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Yes. I know a guy that got baited by a guy after getting repeatedly flipped off during a shift (same guy), and he finally pulled him over without reason.
The guy was filming everything, got him flustered, and then he maced him. He got fired over it (rightfully so) but the story is funny as hell when he tells it because it was an act of frustration after getting fucked with for hours. |
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It's legal, and law enforcement doesn't like your constitutional rights.
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Quoted: I live in KY and some State Trooper......I won't go into what he did driving but would it have been legal for me to make a "gesture" to him? Would that be freedom of speach? Would it be illegal? I was tempted.......... View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: I live in KY and some State Trooper......I won't go into what he did driving but would it have been legal for me to make a "gesture" to him? Would that be freedom of speach? Would it be illegal? I was tempted.......... Quoted: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ OP, if you CC, grow up. |
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Quoted: First Amendment. You may, likely, get pulled over and asked what your problem is. Some States have higher levels of what road rage is, flipping someone off may be considered road rage. View Quote The Supreme Court says that it is not. Constructive charging will get the flipper a federal payday. |
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Quoted: The fact that bodily harm/death is a potential result of showing disrespect towards govt employees says a lot about policing in the US.... View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: i would suggest not picking out armed gov agents to bait into lawsuits. doesn't seem wise from a life expectancy standpoint. The fact that bodily harm/death is a potential result of showing disrespect towards govt employees says a lot about policing in the US.... Interesting how disrespect leading to harm via one demographic gets ridiculed here, but the demographic in this topic gets a free pass. |
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Do it to the wrong guy and you could still end up arrested.
There was a guy from Troy NY who flipped off a copy in Saratoga Springs. The cop was a little older but maybe his wife left him or something. The cop pulled the flipper over and arrested him. I think there was something else because the cop was fired and the flipper got a small settlement. I think maybe the cop slapped him around? The flipper later was investigated for some kind of Pedo sex abuse, fled to Mexico and was found dead in a motel. If the cop you flipped off decides to make an issue of it he can pull you over either saying he saw a v&t violation or "I thought he was flagging me down" Then you up for tickets for window tint, air fresheners hanging from mirrors, license plate frames "obscuring" the plate. I still think (my personal opinion) flipping off cops for no reason isn't protected speech. Flipping off riot cops at a protest is speech-flipping off a cop just as you pass each other on the road? Meh. |
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Definitely constitutionally protected speech. It is also the worst form of contempt of cop. There are plenty of videos on YouTube of people flipping off cops and getting arrested for it, or getting pulled over for a fishing expedition.
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You are breaking some kind of law 100% of the time. Just a question of how hard someone wants to look to find it
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Legal, sure. Don’t invite the law into your life though. That’s dumb.
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Quoted: Yep. Basically- bad choices and lack of impulse control has a high correlation to having other things wrong. It isn't the finger that gets you in trouble, it is the extra 20 seconds of the trooper looking at you going WTF? which leads to the problem. If you seek attention, don't be surprised if you get it. View Quote Legal though |
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Legal but make sure you are filming so you don't get hemmed up on a BS retaliatory charge.
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Probably “legal” but extremely childish. Maybe think about who was really being the asshole?
Not a flame, just a thought. |
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It’s speech, and protected.
Doesn’t mean they won’t try to jam you up, but you’ll beat the rap. And maybe win the civil suit. Just don’t be doing something like cutting a chain on a gate while you’re doing it. |
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I've done several videos on this.
The protections of the First Amendment are not limited to spoken words, but rather include gestures and other expressive conduct, even if vulgar or offensive to some. For example, in Cohen v. California (1971), the Supreme Court held that an individual wearing a jacket bearing the words “F**k the Draft” in a courthouse corridor could not be prosecuted for disturbing the peace. Consistent with this precedent, although “the gesture generally known as ‘giving the finger’ … is widely regarded as an offensive insult,” Bad Frog Brewery, Inc. v. N.Y. State Liquor Auth. , (2d Cir. 1998), it is a gesture that is generally protected by the First Amendment. See, e.g. , Cruise-Gulyas v. Minard (6th Cir. 2019) (“Any reasonable [police] officer would know that a citizen who raises her middle finger engages in speech protected by the First Amendment.”); Garcia v. City of New Hope (8th Cir. 2021) (“[Plaintiff’s] raising his middle finger at [a police officer] is a rude and offensive gesture but nonetheless, under current precedent, is a constitutionally protected speech activity.”); Batyukova v. Doege(5th Cir. 2021) (same); accord Swartz v. Insogna (2d Cir. 2013) (holding that giving the middle finger could not support arrest for disorderly conduct); see generally Ira P. Robbins, Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger and the Law , 41 U.C. DAVIS L. REV. 1403, 1407–08, 1434 (2008) (observing that the middle finger can express a variety of emotions—such as anger, frustration, defiance, protest, excitement—or even “possess[ ] political or artistic value”). View Quote One I'm currently litigating: Client Stopped For Giving Cops The Finger |
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Quoted: I live in KY and some State Trooper......I won't go into what he did driving but would it have been legal for me to make a "gesture" to him? Would that be freedom of speach? Would it be illegal? I was tempted.......... View Quote Yes, it was ruled legal. But if you do they will write up a list of things just to let the court filter through it. Prosecutor and judges should be sick of them. Our troopers really need to be reigned in. In rural areas they can be raging assholes, and go unchecked. They bog courts down with unnecessary misdemeanors. If shtf ever goes down, they are not your friend, they serve the governor/state period. They run over small town deputies and treat them like children. |
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http://kingfish1935.blogspot.com/2022/11/trooper-im-going-to-see-this-m-today.html?m=1
This trooper arrested a guy for flipping him off for disorderly conduct and wreckless driving. There's a bit more to the story in the link |
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flip them off hell, i got pulled over for waving at one
he was running radar on a feeder road to the interstate in bumfuck edroy, TX. not a soul but he and i on that road. passed him to make a delivery, waved at him on my way back 10 minutes later and on come the lights. told him when he approached that it was the first time i'd ever been pulled over before for waving. seemed to have caught him off guard and then he came up with a story of it being suspicious that i'd passed him twice there in so little time. i was driving a delivery truck... best i can figure is that he wasn't paying enough attention and thought that i'd flipped him off |
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I flipped the bird to a Sheriff earlier this year.
He was driving a marked F-150 that I couldn’t tell while he was riding my ass while I was going the speed limit in the right lane (cruise control in use). No other cars around and I had watched as he gained on me from way back. I didn’t flinch and after a couple of minutes he passed me. As he did so I saw it was a Sheriff’s vehicle and flipped him the bird. At which point he slowed down and paced me, rolled his window down. So I rolled mine down. He was hollering something I couldn’t quite make out nor did I give a shit. I just put my hand to my ear and said “I can’t hear you.” He drove off when I’m pretty sure he saw my dash cam. I forget the county but I looked it up at the time. It was the Sheriff of whatever county. At that time a news article said he was running for some elected position within the NC Republican Party. |
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Quoted: Yep. Basically- bad choices and lack of impulse control has a high correlation to having other things wrong. It isn’t the finger that gets you in trouble, it is the extra 20 seconds of the trooper looking at you going WTF? which leads to the problem. If you seek attention, don’t be surprised if you get it. View Quote One of many like minded posts that shows the immaturity goes both directions. |
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A buddy did this right after getting his license to a smallish town cop. That cop made his life hell until he moved away lol
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Legal? Depends on your state law.
Smart? No. Why start something with a cop? JMHO YMMV |
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Yes, protected speach. Having said that, my buddy flipped off an off duty officer on the highway. He didn't know he was a cop. The guy radioed in that my buddy pointed a gun at him. He got drug out of his car at gunpoint and spent the night in jail because they found weed. My buddy doesn't smoke weed.
My advice is to keep your cool while driving. You just never know what people are capable of. |
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Quoted: while flipping off the cop is legal i'm almost positive, with how many laws are on the books, the cop could end up finding something illegal you are doing. View Quote Watch out for the KSP, they like to say you were "following too closely". I just had jury duty and that's how most trouble starts |
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Quoted: Legal? Depends on your state law. Smart? No. Why start something with a JMHO YMMV View Quote FIFY The gesture gains you NOTHING but risks the potential for all sorts of life-long regret. If name calling and childish gestures really give you a sense of self-importance , maybe you need to stop driving until you grow-up a little more. Honestly, adults who start name calling or making obscene hand gestures just look stupid. It’s funny in the movies or among a close circle of friends but in real life, directed towards strangers, it just makes you look like a low-intelligence clod struggling to control your emotions. |
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Quoted: I live in KY and some State Trooper......I won't go into what he did driving but would it have been legal for me to make a "gesture" to him? Would that be freedom of speach? Would it be illegal? I was tempted.......... View Quote |
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Getting into a dick swinging contest with a giant kielbasa when you only have a Vienna sausage isn’t a good idea.
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Very recent story out of Delaware
https://abovethelaw.com/2023/09/delaware-state-police-pay-50000-to-man-troopers-ticketed-for-flipping-them-off/ |
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How about free speech isn't even free speech.
Pulled Over For Free Speech #filmthepolice Talk about thin skinned. Respect my authorahtahhhh(said in Cartman voice). |
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Quoted: Seems Childish View Quote Quoted: Rude, unwise, not very grey man. All around bad idea. View Quote Quoted: Don't get on his radar. View Quote Seems like a great way to entice the cop to put your vehicle under a legal microscope and see what they can find.. Expired tag License plate not illuminated Brake/tail light out |
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It would probably be better to call into the state HP # and report the license plate as a distracted driver
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As a teenager, I flipped off a car that was tailgating me (w/ high beams) on a dark road. Turned out to be a (local) cop.
He charged me with Disorderly Conduct. I got a good lawyer and beat it. |
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Quoted: Seems like a great way to entice the cop to put your vehicle under a legal microscope and see what they can find.. Expired tag License plate not illuminated Brake/tail light out View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted: Quoted: Seems Childish Quoted: Rude, unwise, not very grey man. All around bad idea. Quoted: Don't get on his radar. Seems like a great way to entice the cop to put your vehicle under a legal microscope and see what they can find.. Expired tag License plate not illuminated Brake/tail light out Its just evidence that good cops aren't. |
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I don't have an issue with law enforcement in general. I'm not some anti cop guy. I try to respect good and decent cops but speed traps are a real trigger for me. I think it's childish and kind of cowardly to hide behind a radar gun and pretend that it's anything else but revenue generation. So whenever I see a cop behind a radar gun I make it a point to roll down the window and give em a big middle finger as far as I can reach out the window.
I know it's childish and I need to grow the fuck up but speed traps just piss me off. I have had some cops jump on their bikes or in their cruiser and follow me for a mile or 2, but I have not yet been pulled over for this. I'm sure they were running my plate and looking for any slightest driving infraction to bust me when following me. |
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Boolzie, my fellow Kentuckian, knows these goons. Everyone else's State Troopers must be Mary Poppins in a Smokey hat. Not here in Kentucky. In my stupid youth I found a guy guilty on the testamony of a State Trooper to a minor charge. Won't do that again if I get jury duty in the future.
Since this thread took off I'll say what he did. I was waiting at a stop light on a 4 lane road. He cut the corner on me, he was driving slow, so that I thought he was going to scrape my bumper. I guess he was trying to get a reaction out of me. Typical State Police BS here in Kentucky we have to put up with all the time. Never any issues with the county or city police. I;m a 62 year old white male with severe disablity (wheelchair). I would have LOVED for him to pull me over and tried to find a issue. At least the time he was wasting on me would keep him occupied. Never thought in my wildest dreams America would come to this. |
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