Because I Can

I saw on the news, yesterday I guess, an item about a couple who went to a Baltimore Orioles game and were arrested. A little more information has come out about the whole thing, but here's the recap of what happened. Essentially, the couple got lost on the way over to Camden Yards, and got lost coming out.

The couple stopped in the 800 block of Bridgeview Drive in Cherry Hill to
ask a Baltimore police officer for directions. Brook said the officer was blunt:
“You found your way in. You can find your way out.”

After writing a citation for failure to obey a stop sign — a ticket Kelly
disputes — the officer told them to leave. Confused, the couple drove about “40
feet” and stopped.

“We still didn’t know how to get out,” Kelly said.

But the officer pulled up behind them and arrested Kelly for “trespassing,”
according to the ticket.

“The officer said we were on private property,” Brook said. “But we were parked on a public street.”

Kelly said the officer told him that “no trespassing signs” were evident “up and down the block,” but he didn’t see any.

After Kelly’s arrest, Brook said, she was told to “get lost.” But because the car was being impounded, she didn’t know what to do.

“I didn’t know where to go, so [the officer] arrested me.”

There is, of course, a bit more to the story, which one would hope with the extremity of the account. From the Baltimore Sun

A Baltimore police officer who arrested a young Virginia couple who claim
they were asking for directions after getting lost in a South Baltimore
neighborhood stated in a report that the driver argued with her and tried to
tear a ticket out of a citation book.

Officer Natalie N. Preston wrote in police documents that, after she
ticketed the driver for running a stop sign on Round Road in Cherry Hill, the
man held onto her pen before she grabbed it back and that he then refused to
leave, prompting her to arrest him and his girlfriend on suspicion of
trespassing on public housing property and failing to obey a lawful order.

The account offers the first explanation of the arrests from police
after complaints by the couple in which they said they were arrested after
asking an officer how to leave South Baltimore's Cherry Hill neighborhood.

Authorities declined to elaborate on the police report yesterday, saying
the matter is being investigated by the department's Internal Affairs Division.

Prosecutors at Central Booking and Intake Center, where Joshua Kelley, 22,
and Llara Brook, 20, were taken after their arrest, reviewed the officer's
statement and decided not to pursue the case.

"This did not rise to a case that we believe should be criminally
prosecuted," said spokeswoman Margaret T. Burns. She said the couple, who were
arrested Saturday evening, were held at Central Booking for more than eight
hours until prosecutors ordered them released without charges.

Police said the stop occurred about 8:25 p.m. Saturday when an officer
stopped them near Round and Bridgeview roads.

Well that seems to tell a bit more. It was dark, and the officer was unsure what this couple was doing in the neighborhood.

The officer claimed that there were signs around that said no trespassing, but based on some experience I have had, police officers always know where all the signs are in the area, even if the drivers don't. It is possible that the signs got caught up in the brush, etc.

Now I can understand the officer getting apprehensive if the driver did actually try to tear the ticket out of the officer's citation book, because that is a belligerent act, no question. Arresting the couple does seem to be a bit over the line though. When arresting someone, police officers have high standards so that prosecutors do not dismiss charges so quickly, but this looks like the officer could not control her temper. That the officer would hold out-of-towners on trespassing charges is also a bit absurd, especially after they asked for directions. After seeing out-of-state plates the officer should have gotten the idea that the couple was lost, and that people in unfamiliar areas often miss street signs. The officer instead played a ticket trap that is more stereotypical of one-horse drive-through towns that want revenue from passing travelers, suggesting that perhaps she should be fired and find work in such a town.

I had a similar experience getting lost in Baltimore, but fortunately for me, it was during the daytime. That says something though; the stadium parking lots for Camden Yards are horribly marked; they are not labled along the sides very well, and signs are put in place poorly. Perhaps Virgina is just good at putting up signs, but that is no reason for Maryland to do a poor job in such an area. Had I gone to a night game in Oriole Park, I could have been just as horribly lost, certainly. There is something to take away from this. I am rather sure that Joshua Kelley has learned his lesson and will not listen to his girlfriend, or any woman, again if prompted to ask for directions.

Besides a bad joke, this is bad for Baltimore, and bad for the Orioles. This is a couple from Chantilly, VA, and now if they want to see Major League Baseball, they have every reason to go to RFK instead. They can park at the Metro station for free on the weekends, and sit and read the Post to find out who's starting and how yesterday's game went. Peter Angelos was very much worried about losing fans to the Nationals, and despite the quality of the team, the Nationals will continue to draw fans. John Patterson will return from injury, Livan Hernandez will pitch like Livan Hernandez, and Ramon Ortiz will get kicked out of the starting rotation (sure he won, but everyone's beating the Cubs right now; the fact is he has a WHIP over 1.7 and he hasn't been good since 2002).

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