# Pregnant and handcuffed: One example of how we're losing liberty on our streets



## tinhamodic (May 8, 2011)

> SHE IS driving down Miller Ave. in East New York, which is in Brooklyn, a street of two-story houses, a pleasant scene except that while the city has huge interest in our killing of somebody in the Middle East, we are losing liberty on our streets without great notice.
> 
> There were 976,420 drivers stopped by police last year. It is a horrible thought that race has something to do with it.
> 
> ...



Does anyone know if she has a legal case against those cops?


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## Mael (May 8, 2011)

> THE WHITE COP came back to her and removed the handcuffs. "Get home safely." He and his partner split, running away with their names.



What made this part relevant?  Talk about race-baiting now.

And like it or not, she failed summons which seems to be the the likely case.  What excuse do you need?  

This is just maudlin, honestly.  



> this crying from handcuffs whose cold metal was running right through to her insides and she could feel its cold touch on her pregnancy.



Give me a break.


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## tinhamodic (May 8, 2011)

Mael said:


> And like it or not, she failed summons which seems to be the the likely case.  What excuse do you need?


That may be so but she was pregnant, was it necessary to handcuff her with her hands behind her? What was she going to do, run away from two cops while pregnant? The cops may enforce the law but they can also exercise better judgement and use common sense.


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## Mael (May 8, 2011)

tinhamodic said:


> That may be so but she was pregnant, was it necessary to handcuff her with her hands behind her? What was she going to do, run away from two cops while pregnant? The cops may enforce the law but they can also exercise better judgement and use common sense.



Yet it didn't violate any actual liberties, just violated consideration.

Breslin is a bit of an emo in some articles I've seen in the past.


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## GodOfAzure (May 8, 2011)

Just because she is pregnant she is harmless? Bull, procedure is procedure. Not to mention, you posted the story of a judge NOT handcuffing people coming before her and look what happens. If something happened and she wasn't cuffed the cops would be to blame. Pure and simple.


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## tinhamodic (May 8, 2011)

> Breslin is a bit of an emo in some articles I've seen in the past.


You really liked this part then?


> this crying from handcuffs whose cold metal was running right through to her insides and she could feel its cold touch on her pregnancy.


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## Lindsay (May 8, 2011)

tinhamodic said:


> Does anyone know if she has a legal case against those cops?




Very unlikely unless they can prove said cop broke police protocol or was overtly racist. Typically, cops have this much legal power. I'm not sure of the specifics on this but did the cop read her Miranda rights? That is very important if a lawsuit has any chance of moving forward.

I can't quite remember but cops can arrest anyone they want and hold them for 24 or 48 hours. Afterwards a person must be charged with a crime though. Technically they must have a "reason" but they can say the person being arrested was swerving even if he/she wasn't and that fulfills the legal requirement.


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## Juno (May 8, 2011)

> She met her husband and walked into the house and tried hiding this from her children, this crying from handcuffs whose cold metal was running right through to her insides and she could feel its cold touch on her pregnancy.



Oh, please.



Someone get this hack an actual tragedy to write about.


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## sadated_peon (May 8, 2011)

Was that supposed to make me feel sympathetic?

At what point of did "being pregnant" become "beyond the law"


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## Sanity Check (May 8, 2011)

Arresting someone because they owe $150 is weak.

That's moreso a job for a bill collection agency.


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## thekingisback (May 8, 2011)

Why does this article read like some thriller? And LOL at the cop arresting her because she owed $150, money problems much?


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## Mael (May 8, 2011)

thekingisback said:


> Why does this article read like some thriller? And LOL at the cop arresting her because she owed $150, money problems much?



NYC is suffering money troubles. 

Bet it's those God damned Yankees.


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## Sanity Check (May 8, 2011)

Predictably, male-gendered police fled upon realizing the woman was pregnant.

Knowing a baby could pop out at any second and implicate them as a 'daddy' is hostile territory well worth retreating from.


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## Pilaf (May 8, 2011)

WHITE COP!!!!!!!!!


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## Megaharrison (May 8, 2011)

Police should try the White Cop Black Cop strategy over Good Cop Bad Cop.


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## Pilaf (May 8, 2011)

WHITE COP BAD!!!!

TWO LEGS BAD!!!!


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## Sillay (May 8, 2011)

What terrible writing. The prose is overly sappy and the writing sounds oddly reminiscent of a ten year old's. Sounds like someone needs to go back to Journalism 101.


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## impersonal (May 8, 2011)

> The former Jennifer Battista is a Dominican young lady with large beautiful dark eyes. This is about 10 days ago and she is driving from her job, a good job in a big hospital, driving to meet her husband and go home. She is 26 and has two children at home with their grandmother.


It's bad because she's a hot, young MILF.


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## thekingisback (May 8, 2011)

impersonal said:


> It's bad because she's a hot, young MILF.


Pics or BS


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## Toroxus (May 8, 2011)

The article is clearly race-biased and irresponsible.


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## Sadako (May 8, 2011)

sadated_peon said:


> Was that supposed to make me feel sympathetic?
> 
> At what point of did "being pregnant" become "beyond the law"





Agreed. While it is possible that the cops didn't act the best way, I simply can't see how her being pregnant should give her leeway that others don't get. The fact that this article is written like a cheap, sensational thriller doesn't exactly help giving the woman more sympathy points.


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## Zhariel (May 8, 2011)

Horrible article. I love how it was written to poetically pull at our heart strings, yet failed to do so. Go take a journalism class, that was unbearable.


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## Level7N00b (May 8, 2011)

It's obvious the writer of this is attempting to play the race card and make it seem as if the cop was doing racial profiling and put us on the woman's side.

But on the other hand, $150? Really?


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## Jade (May 8, 2011)

Level7N00b said:


> It's obvious the writer of this is attempting to play the race card and make it seem as if the cop was doing racial profiling and put us on the woman's side.
> 
> But on the other hand, $150? Really?


I've know people to be arrested for much lower, so this isn't that surprising to me.


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## g_core18 (May 8, 2011)

Quality news article.


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## Jagon Fox (May 8, 2011)

here i thought this was going to be some outrageous story in some third world country where a woman had a pregnancy outside of marriage and was being dragged down by antiquated laws, only to find this annoying pile of crap.


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## DisgustingIdiot (May 8, 2011)

Shit, let's start a civil rights movement.



> THE WHITE COP came back to her and removed the handcuffs. "Get home safely." He and his partner split, running away with their names.



You mean those disgusting fuckers had the gall to realize that holding her overnight would be unreasonable and released her.

This is not what the Founding Fathers had in mind.


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## impersonal (May 8, 2011)

I'm pretty sure the journalist personally knew the woman in that story. It could have been titled "how my good friend got into trouble with those goddamned cops for not paying her fines".


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## Orochimaru (May 8, 2011)

Fucking 5 months pregnant means she barely has a bump.


*Spoiler*: _5 Months_


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## Jello Biafra (May 8, 2011)

Slow news day I guess.


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## Darklyre (May 8, 2011)

Level7N00b said:


> It's obvious the writer of this is attempting to play the race card and make it seem as if the cop was doing racial profiling and put us on the woman's side.
> 
> But on the other hand, $150? Really?



Once you got past the due date without paying off the entire fine, there's a warrant out for your arrest. At that point, warrants are all equal to each other, no matter how much you owed, and you can't simply write a check - you actually have to show up at the courthouse or get hauled off to jail.


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## EvilMoogle (May 8, 2011)

Darklyre said:


> Once you got past the due date without paying off the entire fine, there's a warrant out for your arrest. At that point, warrants are all equal to each other, no matter how much you owed, and you can't simply write a check - you actually have to show up at the courthouse or get hauled off to jail.



Pretty much this.  Police ran her plates while driving and got some sort of message "warrant out for arrest" so they arrested her.

Everything about her being female, pregnant, or the cops being white is just a smokescreen trying to hide this.

The police didn't throw her to the ground and beat her, they followed normal, sensible, protocol of searching her and escorting her to the police car.


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## Altron (May 8, 2011)

Darklyre said:


> Once you got past the due date without paying off the entire fine, there's a warrant out for your arrest. At that point, warrants are all equal to each other, no matter how much you owed, and you can't simply write a check - you actually have to show up at the courthouse or get hauled off to jail.


My Mexican side of my family can testify to this


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## Aokiji (May 8, 2011)

tinhamodic said:


> That may be so but she was pregnant, was it necessary to handcuff her with her hands behind her?



Yes it was. Stop acting like pregnant women are something special.


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## dummy plug (May 8, 2011)

thekingisback said:


> Why does this article read like some thriller? And LOL at the cop arresting her because she owed $150, money problems much?



yeah i had the same impression too...


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## tinhamodic (May 8, 2011)

> Yes it was. Stop acting like pregnant women are something special.


Except the fact that enough stress or anxiety can cause a miscarriage. Now if that wasn't the case why did the officers bother to let her go?


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## Cthulhu-versailles (May 8, 2011)

...
If missing a summons/failing to pay parking tickets allows for the individual to be handcuffed, than the police were merely following standard procedure. How little or much someone arrested has "the capcity" to flee isn't really the concern of an arresting officer......

Also, proving discriminatory purpose and intent is impossible in this particually case unless a large amount of facts were left out the op....


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## Qhorin Halfhand (May 8, 2011)

There are probably stories where an actual worrisome tragedy is happening and it is worth talking about. This isn't one of them. Instead we get a badly written article that utterly fails to even serve its goal as a propaganda piece or be convincing in any way.


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## SuperSaiyaMan12 (May 8, 2011)

...are we supposed to care? She missed paying her fine, got arrested. Unless she was going into labor, the cops were just doing their job. Race shouldn't matter.


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## Koi (May 8, 2011)

I've seen examples of cops going to homes to make arrests and not taking in a suspect BECAUSE they're so pregnant.  So what they typically have you do is make you call in to the station to speak with someone and make arrangements for a hearing/meetings/etc.  (I assume they make sure that they've called and if they don't they make a follow-up visit.)  I don't really see why the cop didn't do that instead.

Not that I disagree with arresting her otherwise.  But if she's pregnant enough it could be an issue.


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## Bishop (May 8, 2011)

Wow, what a professional and impartial article.

No matter what you do to somebody, they can claim discrimination. 

Arrest for late summons, racism.
Beat a guy because he called you a bitch, well he happens to be gay, so hate crime.
Push a woman away to roughly because she's beating on a man, sexism.
Take your dog for a walk, PETA calls you a supporter of slaves.


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## Hand Banana (May 8, 2011)

Megaharrison said:


> Police should try the White Cop Black Cop strategy over Good Cop Bad Cop.



I see a movie in the making.


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## Talon. (May 8, 2011)

Not sure if she has a case against the cops. 

She might though. 

I hhate how cops just abuse their power.


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## Mintaka (May 8, 2011)

This article is just......well.

Sappy to say the least, so fucking what if she were pregnant?  She missed a summons and now she gets whats coming to her....just like ANYONE ELSE would have.


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## The Space Cowboy (May 8, 2011)

Moral of the story:  Summons are serious business, and pregnant doesn't make you above the law


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## Mist Puppet (May 8, 2011)

I couldn't find anything wrong through all the sappy, flowery writing.


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## Darklyre (May 8, 2011)

Mist Puppet said:


> I couldn't find anything wrong through all the sappy, flowery writing.



Besides the sappy, flowery writing, you mean?


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## Bishop (May 8, 2011)

Those cops are racist. Ticks me off. Obviously all crimes are void when pregnancy is in effect.


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## hellonoam (May 8, 2011)

as messed up as that is, I'm pretty sure that kinda stuff has been going on for decades


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## Terra Branford (May 8, 2011)

So...they cuffed her and sent her to jail because she missed a payment? The hell?


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## SkitZoFrenic (May 9, 2011)

After reading all of the OP's comments...near 100% convinced the OP is actually the pregnant woman in the story or the writer of the article itself.

Cant find any other reason for someone to actually give a shit about this "story"


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## Altron (May 9, 2011)

Terra Branford said:


> So...they cuffed her and sent her to jail because she missed a payment? The hell?


If you don't pay or don't show up to your court date no matter how much or the reason, they will send out a warrant for your arrest.


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## Terra Branford (May 9, 2011)

Altron said:


> If you don't pay or don't show up to your court date no matter how much or the reason, they will send out a warrant for your arrest.



I have friends who missed a court hearing three times and the worse they did was bill them again or send another notice. I've never seen someone get cuffed and jailed, especially if it was their first time missing the court hearing (which I assume was the case for this woman) >.>


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## SuperSaiyaMan12 (May 9, 2011)

She's probably a repeat offender.


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## Inuhanyou (May 9, 2011)

overly dramatic and very unprofessional, this is supposed to be a news article right? not a god awful book


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## Zhariel (May 9, 2011)

SuperSaiyaMan12 said:


> She's probably a repeat offender.




Why, cause she's black!?

Nah, kiddin', I'm not the author or OP.


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## EvilMoogle (May 9, 2011)

Terra Branford said:


> I have friends who missed a court hearing three times and the worse they did was bill them again or send another notice. I've never seen someone get cuffed and jailed, especially if it was their first time missing the court hearing (which I assume was the case for this woman) >.>



If you miss a court date the court is quite likely to issue a warrant for your arrest (to see that you appear before them in court).

They'll also likely send you notice that you missed your court date and ask you to reschedule.  If you do so before the warrant is actioned you'll never know.

Likely the police ran her plates, saw the warrant out for her arrest and proceeded to do so.


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## Mael (May 9, 2011)

EvilMoogle said:


> If you miss a court date the court is quite likely to issue a warrant for your arrest (to see that you appear before them in court).
> 
> They'll also likely send you notice that you missed your court date and ask you to reschedule.  If you do so before the warrant is actioned you'll never know.
> 
> Likely the police ran her plates, saw the warrant out for her arrest and proceeded to do so.



And that...WAS RATHIST!


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## zuul (May 9, 2011)

Because preggo women are so special they shouldn't get the same treatment as the rest of the delinquent.

And because handcuffs are comparable to the iron maiden supplice.

And every case of a white cop arresting a person with a different skin tone is undoubtely racist bullying. 



Carebears should just learn to stop whining sometimes.

That article was really lulz orthy. 
I particularly liked the part about the big beautiful eyes, a litterary way to introduce the  emoticon for the over-the-top pathos to be even more overwhelming.


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## -Dargor- (May 9, 2011)

I stopped reading and checked the source because the writing was so godawful I wondered if it was a joke, not to mention the obvious and pathetic attempt at sensationalism.


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## superattackpea (May 9, 2011)

Level7N00b said:


> It's obvious the writer of this is attempting to play the race card and make it seem as if the cop was doing racial profiling and put us on the woman's side.
> 
> But on the other hand, $150? Really?



I'd just like to clear up the issue regarding why she was arrested. When you miss a court payment the judge issues a warrant for your arrest called a bench warrant, which holds you until you see a judge (go before the bench). When the officer pulled her record he saw she had a warrant out for her arrest and he eventually decided that it would be better to let her come in on her own during the day as opposed to having to spend a night in jail waiting for the courts to open. It had nothing to do with the amount of money, at least on the officers part.


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## CrazyMoronX (May 9, 2011)

Damn WHITE COPS.


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## Darklyre (May 9, 2011)

Terra Branford said:


> I have friends who missed a court hearing three times and the worse they did was bill them again or send another notice. I've never seen someone get cuffed and jailed, especially if it was their first time missing the court hearing (which I assume was the case for this woman) >.>



Unless the courts hear from you and you give them a reason as to why you missed the court date, they WILL issue a warrant for your arrest. Now, if it's just for a misdemeanor like a ticket or something, then cops aren't likely to come to your house and arrest you, simply because that'd be an inefficient use of resources. However, if there's a warrant on your head and you happen to get pulled over, you WILL get your ass dragged to jail, no matter what the charge originally was.


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## saprobe (May 9, 2011)

When you're pregnant working at a hospital is more dangerous than being handcuffed. I know that from firsthand experience.

Also: The writing in this article is terrible.


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## Tsukiyomi (May 9, 2011)

Does she have a case?  What exactly would be the allegation?  Handcuffing someone who is pregnant?


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## santanico (May 9, 2011)

Okay, what's up with the grammar? That hurt me. As for the article itself, it sucks that she had to be handcuffed and preggers, but there was no heinous act committed.


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## Casyle (May 10, 2011)

zuul said:


> Because preggo women are so special they shouldn't get the same treatment as the rest of the delinquent.
> 
> And because handcuffs are comparable to the iron maiden supplice.
> 
> ...



I'll just say this, as what I'd say would be even meaner. One of the worst things I've ever read.


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## Darklyre (May 10, 2011)

Casyle said:


> I'll just say this, as what I'd say would be even meaner. One of the worst things I've ever read.



Whoever the writer was makes Michael Strahan and Charles Barkley look like members of Mensa.


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## tinhamodic (May 10, 2011)

Darklyre said:


> Whoever the writer was makes Michael Strahan and Charles Barkley look like members of Mensa.



I take it this means he won't get your vote for the Pulitzer?


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