Raw Story – by Stephen C. Webster
Two police officers in Liberty, New York were sued on Thursday by a Connecticut man who claims he was handcuffed and berated after a judge objected to him writing expletives and crossing out the town’s name and replacing it with “TYRANNY” on a speeding ticket.
Willian Barboza (pictured left), 22, was joined in the suit by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) and the law firm Bergstein & Ullrich, LLP, objecting to a charge of aggravated harassment slapped on Barboza in May 2012. That charge was overturned in March of this year, the NYCLU explained in a media advisory.
In addition to scratching out “Liberty” and replacing it with “Tyranny,” Barboza wrote on his mail-in payment form, “FUCK YOUR SHITTY TOWN BITCHES.” The payment was rejected and a judge ordered Barboza to appear in court, at which time he was handcuffed to a bench and booked into a holding facility before posting $200 in bail.
“No one should get arrested for speech,” Barboza said in the NYCLU advisory. “All I did was express my frustration with a ticket and I almost ended up in jail. I want to make sure nobody else ends up in a similar situation because of this law.”
The NYCLU appears to be involved in the case not just to punish the town of Liberty, but to strike the aggravated harassment law from the state for good. The law bans any speech delivered “with the intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person,” which they contend is flatly unconstitutional. The civil rights group won a similar case in 2003 against the law’s ban on speech mean to annoy or alarm, prompting the New York Police Department to cease arrests for such conduct.
“New York’s aggravated harassment statute must be struck from the books, once and for all,” NYCLU attorney Mariko Hirose explained. “No one else should have to suffer the way Mr. Barboza did.”
NYCLU & Willian Barboza v. Detective Steven D’Agata and Officer Melvin Gorr
Wow! Your damn right this is tyranny. He says, “F**K you” and “Tyranny” on a ticket and only has to pay $200 bail, while I had to pay over $300 bail just because I took my dog to the dog park and wouldn’t allow the cop to illegally search my car. Man, the justice system is way outta whack.
Once again, notice how every stupid arrest has nothing to do with violent crimes or the Constitution but everything to do with PENIS, I mean Penal codes. Does anyone know why penal codes exists and what idiot decided to put them in place? They do nothing to protect American Nationals and do everything to protect the cops and the government. So why do we have them? And why so many of them? It seems like we have more penal codes than we do freedoms or laws relating to the Constitution and our rights. It’s like backdoor, tyrannical legislation for the police and government. They can take their penis codes and shove them where the sun don’t shine. Penal codes are like a four letter word in my house.
Awe man NC our justice system has been way out of whack for decades. Think about that penal code when they arrest ya and when they say “Bend over and Spread em” – that cop has only one thing on his faggot/perverted mind. Gives a whole new meaning to penal code when ya think of it that way, but that is how they think, hell they even like to watch people taking a damned shower.
Solar shower buddy!
HeHeHe, private joke I guess eh 🙂