I was reading World Net Daily like I do every morning when I came across this story about a couple arrested in Baltimore, MD because they got lost.
Can you believe it? Getting arrested because you ask directions from a cop! The story starts of by saying:
WBAL-TV 11 News I-Team reporter David Collins said Joshua Kelly and Llara Brook, of Chantilly, Va., got lost leaving an Orioles game on Saturday. Collins reported a city officer arrested them for trespassing on a public street while they were asking for directions .
How in the world can you trespass on a public street?! What kind of people are on the police force in Baltimore?! I'm sure it isn't the whole lot of them and this guy is one bad apple; however, why didn't he get laughed at when he took the couple back to the station to book them? Imagine the conversation with the desk sargent:
What do you want to charge these people with?
Trespassing.
Where were they when you arrested them?
The street.
The street. What in the world?
Yes sir. This couple claims they went to the O's game, but I caught them running around Cherry Hill. They had out of state plates. They claim they were lost, but I saw them run a stop sign.
Did you really run a stop sign?
Yes sir. We were so flustered we weren't thinking by the time we saw the officer. In our excitement we must have ran the stop sign. We told the officer we would be more than happy to pay the ticket for running the stop sign if he would just give us directions to 95.
Imagine that going on. Why didn't someone tell this police officer he's nuts!
The article goes on to to talk in detail about their feelings when they saw the police car. This is when things go from bad to worse:
"I said, 'Thank goodness, could you please get us to 95?" Kelly said.
"The first thing that she said to us was no — you just ran that stop sign, pull over," Brook said. "It wasn't a big deal. We'll pay the stop sign violation, but can we have directions?"
"What she said was 'You found your own way in here, you can find your own way out.'" Kelly said.
Collins said the couple spotted another police vehicle and flagged that officer down for directions. But Officer Natalie Preston, a six-year veteran of the force, intervened.
"That really threw us for a loop when she stepped in between our cars," Kelly said. "(She) said my partner is not going to step in front of me and tell you directions if I'm not."
Collins reported the circumstances got worse. Kelly pulled 40 feet forward parking next to a curb and put his flashers on while Brook was on the phone to her father hoping he could help her with directions. Both her parents are police officers in the Harrisburg, Pa., area.
"(Brook's father) was in the middle of giving us directions when the officer screeched up behind us and got out of the car and asked me to step out. I obeyed," Kelly said. "I obeyed everything — stepped out of the car, put my hands behind my back, and the next thing I know, I was getting arrested for trespassing."
"By this time, I was completely in tears," Brook said. "I said, 'Ma'am, you know, we just need your help. We are not trying to cause you any trouble. I'm not leaving him here.' What she did was walk over to my side of the car and said, 'Ok, we are taking you downtown, too.'"
The article says the couple spent the night in jail and were eventually released without being charged with anything. However, "Collins said police left Kelly's car unlocked and the windows down at the impound lot. He reported a cell phone charger, pair of sunglasses and 20 CDs were stolen."
Hopefully, everything works out fine for this couple. Hopefully the police officer gets a talk with his superiors where they explain this behavios is unacceptable.