Kapri

That is awful. A fine seems acceptable but that is disgusting.

Vash the Stampede

The cop was partly right; jaywalking is illegal in Northern Ireland, where it attracts a £30 fine.

Nevertheless, this incident is a classic case of a small-minded bully abusing the authority of his uniform. Absolutely disgusting, and totally unAustralian.

Vash the Stampede

Verbal assault is illegal. Depending on the severity of the case, it can be interpreted as affray, which is also illegal.

You actually swore at them? You told them to "F right off" and "shut the hell up"? And they just "walked off quietly"?

Is it legal to verbally abuse the police?

YoSemite

or look at it from another point of view...

your tootling along quite nicely in your car, silly pedestrian jumps out right infront fo you to corss the road, you hit ped., ped. tries to sue....

first question from lawyer - was ped. crossing at the traffic lights? - no! case closed!

xzibit

What a stupid stupid law. I'd expect it in the USA, as they have no common sense over there, but in Oz. Well when I get there in April I best take my tape measure out with me. Oh dear, well, all I can say is this, if I get a fine for crossing the road 2cm too close to the traffic lights, I will tell the copper where to go.

Australia_bound?

So Policeman is an expert in UK law as well. Never seen or heard of anyone in UK being fined for jaywalking? Amount of teenager/pensioner who on a daily basis walk right in front of cars in town market place I live near would say that this does not happen in UK.
But I'm sure lots of petty laws that can be used and abused if a Police Officer is feeling that way out just about everywhere in the world!

The Crow

I hope you waited until your daughter was inside the house before your use of such mature language

iPom

I got pulled over by a policeman on a bike the other day. Three children in car on our way to swimming pool, we'd travelled through a school zone, not at 40k but at 60k.
Knowing I have cop behind me I am super careful not to do anything silly. I see him slow through the school zone (you're meant to go 40k on 'School days' between certain times) However, he flashes his lights.
I wind down my window and he starts ranting at me about how my driving could kill someone and didn't I see the 40 signs? Yes, of course I did, but it's not a school day. I point to the three children in the car and inform the guy it's school holidays and there ARE no children at school. He ignores this and tells me my driving is irresponsible and dangerous.

He then tells me at times he was following me I got up to 70 - An absolute blatant lie as my speedo never went above 60 and in fact was below for much of the time. 'Slow down before you kill someone, for Christ's sake' he yells at me.
At this point, after having a shitty time with three arguing children in the back of the car anyway, I got stroppy with him ... Told him if I'd gone 70 then he should prove it and I wanted to see his radar recording if that was true (he hadn't got one) and if it was true, I wanted his name, his number and I wanted a ticket for speeding so that I could take it to court to prove what a completely bogus stop this was.
At this point, I am in a bikini, arguing with a policeman on the Great Western Highway as car after car speeds past.

My lesson - Springwood police are tossers. His lesson? Never piss off an already pissed off mother. He says 'Just be careful' and drives off, no number, no speeding ticket, no nothing.
Complete and utter wanker who wanted to get his kicks by shouting at a woman.



http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/roadsafety...neprogram.html

'Public Holidays are not considered school days.'

Dirk1971

Unbelievable. The US Is a police state

sandrainaus

There was no cars hence the reason he crossed the road, he is a big boy and know hows to look left and right,and not walk out in front of cars.

BadgeIsBack

My Dutch girlfriend reprimanded me for jaywalking once.

Of many countries I have lived in, the UK seems the one which comes to mind of being lax.

I hate missing the tram if the lights are against me and it's arrived on the other side. I once stopped traffic when a bunch of people all wanted to get on. Body language is key. Look like you are in authority and people believe it. Amazing!

Centurion

Oh cmon though. All the bloke had to do was show some ID to a uniformed cop. Nobody is ever likely to believe the police and would rather take the stance that its police state brutality.

If I'm stopped by a cop then I do what I'm told. Its easier than bloody fighting.

Sure some cops are w*nkers but then so are some members of the general public and there are heaps of bogans without any respect for the law whatsoever.

wanderingwombat

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...003402,00.html

A BRITISH history professor has caused a stir in Atlanta, and back home in Britain, over his arrest this month after he tried to cross the road outside an Atlanta hotel where he was attending a conference.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto has complained his arrest was a "violent assault."

According to a police report, officer Kevin Leonpacher, working off-duty for hotel security and wearing a jacket marked "Atlanta Police," blew his whistle for Fernandez-Armesto to stop crossing Courtland Street in central Atlanta on January 4 and directed him to a crossing.

The historian ignored Mr Leonpacher who then asked "as many as ten times" for Mr Fernandez-Armesto's identification. When he refused and instead demanded Mr Leonpacher's identification, the officer made an arrest, the report said.

"I asked him to put his hands behind his back so that he could be handcuffed .... He pulled away and began to wrestle with me. After about a minute I was able to wrestle him to the ground ... as I called for backup," the report said.

Mr Fernandez-Armesto said he was not aware it was an offense to cross the street at that point.

"I was an absolutely innocent person. I am very sorry to have crossed the road when I shouldn't have and to have failed to recognise he was a police officer but I cannot find anything I did as not the normal behavior of an honest person," he said.

Mr Fernandez-Armesto was detained for eight hours before being taken before a judge who dismissed a charge of disorderly conduct.

The case might have ended there. But in an opinion piece in the Atlanta Journal Constitution last week, the historian said being "assaulted by the police and locked up for hours in the company of some of the ... dregs of the American underclass" had taught him something new about the country.

"No one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails," he said, quoting former South African President Nelson Mandela, although he added he was well treated by staff at the jail and by the judge.

Subsequent comment in the newspaper and on the city's talk- radio shows was largely unfavorable to the historian.

One letter called him an "arrogant Englishman," although the newspaper said in an editorial the incident had "bruised Atlanta's reputation as a ... city known for Southern hospitality."

Nomore

I don't know the law...they never said anything to me except calm down.
Accusations were thrown around, they need to be careful too as no prove of the situation had been discussed, slander and all that is also a crime.
Nothing came of it as there was nothing to sort out, just teenagers falling out. They knew that. So they walked away once we had calmed down. So i guess some police are nice really..

arkon

How is that unAustralian? It is all very Australian if you ask me.