Somers teen charged after making obscene gesture to trooper who ticketed him

[OnTheWheel 43]

SOMERS - A Somers teenager apparently didn't like it when a trooper ticketed him for not wearing his seat belt correctly, so he gave the trooper the finger as he drove off, state police said today.

Trooper Philip Nimphius wasn't amused, so he stopped 18-year-old Richard M. Antonucci a second time and charged him with disorderly conduct, a violation, police said.

From Journal News: Somers teen charged

Bravo to the Trooper, more of these kids need to be arrested for this when it happens!

And to avoid any speculations:

§ 240.20 Disorderly conduct.

A person is guilty of disorderly conduct when, with intent to cause

public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk

thereof:

1. He engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening

behavior; or

2. He makes unreasonable noise; or

3. In a public place, he uses abusive or obscene language,

or makes an obscene gesture; or

4. Without lawful authority, he disturbs any lawful assembly or

meeting of persons; or

5. He obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic; or

6. He congregates with other persons in a public place and refuses to

comply with a lawful order of the police to disperse; or

7. He creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act

which serves no legitimate purpose.

Disorderly conduct is a violation.

[Bababoosky 24]

Awesome

[JM15 386]

I've had some experiences with this kid. Definitely not a genius

[SgtGumby311 0]

Thank You Sir, may I have another.....

[Guest alsfirefighter]

LOL. Good understanding of the dis con brother!

[helicopper 1,050]

Whats interesting is how you can be into trouble if you curse in public and it offends at least three people??

Three people? Doesn't say that in the statute.

PRICELESS story. Talk about a stupid move.

[IzzyEng4 427]

If this was a civilian to another civilian then I beleive it would have been a Breach of Peace charge. However you cannot breach the peace of a police officer. I never knew this until a friend of my became a police officer and explained this to me one night. Kudos to the trooper!!!!!

[helicopper 1,050]

More and more court decisions are narrowing the whole obscenity section of disorderly conduct with case law but the statute still stands in NY. It may be dismissed ultimately but perhaps a lesson was learned. If nothing else, the trooper got a good laugh.

[ex-commish 490]

I have to question why a kid felt it was ok to flip the bird to a trooper. Was he raised to believe it is ok to disrepsect authority? I see a lot of disrespectful kids today whl think it is ok to defy authority. I wouldn't be here today if I ever did that to a cop or anyone for that matter.

[191SH 4]

is it worth the paper work and time, the judge will give him 20 hours of community service if that, you gave him the ticket as the trooper you won so he flipped the bird now when you go to court you dont plea the seatbelt ticket down thats the revenge. we dont need to take an officer off the street for this do we.

[dillondotcom 16]

I think we are looking too far into this. Its not about having to go to court, or if the case gets dismissed. It is about the trooper teaching the kid a lesson. You can not do as you please to authority figures. If he was not wearing his seat belt and got a ticket, that is the troopers job to ticket him, and he is also teaching another lesson to be safe and wear the seat belt. That is the kids problem if he got rubbed the wrong way, but you can't then flip him the bird and think nothing is going to happen.

[ny10570 745]

I think we are looking too far into this. Its not about having to go to court, or if the case gets dismissed. It is about the trooper teaching the kid a lesson. You can not do as you please to authority figures. If he was not wearing his seat belt and got a ticket, that is the troopers job to ticket him, and he is also teaching another lesson to be safe and wear the seat belt. That is the kids problem if he got rubbed the wrong way, but you can't then flip him the bird and think nothing is going to happen.

Bingo. The arrest was the point. This could get tossed every time it goes to court. The headache of being arrested and going to court is enough.

[DOC22 1]

Bingo. The arrest was the point. This could get tossed every time it goes to court. The headache of being arrested and going to court is enough.

Yeah, and not to mention the comments from the readers of the journal news. some of those get real nasty,

[gamewell45 258]

From Journal News: Somers teen charged

Bravo to the Trooper, more of these kids need to be arrested for this when it happens!

And to avoid any speculations:

§ 240.20 Disorderly conduct.

A person is guilty of disorderly conduct when, with intent to cause

public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk

thereof:

1. He engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous or threatening

behavior; or

2. He makes unreasonable noise; or

3. In a public place, he uses abusive or obscene language,

or makes an obscene gesture; or

4. Without lawful authority, he disturbs any lawful assembly or

meeting of persons; or

5. He obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic; or

6. He congregates with other persons in a public place and refuses to

comply with a lawful order of the police to disperse; or

7. He creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act

which serves no legitimate purpose.

Disorderly conduct is a violation.

The kid was probably telling the Trooper he was "number one". lol

[Just a guy 493]

Great job by the Trooper, when a cop does something like this, it's like a small victory for all of us !!!

[Guest WCDES636]

When I was growing up........ No ticket, no court! You got back handed. Then taken home, then slapped again by my father.

I think you learned a lot quicker back then.

[RWC130 594]

Now that was REALLY DUMB!

I bet he will never do that again. lol

[Guest]

I've had some experiences with this kid. Definitely not a genius

by the sounds of things not the first time the kid got in trouble and probably wont be the last

[FDNYDCHI 38]

good job thata boy

[5slow 9]

is it worth the paper work and time, the judge will give him 20 hours of community service if that, you gave him the ticket as the trooper you won so he flipped the bird now when you go to court you dont plea the seatbelt ticket down thats the revenge. we dont need to take an officer off the street for this do we.

Yes! It is completely worth it. Nice job trooper!

[10-Buff-4 0]

Now that was REALLY DUMB!

I bet he will never do that again. lol

I would say that that is a perfect assessment.

-Joe DA BUFF

P.S. How stupid can you actually be to give a State Trooper the bird? When I was in Driver's Ed, my teacher (a retired Police Sergeant) gave me some wise advice about traffic stops, and I hope that Bravo's Law Enforcers concur in his assessment of how to handle traffic stops as a citizen being stopped. "Remember, it's always a business transaction." His advice is something that I have always tried to heed.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Update:

http://www.lohud.com/article/20090128/COLU...265/COLUMNIST25

[jayhalsey 6]

Update:

http://www.lohud.com/article/20090128/COLU...265/COLUMNIST25

That seems more like it.

Kudos to the trooper for ticketing him, but there is no way it will hold up.

[Goose 188]

I think we are looking too far into this. Its not about having to go to court, or if the case gets dismissed. It is about the trooper teaching the kid a lesson. You can not do as you please to authority figures. If he was not wearing his seat belt and got a ticket, that is the troopers job to ticket him, and he is also teaching another lesson to be safe and wear the seat belt. That is the kids problem if he got rubbed the wrong way, but you can't then flip him the bird and think nothing is going to happen.

More or less. Or he's trying to "stick it to the man." Either way he got what he deserved. I was picking up some books for a class i'm taking and i was searching in the isle for what i needed and i over heard two mooks next to me talking about how one of them had been arrested for possession. F this and f that and f the cops. Meanwhile, he got caught because he was driving like an a$$.

The biggest problem with this society is that very few people step up to the plate and are accountable for their actions. Today it's far too easy to pass the buck and blame the cop (as if he made you drive like a moron and hotbox your car), your boss, your parents, the government, etc. etc. What it comes down to, in my opinion, is a total lack of balls by far too many in America.

Edited January 29, 2009 by Goose

[INIT915 1,119]

That seems more like it.

Kudos to the trooper for ticketing him, but there is no way it will hold up.

He pled guilty, therefore, in this case, it did "hold up".

[FFLieu 70]

I have two words for this one when it gets to court: Case Dismissed.

The kid may not be a genius, but there comes a point where the reasonableness of the application of a law reaches it's logical end. It's not like the kid exited his vehicle, jumped up and down, and ranted and raved on the side of the road, telling the Trooper where exactly he can go and what exactly he can do when he gets there. That, to me, would be more congruous with the disorderly conduct statute. Simply flipping someone off is not. Heck, in some eastern cultures, what we call "giving the finger" is actually a sign of outward respect.

[JimmyPFD 11]

In a local NYC news item some years back, a similar jerk cursed out a cop in 'the city'. All charges were dropped and legal precedent was set. The judge found that simply cursing out a cop did not break any law they had tried to charge him with. I am not aware of any other case after, where this was challenged.

Do I agree with that finding? No.

Around that time, they also found that women going topless in public didn't break any laws either.

Sometimes you win. Sometimes you lose.

Edited January 30, 2009 by JimmyPFD

[64FFMJK 21]

I have two words for this one when it gets to court: Case Dismissed.

Not exactly HE PLEAD GUILTY

http://www.lohud.com/article/20090122/NEWS...3/1241/NEWS0222

[FFLieu 70]

Thanks for the link, but I read real newspapers like the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal, not the Journal News.

The guy plead guilty. What a shame. He could have had it dismissed had he gotten a good attorney. Then he could have taken the case and used it as a free speech issue in an effort to challenge the reasonableness of that particular section of the disorderly conduct statute. Or, he could have taken the case and used it as an example of the fact that maybe Mr. State Trooper should grow thicker skin.

[TRUCK6018 50]

Thanks for the link, but I read real newspapers like the NY Times and the Wall Street Journal, not the Journal News.

The guy plead guilty. What a shame. He could have had it dismissed had he gotten a good attorney. Then he could have taken the case and used it as a free speech issue in an effort to challenge the reasonableness of that particular section of the disorderly conduct statute. Or, he could have taken the case and used it as an example of the fact that maybe Mr. State Trooper should grow thicker skin.

Could have, should have. If he hired an attorney to get it dismissed how much more than $100.00 (the fine) would have been spent? Addition to the money spend, the punk would not have learned to respect people of authority.

Yes, possibly the trooper could have had thicker skin. I personally don't know as I wasn't there to witness exactly what happened. Regardless, the actions of the not so thick skinned trooper were prompted by the actions of someone that didn't know any better.