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'Officer Bubbles' Sues YouTube Commenters Over Mockery
An anonymous reader writes "'Officer Bubbles' — the Toronto Police Constable who was videotaped threatening a G20 protester with arrest for assault over the crime of blowing bubbles at a police officer has had enough of mocking videos and comments on YouTube. He has decided to sue everyone involved (commenters included) for more than a million dollars each. The complaint is detailed in his statement of claim — most of the comments seem fairly tame by internet standards; if this goes anywhere, everyone is going to have to watch what they say pretty carefully. The lawsuit appears to have been successful in intimidating the author of the mocking cartoons into taking them down."
And suing people making sarcastic comments on the internet is going to make everyone respect him... sure, let's go with that.
I am not a doctor or a lawyer.
I'm reading the document, and I think some things are clear:
"Josephs is a police officer who abuses his position of authority"
"Josephs mistreats members of the public"
"Josephs is incompetent and unfit to be a police officer"
"Josephs has psychological problems"
"Josephs is a narcissist"
"Josephs bullies members of the public"
"Josephs is egotistical"
Even if they weren't true following the protest event that was publicised on YouTube, they are true now that he's filed the lawsuit.
Hopefully he's forced to actually present evidence of damages and not just to sit their weeping on the stand and crying about how his lack of dignity was publicised resulting in a lack of public respect for him.
If he were to emphasize the statement under Sec.IV.40, ("Damages... Josephs has received threats of physical harm") I'm sure the public would have to remind him that police officers sign onto a job that is not popular with the public, and that threats against their person for so much as taking the job are something to be weathered.
Sec.IV.41 notes that the defendant acted "callously" towards Josephs, and who knows -- in Canada, maybe there isn't really freedom of speech.
What's obvious to me, though, underneath all of this, is that Josephs intends to amass over a million dollars and probably to use it to boost a career in entertainment. That's what people usually do when internet publicity ruins their lives -- they take the internet up on the offer and try to make good of their own charicature.
At any rate, it's boring, I never heard of it before and I'm not likely to hear of it again, since it's Canadian, not America.
"Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
I know we didn't get to see the crowd very well, but the part of we we did see in that video was anything but ugly. Mostly just people milling about, taking pictures, and one lady blowing bubbles. It wasn't exactly a mob situation. It didn't even sound very angry in the background.
This is a G20 summit meeting, these people are there to protest their policies. Therefore, they are opposed to the entrenched power, therefore they are to subdued, beaten, and subjugated. That is what Toronto Police constable Adam Josephs was telling himself, as he wished the camera wasn't there so he could show that little white bitch who's the real man in that street. Sure, Adam Joseph probably can't get "it" up, but the city of Toronto conveniently provides him with a big black rod he can use for just such an occasion.
Yes, I believe Toronto Police Const. Adam Josephs is a potential rapist, and believe that he does not routinely act on his impulses only because he has difficulty maintaining an erection. I do hope that litigious bastard doesn't find out who I am, he would surely sue me, and attempt to insert his night stick in my rectum to compensate for his lack of genital endowment through acts of abuse of power such as the one depicted in the video.
You can't take the sky from me...
They are trained to take control of situations and something silly like not respecting their authority and blowing bubbles can sometimes escalate quickly into something worse.
So, a cop sees you doing something he doesn't like (say maybe dancing, or listening to music) and decides you're not "respecting his authority" - it gives him the right to come over to you and harrass you?
fuck that.
This cop had a choice - he could have just ignored it. The female cop that was talking to the protester has no problem, why did Officer Bubbles have to stick his nose in it?
Found 'em:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MisterOfficerBubbles
It's an hilarious parody of that news clip! http://www.youtube.com/user/MisterOfficerBubbles#p/a/u/1/CvqEazn9dG8
You can't take the sky from me...