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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."
Mad Dogs and Policemen.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
They need to collectively countersue him for legal fees.
Technoli
Why is it anyone with even the smallest position of power in government seem to think they can just sue everyone over the stupidest things.
Well..it's good to see that it's not only cops in the US that are douches...
Nabu-kudurri-usur
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Crazy stuff. Police officers are trained to create a zone of control around themselves, which would include things like threatening random passers-by and generally acting like thugs, its standard crowd control tactics, and while very far from acceptable civilised behaviour, it does work. The commenters didn't understand this, and the police officer didn't understand the commenters, and its all going to make bunch of lawyers wealthy. They should all sit down together and get drunk and forget about the whole thing.
What he can't kill, he has sex on. Trent.
And suing people making sarcastic comments on the internet is going to make everyone respect him... sure, let's go with that.
Yeah.. I love the way 'Officer Bubbles (*)' laywer is saying 'the videos are now removed and that is the end of it'.
Someone is about to have a very bad morning.
(*) I'd make a joke about Michael Jackson and chimps in uniform here, but mocking the dead... now that -is- sick.
"Oops, I always forget the purpose of competition is to divide people into winners and losers." - Hobbes
Anyone who actively seeks becoming a cop (or a politician) has already proven they are fundamentally the wrong person for the job.
Yeah my first thought was "What the hell is this bullshit?"
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He is the black Canadian Eric Cartman. "RESPECT MAH AUTHORITAH!"
I don't think it's all that hard for an adult to understand that blowing soap bubbles into a police officers face is going to get you arrested, and he did give her the courtesy of a warning first. I don't really see the controversy there. Well, not unless people are unable to disentagle the word "bubble" from the "soap" part. Blowing a rather effective eye irritant in a cops direction isn't likely to end well, no matter if it's in bubble or other form.
it does seem like he could have a thicker skin about random internet jackhole comments though. you don't HAVE to read them.
If you're Canadian, you might have a problem, but Americans can tell this douche to stuff it.
This type of idiocy is common from Canadians. I had a American Professor friend post a not to nice blog about a product made in Canada and the Canadian company sent him a take-down letter. He told the Canadians to fuck off.
I'm going to go comment on the video purposely to get included in this. I want to see dear officer try to come after me. I will attempt to educate the Canadian with regard to this thing we Americans call the First Amendment.
"We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
Fortunately in Canada you have to "prove damages", and the damages of a cartoon that many of us didn't see, pale in comparison to the damage this officer (yeah that's my opinion, so sue me!) did to himself, and the discredit he brought to his force. Well, unfortunately the whole of Canada's police forces involved in the G20 were pretty discredited by both their lack of action, and their action that was clearly counter to out constitution.
We're still waiting for a full Federal inquiry, by PM Harper is still running and hiding from it.
We all make mistakes, some of us apologize and move on, some of us just move on, and some of us decide to display even more ignorance to the world.
This DEFINES it!
He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
Mr Bubbles, you seem to have a fundamentally wrong idea as to how the Internet works and an understanding of the Streisand Effect will be invaluable in the coming months as you are mocked not only by not only YouTube commenters, but also journalists who will undoubtedly pick up the story and your own friends as they read about it.
Sue me.
You can't take the sky from me...
The initial incident was pretty silly and I don't have much sympathy for the officer being ridiculed for that, but my understanding is it elevated past that quite quickly. From other articles I've read, there were cartoons & posts about him beating people and what not. You can argue that it was for fun but there was a note in one of the articles that libel laws cover comments & such on websites, so if you do it you'd better be careful its not defamatory.
Its a kind of tricky line. Anonymity is a powerful and -- often -- good force on the Internet, but there are clearly times when it can be a detriment. Its not hard to design a thought exercise: imagine that newspapers were printed anonymously or articles within them were written anonymously. Yes, I know sources remain anonymous, but in those cases the author of the piece takes responsibility for any libel (well, them and their publisher). If a paper could just publish blatant nonsense that was incredibly defamatory, I doubt many of us would stick up for them. So why do we stick up for some assholes getting their kicks on a bulletin board? It probably didn't matter that much ten years ago, but with YouTube and Facebook and all the viral crap, stuff that would have limited to a few people having a chuckle can now range unpredictably large. Hell, just look at the whole cyber-bullying phenomenon.
Make fun of the officer for being an idiot with the bubble lady -- he deserves that. I'm not sure he deserves some of the other crap, or even if you think he does, if its defamatory (let the lawyers argue that) and you say it, you can be held accountable. There have always been limits on speech -- American 1st amendment not withstanding -- so I don't know why people think the Internet is somehow a special magical case.
Wood Shavings!
- Godai
Citizens need the right to record any public police action, and any police action in which the individual citizen is involved.
This needs to be a law now.
The public needs a clear law allowing for the recording of police actions and allowing for the recording to be owned by the citizen and protected from seizure by police officers.
Some police do lie, some police do overstep the bounds, some police protect fellow officers.
This guy must be really pissed-off about missing Kent State where he could have killed a protester for placing a flower in his gun. So in memory of Kent State student Allison Krause who was killed on 4 May 1970 and said, "Flowers are better than bullets", after placing a flower in the barrel of a national guardsman's rifle, 40 years later I remind Officer Bubbles that, "Bubbles are better than bullets."
/.'s Psychic-in-Residence: Psychic to the Geeks
Blowing Bubbles is wrong unless he consents.
Silly Slashdotters.
See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
...of the lawyer who convinced "Officer Bubbles" to file this lawsuit. This is taking being a magnificant bastard to all new heights! What better way to mock "Officer Bubbles" than by ensuring the video clip he wants most to disappear gets spread all over the world? How better to screw over the asshole than by racking up legal fees you know will accomplish the very opposite of what was promised?
This is great!
Have a Virgin Mobile USA smartphone? Give VMRoms.com a try!
Many will agree that this lawsuit was a poor response. However, it does prompt in my mind the power of the internet to hold in eternity the funniest, nastiest, and unluckiest moments of our lives. Many will say, "Good, he deserves it." But think about what this means generally: your mistakes can be immortalized in such a way that you may pay for them even after a long time has passed and even if you've apologized or repented of your actions. You can even be threatened and abused via e-mail. (Notwithstanding, it looks doubtful this fellow has done the former and purportedly he has received the latter.)
In brief, the internet + video can make the consequences of our actions much larger than they would otherwise be, and perhaps, disproportionately so.
But really.... you expect him to just sit there and take the bubbles to the face? This is just too idiotic to debate any further.
Well, where are the "mocking" cartoons? Who has a link?
I love the fact that the complaint includes transcripts of all the offending cartoons. They're hilarious and it saves me the trouble of tracking them down.
... that no one deserved to be called a fucktardic pig.
I guess there's a first time for everything.
This Canuck proudly wraps himself in the First Amendment, now that he's a lawful permanent resident of the U.S.
Whatcha gonna do, Officer Bubbles, extradite my ass back across the border?
In Liberty, Rene
Sincerely,
Reality
I don't give a shit who you are, you don't bend the principle of the law to get all vindictive on a personal level, especially not like that. This guy is "gonna get raped".
If I acted like that much of a bitch-chump, I'd have to kick my own ass.
It's not defamation of character when it's true.
In a world of the blind, the one-eyed man is king--and the two-eyed man is a heretic.
....which would include things like threatening random passers-by and generally acting like thugs, its standard crowd control tactics, and while very far from acceptable civilised behaviour, it does work.
Oh, so that's why riots break out when the cops are around - the cops are acting like assholes and start it.
I'll remember that if I'm ever called for jury duty and the cops are whining about how the crowd rioted and they had to bash people's skulls in, fired tear gas or used deadly force.
RIP America
July 4, 1776 - September 11, 2001
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 hope 4chan gets a hold of him.... I live in Toronto. There are some good cops, but then there are these losers out there that have nothing better to do than to waste our tax dollars.
you know you can fry stuff putting things into things that dont like the things you put into it...
It warms me heart and soul when some petty authoritarian dick gets rudely slapped by reality.
If only everyone obeyed every order the police gives them, huh? If only that chick would understand that once he puts on his uniform, he's the boss of her...
You can't take the sky from me...
This guy should join forces with Gene Simmons. They're both douchebags trying to hunt down something as amorphous as fog.
Officer Bubbles meet Barbara Streisand. You've just ensured millions of more views of the videos and the cartoons.
I had never heard of this guy before. Now thanks to this lawsuit, I have. Thanks for bringing this to my attention, officer bubbles.
Well he is getting paid for it. Not only is it her right to be there, the most important part of his job is to make sure she can be there.
You, sir are the toughest guy on the Internets.
If only everyone obeyed every order the police gives them, huh? If only that chick would understand that once he puts on his uniform, he's the boss of her...
Well if he's trying to do his job, she's deliberately distracting him, and he tells her to stop? Yes. It's interesting that the video shows no footage immediately prior to the arrest, so we really don't know why she was put into custody.
So the smiling officer standing right beside him with equal "danger" of getting hit by bubbles was taking the wrong course of action?
Officer Bubbles is about to get a not-so-subtle introduction to the inner workings of the Streisand Effect. (For those living under a rock: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect)
---As my daddy used to tell me: "You gotta be smart before you can be a smartass."
She stopped when asked. Watch the video again. After he says "If the bubble touches me, you're going to be arrested for assault," no more bubbles are seen.
-- Boycott Shell
Well he is getting paid for it. Not only is it her right to be there, the most important part of his job is to make sure she can be there.
Does that mean I have the right to walk up in public to a public employee and distract them by blowing bubbles at them just because they are being paid? What if she was doing this to a postal worker, or a meter-maid? They could call the police and she'd be told to leave. Sometimes, and in this case, that public employee and the police are the same person.
operation Barbara Streisand!
I mean, if bubbles mean arrest, I presume he's going to get something like a straight heart attack right there and then. Or call for backup - with a tank..
Sorry, that's just idiotic. The guy needs a psychiatrist.
Insert
She stopped when asked. Watch the video again. After he says "If the bubble touches me, you're going to be arrested for assault," no more bubbles are seen.
Right. Which is why I pointed out that it's interesting that there is no footage of her immediately prior to her arrest. According to this article, she wasn't even arrested for the bubbles.
However, according to CNews, Winkels [the lady] confirmed that she wasn’t arrested for blowing bubbles but instead detained for wearing a backpack and having a lawyer’s number written on her arm. She was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mischief over $5,000.
So are people really upset that she was asked to stop or are they just misinformed due to suggestive editing in the video?
It is endangerment if you blow it into the child's eyes and get soap in the child's eyes and ignore the child's cries of pain.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
I thought the young woman officer was handling herself very well. Either could have easily diffused the situation with a "please put the bubbles away ma'am, I don't want them getting in my/her eyes". And escalating from there, instead it's "If a bubble touches me, I'm going to arrest you for assault! That's a deliberate act! It's a detergent!! You want to bait the police!". He escalated the situation well past where it was, and was being far from professional.
No one was following anyone around blowing bubbles, so your analogy falls flat. I'm guessing by worse you mean that you would shoot someone putting a flower down the barrel of your gun. Cops need to be held to a higher standard then what you or I would do, because they have been entrusted with a certain amount of authority over other people.
You can tell which cops feel that they have adequate control over their own personal lives and which do not.
Cops are there to serve and protect, unfortunately, their unions have all but eliminated that obligation.
A libertarian shat on my carpet once. Claimed the free market would sort it out. -Ford Prefect(8777)
he did give her the courtesy of a warning first
COURTESY, omfg! The guy totally stepped over the line, and deserves a good slap down for being an overbearing prick. There was no courtesy involved in his "warning". He could have levelly said "We don't appreciate the bubbles, put them away now please." Instead, he humiliated her for no reason.
Exercising authority does not mean acting like a prick. In fact, it works best the other way around: when the officer acts like a gentleman. In Canada at least, even police officers are obliged to mind their manners.
Like all pain, suffering is a signal that something isn't right
No Way. I am the toughest. I would have shot her in the teeth. With a bazooka. Twice.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
Isn't this the same logic some rapist use? "Maybe she didn't deserve to be raped but she sure was asking for it!" I really don't think it works here very well either.
However, according to CNews, Winkels [the lady] confirmed that she wasn’t arrested for blowing bubbles but instead detained for wearing a backpack and having a lawyer’s number written on her arm. She was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit mischief over $5,000.
So are people really upset that she was asked to stop or are they just misinformed due to suggestive editing in the video?
Wow that seems an even more ridiculous reason for arrest then for blowing bubbles.
"I don't necessarily agree with everything I say." - Marshall McLuhan
It's interesting that the video shows no footage immediately prior to the arrest, so we really don't know why she was put into custody.
Here's context: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GP_LB_ZhcTA&NR=1
She was put in custody because the police were arresting people en masse as part of a concerted effort to suppress free speech. A thousand people were held, their rights trampled, and eventually released. The whole thing is a travesty of democracy and justice, this is just one hilarious instance of abuse of police power amongts a general trend of fascism.
You can't take the sky from me...
I wasn't going to use the "N-word". Really, I wasn't: it's just too offensive to too many people, blacks (certainly), whites (if they have a clue), and generally every one else with two brain cells to rub together. But, I think it fits here.
My first experience with the "N-word" was in elementary school. I'd hear the occasional person (usually an adult), refer to "stuipid niggers", "damn niggers", or some other type of "nigger". I came to learn that this meant a black person.
That struck me as odd. I had black classmates, of course, but none of them were stupid (well, some were smarter than others, but that was true of everyone else as well, and we were all in the same grade, so no one could really be stupid). As for damned, well I wasn't much of a churchgoer, so I couldn't tell. I reasoned that niggers were some kind of troublemakers or neer'do'wells that just happened to be black.
So, there were the kids we played with: black, white, Asian, whatever, and, somewhere, out there, were "niggers" -- causing trouble in the high schools, perhaps... except, I never met any when I got to high school. It was at this point that I came to understand just how nasty an epithet it was, to have a word that didn't describe an "undesirable" that happened to be of a particular race, but a condemnation solely on the basis of race alone. And, I swore to erase that word from my thinking.
Until this story.
It may have taken close to 50 years of my life, but damn, if someone out there deserves that epithet, Officer Bubbles is it., cause he sure seems stupid, arrogant, narcissistic, a disgrace to the uniform he wears, and conveniently black: the elusive nigger of my ignorant youth.
In Liberty, Rene
Why is having a backpack a reason to arrest someone? And having a lawyer's number seems like good planning as things turned out.
...I mean that "and then moments later" thats just a minor edit. Its not like they were doing a "Meanwhile, in Norway" gag, that missing footage was just when there weren't four or five cameras trained on an officer that was a little agitated and a protester that was pushing the limits. Nothing to see in those gaps at all.
This is the kind of shit that makes it hard to have any real discourse. Everyone edits and cuts, here in the states we saw it with the Ag Secretary being quoted out of context and sacked, we see it in the political ads, hell the "news" networks do it too.
Well, thanks to the extra information, you've brought to light police overstepping their authority twice, rather than once, if "wearing a backpack and having a lawyer's number written on her arm" is cause for arrest.
So having a backpack and knowing a lawyer are reasons for arrest?
You think maybe the lawyers number was there because she knew the cops might arrest her for anything?
Are you for real? Don't you know bubbles are a detergent? A DETERGENT for God's sake! The situation was on the precipice of doom. DOOOM!
The most upsetting part is that now I am going to have to go and wake up my infant son and take him in to the police station. Just the other day he assaulted me with a bubble gun. Did you hear that? A bubble GUN! Yet somehow I had no idea I was being assaulted and thought he was "just playing". Now my son is beyond saving. He will forever be a hoodlum. Do you see how insidious this conspiracy is? Clearly the only solution is to ban all detergent and lock up all the manufacturers. Soap too! It is a little known fact that soap can be used to make bubbles.
These posts express my own personal views, not those of my employer
You know, I think Officer Bubbles is right. This was an offensive weapon, so the next time he has to go out in the field they should take his baton, tear gas and gun if he has it, and just give him a can of bubbles so he can go and kick ass.
Does that put things in perspective?
Insert
Those are her words. We can't know the real reason for her arrest unless someone wants to spend the time to retrieve the documentation. Anything else is pure speculation.
Oh, so that's why riots break out when the cops are around - the cops are acting like assholes and start it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAfzUOx53Rg
Quebec provincial police admitted Thursday (august 2007) that their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators during the protest at the North American leaders summit in Montebello, Que.
You can't take the sky from me...
I think you missed my point entirely.
As kids, we have distorted views of what words mean: racist terms make no sense to a child who has not been taught to discriminate on the basis of race. Therefore, children will extrapolate their own definitions: in my case, one who has some purported undesirable quality and also happens to have a particular racial characteristic.
Officer "Bubbles" fits my childhood definition of a mythical person that I never met. I'm sure his behavior will also induce some to extrapolate (incorrectly) that it is due to his race. I though the juxtaposition of a child's distorted understanding, and some adult's prejudices expressed with the same epithet interesting.
In Liberty, Rene
Having her lawyer's number sounds as if she had a clearly defined AGENDA. But don't let that get in your way, feel free to continue blindly defending her since you were there and know the entire story.
Man, didn't you know that bubbles are made of soap! He could have gotten soap in his eye man! Soap in the eye is no laughing matter!
Soap, as we all know, is made with lye! Lye is a caustic chemical that has no place being thrown at people.
So there, see... officer bubbles clearly had reason to consider this assault.
-Steve
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
How did you know when it was bed time at Michael Jackson's house? The big hand was on the little hand.
Would have been in his rights to drag him away. I hope to god no one ever gives you a badge. The cop was nothing but a bully with a badge.
You are entitled to your own opinions, not your own facts.
Well he is getting paid for it. Not only is it her right to be there, the most important part of his job is to make sure she can be there.
Does that mean I have the right to walk up in public to a public employee and distract them by blowing bubbles at them
Yes, sheep, you have the right to do that. We all have the right to blow bubles in public places. It's not a crime.
You can't take the sky from me...
detained for wearing a backpack and having a lawyer’s number written on her arm.
How. Can you. Justify. ARRESTING PEOPLE FOR THAT!? What the fuck is wrong with you? What kind of twisted, fucked up upbringing made you so blindly submissive to authority that no matter how obvious it is that they are grossly abusing their power, you will keep saying that they are right to do what they do? You disgust me, you fascist pig, you're really a horrible, horrible person.
It's too bad that you had to resolve to name calling. Perhaps I should point out that those reasons are her words. I have yet to see the documentation associated with her arrest to know the officer's reason. Or maybe you shouldn't let your emotions take over your ability to reason. There's really nothing to argue about that isn't pure speculation without having documentation.
Yes, sheep, you have the right to do that. We all have the right to blow bubles in public places. It's not a crime.
I didn't say blowing them in a public place. I said blow them in a distracting manner. In the US, the 1st amendment protects a person's right to free speech, yet it doesn't protect you from going up to someone and yelling in their face with the intent of distracting or antagonizing them (think racist following a black guy around).
As a public figure, the cop in question appears to have no legal standing, just like movie stars and politicians. Since the bubble girl was making a political statement, however mildly expressed, the cop's overreacction looks like either personal unfitness for duty or deliberate oppression. In the case of politicians, SCOTUS held in New York Times vs. Sullivan that, barring actual malice, political discourse was too important to be sullied by public figures who threatened libel. Another, separate, SCOTUS finding the title of which which eludes me at the moment held that criticism of public or notorious figures could not be considered libel, because having wooed the spotlight, they have no grounds to complain of cat calls. It may be a stretch to place the short pants officer in the same playpen with "notorious" figures like John Dillinger or the Cherry Sisters (or Tiny Tim, for that matter), but his continuing lack of restraint certainly seems to be pushing him through the pomposity gate to ridicule, if not professional performance review.
``Tension, apprehension & dissension have begun!'' - Duffy Wyg&, in Alfred Bester's _The Demolished Man_
There's really nothing to argue about that isn't pure speculation without having documentation.
Then look for information and post that instead of speculative apologetics for the authority figure.
You know what they said they were charging her with? Having a weapon: She was equipped with first aid gear and soap bubbles to keep the mood light, and jackbooted thugs arrested her, along with a thousand other peaceful protesters, as part of a systemic abuse of power throughout that weekend.
That is very well documented, just go look for "g20 toronto" and stay away from fox news, the wall street journal, and any other propaganda outlet of the g20, because they obviously won't say "we crush opposition with brute force and drown out their voice with capital investments in media", since that would defeat the purpose of that investment.
It's not illegal to blow bubbles, it's not illegal to carry eye wash, there is no legal nor constitutional reason for her arrest, and I have very negative emotions about people like you who support such flagrant abuses of power.
P.S. They say they're arresting her for that, it's bullshit off course. They have no real reason to arrest her, they'll make up some plausible-sounding charge later, or they'll release her along with the other thousand innocent people who were only acting on their right to protest their government, once they've been detained in order to prevent them from using their right, obviously.
The "don't tase me bro" guy (lemme guess, you also approve of tasering journalism students who wait their turn to asks questions at public question and answer sessions with a presidential-candidate, don't you?), he was told he was "inciting a riot" when he asked why he was being arrested (before you claim those were just his word and I have no information: someone filmed the whole thing), but that's not what they charged him with, because they were just making shit up on the spot, but later the D.A. had time to think of something more plausible. Cops are for applying brute force, attorneys are there for the thinking.
You can't take the sky from me...
Thank you for providing a venue where we may continue to openly mock Constable Bubbles. His heroism shall not be forgotten, thank you for making my country safe from free floating spheres of benign liquid
I haven't yest seen a protester without an agenda. Still don't know why that's an arresting offence.
A cute young woman, merrily blowing bubbles, calmly answering questions when talked to politely.
For you to equate that with...
going up to someone and yelling in their face with the intent of distracting or antagonizing them
...that, you must have absolutely no honesty in you, none at all. You're a troll made of pure suck.
You can't take the sky from me...
If you read the "statement of claims", you'll find that some of the assertions are just ludicrous. An example: maskedtruther is named as John Doe #22, and is being sued for a million dollars for posting the following statement "A lot of police today were originally criminals." While this may be a stereotype, it certainly is not equivalent to maskedtruther stating that "Joseph is a criminal." Yet this is exactly what this court document asserts!
P.S. - If you examine the numbering of "John Does", you'll find that both sweeteventhorizon and ecofrog1 are listed as John Doe #12 - guess some lawyer can't count, either.
Or, knowing that the police have a history of overreaching their authority, perhaps it is just a sing that she is interested in protecting herself?
Your bias is telling here.
I'd never heard of Officer Bubbles before.
Now I have.
people like him do not deserve to be entrusted with the powers and authority of the police.
the WTF expression on the female cop's face as he started harassing the girl said it all, before the blank mask of solidarity came over it. she knew he was in the wrong, that he was making an innocuous situation into a bad one.
he ought to be sacked.
and charged with assault, threatening behaviour, and abuse of power.
Do you think he might buy you dinner first, or is he cheap too?
Constable Adam Josephs doesn't look like a date-rapist, he seems more like a man cut from the same cloth as Colonel Russell Williams.
You can't take the sky from me...
I think the cop is totally in the right, and most of you don't have any idea what you're talking about. My grandfather died as a result of a stray bubble during the taping of the Lawrence Welk show, and we've been fighting for bubble danger awareness ever since. It's refreshing to see someone who has their priorities straight.
Did someone knock down his kitties' home or something? I guess he must have gotten out of prison before Julian or Ricky..
Be careful, you might get sued for saying that.
Erm, I think a better word would be 'underinformed'.
I mean, they're upset because of something that, somewhere, in some universe, might actually be illegal. There is some gradient of 'battery', and hitting people with, for example, a water balloon is indeed battery. Hitting someone with a very thin film of soap, especially a slow moving and not-under-your-control one, shouldn't be illegal, but I can comprehend some sort of screwy law that makes hitting anyone, with anything, at all, illegal. (I know the same gradient exist for touch, and the police will often used any touch at all as a pretext for arresting people on 'battery'.)
OTOH, I can't comprehend how having a backpack is illegal, nor can I comprehend how having the telephone number of a lawyer is. The second, access to a lawyer, is something that the government must provide people in the first place! (Yes, that's the same in Canada.)
So, yes, people are 'misinformed', and should be fucking livid, instead of just 'ha ha, the cops think bubbles are illegal'.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
Youa re trying to make him blow a bubble , right ? Or maybe a gasket.
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visit randi.org
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...
'Conspiracy to commit mischief'?
What the fuck is this, the third grade?
Is 1563649 a prime number?
http://officerbubbles.com/
I think we need to all start tagging every /. article with http://officerbubbles.com/ for the rest of the year.
"While at the investigation site, Joseph's found a female 'protestor' blowing soap bubbles into the face of another female officer..."
The video shows the bubbles clearly did not go into the female officer's face.
"Josephs informed the 'protestor' that if she did not stop blowing bubbles into the face of his fellow officer immediately, he would arrest her for assault"
No. He said "If the bubble touches me, you will be arrested for assault."
I don't know how things work in the Canadian legal system, but I don't think these things will help his credibility.
He could learn the real danger of doap the hard way in the jail showers... Or enjoy it aand discover that he was just a frustrated homosexual inside the closet ;-)
Tomorrow is another day...
is mocking someone worth deprivation of liberty? which is what an arrest is, its just given the OK because its suppose to be in the public's best interest. is it really in the public best interest to arrest this girl for blowing bubbles? she could have been distracting him while a real crime occurred but he was also on the other side of the fence as well, with no reason not to simply step back.
'Tiny Bubbles' That's what he get for hanging out with a bunch of Hos.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
But the guy is clearly an overzealous hothead who has no business holding any position of authority. He should be fired and laughed out of court.
That said, why does the video say "Moments later" when it shows the girl getting arrested? Why on earth would you edit there. If it's truly just "Moments later", then show us those moments. What can it hurt? Now I'm left wondering what transpired in the interim to facilitate his change of heart from "Rawr, I'm a giant asshole" to "Rawr, I'm a giant asshole AND I'm going to arrest you."
Let's not forget this gem.
Equine Mammals Are Considerably Smaller
Something like a protest at the G20 can go really wrong really fast. With people surrounding the talks protesting everything from 9/11 conspiracies to lizard men to capitalism and whatnot, and many of them genuinely enraged for some reason or another, we're not talking about necessarily the most peaceful group. I've worked crowd control at an amusement park to pay for college, I had to be a complete jerk when I worked that job just to keep people in the queue rails from destroying entire rides. I know, it's a terrible analog to riot police at a G20 protest, but the point still stands.
Blowing Bubble's WHAT?!?
Really, it makes all the difference between an angry mob and a very, very friendly one.
I never realized how much of a Police State Canada has become. Cameras everywhere, a Billion dollar budget extension to twist a law against WWII German saboteurs into support for the suppression of the rights of free speech and assembly. How soon will it be before each citizen will be required to have a National ID number permanently tattooed onto their arm?
Running with Linux for over 20 years!
I wonder if he's going to sue Wikipedia too; he's now immortalized on the "Streisand Effect" page.
-- Even if a god did exist, why the fsck should I worship it?
A DETERGENT for God's sake!
Maybe the young lady was hopeing that her bubbles would Deter Gents from doing her harm. Her mistake was that Officer Bubbles is not a gentleman.
in Canada, maybe there isn't really freedom of speech.
For the record, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (part of Canada's constitution) states:
"Documentation" is just someone's words too. It might say "assault" when you were just blowing bubbles. To say that the person charged in a crime can only "speculate" about it is absurd.
The cop is under no more of an obligation to suffer insult or provocation than you or I. Laws against battery help define legal limits to interpersonal behavior. In a civilized society if you want your rights (and your person) to be respected you generally have to respect the rights of others. Blowing bubbles isn't the crime of the century but she was standing close and facing him. FWIW, when people complain about behavior like this from cops in western countries like Canada and such, I wonder how they would feel if they had police contact in most of the rest of the world.
In before the we're sued.
my site of misleading and incorrect information!
Did it use his real name, or just "officer bubbles?"
It seems to me that there's a pretty good gulf between declaring "Officer John Smith beats people" and drawing cartoons of "Officer Bubbles", foremost that it's not going to make an easy association between his actual name and the actions in question.
I haven't seen the videos in question (since they've for the most part been taken down), but as everyone still seems to refer to the dude as "officer bubble" I'd hazard a fair guess that quite a lot of the material probably isn't actually aimed at his name, and thus it might be pretty hard to prove libel/slander.
Here are some facts:
The original confrontation occurred at Queen St W and Noble in Toronto's Parkdale neighbourhood at Parkdale Legal Community Services Centre. It was called the "Convergence Centre" where protesters from out of town could meet, share food, get some rest and organize their peaceful marches etc. They were not affiliated with anyone participating in or condoning "Black Bloc" techniques.
Bubble Girl, (Ms. Winkels), was at the Convergence Centre on the Sunday afternoon when the area was swarmed by police in riot gear who boxed off the area and refused to allow people to leave. The neighbourhood where this happened is approximately 4.1kms (2.5miles) away from the Summit site. It is a high-density residential area in the western side of downtown. Ms. Winkels had been working as a street medic over the course of the weekend. She was not a violent protester.
What you don't see in the original video is - Officer Bubbles injected himself into a conversation between the female officer and Ms. Winkels. He had been 7 metres (20feet) away and chose to confront a situation that was calm and under control. Infer what you will of his character from that. Also, Ms. Winkels was asked to stop blowing bubbles by the Officer and she did cease doing so - the video shows this.
This scene was not a rowdy crowd protesting at a Summit site. Riot squads descended on a residential neighbourhood, blocked off a main street and kettled people walking their dogs or getting coffee and detained them as a bus was searched. A bus filled with Montrealers returning home on the Sunday afternoon because the Summit was over.
After the confrontation with Officer Bubbles, Ms. Winkels was treated with suspicion for having a lawyer's phone number written on her arm and charged with possession of weapons dangerous for having eyewash in her backpack (despite being able to prove her position as a street medic) and arrested.
The lawsuit Officer Bubbles has launched does not take issue with the original video, which you have seen. It is not mentioned in any part of his Statement of Claim. Clearly, he is comfortable or at least aware that there is nothing he can do or say to defend his words, actions or demeanour. His Statement of Claim encompasses the Officer Bubbles cartoons and the possible slanderous nature of those. He also claims that threats have been made to the safety of his family and children.
If someone had made a credible threat to the safety of his family and children, then I feel some sympathy for them. That crosses a line for me.
But a grown man who chose to behave in a completely overbearing and unnecessary manner does not. As Cst. Josephs so succinctly put it, my heart bleeds.
Law enforcement officials sleep easier at night knowing that the ever-vigilant Internet Police are watching over them.
Fair point. Though one thing that is well documented, by this video if nothing else, is that Officer Bubbles is a dick, at at least acted like a macho dick on that particular occasion. While she may have caused some meaningful aggravation during the cut in the video that wouldn't excuse Offer Dick Bubbles for being a dick before that point.
All asshole, no brains.
I guess insecure people need a position of authority to be able to go on a power trip.
Unfort, in Canada we've also had cops that have Tasered immigrants to death (and then lied about it in their official statement), shot unarmed prisoners in the back of the head, beaten up delivery drivers, and beaten people to death in the back of their squad cars.
But, that would be annoying as hell to have someone blowing bubbles in your face from 2 feet away.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
The girl cop is hot. Mmm.
Sig: I stole this sig.
" conspiracy to commit mischief " was the reason
Which means...what, exactly?
That every slashdotter is guilty?
This is pretty much the definition of a general purpose charge that's so vague and broad that anyone is guilty of it at any time.
Then, combine that with selective enforcement, and the entire nation is full of criminals, whenever the police want to cause trouble.
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......
Glad I live in Victoria, BC.
Yeah...then you only have to worry about cops who'll kill you because they're afraid of staplers.....
"City hall" in German is "Rathaus" Kinda explains a few things......