Luring women off the road with a flashing police light and a genuine police uniform is no prank

[bigtree]

Last edited Fri Jun 8, 2012, 12:54 PM - Edit history (2)

It's a threatening action which is basically an assault on whoever is lured off of the road. If caught, there may well be an ultimate decision that the incident is an isolated one and that it didn't pose a substantial threat to the victim. I don't think the law would automatically assume, though, that such an act was harmless.

I don't think they'd settle for 'creepy' either. I think it is a serious criminal act, and that the victims who are lured off of the road have every right to expect that their assailant is treated as a real danger; not as a joke.

I can't speak for women and others who are made to endure this type of assault and abridgment of their freedom, but there is a disturbing element of deliberate dis-empowering and domination which accompanies and encompasses such a violent act.

I don't accept that such an act can be called a 'prank' or a joke. It's a serious, potentially dangerous, threatening crime. Women should expect that they can travel in their cars alone without being accosted, and, they should be able to feel they can trust their law enforcement officers on the road and elsewhere.

Would Romney realize the implications and consequences for the victim of such an act?

[flamingdem]

1. The guy has a screw loose

Let's hope he really let's out a good one that destroys him as a candidate between now and Nov

[rocktivity]

2. Except for the gag that he pulled off with two confederates

I haven't seen a eyewitness report of his actually having done it. As creepy as it is to believe that it's funny, I think it's even creepier that he would make it up and brag about it.


rocktivity

[Gregorian]

3. And out of millions of people who are eligible for the office of president

is this the kind of applicant we are willing to entertain?

I can see Obama as being one of the few contenders out of, what?, a hundred million people who could qualify for president. Not someone lurking around at night in their car, doing criminal acts.

I want to say that things like this should be grounds for rejection from being a candidate for office of POTUS. But then one would have to evaluate how it could be used against upstanding citizens, by conservatives.

Then again, are there any conservatives who would actually qualify to run, if this rule were applied?

[cynatnite]

4. If there are flashing lights in my rearview mirror while I'm driving at night...

and I can't tell that it's a marked car, I will call 911 and pull off into a well lit area. There are some desolate roads around here and a lot of drug and criminal activity.

You can't be too careful as far as I'm concerned.

[bigtree]

5. and you know, this is what we've learned to do

. . . because of the very real threat posed by some of these police impersonators on the road over the years. I never once though any of those incidents were 'pranks.' It is a pernicious act, in and of itself.

There are many more judgments to be made about the assailant.

[Journeyman]

6. Google "The Red-Light Bandit" - one of the more famous Capital Punishment cases (Caryl Chessman)...

It'll help illustrate how terrifying such an encounter on the roads can be.

And Chessman was probably innocent of the charge.

[XemaSab]

7. That was my first thought

I was told growing up to NEVER pull over for the cops in a deserted area.

[freshwest]

12. Even cops will tell you to drive to mall, or to go to the nearest police station.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

8. Pranks for the rich and jail for the poor

[Marie Marie]

9. Just wondering how he would feel if someone pulled this on his wife.

Would it still be considered just a joke or prank?

[freshwest]

11. Marie Marie, love that sig line, one of my favorites.

[bigtree]

14. he'd want him charged with assault, I'd think

. . . kidnapping, as well.

[freshwest]

10. Or put it this way: Would he like his mother, sister, wife, daughter or granddaughter done that way?

And the consequences such as robbery, rape and murder that place when a person is lured off anywhere? And the fear that such actions engender, even if such does not happen?

Another reason to keep this nut as far away from the White House as possible. And seize his foreign assets that support his actions in this country.

Yet, Obama is bad...

[bigtree]

13. right

. . . parents' reaction to their daughter's recounting of the assault.

They're going to assume (correctly) that this was a danger to their child. Who's going to accept that it was just a joke and move on?

[freshwest]

15. RW pundits think these things are all funny. Raped soldiers: asked for it; Abu Graib: frat prank;

It just goes on and on, denigrating all empathy and caring, calling it weak and bleeding heart, coarsening our society. The RW is destroying the conscience of America and wants us to act like animals.

[lookingfortruth]

16. I seriously wonder what he did to those women. Being a victim of rape I fear the worse and

seriously wonder if he didn't force himself on those women he stopped.

[Lugnut]

17. I don't think it's funny.

It's not a prank or a "joke". Anyone who thinks it is needs their head examined.

[freshwest]

20. We need to have a lot of hate radio pundits' heads examined, that's for sure.

[TwilightGardener]

18. I can't think of any innocent/benign motives for this behavior. He's a sick pup. I can't think of

anyone I know who would do this--and if they did, I'd never go near them again.

[freshwest]

19. +1

[Scootaloo]

21. I read the story, and another Republican came to mind

[img][/img]

From Wiki:

On a rainy November evening in Murray, Utah, Bundy approached 18-year-old telephone operator Carol DaRonch at a mall less than a mile from the Midvale restaurant where Melissa Smith was last seen. He identified himself as "Officer Roseland" of the Murray Police Department, told DaRonch that someone had attempted to break into her car, and asked her to accompany him to the station to file a complaint. When DaRonch pointed out that Bundy was driving on a road that did not lead to the police station, he immediately pulled to the shoulder and attempted to handcuff her. During their struggle he inadvertently fastened both handcuffs to the same wrist, and DaRonch was able to open the car door and escape.

And while I'm thinking of it, here's another right-wing folk hero who did the same!

[img][/img]

When Breivik arrived on the island, he presented himself as a police officer who had come over for a routine check following the bombing in Oslo. He was met by Monica Bøsei, the camp leader and island hostess. Bøsei probably became suspicious and contacted Trond Berntsen, the security officer on the island, before Breivik killed them both. He then signaled and asked people to gather around him before pulling weapons and ammunition from a bag and indiscriminately firing his weapons, killing and wounding numerous people. He first shot people on the island and later started shooting at people who were trying to escape by swimming across the lake. Survivors on the island described a scene of terror. In one example, 21-year-old survivor Dana Barzingi described how several victims wounded by Breivik pretended to be dead to survive; but he later came back and shot them again

[JustAnotherGen]

23. I agree

But the IndieTeaPubs don't see it that way - he's of their ilk - so for them it is AOK.

[mainer]

24. I wonder how cops feel about this

Will this lose the law enforcement vote?

[bigtree]

25. I dunno. I can't imagine they appreciate their authority undermined in that way

. . . it's hard enough for them to get folks to respect their role and authority without boneheads leading folks to doubt their credentials.

[Uncle Joe]

26. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bigtree.

[Bake]

27. Oh, that Mitt! What a prankster!

There's a word for it. CRIMINAL.

This is the best the Thugs have got? Bring it the f*** on!

Bake