09-09-2007, 04:10 AM
Quote:Wrong. The officer might have been well within his rights to ask for identification. Of course, asking for the driver's license is simply a faster way of doing so, but when the man refused, the officer should have said, "I need you to provide me with some kind of identification", not arrest the man because he refuses to show his driver's license (as there is no law that I am aware of which specifically states that you must show your driver's license upon a police officer's request, unless you're operating a vehicle).
Yes, the guy was being a jerk for not just providing the license, but the officer shouldn't have arrested him on that basis. Just demand that he show some kind of identification instead.
Of course, the officer probably either didn't realize Righi wasn't refusing showing identification (at least as I understood it, he only refused to show the officer the driver's license on matter of principle as he wasn't driving at the time), or he didn't care for the guy's attitude and wanted to teach him a lesson.
I find myself agreeing with Righi's actions, at least in principle. As I see it, he was well within his rights every step of the way.
I have a feeling there is more to this story than the man's blog has let on. Most peace officers have better training that to do something illegal, and to not read the man his Miranda rights? The man must have been acting quite agitated IMO. I'm quite sure without knowing all of the facts that this story is very one-sided, and I'm almost certain that the peace officer did what he felt was necessary to defuse the situation before is escalated.
"The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which he has attained liberation from the self." -Albert Einsetin