Cell phone etiquette lesson

Gonz

Gonz

molṑn labé
Staff member
Two Pepper Sprayed Over Phone Call At Fla. Movie
Pair Arrested At Theater

POSTED: 6:47 am EDT July 27, 2004
UPDATED: 6:50 am EDT July 27, 2004

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- A college student who took a cell phone call from her mother in a movie theater was pepper sprayed by an officer and charged with disorderly conduct, along with her boyfriend.

Warronnica Harris, 23, was at the Muvico theater at BayWalk Saturday night, watching the opening credits to Catwoman when her cell phone rang.

"It was my mom calling me," Harris said. "It was a family emergency."

Harris said she spoke so quietly that her mother couldn't hear her. Then Officer John Douglas shone a flashlight in her eyes.

He asked Harris and her boyfriend, Terrell "KC" Tolson, 25, to leave. He pushed Harris in the hallway, then pepper sprayed both of them in the lobby, the couple said. Neither Harris nor Tolson has a criminal record.

Police denied their account, saying Harris refused to end her cell phone conversation, yelled at the Douglas and refused to leave the theater. Her boyfriend also refused to leave and threatened the officer, police said.

Witnesses said the pair did nothing wrong.

Marcia Gray, a 49-year-old Tampa accountant, was in the lobby when the couple were pepper sprayed.

"The man turned and asked the officer why he was making them leave and the cop just maced him in the face," Gray said. "They weren't yelling or touching him. The man bent over and the girl asked why he maced her boyfriend. Then the cop maced her, and she dropped her soda."


Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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I bet she remembers to turn that sumbitch off next time she's at a theatre.
 
the girl should have just walked out of the theatre, but this was one bad-mooded cop, that's for sure...
 
Is it that fucking hard to get up and take your call in the hallway? Would've avoided the whole mess, and more importantly, it would've been the right thing to do.

As to whether it warranted what she got, I don't know. The witness accounts would seem to say no, but I wasn't there.
 
WTF? You're supposed to turn them OFF when you go to the movies. Besides, if it had been that much of a family emergency, you woulda thought she'd have high-tailed it out of the theatre. :rolleyes:
 
Yes, she should've turned off her phone, or taken the call in the lobby. I can agree with that, but getting maced is another thing entirely. According to witneses, there was no yelling, or shoving, going on, so why did the cop use mace? If he was afraid that it would get 'out of hand', then why didn't he use cuffs? Sounds like a police officer in need of some discipline, too.
 
ResearchMonkey said:
here nor there.

She said "cracker" with a threat of bodily harm, is that a hate crime?
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I didn't see that in the linked article. Perhaps you can point it out for us, since you seem to know more about this than the rest of us...
 
No I don't know more. I do know I am about sick-to-death of any race card being played by any race at any time. I hate the PC of it all, I

A persons color doesnt matter to me. white, black, brown, yellow, red, or blue are all fine with me. (green would make me nervous thoo).

I think the 'race struggle' is nothing more than division being played to keep people in fear and hate. I think most of the 'groups' need to get past the "the man is keeping me down" thing. I am sooo glad Dr. Cosby said what he said, the time to move on has been here for too long,

I was simply playing devils advocate, playing the laws as they are written, showing the "PC" of it all. It is a divideing law that is not equtiable to all.

http://thesmokinggun.com/archive/0728041cell2.html

It makes free speech less free too.

I used to say lots of bad things when I fought, color didn't matter. I hated who ever I happen to be fighting at the time.
 
where are the times where stuff like that was private? :confused: i'm having a hard time believing that the warrant was already scanned...with their adresses etc open to the public. smells like total BS to me...
 
ResearchMonkey said:
No I don't know more. I do know I am about sick-to-death of any race card being played by any race at any time. I hate the PC of it all, I

A persons color doesnt matter to me. white, black, brown, yellow, red, or blue are all fine with me. (green would make me nervous thoo).

I think the 'race struggle' is nothing more than division being played to keep people in fear and hate. I think most of the 'groups' need to get past the "the man is keeping me down" thing. I am sooo glad Dr. Cosby said what he said, the time to move on has been here for too long,

I was simply playing devils advocate, playing the laws as they are written, showing the "PC" of it all. It is a divideing law that is not equtiable to all.

http://thesmokinggun.com/archive/0728041cell2.html

It makes free speech less free too.

I used to say lots of bad things when I fought, color didn't matter. I hated who ever I happen to be fighting at the time.
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I don't think we could have agreed more. I hate it when you get people that keep bitching and saying "You don't know what it's like to be [insert "discriminated" minority here],"
It's moved me to finally speak my mind to them: "You'll always be that way if you don't get off your ass and stop acting like a victim"
 
Digital said:
I don't think we could have agreed more. I hate it when you get people that keep bitching and saying "You don't know what it's like to be [insert "discriminated" minority here],"
It's moved me to finally speak my mind to them: "You'll always be that way if you don't get off your ass and stop acting like a victim"
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Funny how you ignore the fact that they were maced, and the only people who brought up race were you, and ResearchMonkey. Since you brought up the race card, and not me, (I made my comments befre I looked over at 'Smoking Gun'), I now feel safe is asking the following...

Why do you think they were maced? If it's not a race issue, then it's a police brutality issue. From what I read in the article, there was no yelling, screaming, pushing, etc, so why were they maced? I can also say that, if any case justified the race card, this one does. If the race card is not justified, then you'd best show evidence as to why, instead of the bile you spewed above...You, too, RM. Put up, or shut up.
 
I don’t think the maceing was called for. There appears only to have been words tossed at the guard. Time was on his side, he could have waited for assistance or 'on-duty' officers to arrive. From what I read, there was no cause to use force in this case.

I don’t' think being arrested was called for either. Telling a movie usher to back off is not illegal as AFAIK.

But since there was an arrest, and if the Arresting officer believes he has a case, why not go for the federal offense. I was pointing out the hypocrisy of the situation, devils advocate.

I am not going to make any excuses for the actions of the cop. He may have done it because they were black, I don't know. My guess it was more about his ego and that he felt he had the authority he does at his other job (not to say it would be right then either). He is going to get sued; lawyers have already approached the couple for sure.

The only racial note from the incident is what the female perpetrator allegedly said. If there was crime actually committed against the usher, it would have to be logically construed as a hate crime. So the burden of proof lies on you to show why the race card should be played otherwise. Simply being black does not qualify.

Gato, I think you’re reading me wrong. I am not attempting to play the cop as right, I am trying to push the conclusion that the incident does not fit the screwed up system. It is a issue that is prevalent in society today and had not been noticed in any of the prior post. I suppose I could have used more tact in the presentation of it.

Personally, I have great respect for you and what you have chosen to with your life, I am grateful to you for that. I admire and respect the clarity in which you often see things and draw logical solutions. The fact that you’re black makes zero difference to me.
 
ResearchMonkey said:
I don’t think the maceing was called for. There appears only to have been words tossed at the guard. Time was on his side, he could have waited for assistance or 'on-duty' officers to arrive. From what I read, there was no cause to use force in this case.
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Thank you. My point entirely until somebody played the race card (Digital)

ResearchMonkey said:
I don’t' think being arrested was called for either. Telling a movie usher to back off is not illegal as AFAIK.
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It isn't, nor should it be. It's not ethical, if you are the one being disruptive, but that's another thread.

But since there was an arrest, and if the Arresting officer believes he has a case, why not go for the federal offense. I was pointing out the hypocrisy of the situation, devils advocate.
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The arrest was for being a 'public niusance'. Not something that requires cuffs, or an arrest. It's an offense that get's you a ticket unless you are also violent, in which case it becomes a larger offense.

ResearchMonkey said:
I am not going to make any excuses for the actions of the cop. He may have done it because they were black, I don't know. My guess it was more about his ego and that he felt he had the authority he does at his other job (not to say it would be right then either). He is going to get sued; lawyers have already approached the couple for sure.

The only racial note from the incident is what the female perpetrator allegedly said. If there was crime actually committed against the usher, it would have to be logically construed as a hate crime. So the burden of proof lies on you to show why the race card should be played otherwise. Simply being black does not qualify.
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I never played the race card. I only said that what the cop did was wrong. Digital was the one spewing forth the racial discrimination ploy. It's as though he wants this to be a racial issue...

ResearchMonkey said:
Gato, I think you’re reading me wrong. I am not attempting to play the cop as right, I am trying to push the conclusion that the incident does not fit the screwed up system. It is a issue that is prevalent in society today and had not been noticed in any of the prior post. I suppose I could have used more tact in the presentation of it.

Personally, I have great respect for you and what you have chosen to with your life, I am grateful to you for that. I admire and respect the clarity in which you often see things and draw logical solutions. The fact that you’re black makes zero difference to me.
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Once more, it comes down to what's actually happening vs what you are permitted to see. If the perpetrators with the cell phone had been white, I'd be just as upset over the use of force by the cop. Instead, we have a supposed liberal making a racial case out of an excessive use case, so I responded accordingly.
 
It's tough to make the call regarding "excessive force" in this case because we were not there to see what actually transpired.

I'm not making excuses for the cop's actions, just saying that this story was obviously picked up by the media because of "the racial card" alone ("police brutality" = sensationalism), hence the rapid acquisition and posting of public record by The Smoking Gun.

Therefore, in my opinion, there is the possibility that the quotes from "witnesses" might be selective based on what spin the media is attempting to put on the story. In other words, there might also be witnesses who made statements to the effect that the accused couple did indeed become aggressive enough toward the officer that the use of pepper spray was justified, but we aren't seeing those quotes because they would dilute the story.

Who knows how many similar incidents occur across the nation daily, but we never read about them in the news because the participant's races were not a factor.

Edit: changed wording of fourth sentence.
 
Sharky said:
It's tough to make the call regarding "excessive force" in this case because we were not there to see what actually transpired.

I'm not making excuses for the cop's actions, just saying that this story was obviously picked up by the media because of "the racial card" alone ("police brutality" = sensationalism), hence the rapid acquisition and posting of public record by The Smoking Gun.

Therefore, in my opinion, there is the possibility that the quotes from "witnesses" might be selective based on what spin the media is attempting to put on the story. In other words, there might also be witnesses who made statements to the effect that the accused couple did indeed become aggressive enough toward the officer that the use of pepper spray was justified, but we aren't seeing those quotes because they would dilute the story.

Who knows how many similar incidents occur across the nation daily, but we never read about them in the news because the participant's races were not a factor.

Edit: changed wording of fourth sentence.
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The AP usually sends out the whole story, and not just the parts that folks want to hear. :shrug: If there are other wintesses, that have different stories, then they would be in the article as well. Perhaps if the original poster gave us the link, we could see for ourselves.
 
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