Monday, November 23, 2009

Thin skin

PITTSBURGH  —  Pittsburgh City Council has tentatively approved paying $50,000 to settle a free speech lawsuit filed by a man cited for giving a city police officer the middle finger.
Thirty-five-year-old David Hackbart, of Butler, made the gesture at a driver in April 2006, then did it again when someone yelled at him — realizing only later the second person was a police officer.

First point to consider here is that if I ticketed every person who has flipped me off in a twenty five year career I would have had scant time to do anything else.  Part of the job is having a thick skin.  If a little thing like some imbecile flipping you the bird is enough to cause the ACLU to come gunning for you, perhaps it is time to find another line of work.

Secondly, if the nitwit flipping the entire world off was cited with something like driver inattention (both hands on the wheel) then this incident would not have been a problem.  Everyone just needs to lighten up a bit.

The rest here.

No comments: