as was noted these were UTA cops. their job is to protect UTA propery. Parking in the lot is for UTA riders, if they watched him for a while and he did not get on a bus or train ect. he is there for some other purpose "to meet a friend" ...ie loitering. His attitude is what he got in return. Anyone who thinks cops are "just being Dicks" should go spend some time with them. Go see how many self rightious, I know my rights jerks they deal with everyday. No I am not a Cop, I would have Tazed and beaten way to many day to day A-HOLES and they claim that is wrong. Good Luck with the court battle, these people that think the cops are out to hassle them need to get over themselves... they are just not that important for nayone to spend any time on.
Wrong on all counts. Their job is to uphold the law on UTA property, not issue tickets to A holes for not obeying their commands.
I have spent time with LEO's. They do get a ton of crap from A holes all day. If they didn't know that going into POST then they absolutely knew it during and after. I didn't force them to be cops. They chose that.
What is self righteous about knowing your rights? If the police don't intend to infringe on them then it shouldn't bother them at all. The problem is there are so many laws, cops don't know them and neither do any citizens. You have to chose your battles. Like not letting them illegally search your car or person is one of my chosen battles. That doesn't mean you think you know every law better than every cop. It just means they can't trample something I hold dear, my privacy.
If you think you have the right to beat and taze people who don't share your point of view on all things then we are all glad you aren't a cop.
Lastly, Cops like most people are inherently lazy. Once they figure out what kind of people make easy targets they prey on those types. It makes it easier to write tickets which keeps their bosses happy and generates money which is never frowned upon. So they actually do make it a point to go after people they perceive as easy targets which in this case may or may not have been a guy smoking or whom they thought looked like he smoked.
Again, not all cops are bad people, but to blindly trust anyone with authority is not wise. This doesn't mean you don't show them the respect that any decent human being deserves.
