I’m not sure what’s going on in St.Louis right now, but based on this video, everyone there seems really cranky and crabby. If you don’t believe me, watch this video of a man who was pulled over for the unconscionable crime of honking at an unmarked police car that was sitting at a green light.
There’s an awful lot to process here. You better just watch this first so you’ll know what the hell I’m going on about:
Wow. It sounded sort of like two 12-year-olds fighting there, didn’t it? Like they both had finally gotten comfortable saying “fuck” and really wanted a chance to try it out. That whole exchange felt about two seconds away from an interminable “I know you are, but what am I?” fight.
The big issue here, of course, is that a police officer decided to pull someone over for honking at them when they’re stopped at a green light.
According to what the driver of the honking car, Scott Smith, told the Riverfront Times, the incident happened like this:
“The light turned green and the car in front of me just sat there. So I honked once and he started to scoot forward, then just like hit his brakes real hard. So I honked again and he started to go forward and kinda threw his arms up, but wasn’t really moving, still just blocking the way. So then I just laid on the horn for a minute as he slowly crept forward, and then right as he got through the intersection he kinda pulled into the far left lane of Tucker.”
It’s worth noting that during the exchange, at no point does the police officers deny he was “sitting at a green light.” Also, at no point does the cop explain why he pulled Smith over, with the closest explanation coming when the cop suggests that Smith “maybe shouldn’t be such a fucking asshole.”
While being a fucking asshole is not endorsed by this publication, it is also not a legal offense that can justify being pulled over.
If Smith’s retelling of the event is accurate, it does seem like the officer was aware he was stopped at the light and blocking the flow of traffic, what with the raised-arm gesture and the subsequent slow progress through the intersection.
Smith, of course, is quite indignant and disrespectful to the police officer, though to be fair there’s not a lot that happened in the exchange to suggest that much respect was deserved.
It also may be worth noting that Smith enjoyed a confidence talking so freely and contemptuously to a police officer that I suspect many other people wouldn’t expect to have, at least not without the involvement of firearms.
Incredibly, this idiotic situation escalated, with a total of three police cars arriving at the scene to help Officer Tenderfeels crack the case of The Loud Noise Made Me Feel Ways About Things.
Three police vehicles and at least four officers were spending about 40 minutes trying to figure out if they could charge Smith with something. Eventually, Smith was told he would be receiving a ticket in the mail for a still unspecified offense.
This is ridiculous. Honking at a cop sitting at a green light is not illegal, period. Sure, both parties came off as jerks, but all of this waste and idiocy could have been easily avoided, and the onus of that is squarely on the cop, who maybe should shove that in his onus-hole.