Even a Bargained For Search of Breasts Can Be Pretty Damn Illegal If You're a Cop

Hey ladies, next time you are tipsy, need a ride, and can’t find a cab, just hail a cop. If you are pretty, he might just pick you up and take you anywhere you want to go, provided you flash him your boobs, of course (duh).

There is a bizarre story coming out of Central Michigan University that seems to be right at the nexus of abusive police power and drunk co-eds.

I’m siding girls, but I’m not sure the cop should have to go to jail for five years for pulling a TOGTFO move….

Here’s the Associated Press story:

[Campus police officer Jeffrey Card] was on patrol when he gave [two Central Michigan female students] a ride in September from a bar. He’s accused of betting them their blood alcohol levels were higher than 0.05%. They briefly flashed their breasts when Card won the bet.

Michigan’s legal drinking limit while driving is 0.08%.

The women later were dropped off at a campus residence hall. Card was suspended after the incident and later resigned.

Okay. Okay. I get it. Being in the back of a police car is intimidating. The officer’s “bet” could have sounded like a “threat” to the two college-aged students. The officer — who is 34 years old — was totally in the wrong for setting up this little situation. He’s in a patrol car in Michigan, not cruising on Bourbon Street.

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But now he’s pleaded guilty to misconduct, and could be looking at five years in prison. At first blush, that sounds like a heavy price to pay for essentially saying, “show me your tits.”

But that’s probably just the testosterone talking. The AP story doesn’t give us all the facts. We don’t know if this was a stupid little game between some kids and a guy trying to play along, or a coercive encounter between a person of authority and relatively defenseless college students. The police get away with enough in this country that I’m comfortable if the ambiguity is read in favor of the college kids.

But incarceration feels like a bit much. Fire him, take away his pension or something. Let’s make sure that the next time he wants a free show, he’s got to throw away some beads instead of flashing a badge. But I’m not sure that running around making bets with co-eds over a flash really constitutes a menace to society that needs to be punished with prison.

Former CMU police officer pleads guilty in breast-baring case [Associated Press]

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