Disorderly Conduct Charges – A Police Judgement Call That Can Be Wrong
Very interesting story in today’s Globe that spells out what defense attorneys have known for a long time – a disorderly conduct arrest can be more about being annoying or belligerent to a cop than actually breaking the law.
The details of the story stem from an incident three years ago, where a Lowell police officer arrested a man on private property at a friends house, allegedly insulted the officer, after he had been told to go inside. The officer arrested him for disorderly conduct. The charges were later dismissed, but the man filed suit for false arrest, arguing that the officer had no probable cause to arrest on disorderly conduct charges. A Federal judge agreed.
Under Massachusetts law, disorderly conduct is violent or tumultuous behavior, fighting, creating a physically dangerous situation. It is not against the law to be rude or obnoxious to a police officer. It is the officer’s job to make the distinction between rude and offensive comments directed at him, and actual disorderly conduct that prevents the police from doing there job, or presents a genuine threat to public safety.
The most famous recent questionable Massachusetts disorderly conduct arrest was that of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr, whose arrest sparked a national controversy on police and race, and lead to the “beer summit” at the White House. People still have strong feelings personal feelings about who was right and wrong in that incident, but from a legal perspective, it was obvious that the disorderly conduct offense charge wouldn’t hold up in court, and the it was immediately dropped.
Officer’s are human, and can get angry when their authority is questioned, challenged, or disregarded. But they are trained to deal with these situations, and it is incumbent upon the police to give citizens the benefit of the doubt, and not make things personal.
But they do make mistakes. And even though it wasn’t your fault, it still take a defense lawyer to fix the problem for you.
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