Dang HTML won't post right...
There you have it folks, you have the right to bark back at the men of the GB, er, dog!
Yizuman
Court says you have the right to bark back a police dog!
by Yizuman 3 Replies latest social humour
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Gopher
Yizuman, the link still isn't working. So I am posting the story.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030331/ap_on_fe_st/right_to_bark_1
Court: Man Can Bark at Police Dog
Mon Mar 31, 6:22 AM ET Add AP - Feature Stories to My Yahoo! ATHENS, Ohio - A man was using his free speech rights when he barked back at a police dog, a state appeals court has ruled.
The 4th Ohio District Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of charges against a man who answered the barks of Pepsie in this southeast Ohio city in September 2001.
Jeremy Gilchrist, then 21, encountered the dog, which was in a police cruiser, as he walked along a street with friends.
His attorney said he was trying to be funny when he barked back.
"The mere fact that the police dog had commenced the barking did not entitle it to a solo performance," attorney Patrick McGee wrote in the appeal.
State law makes it illegal to taunt, torment or hit a police dog or horse. Officer Krishea Osborne testified that Gilchrist's barking made the dog "work himself up into a frenzy."
However, Athens County Municipal Judge Douglas Bennett threw out the charges last June, saying the law violated the right to free speech. The appeals court agreed Wednesday.
Bennett also said Gilchrist wasn't a threat to the animal or public safety because he was 30 feet away from the cruiser.
City Prosecutor Lisa Eliason argued in the appeal that taunting can occur from any distance.
No decision has been made whether to file another appeal, Eliason said Friday.
Athens is about 65 miles southeast of Columbus.
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Gopher
I hope the city prosecutor files a higher-court appeal. I'm with the police on this one.
The canines on the police force serve as part of the barrier between law-keeping citizens and criminals. If the canine gets so "worked up" by a practical joker that he (assuming the gender of the dog here) fails to sniff out drugs or whatever he's supposed to do next, then the practical joker (man barking at dog) has punched a hole in that barrier and has in effect served the interests of the criminal.
(Down off my soapbox -- I know this isn't the most important issue in the world)
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obiwan
WOOF! WOOF!
