Book Em, Barney!

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

TAMPA — An 18-year-old Tampa man was jailed Tuesday afternoon, charged with wearing a clown mask on a public road.

THIS KID WAS OBVIOUSLY MISTAKEN FOR A USUAL SUSPECT.

 

[mynameisben]

TAMPA — An 18-year-old Tampa man was jailed Tuesday afternoon, charged with wearing a clown mask on a public road.

THIS KID WAS OBVIOUSLY MISTAKEN FOR A USUAL SUSPECT.

This does not bode well for my ass ugly aunt Doris. She lives in Tampa and has a pronounced Revlon addiction.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Better warn her that the sheriff is cracking down on illicit clown masks; better warn the Shriners, too, theyre major clown mask scofflaws.

 

[R. Richard]

Most states have laws against appearing in public wearing a mask. There are two main concerns. 1) The person mau be intending to break the law and not be recognized. 2) The person may be a part of something like the Ku Klux Klan and may intend to break specific laws against harrassing certain racial/religious groups. Whether it's a clown mask or not, really has no bearing.

FLORIDA Chapter 876 Criminal Anarchy, Treason and other Crimes Against Public Order
876.13 Wearing mask, hood, or other device on public property.--No person or persons shall in this state, while wearing any mask, hood, or device whereby any portion of the face is so hidden, concealed, or covered as to conceal the identity of the wearer, enter upon, or be, or appear upon or within the public property of any municipality or county of the state.

876.155 Applicability; ss. 876.12-876.15.--The provisions of ss. 876.12-876.15 apply only if the person was wearing the mask, hood, or other device:

(1) With the intent to deprive any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws or for the purpose of preventing the constituted authorities of this state or any subdivision thereof from, or hindering them in, giving or securing to all persons within this state the equal protection of the laws;

(2) With the intent, by force or threat of force, to injure, intimidate, or interfere with any person because of the person's exercise of any right secured by federal, state, or local law or to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from exercising any right secured by federal, state, or local law;

(3) With the intent to intimidate, threaten, abuse, or harass any other person; or

(4) While she or he was engaged in conduct that could reasonably lead to the institution of a civil or criminal proceeding against her or him, with the intent of avoiding identification in such a proceeding.

 

[sr71plt]

TAMPA — An 18-year-old Tampa man was jailed Tuesday afternoon, charged with wearing a clown mask on a public road.

THIS KID WAS OBVIOUSLY MISTAKEN FOR A USUAL SUSPECT.

Naw, the cops most likely thought it was you--standing too close to an elementary school.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

RICHARD?

The kid wasnt charged with any other offense, so the charge is bogus. Folks (hello Shriners) dress with masks all the time here. We just celebrated Gasparilla where every drunk reveler dresses in pirate costume. The Shriners dress as clowns in all the parades. Etc.

Barney Fife made an illegal arrest; trust me, they do that here if you give the deputies any lip.

AUNT BLABBY

They mistake me for PENNYWISE the dancing clown.

 

[Handley_Page]

I wonder if the Law covers that enveloping headgear of Muslim women ?
Would that constitute a mask within the meaning of the act?.
If not, the Clown should appeal the sentence

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

HP
Bond for the kid is $750; thats less than for most drunk driving tickets. The cop had no reason to stop the kid other than curiosity about the mask. That is, the cop wasnt looking for a suspect. So the kid refused to cooperate and the cop arrested him for the mask. You do not have to cooperate with the police unless youre under arrest, and the kid wasnt under arrest when he refused to talk to the cop.

The case will be tossed out of court and the kid will sue the sheriff for false arrest and imprisonment.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I wonder if the Law covers that enveloping headgear of Muslim women ?
Would that constitute a mask within the meaning of the act?.
If not, the Clown should appeal the sentence

It wouldn't, unless the wearer was planning on committing some illegal act, in which case it would. The wearer of the mask could probably sue the jurisdiction for a violation of his Constitutional rights. As JBJ says, people wear masks all the time, trick-or-treating or partying or just to be fashionable.

 

[R. Richard]

RICHARD?

The kid wasnt charged with any other offense, so the charge is bogus. Folks (hello Shriners) dress with masks all the time here. We just celebrated Gasparilla where every drunk reveler dresses in pirate costume. The Shriners dress as clowns in all the parades. Etc.

Barney Fife made an illegal arrest; trust me, they do that here if you give the deputies any lip.

The charge is legally defensible under published Florida law.
If you're an 18-year-old kid wearing a mask in public and it's not Halloween, chances are good that you're going to get arrested, particularly if you give the scumbags lip.
If you're a kid, trick-or-treating on Halloween, chances are very, very, very good that you're NOT going to get arrested. If you arrest mommy's little darling, you get any number of very angry mommies in your face. This last is what they call a no-win situation and even the scumbags recognize it.
If you're a Shriner, chances are very, very, very good that you're NOT going to get arrested. If the scumbags arrest a Shriner for wearing a mask, as a part of a group of Shriners, the arrested Shriner gets a GOOD lawyer. The other Shriners talk with the Mayor, the Governor, their congresspersons, etc. The entire weight of the world falls on the scumbags. Okay, the scumbags are stupid, but at least the head scumbag knows what will happen if his goons roust a Shriner.

 

[sr71plt]

If you're an 18-year-old kid wearing a mask in public and it's not Halloween, chances are good that you're going to get arrested, particularly if you give the scumbags lip.

Hey, hey, so you know enough about the circumstances to label the policemen as scumbags, do you? Terrific.

The kid could have been moving toward doing something really bad, and they used what was available to them to cut off what seemed to be coming up.

This ragging on all things in society that represents order trying to keep everything from exploding is really, really getting old hat.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hey, hey, so you know enough about the circumstances to label the policemen as scumbags, do you? Terrific.

The kid could have been moving toward doing something really bad, and they used what was available to them to cut off what seemed to be coming up.

This ragging on all things in society that represents order trying to keep everything from exploding is really, really getting old hat.

No. In Hillsborough County deputies arrest and ask questions later. This is the agency that dumped the cripple out of his wheelchair after he gave a deputy some lip...the charges were dropped but it was all over the national news.

Wearing a clown mask isnt terrorism, and it isnt illegal unless youre doing something with it; its a secondary misdeamenor.

 

[JackLuis]

No. --
Wearing a clown mask isnt terrorism, and it isnt illegal unless youre doing something with it; its a secondary misdeamenor.

But a Dick Cheney mask, that's a whole different story!

That is terrorism!

 

[mynameisben]

What about all them germophobes who wear surgical masks in public? It seems to me that if you wanted to commit a crime and hide your identity, a surgical mask would be the cover of choice.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

What about all them germophobes who wear surgical masks in public? It seems to me that if you wanted to commit a crime and hide your identity, a surgical mask would be the cover of choice.

Hmmmm Then kill em all and let God sort them out!

 

[mynameisben]

Hmmmm Then kill em all and let God sort them out!

Okay, then. Dick Cheney, and now You, are off my hunting buddy list.

 

[Loring2]

Ho Hum

James your right ... I've got a brother who's a lawyer in Orlando. He says a nice share of his income is shaking down the OPD for making careless arrests. Many PDs write the law after morning roll call.
That' when they decide who the targets for the day are.
Those arrests aren't false, just careless.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

James your right ... I've got a brother who's a lawyer in Orlando. He says a nice share of his income is shaking down the OPD for making careless arrests. Many PDs write the law after morning roll call.
That' when they decide who the targets for the day are.
Those arrests aren't false, just careless.

PDs try and place the blame on judges if things go awry, and lots of arrests make the PD look busier than it is. Its a game PDs play.

 

[Boxlicker101]

PDs try and place the blame on judges if things go awry, and lots of arrests make the PD look busier than it is. Its a game PDs play.

Besides which, it they are hassling some harmless guy, there is less chance of getting into an actually dangerous situation.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Besides which, it they are hassling some harmless guy, there is less chance of getting into an actually dangerous situation.

Plenty of cops do that; over the years I've seen them pull all kinds of stunts to avoid dealing with bad guys or car wrecks.