The Criminalization of Everyday Life

Child Protection Services Cannot Be Trusted

Mom Handcuffed and Cited by Fireman for Using Profanity

Total Criminal Defense - The long arm of the law reached a Texas Wal-Mart on August 4, 2008 when a 28-year-old single mother was handcuffed and ticketed for dropping the f-bomb, according to a Houston Chronicle article.

It all started out innocently enough as Kathryn "Kristi" Fridge, her mother and her 2-year-old daughter stopped in a La Marque, Texas Wal-Mart to grab last-minute emergency supplies in preparation for the approaching Tropical Storm Edouard.

When Fridge recognized the store was out of batteries, she vocalized her irritation to her mother. "I was like, 'Dang.' I looked at my mom and said, 'They're all ----ing gone," Fridge told the reporter.

Capt. Alfred Decker, the town's assistant fire marshal, who was dressed in a fire department uniform at the time, confronted Fridge on her choice of words, reportedly saying she needed to "watch her mouth."

Fridge offered an unenthusiastic apology to the man who seemed to have come from nowhere and figured that was the end of the conversation.

As she walked away, the man demanded she come back to him. Confused by his demonstration of authority - she only saw a fire department badge - she protested and told him to mind his own business.

After refusing further similar orders and reportedly angering him by signing her name in sign language when he asked her to identify herself, he handcuffed her and escorted her outside to issue a citation.

Fridge eventually complied with the fire marshal, but also admitted to the reporter that she yelled to onlookers, "Can you believe this? He's ----ing arresting me for saying ----!"

Fridge and her mother deny that she cursed at the fire marshal, saying she only cursed in a casual, personal conversation. The La Marque's fire chief defends the action, saying Fridge disrupted the peace and the fire marshal had to be concerned for his own safety.

In the end, Fridge was released and ticketed for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. Texas' 2007-2008 penal code defines the charge as a person using "abusive, indecent, profane or vulgar language in a public place, and the language by its very utterance tends to incite an immediate breach of the peace."

Fridge can opt to pay a fine or to appear in court and contest the citation. She is planning to contact a criminal defense attorney to fight the ticket.



Who Has the Authority to Handcuff People?

It appears that the Wal-Mart incident may have escalated due to confusion surrounding who has authority to enforce laws. Each state has different rules on who has the legal authority to arrest and/or detain people suspected of breaking the law. Below is a list of some of the people who have the authority to arrest and/or detain suspects in most states.

Local and State Police
Members of the Fire Department
Jail Authorities
Security Guards
Certain Military Personnel
You. Most states allow a citizen to detain - and handcuff - a suspect if he/she witnesses the person committing a felony or if police ask the person to assist in detaining a suspect. Note that this may be risky - citizens don't have the same legal protections as police and they can be held liable for, among other things, infringing on another citizen's rights.

The Criminalization of Everyday Life

March 23, 2009

Robert Neuwirth, City Limits - Are anyone’s days entirely free of “offenses” that can get you arrested?

I spent 24 hours in the slammer the other day. My crime? Well, the police couldn’t tell me when they locked me up. The prosecutor and judge couldn’t either, when I was arraigned the following day. I found out for myself when I researched the matter a few days after being released: I had been cited for walking my dog off the leash – once, six years ago.

Welcome to the ugly underside of the zero-tolerance era, where insignificant rule violations get inflated into criminal infractions.

Here’s how it worked with me: a gaggle of transit cops stopped me after they saw me walk between two subway cars on my way to work. This, they told me, was against the rules. They asked for ID and typed my name into a hand-held computer. Up came that old citation that I didn’t know about and they couldn’t tell me about. I was immediately handcuffed and brought to the precinct. There, I waited in a holding cell, then was fingerprinted (post-CSI memo: they now take the fingers, the thumbs, the palms, and the sides of both hands) and had the contents of my shoulder bag inventoried. I could hardly believe it: I was being arrested without ever having committed a crime.

I was held overnight in the Midtown North Precinct lock-up (shoelaces and belt confiscated, meals courtesy of the McDonald’s dollar menu). In the morning, my fellow convicts and I were led, chain-gang style, to the Manhattan Community Court next door. The judge there dismissed the charge against me – because no one ever does time for that kind of crime. A few days later, at Brooklyn’s central court, my warrant was lifted for “time served” – again because no one is ever locked up for breaking the leash law.

If the cops had simply written me a ticket, I would have paid it, and I would have also had to pay to vacate my outstanding warrant. But by cuffing me and holding me overnight, the city spent quite a bit of money (it took two police officers approximately six hours each just to arrest and process me), while the fines assessed against me were rescinded...