11-06-2015, 12:14 PM
Here is the issue.
What happened here was a "detention" by the police. It was a minor, but there are strict rules about when police are entitled to detain a person. Any restriction on a citizen's freedom can be a problem. In this case the lady was just out walking, but what if she was in a hurry to get somewhere? Even detaining a person for a few minutes can cause problems for that person.
The police have no right to request your ID unless they reasonably suspect you have committed a crime. In this case I don't know if the lady had committed any crime. There was a claim that another driver had to avoid hitting her, but that is a public safety issue and not a criminal issue. For example the police were able to park their car in the middle of the road without obstructing traffic on tjhis street.
So it all comes down to the question of did she commit any crime. It seems to me that the officers keep telling her that they are just making a "public safety" stop to tell her to walk on the other side of the road. when police officers come ion contact with an individual just on the basis of a public safety stop then they are not allowed to demand ID.
Personally I think the woman over reacted, but she handled the situation properly by fully cooperating with the police. I also think the police were not authorized to detain her while they confirmed her identification. Luckily this case ended peacefully, but if she had been in a big hurry to get somewhere and refused to wait around while they confirmed her ID it might have been different.
I find it very interesting that so many people here rant and rave about simple things like a driver doing the speed limit in the left lane like it is the biggest a-hole thing to do, but then claim they would have no problem being detained by the police when they had not broken any laws.
What happened here was a "detention" by the police. It was a minor, but there are strict rules about when police are entitled to detain a person. Any restriction on a citizen's freedom can be a problem. In this case the lady was just out walking, but what if she was in a hurry to get somewhere? Even detaining a person for a few minutes can cause problems for that person.
The police have no right to request your ID unless they reasonably suspect you have committed a crime. In this case I don't know if the lady had committed any crime. There was a claim that another driver had to avoid hitting her, but that is a public safety issue and not a criminal issue. For example the police were able to park their car in the middle of the road without obstructing traffic on tjhis street.
So it all comes down to the question of did she commit any crime. It seems to me that the officers keep telling her that they are just making a "public safety" stop to tell her to walk on the other side of the road. when police officers come ion contact with an individual just on the basis of a public safety stop then they are not allowed to demand ID.
Personally I think the woman over reacted, but she handled the situation properly by fully cooperating with the police. I also think the police were not authorized to detain her while they confirmed her identification. Luckily this case ended peacefully, but if she had been in a big hurry to get somewhere and refused to wait around while they confirmed her ID it might have been different.
I find it very interesting that so many people here rant and rave about simple things like a driver doing the speed limit in the left lane like it is the biggest a-hole thing to do, but then claim they would have no problem being detained by the police when they had not broken any laws.
