May 17, 2006
Couple Arrested for Asking For Directions in Baltimore
No, there isn't anything mysterious about the headline -- a couple really did get arrested for asking a police officer for directions in Baltimore, reports WBAL 11.
As the story goes, Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Virginia spent last Saturday in Baltimore, enjoying a company picnic and taking in an Orioles game at Camden Yards. As they drove out, they got lost, stopping to ask a police officer for directions. This, it seems, isn't looked upon too kindly in Baltimore -- both were promptly arrested, spent eight hours in jail, and were released without being charged with any crime. To boot, Kelly's car was left unlocked by police, and upon his return, he found himself freed of cell phone charger, pair of sunglasses and 20 CDs.
D.C. police officers have been known to arrest motorists after a single glass of wine or arbitrarily detain hundreds of protestors at a time for little more than exercising their right to assembly. But at least they'll give directions.
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Oh, their chief and mayor must be livid. Those are headlines that you just don't want to see.
And the area this was in.... Well lets just say I can see why they were anxious to get directions out. Not somewhere you want to leave your car. This wasn't included in the written story but the segment on the news said not only were the doors left unlocked but the windows were also down. It rained while they were rotting away in jail so they had completely waterlogged seats for their music-less trip back to Chantilly.
And the area this was in.... Well lets just say I can see why they were anxious to get directions out. Not somewhere you want to leave your car. This wasn't included in the written story but the segment on the news said not only were the doors left unlocked but the windows were also down. It rained while they were rotting away in jail so they had completely waterlogged seats for their music-less trip back to Chantilly.
Perhaps it was one of those stunts where a white couple was dressed and made up to look African American -- to experience racial profiling or something? Have they left that detail out?
Wow. Would love to know just what the hell was going through those cops' minds.. I got us lost in Columbia Heights (trying to get to Woodley Park, took a wrong turn at 18th/Calvert/Columbia) when we first moved here and a cop gave us a ride to the Metro. Not only that, but he was on break at the time. I'm glad we didn't move to Baltimore. Might have ended up in Supermax..
this is why i hate baltimore....
Oh my god, that is freakin' ridiculous! I almost can't believe it. Seriously? WOW.
I'm suprised these cops don't work for DC Metro. Indiscriminate arrests are WMATA's forte.
Back when I-80 was being torn up to prepare for the Salt Lake City Olympics, you had to detour through SLC. Everyone, not from their, got lost. (For awhile I assumed this is how people ended up MOVING to SLC.)
Friends on their way West to California got lost, stopped to ask a cop for directions, was told to follow the cop to the freeway -- but first he lead them through SLC to break up a teen drinking party. That apparently took precedent.
On NBC4, they said that they originally didn't stop at a stop sign... that is why they got pulled over. Then they were given a ticket, went a bit further, pulled themselves over with flashers, and were arrested for trespassing. Still, uncalled for, but there was at least an original valid reason for being pulled over.
As for the mayor's reaction, I can't imagine O'Malley could care about this at all at this point. He has the Governorship in the bag. He has had one foot out the door since he declared his candidacy.
Exhibit B in the "The Orioles aren't really Washington's local baseball team" argument.
Stop sniching. sic
Hopefully the Orioles fans visiting RFK this weekend will not need directions back to Route 50, or their F250s will have their toolboxes stolen from the impound lot while they have to spend the night on the floor of the DCJ sleeping in their baggy denim shorts.
The cop's story is that the guy became argumentative and tried to rip the stop-sign-running citation from the ticket book. The cop claims to have then ordered them to leave the area, which order they disobeyed by pulling over to ask the second cop for directions, hence the arrest.
Figured there had to be something more, but it's still more than clear that the cops were wrong. On what authority can the police order you to leave a public road? It's these petty power trips that make people hate all cops.
Well, that's what the officer's report says. But still, why no charges if they cop says they did something wrong? Why hold them for eight hours for no reason?
they were probably just suburban junkies copping dope in the ghetto. I have been pulled over and searched on more than one occasion for being white in the wrong place at the wrong time. its a fact of life in needle city.
I suggest DCist you may want to reword your lead item. Doesn't sound like it's at all accurate. I can vouch that one can ask Baltimore police for driving instructions without being arrested -- I've done it a couple of times.
And, seriously, how inept must one be to not be able to get to I-95 from Camden Yards? It sits right next to the freeway. Even if you head the wrong way into Baltimore proper, there are signs all over the place pointing to I-95.
That said, the real lesson to the Chantilly couple and all Washingtonians is: Stop going to Orioles games, and support the home team.
I love it when people defend shitty cops. No, fd, it still sounds pretty accurate. And no, abe, they weren't dope fiends, they were at an Orioles game as a company outing. They were released without any charges being filed - why would they do that if the guy had attempted to tears the ticket out of the book? And why didn't the cop arrest him right then and there instead of waiting until he got back in his car, drove up the road a bit, and put on his flashers? The cop's story sounds like a bunch of bullshit to try and cover up for amazingly awful behavior.
Proof that the police put the "Charm" in Charm City.
I went to an O's game a few weeks back and one the giant lightup billboard before the game was a banner stating "Welcome to Camden Yards. Home of MLB's most well behaved fans.
I guess friday i'll get to see if the banner was right or not.
Stop Snitchin'...man that was classic.
"why would they do that if the guy had attempted to tears the ticket out of the book?" There's no winning with you, is there? The cop tells them to move along, they don't. You seem to be saying if they did something wrong, they should have been arrested. Then the cops arrest them, the response is the cops are overreacting. Then the police set them loose, and the response is, "they should have been held."
It's not unusual in law enforcement -- or, heck, in grade-school principalling -- to get troublemakers out of the way (e.g., a person who rips up a citation in front of the police, then refuses to leave when he's told to do so), but to let them go after they cool off. It's not an indication of wrongful arrest or lack of evidence -- but, reasonable behavior. But, it sounds like, you won't believe there was a problem unless our friends from Chantilly are put in leg irons.
As reported here, this story is what I call a "Paul Harveyism" -- a cute, sensationalistic headline that ignores the real story. Seriously, does it seem likely to you that the police in Baltimore -- or anywhere -- would arrest someone out of the blue, simply for politely asking for instructions? Seems pretty obvious something else was going on. Maybe the cops did overreact -- I don't know, wasn't there. But, it does not seem plausible that a lost couple would ask for instructions and out of the blue be arrested. Just doesn't happen.
Here's an interesting sidenote from the Baltimore Sun report:
"Kelley [age 22], who lives with Brook at his parents' house in Chantilly, has a prior misdemeanor conviction for embezzlement stemming from a 2003 incident, according to Virginia criminal court records. He said he presented a receipt for an item he had not purchased to a cashier at a Home Depot in exchange for less than $200 in cash."
So let's see...someone with a shady past (how many 22 y.o.s do you know who have been convicted of embezzling??) somehow misses all of the signs pointing to I-95 from Camden Yards, ends up in a questionable neighborhood, admits he ran a stop sign, refuses to accept the tickets, gets into an altercation with an officer...and we're supposed to believe this is just a case of a police officer randomly arresting someone for asking instructions? C'mon DCist, where's your BS detector?
FD, I'm betting you have a cop in the family. It seems completely plausible to me that they were arrested simply because they didn't jump fast enough when the cop said jump. Having once lived right across the street from a major sports venue, I've encountered numerous cops who go apeshit when you don't follow their (not always reasonable, and not applicable to me as a local resident)) directions immediately.
I hate cop defenders almost as much as I hate cops. They're the enablers that allow bad cops to run amok with immpunity. And yes, I hate cops because I've been unjustly arrested myself.
Nope, no cop in the family, and enough tickets through the years (including one bizarre one for having a parking pass dangling from my rearview mirror) to keep me from believing the police can do no wrong.
Admittedly, traffic tickets are just nuisances. I have no experiences like miguel, being unjustly arrested.
And, while I can only imagine how horrible it is to experience that, miguel, your phrase "I hate cop defenders almost as much as I hate cops" makes my skin crawl. With two Fairfax County police officers being murdered for no other reason than they were police officers, such comments seem not only ignorant but particularly poorly timed. At the root, these are people doing a job and risking their lives -- and generally not making a lot of money for doing it.
By all means, expose and root out bad cops. If it turns out the Baltimore policewoman in question acted capriciously, I'll join the throng calling for her expulsion. But, you can't make that judgement from the sketchy reporting DCist has provided here, which only puts out one, sensationalistic side of the story.
Quite frankly, DCist's reporting begs responses such as Miguel's, and the shooting that took place in Fairfax County.
Which sounds like it would be a more arrestable offense:
(1) Running a stop sign, tearing a (apparently now non-existent) ticket out from an officer's book, and starting a confrontation with said officer, or
(2) Putting on your hazard lights and asking for directions?
Don't you think that if this guy was going to be arrested, he would have been arrested after (1)? Why was that not enough of an offense to warrant arrest, yet (2) - which seems fairly minor in comparison - is? And why was his wife arrested also, given that she was not mentioned by the officer to have had any involvement in this alleged altercation?
Seriously, the cop is full of shit. She's making things up after the fact to try and cover her sorry ass. Normally, cops can get away with all sorts of wonderful abuses of power, but because this one made it onto the news she has to justify it. Show a little more common sense, folks.
So, the officer's excuse was that they didn't leave the area when ordered to, even though they stopped her in the first place because they needed directions to leave the area?
oh fd get over yourself. DCist caused the Fairfax shooting now? What a joke. There's a hopefully obvious difference between bitching and murder. Fucking moron. Don't even reply. Just don't.
This isn't breaking into a city park after closing hours, how the heck can you trespass by being on a public street?
I've never heard of this before. And the officer's story is bullshit. If some guy tore a page out of her citation book, she could have arrested him on the spot (on either a destruction of government property charge if she hadn't given him the ticket yet or if she had, refusal to sign the ticket) and/or conducted a field sobriety test. She wouldn't let him go and THEN arrest him for trespassing on a city street.
Does Baltimore put video cameras in their police cars? If so, the tape will tell the tale.
It sounds like some of you just want a reason to kick your ugly stepsister, Baltimore. I think it does sound like the cop became overzealous, but it also sounds like this was two white kids trying to find some dope (you have to PURPOSELY miss the 95 freeway when leaving Camden Yards) who ended up getting their plans for a post-game crackparty thwarted by the police.
It sounds like some of you just want a reason to kick your ugly stepsister, Baltimore. I think it does sound like the cop became overzealous, but it also sounds like this was two white kids trying to find some dope (you have to PURPOSELY miss the 95 freeway when leaving Camden Yards) who ended up getting their plans for a post-game crackparty thwarted by the police.
It sounds like some of you just want a reason to kick your ugly stepsister, Baltimore. I think it does sound like the cop became overzealous, but it also sounds like this was two white kids trying to find some dope (you have to PURPOSELY miss the 95 freeway when leaving Camden Yards) who ended up getting their plans for a post-game crackparty thwarted by the police.
So, it's, "Baltimore! Come for our...our...uhm, something...BUT! Stay for our post-Orioles game crack parties!"
Anyone give any thought that maybe they parked illegally, maybe in a spot that is closed during baseball games (they do that all the time around Camden Yards) and their car got towed (and possibly broken into first, another B-more specialty), and all of a sudden now they concoct this story? Wouldn't surprise me at all.
Sounds like the cop over-reacted.
However, these kids did not help themselves with their actions:
- Crossed I-95 and “got lost" deep in a notorious drug bazaar, looking for I-95?
- Ran a stop sign
- Tore up the ticket
- Refused 2 or 3 times to scram
- The female refused to identify herself, got booked as a Jane Doe (what the hell is that all about?)
- Male's previous embezzlement conviction damaged his credibility.
The whole story of lilly-white innocence and victimhood is suspicious in light of the above. At best, they demonstrated extremely poor judgement and immaturity. At worst, they deceitfully concocted a bogus cover story to deflect attention away from themselves while maliciously damaging the reputation of a cop and her department.
This live-with-mom 22-year-old kid behaved like a spoiled twit, but you wouldn't know it from the way the media uncritically accepted his version of the story. At a minimum, he needs to grow up and stay off the road until he learns to drive.
Where is Jesse Jackson when you need him?
Where is Jesse Jackson when you need him?
Where is Jesse Jackson?
Where is Jesse Jackson?
Wow, I am amazed at the idiots here and the blinders that they wear. It's fairly obvious that these kids were not looking for "crack", if so, then why ask a cop for directions BEFORE you get the crack?
Why didn't the cop arrest them to begin with?
Baltimore is just a bad city that, if you aren't already there, you should never go there.