This past weekend my roommates and I attended a party. Champagne was flowing, booties were shaking, and the night didn’t seem like it could get better. That is, until the police came. It’s typical for the cops to bust every party we attend, but the events that followed were absolutely ridiculous. Two cops came to the house at around 1:30 a.m. and asked my roommate Brendan and me for our IDs. When Brendan said no because he didn’t have his, the cop proceeded to arrest him.
For no apparent reason, the cop ordered his partner to arrest me as well. I literally hadn’t said one word since greeting the cops. We were taken out front and two other cop cars pulled up. Every time we tried to explain ourselves or ask what we did wrong, we were yelled at and threatened by the cops. Before I go on, I should mention the party had a toga theme. Nothing like standing outside in the freezing cold, wrapped in a toga, with your hands cuffed behind your back.
Finally, when the cops realized I didn’t do anything wrong, they un-cuffed me. Unfortunately, Brendan didn’t get the same treatment and he was thrown into the paddy wagon. With all the drama that was unfolding, I must say it was quite amusing watching my roommate hopping into the paddy wagon in his little red toga.
My other roommate, Kyle, followed the cop around asking what jail we could pick Brendan up from. The cop didn’t want to deal with the questions so he appropriately decided to slam him into a nearby car. Violence definitely seemed like a great way to deal with what was going on. When the officer overheard us talking about how we got the assault on camera, he handcuffed Kyle, took his camera, and deleted everything off of it. Kyle was thrown into the paddy wagon shortly after.
My other roommate, Brett, wanted to know when Brendan and Kyle would be released. He crossed the street to talk to the cops. This was quite the mistake because they gave him a ticket for jaywalking; a crime that I previously thought only to be a myth. So, just to put this night into perspective, Brendan was arrested for not having his ID, I was arrested for standing there, Kyle was arrested because he asked what jail we could pick our friends up from, and Brett was fined for jaywalking.
Along with these ridiculous arrests, no one was read their rights, my roommate was assaulted and a cop took one of our cameras without permission and deleted everything off of it. These cops sure seem like they know what they’re doing. Maybe there’s a good reason for Baltimore’s high crime rate.
There are so many things wrong with this situation besides the obvious incompetent police officers. Our house has been robbed three times since we have lived there. We have had multiple laptops, iPods and other valuables stolen. Not once did more than one cop car come to investigate. The cops would take our information without a care for our belongings, our house, and most importantly, our safety. Then we have a simple noise violation and all hell breaks loose with three cop cars and a paddy wagon. My friends had to spend the night in a Baltimore prison with murderers and drug dealers for doing nothing.
We live in Baltimore, which has one of the highest murder rates in the country. I understand the cops need to break up parties when there are several noise complaints. But once everyone left, wasn’t that enough? Did they really need to waste everyone’s time with pointless arrests and hours of paperwork? Sounds like the police need to get their priorities straight and focus on more important problems.
Stein's Smackdown: Incompetent cops, ridiculous arrests
Published: Sunday, November 15, 2009
Updated: Sunday, November 15, 2009
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