April 27, 2006
Newbury Street Pastoral
So Bostonist was sitting on a stoop on Newbury Street yesterday afternoon, waiting for some coworkers who foolishly thought they could get to Upper Crust from Government Center faster on the T than we could on our bike. As we soaked in the sun and enjoyed the parade of shopping-bag-laden, wealthy foreigners, we had the additional pleasure of witnessing a drama with three distinctly Bostonian elements: Parking, profanity, and difficult race relations. Allow us to share:
The scene first catches our attention when a twenty-something black man, standing next to a white meter maid and a running car, calls out down the street to a young black woman approaching with a shopping bag, for whom he has apparently been waiting.
MAN: Yo, I think you got a ticket!
YOUNG WOMAN: Why?!
MAN [loudly]: I told her [gesturing to meter maid beside him], "I gotta go get change for a dollar," and she said, "Tell it to the judge," and I told her [extra loud], "Bitch! You don't gotta talk to me like that."
The young woman reaches the place where the man and the meter maid are standing and calmly asks what happened. She tells the meter maid she thought they wouldn't ticket a car if there was someone in it. The meter maid says that no one was in the car when she ticketed it, and that the man only arrived after the ticket was printed. The young woman seems ready to drop the matter, but the man then says to the meter maid, very loudly, "Bitch! You's a liar! Go suck a dick."
Then, as if by magic, a police cruiser happens on the scene. The meter maid, still holding the ticket, walks over to confer with the cop, who is black. Meanwhile, the young woman tries to calm the man, who is increasingly agitated. He loudly declares, "This is racial profiling! My basic human right, my first amendment right, is freedom of speech, so you got nothing to be talking to the cops about. My first amendment right is freedom of speech, SO GO SUCK A DICK!"
The young woman, flustered, politely asks the meter maid for the ticket, gets it, and shepherds the man into the car. The cop drives off, as do the man and the woman. By this time, another meter maid, also white, has arrived on the scene, and the first meter maid walks over to tell her the story. They stroll back and forth for a while chatting, and as they come back into earshot, Bostonist hears this exchange:
METER MAID INVOLVED IN INCIDENT: ... should've arrested him.
OTHER METER MAID: For what?
METER MAID INVOLVED IN INCIDENT: It's called disturbing the peace, and if it were a white cop, he would've arrested his ass!
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yes, the cop should have arrested him. his speech was obscene (not protected under 1st amendment) and fighting words (also not protected). no one should have to put up with that abuse, especially on the job. disgraceful.
Well, I can hardly say I approve of cursing out meter maids, but that guy's speech probably was protected. It had clear expressive content (he was disputing the ticket and expressing his displeasure) and didn't really appeal to the prurient interest (that is, it wasn't intended or likely to cause arousal). It also wasn't fighting words, since he wasn't inviting a fight or saying something to which any reasonable person would respond with a fight. It probably wasn't even disturbing the peace (Mass. General Laws chapter 272, s. 53), since there was no great annoyance caused to nearby citizens, no crowd gathered, and no tumult ensued.
So the guy was a jerk, but not a criminal.
I can't believe this all went down on Newbury Street. I hope the Euro crowd that loiters in front of Scoozi every afternoon wasn't too offended!
what about "go suck a dick" does NOT appeal to prurient interests?
as to fighting words, i think you'd feel differently if someone sad that to your mother.
no annoyance to citizens?? what about the metermaid??
what WOULD you say the line is?
"Go suck a dick" doesn't appeal to the prurient interest just because it describes a sexual act. Its purpose is not to arouse or titillate, but to show disapproval. It's like saying "fuck you": Technically sexual, but contextually not.
As for anyone's mother, well, what does that have to do with anything? He said it to the meter maid directly, not to her mom, and her children, if she has any, weren't there.
The basic rule is that mere words aren't enough, even though they're insulting or offensive. There has to be some sort of tumult, or a crowd has to gather, or people have to be kept from sleeping or otherwise going about their business. The fact that crass insults annoy the person at whom they're directed doesn't make them illegal - if that were the case, the first amendment wouldn't be worth much.
It's hard to say what the line is, but in this case, if the guy had kept haranguing the meter maid and been so vocal that a crowd gathered and blocked pedestrian traffic, that would do the trick.
if, by his actions, he caused people (pedestrians or people operating motor vehicles) to stop what they are doing and observe his actions, and if in an officer's opinion he was causing a disturbance, he could have been arrested for disorderly conduct.
Not to beat a dead horse, but the question, still, is: What constitutes a disturbance? If officer opinion were all it took, cops would pretty much have license to arrest anyone they pleased. My understanding is that courts will look at the circumstances and determine whether what happened was enough of a disturbance to pass muster. Usually, this means that the crowd that gathers has to pose some sort of nuisance or risk, or the noise produced has to interrupt other regular activities. None of that stuff happened in this case. The guy was just being a jerk.
Josh, it appears that you're arguing based on knowledge of the law, and others appear to be arguing based on what they perceive t be common sense. Makes for a pretty one-sided discussion!