Are his constitutional rights violated? This happened about 40 miles from my home. It has gone viral. Do you think his rights have been violated or was this kid just being a rude punk?

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

This happened about 40 miles from my home. It has gone viral. Do you think his rights have been violated or was this kid just being a rude punk?
You're not going to start anything with me from your response because I have mixed feelings. And will not argue either way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-WMn_zHCVo

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Sherriff has been receiving death threats if he doesn't fire the deputy. One person actually said they were going to cut his children's heads off if he didn't comply. Scource was local news. Channel 17 Nashville.

Pepper Loc: Planet Earth Country USA

I think the whole thing may have had a different outcome if the kid hadn't made himself a suspicious character from the beginning. Why he was so uncooperative from the very beginning was a bit of a mystery to me. Seemed as though he was just looking to be uncooperative which if I'm the cop raises my suspicions. Maybe the cops could have handled it better but considering what cops deal with I'm leaning toward supporting them in this one.

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

Agree...But I will probably agree the other way too. This is giving me a headache. Kinda looks like he was looking for trouble and then the police handled it wrong.....I think. What do you do?
The law needs to be able to do their job. And he was making himself look suspicious.

Pepper wrote:

I think the whole thing may have had a different outcome if the kid hadn't made himself a suspicious character from the beginning. Why he was so uncooperative from the very beginning was a bit of a mystery to me. Seemed as though he was just looking to be uncooperative which if I'm the cop raises my suspicions. Maybe the cops could have handled it better but considering what cops deal with I'm leaning toward supporting them in this one.

St3v3M Loc: 35,000 feet

http://www.flexyourrights.org/faqs/my-rights-at-checkpoints

http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/articles/drunk-driving-defense/federal/the-constitutionality-of-sobriety-checkpoints.html

Ambrose Loc: North America

I thinnk its fascinating. The main point is well presented: that it was a DUI checkpoint and they didn't even ask if he had been drinking.

I think this is a nice parallel to our resignation to letting the government have their way with our privacy. Think of this on a larger scale - what are we really doing about the revealing acts of the NSA recently? Are we demanding our privacy back, or are we just turning away and losing ourselves back into our iPods and TVs?

The man in the video didn't turn away. He knew what his rights were, and apparently, it didn't matter.

mooseeyes Loc: Sonora, California

The officer in this case has no business being a sworn officer of the law. They need to get him off of the streets, and for my money he should be fired, with complete loss of benefits. Much like the gentleman who he thought it proper and within his sole power to take away this gentleman's rights and benefits of being an American citizen.

Yeah the young man had a video camera rigged and running. So what? This officer violated the law at every step of way. The young man violated not a single law. And the deal with the dog is nothing short of shameful. This police department should have all K-9 units taken off the streets until it can be shown that these dog are used properly, and not to intimindate and ruin windows and paint.

Heads really need to roll, on this one.

Danilo Loc: Las Vegas

There's no doubt in my mind that this young man was deliberately "pushing the envelope", I've seen it before. But I have to wonder why the officer needed the window down further, even to the exclusion of simply asking whether the driver had been drinking. The officer seemed to fixate on this singular aspect of his traffic stop. Then he allowed his emotions to dictate his actions. From there is error became multiplied.
Bad Cop. :hunf:

hlmichel Loc: New Hope, Minnesota

This was stupid. The driver was looking for a response and he got it. I'd bet that if the cops just let him through with no problems, he'd find himself another car and go through the checkpoint again.

There is just no point in antagonizing cops just to prove a point.

26 years ago, I'm walking down the street. I pass a police car and a cop whistles for me to stop. "Screw you," I thought "I'm not a dog." He whistled again and I kept walking. Finally, the cop yelled for me to halt.
What followed was a very uncomfortable encounter that lasted for about 20 minutes. One cop in front of me who intimidated me while the other stayed behind me(I say him pull out his baton before he took his position)

Why did this happen? Because I was trying to prove a point.

TchrBill Loc: Houston, TX

You can say all you want to about rights but, the kid was the problem here. First of all, as has been mentioned, he had a camera taping the whole thing so he planned on creating a scene. Secondly, the cop merely asked him to roll down his window and the kid gave him a smart-ass answer. As a teacher I deal with this kind of attitude more than I would like. Maybe the cop wanted him to roll down the window to see if he could smell alcohol on the kids breath. It doesnt matter why he wanted the window down. It was a perfectly reasonable request. His refusal to follow that request and the way he did it pissed off the cop and it escalated from there. The kid baited him, pure and simple.

STVest Loc: LA - that's Lower Alabama

I have surprised myself with the opinion I have on this one.

The kid got exactly what he expected. And his camera was rolling because he wanted it to go viral. He wants us to become aware of our rights which are increasingly taken from us while we just nod and say "Yes, sir."

I did not see the kid being disrespectful or belligerent or confrontational. Unless you consider a polite refusal to docilely cede your rights as disrespectful. He gave the cop every opportunity to recognize his error and was plain and straightforward with his questions.

Would I have ever done this? No way! I would have shown my ID, done what the officer asked, thanked him for protecting my community and been on my way. But, should I? I couldn't have done what this kid did, because I really don't know exactly what my rights are. But I do understand that more of them are being taken from me every day.

Maybe it's time I learned exactly what rights I am guaranteed under the Constitution. Maybe it's time I stopped thoughtlessly giving my rights away. Maybe it's time I started questioning authority when it exceeds its rightful power.

The kid wants us to look at the bigger picture.

Thanks, kid.

lateron Loc: Yorkshire, England

STVest wrote:

I have surprised myself with the opinion I have on... (show quote)

SpeedyWilson Loc: Upstate South Carolina

If there is not very much discussion about this video, it's because it has already been the subject of another thread. You can compare responses here:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-132203-1.html

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

All are interesting view points and as I said....You won't get me to disagree with any of them. Thanks for the responses.

OnTheFly Loc: Tennessee

Thanks for that MisterWilson...I didn't realize that this was already posted...I will go back and read responses on that thread.

MisterWilson wrote:

If there is not very much discussion about this video, it's because it has already been the subject of another thread. You can compare responses here:

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-132203-1.html