100k payout to woman arrested for cursing cops as she rode past on bicycle

[Liberal_in_LA]

In Cobb County, Georgia, Amy Elizabeth Barnes was arrested on Easter Sunday 2012 when she rode her bicycle past two police officers questioning a black man outside of a convenience store. Her crime? Shouting, “Cobb police suck,” and, “Fuck the police,” while raising her middle fingers.

Impolitic, sure, but criminal? Judge Melodie Clayton sure didn't think so. She ruled this week that police had no grounds to arrest Barnes for incitement. “The evidence at trial showed that the Defendant was not engaged in a face-to-face confrontation with the officers which tended to incite an immediate breach of the peace when the words were spoken,” Judge Clayton wrote in her decision. “In addition, the word “su*k”, used as an epithet, is now common enough in modern society that it cannot reasonably provoke a threat of violence. The defendant’s other statement, '(expletive) the police,' was a fleeting epithet that was insulting and inappropriate, but it did not create an immediate threat and danger of violence.”

Barnes was awarded $100,000 in a settlement with the county, as a form of compensation for spending a day and night in jail (that includes six hours in solitary confinement).

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/georgia-county-ordered-pay-100000-woman-arrested-and-jailed-cursing-cops

[840high]

1. There's more...

From Marrieta Daily Journal


hat this article left out was what a fine up standing citizen this piece of trash is.... Barnes was most recently in the news in 2013 when she was arrested after her then 4- and 5-year-old children were found playing by themselves in a school playground three blocks from her home on Wanda Circle.

Authorities investigated and arrested the then 30-year-old Barnes and John Galczynski, then 58, after reportedly finding raw sewage, feces, dirt, moldy food and dog food on the floors, exposed electrical wires throughout the house, according to the arrest warrant.

They also found a German shepherd in dire need of medical care. The pet was suffering from a skin infection and had lost much of its hair, the warrant said.

They are currently facing charges of deprivation of a minor, reckless conduct and cruelty to animals in the unresolved case in Cobb Superior Court, according to court records.

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - County to settle civil rights suit pay

[Atman]

2. Oh, so she's a nasty, dirty person. That means she has no rights.

How have we gotten here? So you hate her, so she's does not live a life any of us would want to live...I doubt she would PREFER to live her current life. But that doesn't take away her constitutional right to free speech. The cops did not arrest her because her house was messy or her kids were playing alone. They arrested her for her WORDS.

That is NOT the law. Otherwise, the cops would be kicking in your door for the porno you watched, or the kale you ate, or any other things LOE found distasteful. If there was a reason to arrest her for dog shit or exposed electrical wires, get a warrant and do so. How is this difficult to understand? So she's an asshole. Plenty of us here on DU are as well.

[840high]

7. I did not say she has no

rights - just gave an update.

[840high]

11. How can I hate her - I have no interest in her - just

posted what the paper said. Get a grip - I don't know if she prefers her current life or not and don't care.

[Atman]

18. Well, it appears you haven't received too much support here.

Most progressives/liberals/human beings don't blame the victim for police overreach. She was asshole, to be sure. But please don't double down on your "blame the victim" BS by saying "but I was only saying what others are saying!"

What truly makes people upset here is that she was awarded money for being an asshole. Again...that was the cops' fault for arresting her for hurting their feelings.

[951-Riverside]

4. Shows what a boot licking piece of trash you are for smearing a victim of police brutality

this article left out was what a fine up standing citizen this piece of trash is

Are you by chance a member of a Police Union?

Funny how she gets slammed with a bunch of charges after the incident. Seems like a witchhunt on the police department's part and of course the media just repeats and slants their story in such a way that demonizes the victim and favors the police so this article has little weight with me.

A charge is not a conviction but regardless that doesnt give your Buds in Blue the right to arrest someone just for hurting their feelings.

[840high]

8. Trash calling me trash? I posted what

newspaper said - those were not my words. Chill.

[840high]

12. I don't know how to

lick boots - I;m sure you can teach me.

[Logical]

5. So you're siding with the police on this one I guess. Classy. Nt

[840high]

10. Frankly, I'm not siding

with either.

[BillZBubb]

6. What kind of trash trashes someone who was abused by the police?

You maybe?

[NutmegYankee]

14. Cop Defense 101: Trash the victim

I don't care who you are or how dirty you live, you still get and expect free speech as a right.

[840high]

15. Yes you do. Never said

you don't.

[mythology]

16. She's certainly no peach, but the police are supposed to enforce the law

not protect their own egos.

[bhikkhu]

19. Sometimes a sick dog, bad plumbing and bad wiring, a poorly kept house - just means poverty

I wouldn't call someone trash unless I knew them pretty well and could say so from experience.

When I see a homeless person wearing dirty clothes and pushing a cart full of other people's cast-offs I don't consider them trash at all; I just think I'm fortunate for all the breaks and helping hands I've gotten myself. Not everyone is so lucky.

[Jenoch]

3. This woman appears to need some help.

The $100k will only make things worse.

[alcibiades_mystery]

17. Police once broke up a party in a (NYC) park we were having

The DJ (we had DJ equipment run through a generator) literally started playing Fuck the Police (NWA) and they tried to arrest him. Several of us finally prevailed on the police to go find better shit to do. Queens, New York, 1992.