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JP man charged with shoving bag of dog feces in Brookline cop's face
By adamg on Thu, 06/17/2010 - 11:17am
Wicked Local Brookline reports the cop followed the man from Larz Anderson Park back to his Jamaica Plain home when he refused an order to pick up after his dog in the park. He allegedly pushed a feces-full bag in the officer's face, at which point he was arrested on charges of assault and battery on a police officer and assault with a dangerous weapon (bag of dog feces).
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Comments
The cop followed the guy home
to cite him for not picking up his dog poop in the park.
Then the guy went back to pick it up.
Then the cop arrests him for assault and battery because the bag with dog poop in it "allegedly made contact with the officer's left cheek." OMG
Assault&Battery was not invented to protect delicate officers of the law from annoyed citizens who have been stalked by cops. If a cop witnessed two other people engaged in this confrontation, they'd tell them both to go home.
(Actually, it's kind of nice to read a news story about Brookline cops that doesn't include a stripper, a body guard, and the cops refusing to pay for the "adult entertainment" then arresting the body guard for assault and battery.)
ummm no. This guy didn't
ummm no.
This guy didn't follow the law and the Cop cited it for it. Then the pretentious asshole thought if he went back and picked it up, he'd get a do over. Sorry buddy, but deed was already done.
Now irritate at nothing but his own douchbagness, the guy threw the dog shit in the cops face.
Look, there's plenty to go after with crooked cops and crooked "policy" in the BPD. This cop was doing his job and doesn't deserve this shit.
Was it Pudding?
Are they sure it wasn't pudding? Maybe $240 worth of puddin'.
nice.
"We had the 240. We had to have the pudding."
Ah yeah.....
Confusing
What part of this story is normal??? None of it by my reading.
A cop saw a man let his dog crap in Larz Anderson Park and told him to pick it up. When the guy didn't...the cop just watched him finish his walk. What??
Then, the guy allegedly leaves without picking up after his dog...so the cop follows him all the way to JP over a littering citation!? What???
Then after telling him he's getting a citation (did he actually give him one?) the cop leaves. The guy picks up his dog's crap and then somehow finds the cop at a red light over on Perkins St? WHAT?
The guy then waves the bag of crap at the cop which may or may not have hit the cop's cheek in the process so he gets rung up for a "dangerous weapon"!?! WHAT?!?
What the hell is wrong with these people?
If he didn't pick up the dog
If he didn't pick up the dog crap, where did the bag of dog crap come from? This cop sounds like a nut.
Whit
Rockwood street is a few hundred yards from that park.
It said the officer told him to pick it up and the guy said he would but didn't. Cop follows car (to probably get the license plate and to mail him a citation), and car pulls into driveway 1 minute later since the guy lives right next to the park. Cop has chance to actually tell the guy he is being mailed a citation. Cop pulls off, guy grabs dog poop (maybe he did pick it up after all?), follows cop down Perkins St at light a mile away. Guy gets out of car, knocks on window and shoves poop in cops face.
If he did shove poop in a persons face, how isn't that assault with a dangerous weapon? (It is legally), and more importantly, why shouldn't this guy get arrested (if he did shove the poop in his face?)
Riddle me this
Cop: Pick up after your dog, sir.
Guy: I will.
*Guy starts to walk away*
Cop: No, I meant right now...or you're welcome to this citation instead.
Ta-da! No antagonistic cops chasing down fleeing poo droppers. No "dangerous" bags of poo being swung at anyone.
ok if that actually happened...
What if it went like this:
Cop: Pick up after your dog, sir.
Guy: I will. I just ran out of bags so I need to go to my car and get some. I'm sorry.
*Guy starts to walk away*
Cop: Ok, no problem.
*Guy gets in his car and drives away instead of getting a bag*
Do you want the cop to follow him to his car to make sure he got the bag?
Or if it went this way?
Cop: Pick it up
Dude: K, one sec...
Cop: (slamming dude on ground, dude dies)
Step 3: ????
Step 4: Family profit...
Poop scenarios
Given that none of us were there, this is really a whole lot of brain cells being devoted to an incident involving dog poop. If we could somehow find a way to harness the energy that people in this city put into arguing and stressing out over dog poop and bicycles, we could cut off our reliance on petroleum products immediately.
Dear god, this blog would explode with an energy overload if a bicyclist went speeding along a sidewalk, cut out into the street to slam into a properly helmeted bicyclist waiting at a stop light, bouncing off an illegally double parked car in the bike lane and landing face first in a big steaming pile of Rottweiler poo. I'm sure we can fit in some sort of questionable police conduct or a raise for the fire department in that scenario and export some extra megawatts to Quebec or something.
Amen John W.
Amen.
Then what are we to do while
Then what are we to do while "working"?
Wasn't a hypothetical
I wasn't suggesting how it went. I was proposing a manner in which the cop could have handled the situation differently which wouldn't have enraged the guy into swinging a bag of dog poop through a cop car window minutes later.
If the guy says he ran out of bags, then the cop was welcome to ask for ID and start drawing up the citation. If you're going to walk your dog, then you're either going to have a bag on you already intending to clean up after yourself...or you don't and had no intention. This isn't rocket science.
Instead, the cop let the problem fester (literally) and then chose to continue on it (what? no lights on the cop car to pull the guy over or whatever before they made it all the way to the guy's house?) instead of figuring..."well, crap". And in the end, he riled the guy up to the point that he did something super-stupid on top of his earlier dumb decision not to curb his dog better.
The guy was a grade-A asshole...but the cop certainly didn't handle this situation in a manner that would have nipped it all in the butt to begin with.
It's like the moron on detail duty that I saw at the BU Bridge Wednesday morning. She directed traffic to the point that it gridlocked Comm Ave inbound basically making a bad situation (why she's being paid to be there) worse. A driver was pissed about being stuck and started honking at the cross traffic in the intersection (I'm guessing he didn't see her on the other side of the giant box truck that was there). So, she walks over to his car and starts saying things like "They don't have anywhere to go" and the hardly-calming "Welcome to Boston, buddy". So, basically the conversation keeps going back and forth for another minute (as the car is still stuck anyways) and when there's barely enough room to push through, the guy starts to go for it while she's saying "Well do you want a ticket for being in a blocked intersection?" (he'd crossed the crosswalk by then)...and since he had basically put it behind him...but she was now no longer satisfied she had the upper hand, she yelled at her partner to "pull that guy over!"....which the partner wasn't ready to deal with as the driver basically motored down the road...and nothing ever came of it (as far as I know).
This happens all the time (Prof Gates, anyone?). Cops frequently just (aren't trained?) don't deescalate because they become lazy and rely on the fact that as soon as the citizen gets too far invested/out-of-hand the cop carries the trump card of arrest. I mean, is that a class in the academy? "How to turn a simple citation into an arrestable offense 101"?
Yes it was a hypothetical.
You basically made up a two-way conversation that didn't happen.
You don't think the officer has the right to let the guy go to his car (basically giving him a verbal warning) and get a bag to go pick up the poop? Yes the officer could have just done what you said and cited him there, but what makes you think that wouldn't have enraged the guy? He could have still gone down to bring the poop after the officer. Wouldn't giving this man a ticket right on the spot be more strict enfocement than following him around the block and telling the guy that he was getting a citation? (and many cities you can be arrested for a willfull violation of a bylaw)
Hell, the officer didn't arrest the guy. He followed him around the block and told him he was going to cite him. This was after he gave him a free chance to go pick up the poop!
I don't see how you can compare this to some cop that doesn't know how to direct traffic or the Gates case.
But ok, to counter your proposal, this could have happened:
Cop: Pick up after your dog, sir.
Guy: I will.
*Guy starts to walk away*
Cop: No, I meant right now...or you're welcome to this citation instead.
*Guy picks up poop at park and puts it in officers face*
That could have happened too don't you think?
Way to prove my point
You're very good at de-escalating here too.
think about what you are saying
But first, you really do have to think about the job that cops or any enforcemnt officer does. The most simple thing in the world is for us to sit here and type about what a cop shouldn't or should have done. That isn't always fair.
How did the cops escalate anything here? Wouldn't it have been real escalated if the cop pulled him over before he got home and arrested him for a willfull violation of a bylaw? Or how about arresting him before he got in his car?
Gimme a break Kaz. It sounds like the cop gave this guy a chance to get a bag and pick up his poop. It doesn't sound anything like those other situations where the cops may have escalated it.
And not to sound like an a-hole, but you really have to go to a few thousand of these calls and see how people react before you can talk about how to escalate or descalate something. Even if you were the best cop in the world and followed every policy to the letter of the law, you are not going to make the right decision in everyones eyes.
Way to prove my point
Nice doesn't walk away from the thread until he's satisfied the officer (any officer really) is exonerated so yeah he doesn't know how to deescalate but that's just becuase he's a homer for the police force (any police force really.)
anonyomous
all you do is escalate (and whine about libraries closing).
Ok, that isn't all you do, but a good amount of your posts are trollish, attempting to provoke a reaction from me or other people with no real substance in your posts besides sarcastic inflammatory rhetoric.
i thought you were too busy to respond
you've been posting in defense of BPD in the David Woodman case and in defense of the cop in Brookline who charged a citizen with assault&battery with a dangerous weapon when dog poop in a pooper-scooper bag "brushed his cheek."
If there were two poops in the bag, would the law require the cop to charge him with two counts?
You need to read more clearly.
I have always defended the Boston Police in how they handled the initial encounter with Woodman. I never defended how or why Woodman did not get medical attention at a certain time. But continue to read what you want to read.
You don't "brush" someones cheek with dog poop. I don't care how it happened, if you put poop in someones face and that person gets touched by it, that person should be arrested.
It is ok, it is clear from seeing you defend this man that you have something against the police and always take the other side.
But lets leave this on a good note. I can tell your a good guy and there is some miscommunication here. I'm off to the sox game to have a good time, and I hope you have a good time tonight as well.
Go Celtics and Go Red Sox.
is there a situation involving a police officer
that you have no firsthand knowledge of, that you won't create a hypothetical situation in which the policeman responded with duly noted aplomb and the citizen responded with outrageous provocativeness as well as criminal or misdemeanor behaviour?
Assuming a bag of poop and a brushing of the left cheek of the officer, can you seriously argue that the man deserves to be charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon?
If the two people were reversed and it was a citizens arrest, you'd have a very different opinion, which is proof that you are prejudiced against citizens when a police officer is involved.
Not true.
Did you read what everyone else is making up in their own scenerios?
And many of my problems regarding comments on UHUB (not UHUB itself) have to do with people reading articles and then creating their own story in their head as to what they think happened. Many times these made up scenerios make things up that the police did or did not do.
Anyone that puts poop in another persons face should be charged with Assault with a Dangerous weapon. Not just becuase I think so, but because that is what the law dictates.
what the law dictates
God help us.
Oh you don't think so?
What should happen to a person who shoves poop into another persons face?
-And remember that this guy is not going to go to jail for this one day even though the max penalty is 10 years in state prison. I also don't think he should do any serious jail time as well. And remember the fact that shoving poop in someone elses face does fall under the statute of ABDW.
And just the fact that you think an officer wouldn't arrest someone if poop was put in another citizens face really shows me that you might not in touch with the real world. You aren't really in Brett's fantasy land yet, but your on the border.
the poop was in a bag
the cop overcharged the "suspect"
Interesting Jurisdictional Point
I don't have time to read the whole story to get proper context for your comment, but to the extent that one of your questions is about a Brookline cop taking action in Boston, there is a little known statute that allows Brookline, Boston and Newton police to take certain actions in the adjoining municipality within a certain distance of their "home" jurisdiction. It was originally from the 70s, and was slightly amended sometime in the 90s. I will try to find and post it if anyone cares.
here it is:
http://www.mass.gov/legis/laws/seslaw98/sl980212.htm
If he really followed him
If he really followed him home, they could probably make a semi-reasonable "hot pursuit" argument, as well.
Agreed with the other comment: this is a lot of people getting bizarrely excited over a fairly humorous gross-out story. Which isn't a bad thing, but really? We're making jurisdictional arguments about what amounts to a morning-zoo radio segment for some Mix station in Omaha, once this thing hits the AP's Odd News wire.
"hot pursuit"
Only works for crimes that arrestable in the original juristiction. I assume not picking up poop is not arrestable in Brookline. I could be wrong.
Hot pursuit
Hot, steaming, stinky pursuit.
it's about time!
thats what they get for beating people up on or off duty...
conduct unbecoming, etc. it's about time! brookline cop followed this guy to boston? out of his jurisdiction!
here we go again!
If JP is in Boston does the Brookline cop have jurisdiction?
Was the fellow in JP and therefore Boston? Do Brookline cops have jurisdiction to arrest people in another city? But then when Boston (and I assume Brookline) cops can legally extort money for "details" why shouldn't they be able to arrest anyone they want to grab?
This morning I saw a detail cop "protecting" workers from traffic in an area where traffic was already blocked by vehicles closing off the street.
Hard to expect much from cops who themselves are in the protection racket.
Larz
Larz Anderson Park is in Brookline. But dirtbags know no borders. Maybe Mr. Maurer will stop using the world as his toilet now.
JP is full of slack dog owners
I gotta say, I'm sick and tired of slack dog owners causing me hassle. Some jerk let their dog take a dump in our little front yard earlier this week where my 2 yr old daughter plays. The yard is raised above the sidewalk, so it actually takes some effort to let the dog get into the yard. That's just the most recent in a long list of lazy and inconsiderate dog owners fouling my property, much less having to dodge the crap on the sidewalk every time I leave the house. So I'm glad the cop made a point to stick it to this guy.
oh shut up
There's probably a litter box full of cat shit in your kitchen right now, isn't there?
Seriously though, you city folk get way too worked up about animal waste. Based on my dog's all-organic diet, it's probably a lot cleaner than the stuff that comes out of you or your daughter.
It's amazing to me when people think it's a police officer's job to take care of any "hassle" that someone causes. The police have better things to do with their time. Two days before this incident, a Brookline woman was raped at knifepoint in broad daylight. But that's not YOUR problem, right?
Nope - No Cats Either
Nice assumption though tough guy. F you and your dog. I don't care what your dog eats. Clean up after it and keep it off my property. Where do you get off thinking you have the right to let your dog crap on my lawn or any other area that doesn't belong to you? What's your address? I'll drop some diapers on your lawn and see how you like it.
You know why it's the police officers job to take care of hassles? Because it's illegal to beat the tar out of morons like you.
The finest poo in JP
Spenser's dog feces is so pure and clean that it should be sold as nighttime rejuvenating masques. It's far cleaner than the cat poop in your cat's litter box (which is not laying on the grass in a park where children play) or the poop coming out of you or your daughter (which is also not laying on the grass in a park where children play).
You city folk... back in the Real America we use dog poop for building materials. We burn it in our wood stoves. We mix it in our chaw!
We don't wipe dog poop off our shoes, we wipe it on our shoes - it waterproofs them! We don't clean it off sidewalks, we put it on them - it prevents bubble gum from sticking!
And it's organic! Did I mention it's organic? My dog saved the planet today. What did you do?
I'll tell you what you did: you made a woman get raped, because you countenanced a police officer enforcing leash laws. That's what you did.
1st of all Spenser, (no
1st of all Spenser, (no disprspect intended here) I'll wager that his daughter's poop ain't on the sidewalk.
2nd, cat poop in a box covered in litter isn't poop on sidewalk either.
3rd, you sound like one who doesn't pick up after your pet. Lazy people do not need pets, it's that simple. If you think it's ok to let your dog poop in someones yard then fill up your own yard with it's poop. My dog poops at my house as well as everywhere else. I pick it up no matter where it is.(because I am a human and humans should not be ok with living in feces). It takes all of 15 seconds.
4th and finally, it doesn't matter what YOU think about your dog's poop when it lands somewhere that does not belong to you.
BTW this post has nothing to do with rape. Stop making it about something else to get the focus off of lazy people. You probably think it is ok to toss cigarette butts anywhere you want too. Join the human race please. We need good humans. :D
courteousneighbor
Poor Reporting
this is a poorly written story how did he have dog feces if he refused to pick them up. this writer needs to be more detailed in their descriptions.
Cop was looking for a confrontation
This cop was clearly looking for a confrontation. Not because he followed Maurer home, but because once there he got out of his patrol car to tell Maurer face-to-face about the citation. Totally not necessary. Once the cop had Maurer's license plate number, the citation could have been sent to Maurer.
we only hear about douchebag cops
The vast majority of cops do great work. I just wish the ones who don't would be accountable to the public and accountable the ones who do. The ones who do chose not to hold accountable the one who don't.
Thank you.
And I really don't think this sounds like a douchebag cop in this situation.
Well duh...
Clearly he's not a douchebag...wait for it....he's a poopbag!
DEARCHRISTLETSGETOFFTHISSTUPIDTOPIC!!!
kinda is
yes, the guy was wrong in not scooping, but people doing wrong things is why cops have jobs. Could've just had the citation sent to the guys home.
This guy broke the law, but he was clearly a Special Person
to whom the law should not apply. So he kicked up a big fuss, apparently went all vigilante, chasing down a cop who had chased him down. If you go that far to prove the law doesn't apply to you, you probably deserve to get arrested.
No doubt a Deval voter.
No doubt a Deval voter.
Maybe he beats up people who
Maybe he beats up people who won't buy him booze?