Friday Open Thread | 38 comments (38 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)

If that guy had not has his camera running, he would have been put into the patrol car and held overnight...

by asdf on Sun Aug 5th, 2012 at 12:47:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

He wrote

I finally had the guts to catch one of our 'encounters' on camera. The camera was hanging around my neck, hence the odd angle and shakiness.

I don't think the police realised that the camera was running. In case of arrest, they can tell him to erase it anyway, can't they?

BTW, do you think too that the policeman's 25-foot rule for demarcating RR right-of-way was made up?

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Aug 5th, 2012 at 02:39:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

There was a notable case in Sweden the other year where a guy in the subway who caught an encounter essentially got the choice of deleting it and spending the night in jail on trumped-up drug charges. He deleted but fortunately he realised that just deleting does not remove so with the help of his blog readers he later restored the video and up it up online.

A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Aug 5th, 2012 at 06:51:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

Were there consequences for the officers?

_{*Lunatic*, n.

One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

by DoDo on Sun Aug 5th, 2012 at 07:21:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 0)

IIRC, only of the slap-on-the-wrist kind.

A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Aug 5th, 2012 at 05:32:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

Checked, the officers were charged but freed because although the bloggers accout was more credibile there was not enough evidence and not every word could be heard on the videoclip. And the blogger had a politcal agenda since he was involved in an organisation that is pro free public transport (which was the reason he was filming in teh first place). Etc and so forth.

The bar of unreasonable doubt applied. Standard practise when cops are accused as far as I can tell.

A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!

by A swedish kind of death on Sun Aug 5th, 2012 at 05:42:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Friday Open Thread (none / 1)

I've never heard of any 25 foot rule for demarking the right of way. The ROW is owned by the railroad, and you're either on it or not on it.

In rural areas of the U.S., the ROW can be pretty wide--400' (about 100 meters) is typical. In urban areas it's narrower, I think they normally want about 50' (15 m) just because that's what is needed for clearance and maintenance. And obviously when the ROW crosses a road, it effectively becomes 0' in width.

But in practice, people go onto the railroad ROW all the time.

by asdf on Mon Aug 6th, 2012 at 11:49:22 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Friday Open Thread | 38 comments (38 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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