May 15 2008
Elderly Man’s Cursing Charge Dismissed
72 year old Edward Laskody was arrested outside a pizza place because he was upset about something that happened in the restaurant with the staff. As he walked out the door he let loose a few cuss words and was arrested and jailed for a night as a result.
Hey, I wasn’t there and maybe there was a little more that went on that I don’t know about, but I think throwing someone in jail for swearing is a bit excessive. If he was creating a raucous then maybe I could a charge of disturbing the peace or something in that realm, but for swearing at someone?
I’m not trying to paint all police officers with the same broad brush, but it seems like more and more now we are hearing about minor incidents like this resulting in over zealous actions by the authorities. The News & Observer reports that the man was able to be charged according to a 1960s law that makes public swearing illegal. Jaywalking is illegal also, but do we throw people in jail for it? There are a lot of police officers out there simply not exercising common sense. This is a 72 year old man, although the age shouldn’t even matter. All the cop had to do was pull him aside and just ask him to quiet down and be on his way.
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