Jailed for taking electricity worth 5 cents !

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: KenO
Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: Vikas
You mean to tell that if a thief can enter an unlocked car and rifle through it contents, then a cop should be able to do it so, huh?

Do you think there is nothing wrong when a thief does that? Or only if the cop does it?


Look at it another way, purely hypothetical.
The cop gets a call a car is plugged into a school where it doesn't belong, he responds, takes a quick look, decides its an electric car just gassing up and leaves.

the next day 9am a bomb goes off killing and maiming student and teachers. It is found out the car was the bomb and the power it was getting was powering the device and a remote trigger.

I would love to see the nightly news and read the resulting thread on BITOG about how the cop was a negligent slacker who was just to lazy to do his job.
Cops have a bum deal, they enforce the law, even if its law that no one wants or he/she doesn't like they have to enforce it anyway.



It's sad that todays media has you in such a frenzy over bombs.


I think he was trying to make a point, at least that's how it came across to me when he used the word "hypothetical".

 

[bladecutter]

Originally Posted By: Win
Where's the expectation of privacy in an unlocked car on publicly accessible property? If it had been on private property, where the cop would be "breaking the close", then it could be looked at in a different way. His reason for doing it was certainly a lame pretext, but I don't think it matters.


Here's my point about this whole thing:

If a police officer sees a vehicle, parked, and is plugged into an outlet on the wall of the building, isn't the easiest way to tell if it's abandoned or not to simply look for a license plate on the vehicle?

If it has current, valid registration, he should be able to use his computer system in the squad car to pull up the name and address of the registered owner. If there isn't a current valid plate on the vehicle, he should then be able to look up the last owner by using the VIN number.

Now, I would have to assume the Nissan Leaf owner had valid tags on it.
If it did, why did the officer need to enter the vehicle, and start looking around for something to identify the owner? He should have been able to get the information from his system after looking up the license plate number.

He then should have easily been able to walk over to the area where people were actively playing tennis, and ask if so-and-so who owns the Prius is present.

The officer had no legal need to enter the car.
If he walked up to it, looked in the window, and saw a huge marijuana plant in plain site, he still wouldn't have ever opened the door. In fact, in that type of situation, most good officers simply would have blocked the car from leaving, called in their request for a warrant, and detained the owner if he made his presence known.

I don't like either the officer or the Nissan Leaf owner in this situation.
They both seem to be pretty low on the intelligence quotient.
One just has the ability to ruin the others life with the greatest of ease.

And for the record, if someone plugged their car into my house without permission, and I found it, I would cut the power to the outlet, and cut the cord off with wire cutting tools. And I would never plug into another person's property without asking permission, AND offering compensation. No matter how much electricity I pulled, I would at least hand the home owner $20 for the ability to charge up off of their outlet, if I was in dire need, and actually owned an electric vehicle.

BC.

 

[Vikas]

Quote:
One just has the ability to ruin the others life with the greatest of ease.
Precisely; people seem to understand this only when they themselves are at the receiving end.

You guys did realize that the guy was put in the jail 11 days after the actual incident and that too was done at the end of the day so that he would end up spending the night in the jail.

And some of you still don't see the vendetta and excessive use of the power :-(

 

[Jarlaxle]

Some people can't see it, some won't see it. Some see it and approve...those are the worst of all.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Some people can't see it, some won't see it. Some see it and approve...those are the worst of all.


The bottom line was that the subject was........

firstly, a thief..... BROKE THE LAW

secondly, had been previously warned about using or being on school premises.....

last, when the officer questioned the subject he conducted himself in such a way as to obstruct an investigation of the situation.

Even though he was GUILTY of all of the above, if said subject would have conducted himself reasonably when he spoke to the
officer, he would not have had to go to court, or jail for that matter. He made his choices and received his rewards.

The guy spent ONE NIGHT in the cooler.

I bet this obnoxious clown learned a lesson, and will not repeat his offenses again.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Some people can't see it, some won't see it. Some see it and approve...those are the worst of all.


The bottom line was that the subject was........

firstly, a thief..... BROKE THE LAW


alleged but not convicted...

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Some people can't see it, some won't see it. Some see it and approve...those are the worst of all.


The bottom line was that the subject was........

firstly, a thief..... BROKE THE LAW


alleged but not convicted...

If the legal system took its course he would indeed be convicted.

 

[The_Jeff]

Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: eljefino
Originally Posted By: antiqueshell
Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
Some people can't see it, some won't see it. Some see it and approve...those are the worst of all.


The bottom line was that the subject was........

firstly, a thief..... BROKE THE LAW


alleged but not convicted...

If the legal system took its course he would indeed be convicted.

And get "time served"!!!

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: KenO

It's sad that todays media has you in such a frenzy over bombs.


Really?
There could be no greater terror than having a school full of kids hit by a bomb.
I am in no frenzy over bombs but very aware of what they can do and the havoc they can reek.

Just today..

http://www.ibtimes.com/harvard-bomb-scar...-orders-1510072

Don't think for a second that some nut job isn't planning this, its not a question of if but when and when it does the country will never be the same.
You wont be able to ban bombs or regulate them to only 3 bombs per customer.
Maybe then you will beg the police to check every car that is near a school and not supposed to be there.

 

[Trajan]

Originally Posted By: Trav
Originally Posted By: KenO

It's sad that todays media has you in such a frenzy over bombs.


Really?
There could be no greater terror than having a school full of kids hit by a bomb.
I am in no frenzy over bombs but very aware of what they can do and the havoc they can reek.

Just today..

http://www.ibtimes.com/harvard-bomb-scar...-orders-1510072

Don't think for a second that some nut job isn't planning this, its not a question of if but when and when it does the country will never be the same.
You wont be able to ban bombs or regulate them to only 3 bombs per customer.
Maybe then you will beg the police to check every car that is near a school and not supposed to be there.


He'll be the first in line screaming "Why didn't the cops look in the car?" if a car bomb went off at his kid's school.

 

[KenO]

Negative. You simply cannot live your life in fear of the freakish what-if's. Use your head, look out for yourself and those around you, and go about your life. This hyper protectionism is what got our liberty-stealing socialist president elected in the first place. Just because some people from what should be a giant glass parking lot decided to blow up a building (allegedly - I still think our government did it as a reason to do terrible things to those people in exchange for their oil what whatever else they're doing over there) doesn't mean the constitution should automatically be thrown out the window. It applies just as much today as it did in 1800, or any other time in our countries relatively short history, regardless how much some think it shouldn't.

 

[FowVay]

Heard on the news today that the charges will be dropped against the Leaf owner.

This whole incident is sad and makes our judicial system look like thugs on the loose.

 

[Jarlaxle]

That's not just an APPEARANCE, sadly...

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted By: FowVay
Heard on the news today that the charges will be dropped against the Leaf owner.

This whole incident is sad and makes our judicial system look like thugs on the loose.


Its a real shame we handle thieves like this with velvet gloves. I hope the cops are all over him like a cheap suit and pinch him every time he steals "fuel".
This thief is the "thug on the loose" IMO.

 

[demarpaint]

I've never seen this guy but I have a picture in my mind of a loud mouth trouble maker, that will be in trouble again. Just give him some time.

 

[FowVay]

Your mental image would be shattered I'm afraid. I saw him interviewed on the local news and he presented himself in a very favorable and intelligent manner.

In comparison to the local Chief of Police he appeared to be a genius.

 

[antiqueshell]

Originally Posted By: FowVay
Your mental image would be shattered I'm afraid. I saw him interviewed on the local news and he presented himself in a very favorable and intelligent manner.

In comparison to the local Chief of Police he appeared to be a genius.


Ha. Don't fall for the first impression.

But most folks still do, even the savvy ones.

I also believe that you'll see this prize in trouble again soon, even with the overnight stay in the clink. Hopefully he'll pay a higher price next time.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: FowVay
Your mental image would be shattered I'm afraid. I saw him interviewed on the local news and he presented himself in a very favorable and intelligent manner.

In comparison to the local Chief of Police he appeared to be a genius.


I'm sure during the interview he was on his very best behavior. If he wasn't he'd be a complete and total fool.

I'm with antiqueshell, give him some time he'll be in trouble again.

 

[jd_1138]

Originally Posted By: Cristobal
It was not much of a theft, but a theft is a theft, and it was OK in my book to arrest him. If I stole toilet paper from a public library's janitorial closet, it would be theft too.


Come on, it's not worth jailing someone over. Some common sense needs to be applied. If an electric car owner is sneaking some electricity in an emergency, just warn him not to.

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: jd_1138
Originally Posted By: Cristobal
It was not much of a theft, but a theft is a theft, and it was OK in my book to arrest him. If I stole toilet paper from a public library's janitorial closet, it would be theft too.


Come on, it's not worth jailing someone over. Some common sense needs to be applied. If an electric car owner is sneaking some electricity in an emergency, just warn him not to.

If everyone with tiny infraction is jailed then we need to build a lot more prison.