Bent Corner

From the Herald-Mail:

A Hagerstown resident told the City Council on Tuesday that she intends to file an ethics complaint against Councilwoman Kelly S. Cromer over a traffic stop in which Cromer was given a warning for allegedly speeding last month near City Park.

During a council meeting, Cathy Ridenour said a “can of worms” had been opened after Cromer was given a warning rather that a ticket on May 26 for allegedly driving 43 mph in a 25-mph zone — an infraction that carries a $90 fine.

“I, as a tax-paying citizen of Hagerstown, am asking that the (Washington County Ethics Commission) investigate in full the incident that occurred in regards to Councilwoman Cromer being stopped …,” Ridenour said. “My belief … is that no one is above the law and using one’s position of authority is inexcusable, unprofessional and wrong.”

Now this is just getting silly. Unless Cathy Ridenour knows something that the rest of us don’t, she has no basis to accuse Cromer of anything. She certainly has no basis of going to the Washington County Ethics Commission.

Even if Cromer somehow used her position on the City Council to get out of a ticket — and there currently is no evidence showing that she did — it’s the police officer that made the decision to NOT give her a ticket.

I think I’m going to do my best John Kerry impersonation now and flip-flop on this. At first I was ready to criticize Cromer for trying to get out of ticket, but now I’m not so sure if she has anything to be criticized about. She claims she didn’t say “Don’t you know who I am“. She claims that since the officer obviously knew who she was, she asked him if she needed to look through her luggage for her license.

The more I think about it, the more I believe she didn’t ask the officer if he knew who she was. She obviously knew the shit-storm that was created when her fellow City Council member Alesia Parson-McBean said that when she was stopped by the police.

Of the two versions of the story — Cromer’s and the officer’s — it’s Cromer’s that makes the most sense.

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Eugene Snelling gets Tasered by corporal Thomas O’Connor of the Austin Police Department for not giving him his driver’s license and proof of insurance fast enough. Eugene Snelling was driving 70 mph in a 65 mph zone. He is also black. I can’t help but think that had a lot to do with it.  A black man driving a whole five miles an hour faster then the posted speed limit on the interstate then getting all uppity when the white officer immediately begins to yell at him.

Watch the video from O’Connor’s patrol car.

Refuse to answer a cop’s question and you and your fetus may get Tasered:

A policeman forced a pregnant woman to the ground and used a stun gun on her when she refused to answer the officer’s questions and resisted being handcuffed, authorities said Thursday.

What did cops do before they got their little electronic stun gun toys? Is there anyone they wouldn’t Taser?

I’m not sure what crime this woman committed. It’s not a crime to not answer a cop’s questions. That’s kind of the whole point of having the right to remain silent. You don’t have to answer their questions. She resisted being handcuffed, but what reason did the cop have in even trying to handcuff her?

Jarrel Gray, a 20-year old Frederick Maryland man was killed this past Sunday morning after being Tasered twice in a 23 second period by a Frederick County Sheriff Deputy. This from the Frederick News-Post:

The deputy found three men fighting, Jenkins said. A female was also on the scene.

Jenkins would not provide the names or ages of the other people at the scene, but he said the deputy was a corporal and a 13-year veteran of the department.

When the deputy told the three men to show their hands, one of them did so immediately, another walked away before showing his hands, and the third man, identified as Gray, did not comply, Jenkins said.

The sheriff said no other officers were present when the deputy deployed the Taser. Gray, of the 7000 block of Ladd Circle, fell to the ground unconscious; he was given first aid on the scene.

Emergency responders arrived in minutes, Jenkins said. Gray was then taken to Frederick Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead about 7:30 a.m.

Gray’s family says that he was deaf in one ear and may not have understood the deputy’s instructions to show his hands.

I don’t like these Taser devices. For supposedly being non-lethal, there sure are a lot of people now dead because of them.