If You Pass A Law, Expect It To Be Enforced

When you pass a law, no matter how it may appear stupid or be for an offense most people would deem at most a minor annoyance, stupid, or even for things that shouldn't be an offense at all, expect that law to be enforced.

Take parking your vehicle, in this case a delivery van, with your wheel on the curb for example.

In Warren, as in most cities of this state and elsewhere, that is actually against the law. You can be ticketed for doing so. It's a civil infraction so you pay a fine and learn not to do it again. Is this a dumb law? Depends on who you ask.

Of course, in the current racially-charged environment, when an officer enforces such a law and the law-breaker happens to be Black, and said Black person then refuses to cooperate with producing his license, refuses further to the point of arrest, then resists arrest, and ends with getting taken to the ground, and being cuffed and stuffed into a police car, the outrage machine goes into action.

The Detroit News: Police investigate incident involving white Warren officer, black delivery driver

Yep, it's may be a stupid offense, but it is the law and there very well may be reasons for it, and if you have a law it will at some point be enforced.

Once the officer informed the driver of the offense and asked the driver for his license, and the driver decided to refuse to provide it and further resist, it went downhill and ended in his arrest.

That refusal to cooperate with providing a driver's license turned a stupid ordinance civil infraction ticket to charges of failing to produce a drivers license and felony resisting arrest.

Of course, the outrage machine then kicked into high gear, demanding the officer being fired, and James Fouts, the Mayor of Warren then tried to get in front of the mob by demanding the officer's firing:

"I have spoken with Police Commissioner Bill Dwyer and have ordered that this officer be terminated immediately."
"I have zero tolerance for this disgusting act against an innocent person. If the last two weeks have taught us anything, it is that bad behavior by ANY police officer will not be tolerated!
"The policy of the Warren Police Department and the training provided to every officer is to deescalate every situation. This officer did not follow policy or his training and is not fit to serve the citizens in Warren."

The only deescalation would have been to ignore the offense in the first place, or perhaps walk away after the refusal of the driver to provide his license after being asked. In which case, the problem is with the law not the officer.

The Mayor then took down his Facebook post demanding the firing likely after being more fully told of what transpired and facts began to trump the outrage.

However, about a half-hour after, Fouts asked media to wait to disseminate the information. He also removed the Facebook page post.
Later, the mayor posted a new statement on Facebook: "The previous post regarding an altercation was taken down at the request of the Warren Police Commissioner. I await further details based upon additional information.

In other words, he bashed one of his police officers and called for his firing based on second-or-third-hand outrage and a lack of actual information. Way to go there.

Mayor Fouts, if he's truly outraged about this situation would be far better off rescinding the city's law about parking on curbs than complaining about the officer properly enforcing it. Fouts, along with the city council, have the power to do so. Of course, then people would park on curbs, and someone would likely complain about it requiring a law against it, not to mention the city being deprived of ticker revenue for the offense.

Update: The Macomb County Prosecutor decided to not file any charges in the case - make of that what you will. Certainly would not suggest the prosecutor caved in the face of protests and threats of a riot if the driver was charged - after all the prosecutor said they "employ discretion to not authorize criminal charges as certain circumstances demand.”