127: Cops Out of Control – II
August 28, 2009(Washington Post, 31 July 2009)
“Man Arrested After Chanting at Police
D.C. police launched an internal investigation after a 33-year-old lawyer complained that he was improperly charged with disorderly conduct after chanting “I hate police” while walking down the street.
Pepin Tuma, a lawyer in private practice, said he was walking in the U Street corridor late Saturday with two friends when they came upon several police cars at a traffic stop. Tuma and his friends, also lawyers, had been discussing the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
“In a singsong voice, a little louder than conversation, I said, ‘I hate the police. I hate the police,’ ” Tuma said. He said an officer came over and said, “You can’t talk to the police like that,” before pushing him against an electric utility box and handcuffing him.
Tuma said he asked why he was being arrested and said he had a right to express his opinion. Tuma said the officer called him a “faggot.”
A police spokeswoman said Tuma’s complaint is being investigated but would not comment further.
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