially valid statute. But the counter to that is that such statutes have been interpreted to only be constitutionally valid if the person engages in speech and conduct (which can also be speach) that threatens an imminent breach of the peace (or other exceptions, such as fighting words, but fighting words doesn't go so low as to includ expressions of "hate.")

The behavior did not. And you are incorrect. And you still went to all the trouble to articulate a legal argument without knowing what the blazes you were talking about. I mean, Jesus, even if you were to google, you would find a pretty good discussion of disorderly conduct on Volokh. Different state, different statute, same general idea.

I did mean dude in the generic personhood sense, I meant no insult. I'm actually rather enjoying this.

My main response is that it sounds like you are talking about a 1983 case brought on a content based restriction on free speech, when both the applicable statute and I are talking about place, time and manner restrictions on free speech, which are subject to intermediate scrutiny only. A breach of the peace may be neccesary under existing case law, but the right to say things in any manner you please is still a right protected at only the intermediate scrutiny level. Obviously scrutiny levels are not strictly applicable, but they do give rise to a general feeling of the importance of the right protected that is going to be followed by the courts.

Now, the cop is not going to have any idea about any of that, but were your argument to be raised in court, he would respond that as far he is concerned, he can't arrest people for what they say, but the 1321 led him to believe that he could arrest for people for how they say it, and this guy was saying it in a disorderly manner. That is a reasonable interpretation of the law to hold a cop to, and an entirely different case than "I arrested the guy because he said he hates cops." I find it difficult to imagine the cop losing under these circumstances, in light of the statute on the books.

Well, cops are human like the rest of us. And they don't get paid all that much considering. So for a cop to a have a human reaction to a chanting of "I hate cops" is not surprising. It's just not respectful, which as a PC liberal, I'm all about (odd that conservatives are also all about respect, but only to whites and authority figures, but I digress).

Plus, Tumor sounds like a complete queeny mess, which just grates on my nerves generally. Despite being a raving queen myself. Go figure.

I say, throw him in jail and throw away the key.

-- Lawyer Gay

191- that is straight-up defamation. Hope you used an IP proxy to post, because I feel a subpoena coming.

How long until they're invited to the White House with BHO and the White Ghost (aka Biden)

What is it with gay D.C. lawyers who went to William & Mary? First Joe Price, now Pepin Tuma. I don't know the true facts of either case, but both guys have gotten themselves into weird situations.

@144: I HATE FAGS!!!!!!!!

Just checking.

120, well said. People don't get drafted to join the police force; it's a voluntary profession. Crying about the risk involved as an excuse to break the law yourself is bullshit. And everyone in DC knows that DC cops are one big ass episode of Reno 911.

I used to live at 9th and T, right around the corner from the U Street corridor. The fact that it passes for hip is demonstrative of what a shithole D.C. really is. In any event, there are so many junkie assholes and other assorted shitbags around there (of all races, so don't get on my ass) that I can't believe the cops decided to hassle this asshole.

Does Lat insist on standing on the soapbox because his ass is too sore to sit on it?

Instead of "watering holes", shouldn't it be "s***ing holes"?

What's with the asterisks? Are we on broadcast TV?

This is really gay. I can tell.

If the shoe fits ....

I don't care what level of scrutiny it is, Williams is clearly established law, the statute cannot be taken plainly as written, because if it were it would be 'legalizing' a gross violation of First Amendment rights. If you do some looking around the web, there was a Mass. case, I believe, where someone yelled at an officer started arresting him for disorderly conduct, and he resisted the arrest. BOTH the disorderly conduct and the resisting arrest charge were kicked, the resisting charge was kicked BECAUSE the arrest was unlawful.

And like I said, in Williams, it was okay for the officer to initially order the five men to disperse, because people are required to keep the sidewalks clear.

Wow, saying it in a disorderly manner? I missed that gem--Q. And how would youdescribe his tone of voice? A. It was disorderly.

Lolz. Sometimes the better part of valor is admitting you are still making shit up about clearly established law.

155 wins

Whether the statute can be taken plainly as written or not in court isn't the point, as I've said about fourteen times. There's no way this guy doesn't have qualified immunity from a 1983 charge. To get around qualified immunity, the standard under 1983 is that an "act is so obviously wrong, in the light of preexisting law, that only a plainly incompetent officer or one who was knowingly violating the law would have done such a thing." That's just so obviously not the case here that I don't really see how you can think he doesn't have qualified immunity.

Five citizen complaints? In how many years, cause that could be nothing. There almost isn't an officer on the force more than a year without at least one complaint. The question is what the investigations found in those complaints.

I always get cracked up by big swinging-dick lawyer/law student posters on blogs railing about cops (probably while listening to NWA 'F___ tha po-lice'). Is it because you were embarrassed by one when you got an MIP in college in front of your friends and you were too scared to be a badass at the time?.

"I should be able to say WHATEVER I WANT to those pigs and they've got to stand there and take it because I have CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS and I have read SECTION 1983 CASES." Yeah, I'm sure DC cops love to take pointless shit from drunk/stoned overpaid yuppie paper pushers who would expect the police to get to their Georgetown/Dupont condo in 2 minutes flat if they were to report a break-in.

There are some things in this life that there is just no need to do. Needlessly pissing off a cop who (in this case) is probably in the process of taking someone dangerous off the street is not one of them. You wouldn't walk through the halls of your vaunted Vault firm singing about how the partners are douchebags. Cops don't have to put up with your petulant little-boy shit just because they work for the government.

Disrespecting cops under the influence of Dutch courage isn't some big libertarian stand for righteousness and justice - it just makes you look like a dick.

And if you do disrespect a cop and the worst you get is a ride in their car and a disorderly charge - just be f___ing thankful you live in America. Read up on how police treat people in other countries before you bitch about how bad Gates and Pepin have it.

I don't care about any of these stories

132 FTW!

Tuma is what he eats. Good for the cop. These guys put their lives on the line to protect dickheads like him for next to nothing...and this douchebag taunts the cops while they are working. Asshole.

210 - I don't like the tone of your post, so I'm going to delete it. And I'll tell you what, you can come back here and thank me for not doing worse. Sounds fair.

210 here - see, 214, all I did was offend someone floating out there in the ether of cyberspace. Not someone with the power to arrest me and screw up my day. And not anyone who's doing anything particularly valuable to society right now.

Since when is "faggot" a cussword? It's just a statement of fact people, lighten up!

I got my twelve gauge sawed off.
I got my headlights turned off.
I'm 'bout to bust some shots off.
I'm 'bout to dust some cops off.

I'm 'bout to kill me somethin'
A pig stopped me for nuthin'!

This guy looks like a raging douche bag. He should have been chanting this: "I'm Pepin Tuma, I'm a homo. I'm Pepin Tuma, I'm a homo."

Yes, our taxes pay cops' wages. And they more than earn their pay every day and night, working with scum, the likes of which YOU WILL NEVER KNOW OR UNDERSTAND. Your comment about cops being high school athletes (while you are an almighty attorney) is arrogant and highly offensive - it may feed your ego but it only detracts from your arguement. Cops put themselves in harm's way to "serve and protect" and you think that some toad on a drunken lark chanting llike an idiot during a bust is deserving of your support or sympathy? And then this fool cries foul when the cop calls him a faggot? This one doesn't even pass the laugh test. What world do you live in? You have obviously never been truely exposed to street life. I have. I'm a criminal defense attorney and I know what goes on out there. If you did too, you would not support or condone this type of stupidity. I know there are bad cops out there - but calling some jerkoff a faggot is just not important.

Yes, our taxes pay cops' wages. And they more than earn their pay every day and night, working with scum, the likes of which YOU WILL NEVER KNOW OR UNDERSTAND. Your comment about cops being high school athletes (while you are an almighty attorney) is arrogant and highly offensive - it may feed your ego but it only detracts from your arguement. Cops put themselves in harm's way to "serve and protect" and you think that a fool on a drunken lark chanting llike a little girl about hating cops during a bust is deserving of your support or sympathy? And then this fool cries foul when a cop roughs him up a little bit and calls him a faggot? This one doesn't even pass the laugh test. What world do you live in? You have obviously never been exposed to crime and criminals. I have. I'm a criminal defense attorney and I know what goes on out there. If you did too, you would not support or condone this type of stupidity. I know there are bad cops out there - but calling some jerk off a faggot is just not important.

What happened to the good ole days when cops could not only yell at homos, they could beat them up. I don't consider my tax $$ at good use unless cops get to beat homos. Look people, homos have serious mental problems. Maybe a good beating by a cop might help the homo return back to normal.

--Cop in Alabama with no Constitution

216: Fagot is a bad word on ATL because Lat is a homo. Have you never heard him speak? That gay lisp of his is a dead give away.

I agree with the people who say cops should be held to a higher standard when it comes to reacting to assholes on the street. But 210 missed a better argument. All cops here do for stuff like this is put you in cuffs and ruin a couple hours of your life.

Any other Joe Schmo on the streets will kick your ass and ruin a couple of your teeth. Let's recognize just how bad being detained for a couple hours is: not really that bad at all. When cops turn fire hoses on people for "disorderly conduct" then I'll start caring.

Also, I hate fags, jews, and banana eating jungle monkeys. Anyone who wants my views to have any consequences is a fascist pig.

I'm going to go ahead and guarantee that we aren't getting the whole story here, so the self-righteous on both sides can go enjoy their weekends, gayly or not.

Imagine a country without Gates-types or folks like this queer.

I have a dream.

Take away the cop's pension!!!!!!!!!!

171/172 and 180 -- you are both right in part.

While it is true that 22-1107 no longer exists, that is because the D.C. Code was recompiled in 2001, so that former 22-1107 is now 22-1307. It was not "repealed," but was merely renumbered as part of the recompilation process. Indeed, the statute (unlawful assembly) was first enacted in 1892, so it is hoary.

Likewise, what is now 22-1321 was formerly 22-1121, and that statute (disorderly conduct) is comparatively more recent, having been first enacted in 1954.

Both statutes are still on the books, and both have been subjected to constitutional challenges.

Comment removed by moderator.

First!

Did Tuma bother to find out what the traffic stop was about? What if it was a murder suspect? A kidnapper? A drug trafficker? Guess what - if you interfere with the duties of law enforcement, you get arrested.

If the officer honestly said that, then he was wrong. And he should be disciplined. But I don't know why this guy thought it was a good idea to have a few too many and start yelling that he hates police. Can I stand outside his law office and chant "I hate gays"? I wouldn't, because I don't hate gays. But the idea that the officer should "ignore" such comments is ridiculous. What if there were 100 people chanting that during a traffic stop? 1,000? At what point does the officer get to take some action? I bet Tuma would have done something if I was chanting outside his cubicle.

[I love that this site hides comments by default. I can only imagine some of the dumbass responses to this post and I wish more sites had this feature.]

Tuma got what he wanted. What a drama queen!

It's funny how Tuma wants to have his freedom of speech and taunt policemen while they are doing a job that he would never have the balls to do, but then he gets offended when they call him what he really is.

Tuma -- YOU ARE INDEED A F*GGOT

if you be with the cops, then you n***as is McLovin

I'm sorry, Tuma's just a fucking fruit, trying to incite shit to being with. Gates had the power to end the little fiasco he got into. Tuma was just being a bitch trying to start something. Granted the officer over reacted, but I have a great idea - let's not go around trying to incite the officers while they're trying to do their job.

"Who do you think you are talking to?" A degenerate junior college dropout!

According to the publicly accessible DC Bar and Virginia State Bar websites -- Tuma has no law firm affiliation; the third guy (Stetson) works for OFAC.

Pepin A Tuma Esq.
Email: pepintuma@aol.com

Pepin Andrew Tuma
Unit 3
1314 Rhode Island Ave NW
Washington, DC 20005
Phone: 202-232-0259

David M Stetson
U.S. Department of the Treasury
U.S. Treasury Dep't, Ofc. of Chief Cousel (FAC)
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington DC 20220
Email: david_stetson@post.harvard.edu
Phone: 202-622-2410
Fax: 202-622-1911

For some reason lots of you jokers act like cops are underpaid.
What the hell else are they going to do where they would get money? If anything, they would do it. Duh!
And cops don't work for anything like minimum wage--they make shitloads in big cities

He thought there were too many cops at the traffic stop? The cop thinks there are too many lawyers staffed on his projects.

The cop is there protecting this guy from drug dealers and armed robbers. This guy is protecting one B.S. start up company from some other B.S. start up company all of which is never going to produce anything useful. I think I'll side with the cop.

There is a thin blue line between people who have jobs and enjoy their stuff and shitheads who want to rob, rape and steal and will happily beat you for five bucks. That thin blue line does not need someone chanting I hate the police during a traffic stop. Cops are shot during traffic stops. It is dangerous. Maybe this dude should go for a police ride along sometime and see how fun it is.

It never ceases to amaze me how the tools of the internet reflexively rush to defend cops in every kind of situation like this. Never mind that there was no probable cause or reasonable suspicion, never mind the use of a slur -- "you got what you deserved" because you had the temerity to do something other than give cops your tacit approval to do whatever the fuck they want. There's a little fascist in all of us, I guess we just like to let it out in anonymous blog comments.

Who contributes more to the betterment of society, police or lawyers? Definitly not lawyers.

Regardless of whether Pipin was within his First Amendment rights, it's plain rude to tell someone, who you've never met before, that you hate them. It's plain stupid to do so when that person is a police officer.

It could be a Tuma.

It's not a Tuma!

Pepin should have kept his faggot mouth shut! He lipped off to the police and now his complaining that someone called him a faggot? He's lucky he didn't get his ass kicked! I bet he'd have a probably if someone stood outside his law office shouting "I hate queers!"

Am I supposed to feel sorry for Pepin. I guess it is hard being a white 33 year old attorney in DC. I am sure he has lots of run-ins with the cops, and they always treat him so poorly. Whatever. Here's a thought, it is hard being a cop. Think about what they have to go through (I know that as a lawyer I have never had to risk my life to save someone or feared that someone might kill me because I filed a brief). You should respectful of cops, and don't instigate a situation with them. It is unnecessary. I live in Columbia Heights and I appreciate what cops do. So yeah, from one fag to another, shut your hole Pepin.

As far as I'm concerned, this faggot can eat shit. Oh, wait ... I need a different insult.

So this assclown lawyer Tuma and his buddies happen upon a police situation they know nothing about as to the particulars and he feels the need to start chanting, "I hate the police"? And then gets his panties in a twist when the cops take offense and threatens to sue? Proof positive of why we need a lot fewer lawyers in this country.

I think Pepin (his parents doomed him to gayhood with that name) found the arrest very exciting.

Being cuffed

then locked up in the big house

with big burly men

the police should sue him for messing up his cell

Not only is he a drama queen, but how childish! Did he really think that saying "I hate police" was an appropriate form of "protest"? His comments could have incited a crowd and all kinds of trouble could have happened.

Here's what I think....he's on his way home from a gay bar, had no luck hooking up and was angry. He sees men in uniform and gets all excited. "How can I attract attention to my pouty lips" he wondered. Maybe I could get some lock up action!

What a pathetic loser. He has no job that we know of and he likes to make fun of people who are just doing their jobs.

I hope the police remember him when he calls them to complain about a "hate crime".

People like this can dish it out, but can't take it.

"Pepin"

Seriously?

"I hate people with funny names. I hate people with funny names"

William & Mary has obviously declined since my days there in the mid-70s.