New Vocabulary term: The Crowley Option

[Gothmog]

Andrew Sullivan used a term today that I really think should become part of the vocabulary. http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/07/police-state-watch-1.html

A classic case of what it's like to live in today's America:

Police in Mobile, Ala., used pepper spray and a Taser on a deaf, mentally disabled man who they said wouldn't leave a store's bathroom ... Police tell the Press-Register of Mobile that officers shot pepper spray under the bathroom door after knocking several times. After forcing the door open, they used the stun gun on Love.

Then they tried the Crowley option: arresting him for disorderly conduct. Mercifully a judge threw the charge out. But notice the disorderly conduct charge filed even after all the facts are known. The crime - disabled while taking a shit - is just asking to be tasered and pepper-sprayed.

The term "the Crowley Option" should now be used to refer to the filing of bogus disorderly conduct charges to cover up police misconduct

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[BlooInBloo]

2. I've submitted it to Urban Dictionary.

[Gothmog]

3. thanks

Good job. I wished that I thought of that.

[BlooInBloo]

5. ...

Submission under review

Your entry is under review by editors.
Crowley Option
When a cop is confronted with a member of the public he or she doesn't like for whatever reason, but hasn't committed a crime, the cop may choose to exercise the Crowley Option, and arrest that member of the public for "Disorderly Conduct".
Example from Andrew Sullivan:

" Police in Mobile, Ala., used pepper spray and a Taser on a deaf, mentally disabled man who they said wouldn't leave a store's bathroom ... Police tell the Press-Register of Mobile that officers shot pepper spray under the bathroom door after knocking several times. After forcing the door open, they used the stun gun on Love.

Then they tried the Crowley option: arresting him for disorderly conduct."
by BlooInBloo on Jul 29, 2009

tags: police, abuse of power, false arrest, making shit up, lying

[Gothmog]

6. Urban Dictionary already has one definition that is close

Here is one of the existing definitions of a crowley in the Urban dictionary

Crowley 11 up, 24 down
A male who is innept at social discourse
One who treats others with disrespect
A man worthy of censure
Man I hate that guy, he's such a Crowley.

My boyfriend is being a totaly Crowley to me today.

I thought he was a cool guy but he turned all Crowley once I got to know

[BlooInBloo]

7. Heh - nice!

[Gothmog]

14. Any update on your entry?

Was your entry accepted?

[ingac70]

4. I can't believe they still....

tried to make up charges on this guy. WTF is wrong with cops?

[Gothmog]

8. Here is yet another example of a police officer using the Crowley Option

Here is yet another example of a police office using the Crowley Option http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/29/disorderly-conduct-conver_n_246794.html

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. "We'd been talking about it all day," said Tuma. "It seems like police have a tendency to act overly aggressively when they're being pushed around," Tuma recalled saying.

Then the group noticed five or six police cruisers surrounding two cars in an apparent traffic stop on the other side of the street. It seemed to Tuma that was more cops than necessary.

"That's why I hate the police," Tuma said. He told the Huffington Post that in a loud sing-song voice, he then chanted, "I hate the police, I hate the police."

One officer reacted strongly to Tuma's song. "Hey! Hey! Who do you think you're talking to?" Tuma recalled the officer shouting as he strode across an intersection to where Tuma was standing. "Who do you think you are to think you can talk to a police officer like that?" the police officer said, according to Luke Platzer, 30, one of Tuma's companions.

Tuma said he responded, "It is not illegal to say I hate the police. It's not illegal to express my opinion walking down the street."

According to Tuma and Platzer, the officer pushed Tuma against an electric utility box, continuing to ask who he thought he was and to say he couldn't talk to police like that.

"I didn't curse," Tuma said. "I asked, am I being arrested? Why am I a being arrested?"

Within minutes, the officer had cuffed Tuma. The charge: disorderly conduct -- just like Gates, who was arrested after police responded to a report of a possible break-in at his home and Gates protested their ensuing behavior.

This guy needs to sue also. The use of the Crowley option by police officers is getting a little out of control

[nilram]

9. that's crazy.

I'm white, 50, and in a liberal state, but I keep away from the police if I possibly can.

[Karenina]

12. SYSTEMIC problem...

[TheKentuckian]

10. I like the "Crowley Maneuver" a bit more but it is apt either way.

[ColbertWatcher]

11. Actually I prefer using "the hooded option". n/t

[Gothmog]

13. Update on young man who had Crowley Option used against him

Here is an update on the young mentally retarded man who was pepper sprayed and tasered and then charged with disorderly conduct. http://blog.al.com/live/2009/07/police_to_release_results_of_i.html

MOBILE, Ala. -- The Mobile police officers who tried to book a deaf and mentally disabled man into jail after using a Taser and pepper spray on him will report to internal affairs today, department officials said. Pending the preliminary findings, they will either return to normal duty the same day or be placed on administrative duty.

Deputy Chief James Barber said that internal affairs investigators were still gathering evidence in the case, including how many officers and supervisors reported to the scene, and when.

Preliminary results of the findings should be made public today, Barber said, adding that no official judgment on the officers' actions had been reached as of Tuesday evening.

As noted, the policc attemped to use the Crowley Option and book this young man for disorderly conduct. Luckily the judge in this case knew the law and dismissed the charges

Police have said they discovered Love was deaf after looking in his wallet. They later attempted to book him on resisting arrest, disorderly conduct and failure to obey a police officer.

Barbara Muhammad, a magistrate, refused to sign off on the charges, effectively dismissing the Police Department's case. Muhammad declined comment Tuesday.

J.M. "Pete" Pedersen, who oversees the operations of municipal court, said he couldn't comment on Muhammad's decision specifically, but that her decision was in line with her duties.

"Officers are very educated on what the law is," he said. "Most will have a good judgment on what the parameters are to bring a valid complaint."

The Crowley Option is being used by the police anytime they want to cover up their screw up.