Man Defends His Right To Flip Off the Police

46-year-old Robert J. Ekas has filed a federal lawsuit to defend his First Amendment right to express himself by flipping off police officers. The trouble started in July 2007 when Ekas opened his sunroof and extended a middle finger to a deputy. The deputy turned on his flashing lights and pulled Ekas over. He was cited for an illegal lane change and improper display of license plates. He was acquitted of the charges. “I did it because I have the right to do it. We all have that right, and we all need to test it. Otherwise we’ll lose it," Ekas said. He claims the police have been harassing him ever since.

Comments

Not all cops are like this

[SpuriousLogic]

I was at one of the many suburban festivals around Chicago several years ago, and a teenage girl was wearing a homemade shirt that said "Fuck the Police". At first she was just walking around in front of little kids wearing it, until one of the parents of the kids got a pair of officers and complained. The cops walked over, and this girl stood right in front of them, and the cops told the parent there was nothing they could do. The only things the Mom could do is either move her kids away from this teenager, or deal with the teenager herself. I suppose she could have taken a picture of the teen and gone to the local high schools, see if they knew her, and see if the schools were willing to contact the teen's parents.

Re:No one is upset by this?

[clone53421]

A personal dispute between two people is not license for one of them to abuse his or her position of power against the other. In fact, doing so is a stark indication that they can’t handle having that power and it should be taken away from them.

Cops should be enforcing the law. If someone offends the law, there are well-defined ways for the cop to react. If somebody offends the cop personally, though, the cop can suck it up and continue doing his or her job. The law is not supposed to be a tool to vindicate every petty personal offense that a cop suffers on the job.