As I understand it the woman was in the McDonald’s parking lot, which is private property. Thus, unless a person in authority @ the McDonald’s specifically complained to the officer that she was obstructing their drive through or something similar, what grounds did he have for hassling her? Because she was waiting in the place she normally waited for her order?
Until we hear from the officer, I guess we’ll just have to call it “over-reacting” on his part.
You may be right in your guess of the policeman overreacting. Again, the issue is whether or not to follow a policeman’s command, and the answer is always, yes! It is not for the offender to decide whether the police is right or wrong at the time. You deal with it appropriately through the courts afterwards.
No, the argument I was presenting was whether or not the officer had the right to issue the order in the first place. Unless there is an overt criminal/unlawful act occurring, the officer has no right to “command” someone do to anything on private property unless the owner of the property has requested the officer to intervene.
I don’t recall anyone but the OFFICER complaining about the woman’s behaviour, because he was sitting in line behind her. Nowhere did I see anything about McDonald’s requesting his intervention.
You are correct with this, and there is an internal affairs investigation that is ongoing, so the officer will not be heard from as of yet, nor his department.
In my opinion, this was an overzealous officer who had no right saying to this woman what he did, in order for this to have escalated to the point of an elderly woman getting arrested.
FINALLY, someone who understands the point of my post! Thanks!
MLV wonders: And yet again, are you going to second guess a police officer at the time of the altercation in question? Shall we all start doing that, and risk being arrested?
SH: Peacefully second guessing and demanding that a police officer justify his behavior is smart business for citizens.
When you know what you’re doing (and maybe Granny did not) it doesn’t always lead to an arrest.
And even in such cases where an arrest may occur, if you’ve conducted yourself in peaceful and deliberate fashion you’re then in better position to have the officer(s) set straight by both the legal system and/or their own commanding officers.
I’ve participated in a number of peaceful complaints against police officers along with some of my more educated colleagues.
To date, we’ve never suffered a criminal conviction as a result of our obstinance. Additionally, we’ve succeeded in seeing several police officers be disciplined and/or removed from their jobs as a result of the officer being in the wrong.
MLV submits: I choose to respect authority and assume that they know more than I do in regard to the law.
SH: You would likely be astonished how frequently police officers reference utterly non-existent statutes and/or laws. The main reason they do it is expediency because most citizens will do just as you do and immediately cede any argument upon sight of the badge.
No, the arguement I was presenting was whether or not the officer had the right to issue the order in the first place. Unless there is an overt criminal/unlawful act occurring, the officer has no right to “command” someone do to anything on private property unless the owner of the property has requested the officer to intervene.
I don’t recall anyone but the OFFICER complaining about the woman’s behaviour, because he was sitting in line behind her. Nowhere did I see anything about McDonald’s requesting his intervention.
SH: Can’t speak for the McDonalds in this story, but over past few years up here in Clearwater, I’ve seen quite a few businesses - usually those of a 24 hour variety like 7-11, CircleK etc - have clearly posted signage on one or more sides of the building wherein they give Clearwater PD and Pinellas County SO the right to give orders to anyone on the property.
The motivation was created by such businesses often having a gathering of youth or others outside at later hours when the inside employee staff may just be a couple of people, so they can’t reasonably go outside to “control” the parking lot.
You are correct with this, and there is an internal affairs investigation that is ongoing, so the officer will not be heard from as of yet, nor his department.
In my opinion, this was an overzealous officer who had no right saying to this woman what he did, in order for this to have escalated to the point of an elderly woman getting arrested.
He may have not had any right legally, and it appears that he was overzealous. However, I feel that much trouble could have been averted had she just complied. And complained to his superiors afterwards. In other words she suffered much, for the sake of being “right”. (And at the time, I’m sure she didn’t know whether she was right or not. She was simply being beligerent.)
Also, there is a thing called respect for authority.
holy cow....Upon reading this coverage from the St Pete Times I’ve got two thoughts.
1) I stand by my previous posted comments about standing up to police bullies and officers who behave inappropriately.
2) Arresting this old bird, even though she may well have deserved it, will likely lead to her mouthing off to other officers in the future.
So while there’s no need to just immediately surrender your ground (as MLV might counsel) when a cop asks you to do something, this lady here was likely way out of bounds.
Irrational and recalcitrant attitudes demonstrated by women like this are what makes it more difficult for those of us who might in the future have a truly legitimate gripe about a cop’s behavior.
If this broad actually knows Police Chief Klein as she purported to Officer Parco, I’m hoping that Chief Klein sets her grumpy, stubborn ass straight with a personal phone call.
EDIT...Just read a different news account which says the Mayor called her and apologized on behalf of the PD. I’m writing that off to the fact that Hibbard was up for reelection this past Tuesday....heh
Clearwater police have cleared officer Matthew Parco after he was accused by a 75 year old woman of being discourteous and rude to her at a Clearwater McDonald’s.
Parco arrested Jean Merola at the drive through after he said she became abusive when he asked her to pull her car forward.
McDonald’s employees had asked Merola to pull ahead and park while she waited for her order of french fries without salt to be prepared.
Parco said he couldn’t get by Merola so asked her to pull her car forward. Merola said Parco overreacted when she questioned him. The report said the accusations against Parco were unfounded.
This was on BayNews 9.
And the incident was exactly as I’d thought it to be. A case of a beligerent old lady just plain not wanting to move, and then disrespecting a police officer. The officer only needed her to move forward some more so that he could get by her. And apparently, she wasn’t moving without her friggin’ fries. Maybe she needs to learn how to make them at home!
Clearwater police have cleared officer Matthew Parco after he was accused by a 75 year old woman of being discourteous and rude to her at a Clearwater McDonald’s.
Parco arrested Jean Merola at the drive through after he said she became abusive when he asked her to pull her car forward.
McDonald’s employees had asked Merola to pull ahead and park while she waited for her order of french fries without salt to be prepared.
Parco said he couldn’t get by Merola so asked her to pull her car forward. Merola said Parco overreacted when she questioned him. The report said the accusations against Parco were unfounded.
This was on BayNews 9.
And the incident was exactly as I’d thought it to be. A case of a beligerent old lady just plain not wanting to move, and then disrespecting a police officer. The officer only needed her to move forward some more so that he could get by her. And apparently, she wasn’t moving without her friggin’ fries. Maybe she needs to learn how to make them at home!
I’m gonna claim profiling. It is more likely that Parco is a badge heavy wannabe who go his jollies by rousting a old lady.
Please understand this, my lady. Cops are not the White Knights that the media portrays them to be. This isn’t Adam-12. It isn’t Cops. It’s a cross section of society. There are more less than stellar LEO than are told. I’ve known a lot of cops, and every-single-one of them (male) was a sex dog. Ever talk to anyone who works dispatch?
The job of the higher ups is to preform triage on the day to day stuff, so they can have a force when the feces impacts the rotating impeller. Because that’s when we will need them. But until then, we have to try to contain their excesses.
Cops are not evil. They are inherently good. But power corrupts. Thankfully the really bad ones are weeded out. Officer Parco made a choice. I don’t think it was a good one, but at the end of the day, nobody got hurt. I hope that perhaps he learned a little bit, and maybe some of his fellow LEO’s did also.
Clearwater police have cleared officer Matthew Parco after he was accused by a 75 year old woman of being discourteous and rude to her at a Clearwater McDonald’s.
Parco arrested Jean Merola at the drive through after he said she became abusive when he asked her to pull her car forward.
McDonald’s employees had asked Merola to pull ahead and park while she waited for her order of french fries without salt to be prepared.
Parco said he couldn’t get by Merola so asked her to pull her car forward. Merola said Parco overreacted when she questioned him. The report said the accusations against Parco were unfounded.
This was on BayNews 9.
And the incident was exactly as I’d thought it to be. A case of a beligerent old lady just plain not wanting to move, and then disrespecting a police officer. The officer only needed her to move forward some more so that he could get by her. And apparently, she wasn’t moving without her friggin’ fries. Maybe she needs to learn how to make them at home!
I’m gonna claim profiling. It is more likely that Parco is a badge heavy wannabe who go his jollies by rousting a old lady.
Please understand this, my lady. Cops are not the White Knights that the media portrays them to be. This isn’t Adam-12. It isn’t Cops. It’s a cross section of society. There are more less than stellar LEO than are told. I’ve known a lot of cops, and every-single-one of them (male) was a sex dog. Ever talk to anyone who works dispatch?
The job of the higher ups is to preform triage on the day to day stuff, so they can have a force when the feces impacts the rotating impeller. Because that’s when we will need them. But until then, we have to try to contain their excesses.
Cops are not evil. They are inherently good. But power corrupts. Thankfully the really bad ones are weeded out. Officer Parco made a choice. I don’t think it was a good one, but at the end of the day, nobody got hurt. I hope that perhaps he learned a little bit, and maybe some of his fellow LEO’s did also.
Because I have high standards, morals, and admittedly believe and follow good old fashioned principles (old fashioned, not outdated!), does not mean that I live in a bubble either.
I realize that not all cops are white knights, and by the same token, not all old folks are sweet and innocent!
I also am not so jaded to think that whenever something happens, that there must be some nefarious activity going on on one side or the other. Sometimes stupid things just happen completely innocently without any kind of malice or agenda.
Assuming that a police investigation is always going to be corrupt, as another poster seems to think, is a completely jaded and not realistic view of things.
You said the police are inherently good, and I agree. So I don’t understand the automatic assumption on your part that the police officer in this case was overzealous. I find no evidence to support your, and others, assumptions. To the contrary, I find evidence to completely clear him.
I just assume that the Police are more likely to believe one of their own than someone else just as parents are more likely to believe their own children. If there is no record other than the officers account and the womans account, who do you think they will believe? Even when there is video evidence, the Police still try to deny that they did anything wrong.
What if you go to a grocery store and you have paid for your groceries and are waiting for them to be bagged. Can an officer arrest you if he is next in line and you don’t get out of his way fast enough?
What if you’re sitting in a restaurant waiting for the food you ordered and an officer wants the table you’re sitting at, can he arrest you for not getting up before you eat?
Did anybody really expect a Police investigation to find an officer at fault?
IN recent years, police are increasingly found to be at fault for unprofessional and/or inappropriate actions against proactive citizens.
I’ve shared in other threads both here at TBO and back at SPT several occasions when I and my colleagues have brough legitimate complaints against out of line officers and they’ve been not only publicly chastised, but reassigned, suspended and in two cases - dismissed from the Job entirely.
We have never had a complaint found to be without merit - dealing with Brevard County SO, Pinellas County SO, Pinellas Park PD, Melbourne PD, Jacksonville PD, Gainesville PD.
Now, it’s still rare for them to be held to same punishment standards (ie, criminal charges) as would be levied against civilians commiting same action(s).
In this case, it appears that the claims made by the old bird couldn’t hold up under scrutiny.
