Arrested, cuffed and jailed, the don caught jaywalking

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...cle2144049.ece

Arrested, cuffed and jailed, the don caught jaywalking

By Ian Herbert
Published: 11 January 2007

The slight, bespectacled British historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
does not have the demeanour of a criminal. The only individuals he has
so much as upset in the past few months have been the nation's history
teachers, many of whom he condemned as tendentious, narrow and dreary,
in an article for The Independent.

But for a US law enforcer who saw him crossing the road in the wrong
place in Atlanta, Georgia, last week, Professor Fernandez- Armesto was
just another jaywalker. In scenes of "terrible, terrible violence", as
the distinguished academic recalled them yesterday, he had his legs
kicked from beneath him and was pinned to the ground by five officers
before being handcuffed to another felon and locked up for eight hours.

Professor Fernandez-Armesto, professor of global environmental history
at Queen Mary, University of London, and a member of Oxford
University's modern history faculty, was left "traumatised and
disorientated" and with a gash on his forehead before he was charged
with pedestrian failure to obey a police officer, and physical
obstruction of police. And, apparently most distressing of all, he had
his box of peppermints confiscated.

The academic's failure to realise that the man telling him to stop was
an officer led to his brush with the law after he had arrived for a
convention of the American Historical Association. Officer Kevin
Leonpacher's "rather louche" bomber jacket, which covered his uniform,
had not helped, the professor told the History News Network, though the
city's police department disputed Professor Fernandez-Armesto's account
of the incident and said Officer Leonpacher was wearing "standard issue
uniform with a black leather jacket with large reflective panels that
said Atlanta Police."

Professor Fernandez-Armesto, 56, said: "All I was aware of was a rather
intrusive young man shouting at me; telling me that I shouldn't have
crossed the road there," in an entertaining interview which has been
posted on YouTube. "I thanked him for his advice and went on."

When Officer Leonpacher tried to stop him and asked to see
identification, Professor Fernandez-Armesto asked to see the
policeman's ID, which he "didn't take kindly to". The professor added:
"He said: 'I am going to arrest you.' In the culture I come from this
wouldn't mean that the conversation was over. This young man kicked my
legs from under me, wrenched me round in what I think is a sort of a
judo move, pinned me to the ground, wrenched my arms behind my back,
handcuffed me.

"Naturally I was bridling. I had five burly policemen pinioning me to
the ground, pressing my neck with really very severe pain. I'm a mass
of contusions and grazes. I still find it incredible that an ageing,
mild-mannered professor of impeccable antecedent, should be the subject
of such abominable treatment."

The professor, who has written books on the Americas and global
exploration, found himself in a "filthy, foetid paddy wagon" to be
transported to jail. With his bail set at £720, he eventually got out
with the help of a professional bail agent.

The next day in court the charges were dropped - to the relief of the
professor who feared a criminal record and the loss of his green card.
(He also works at Tufts University, Massachusetts.)

Officer Leonpacher, 28, offered a robust defence of his actions,
insisting the historian had repeatedly refused to co-operate and had
started to "wrestle". He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I used
an excessive amount of discretion."

Joe Cobb, of the Atlanta police department, which held an internal
inquiry into the incident, said: "The level of force was dictated by
the professor, not by the officer. This gentleman had his British
driver's licence on him the entire time. All he had to do was provide
that to the officer and the worse-case scenario is he would have been
given a ticket."

But Lisa Kazmier, a history professor at Drexel University in
Philadelphia, said the Briton had been treated "like he was Osama Bin
Laden or something".

Professor Fernandez-Armesto told the television channel: "It was a
fantastic experience going into that detention centre and spending time
with those miserable wretches of the earth."

He was lucky he didn't play for the Baltimore Ravens!

On 11 Jan 2007 06:42:40 -0800, "Bob Slay"
wrote:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...cle2144049.ece

Arrested, cuffed and jailed, the don caught jaywalking

By Ian Herbert
Published: 11 January 2007

The slight, bespectacled British historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
does not have the demeanour of a criminal. The only individuals he has
so much as upset in the past few months have been the nation's history
teachers, many of whom he condemned as tendentious, narrow and dreary,
in an article for The Independent.

But for a US law enforcer who saw him crossing the road in the wrong
place in Atlanta, Georgia, last week, Professor Fernandez- Armesto was
just another jaywalker. In scenes of "terrible, terrible violence", as
the distinguished academic recalled them yesterday, he had his legs
kicked from beneath him and was pinned to the ground by five officers
before being handcuffed to another felon and locked up for eight hours.

Professor Fernandez-Armesto, professor of global environmental history
at Queen Mary, University of London, and a member of Oxford
University's modern history faculty, was left "traumatised and
disorientated" and with a gash on his forehead before he was charged
with pedestrian failure to obey a police officer, and physical
obstruction of police. And, apparently most distressing of all, he had
his box of peppermints confiscated.

The academic's failure to realise that the man telling him to stop was
an officer led to his brush with the law after he had arrived for a
convention of the American Historical Association. Officer Kevin
Leonpacher's "rather louche" bomber jacket, which covered his uniform,
had not helped, the professor told the History News Network, though the
city's police department disputed Professor Fernandez-Armesto's account
of the incident and said Officer Leonpacher was wearing "standard issue
uniform with a black leather jacket with large reflective panels that
said Atlanta Police."

Professor Fernandez-Armesto, 56, said: "All I was aware of was a rather
intrusive young man shouting at me; telling me that I shouldn't have
crossed the road there," in an entertaining interview which has been
posted on YouTube. "I thanked him for his advice and went on."

When Officer Leonpacher tried to stop him and asked to see
identification, Professor Fernandez-Armesto asked to see the
policeman's ID, which he "didn't take kindly to". The professor added:
"He said: 'I am going to arrest you.' In the culture I come from this
wouldn't mean that the conversation was over. This young man kicked my
legs from under me, wrenched me round in what I think is a sort of a
judo move, pinned me to the ground, wrenched my arms behind my back,
handcuffed me.

"Naturally I was bridling. I had five burly policemen pinioning me to
the ground, pressing my neck with really very severe pain. I'm a mass
of contusions and grazes. I still find it incredible that an ageing,
mild-mannered professor of impeccable antecedent, should be the subject
of such abominable treatment."

The professor, who has written books on the Americas and global
exploration, found himself in a "filthy, foetid paddy wagon" to be
transported to jail. With his bail set at £720, he eventually got out
with the help of a professional bail agent.

The next day in court the charges were dropped - to the relief of the
professor who feared a criminal record and the loss of his green card.
(He also works at Tufts University, Massachusetts.)

Officer Leonpacher, 28, offered a robust defence of his actions,
insisting the historian had repeatedly refused to co-operate and had
started to "wrestle". He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I used
an excessive amount of discretion."

Joe Cobb, of the Atlanta police department, which held an internal
inquiry into the incident, said: "The level of force was dictated by
the professor, not by the officer. This gentleman had his British
driver's licence on him the entire time. All he had to do was provide
that to the officer and the worse-case scenario is he would have been
given a ticket."

But Lisa Kazmier, a history professor at Drexel University in
Philadelphia, said the Briton had been treated "like he was Osama Bin
Laden or something".

Professor Fernandez-Armesto told the television channel: "It was a
fantastic experience going into that detention centre and spending time
with those miserable wretches of the earth."

(Bob Slay) wrote in
ups.com:

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...cle2144049.ece

Arrested, cuffed and jailed, the don caught jaywalking

And some comments from a US publication:

http://reason.com/blog/show/117823.html

"Fernandez-Armesto admits to jaywalking, but the officer seems to be
saying he arrested the historian for disrespecting him."

--
Bert Hyman | St. Paul, MN |

On 11 Jan 2007 15:54:14 GMT, Bert Hyman wrote:

"Fernandez-Armesto admits to jaywalking, but the officer seems to be
saying he arrested the historian for disrespecting him."

I get the impression he though the cop was some yobbo shouting at him,
so walked away.
--
Mike Reid
UK Walking - photos "http://www.fellwalk.co.uk" -- you can email us@ this site
Spain Walking -food "http://www.fell-walker.co.uk"
Beginners UK flight sim addons "http://www.lawn-mower-man.co.uk"

Hello, The!
You wrote on Thu, 11 Jan 2007 16:03:50 +0000:

?? "Fernandez-Armesto admits to jaywalking, but the officer
?? seems to be saying he arrested the historian for
?? disrespecting him."

TR I get the impression he though the cop was some yobbo
TR shouting at him, so walked away.

It's my impression too that the cop was in plain clothes and did
not identify himself. In the circumstances, I hope the Police
Department is exposed to a lot of creative legal suits!

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.comcast.not

Hmmm, now I begin to understand the weird behaviour of the American buddy (a
prof at the University of Arkansas) I met at the British Library last week.
With no traffic for about 200 yards on Euston Road, he stood staring at the
red light opposite until I virtually shoved him into the road. If that's how
plod behaves across the pond, I'm not bloody surprised at his caution.

Alan Harrison

Bob Slay wrote:


Officer Leonpacher, 28, offered a robust defence of his actions,
insisting the historian had repeatedly refused to co-operate and had
started to "wrestle". He told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "I used
an excessive amount of discretion."

"Discretion"? Really! Is that what they call it in
red-neck country?

Joe Cobb, of the Atlanta police department, which held an internal
inquiry into the incident, said: "The level of force was dictated by
the professor, not by the officer. This gentleman had his British
driver's licence on him the entire time. All he had to do was provide
that to the officer and the worse-case scenario is he would have been
given a ticket."

Which might have been a bit difficult to do, while being
pinned to the ground and handcuffed by a crew of dim-witted
yokels who have no place on a big-city police force! (If
he'd reached in his pocket for his wallet and drivers'
license, he'd probably have been shot!)

Bert Hyman wrote:

(Bob Slay) wrote in
ups.com:


http://news.independent.co.uk/world/...cle2144049.ece

Arrested, cuffed and jailed, the don caught jaywalking


And some comments from a US publication:

http://reason.com/blog/show/117823.html

"Fernandez-Armesto admits to jaywalking, but the officer seems to be
saying he arrested the historian for disrespecting him."

Ah! Not a good enough actor, I assume. (Sometimes it's
difficult to pretend respect for someone so plainly lacking
in qualities to merit it.)

The Reid wrote:

On 11 Jan 2007 15:54:14 GMT, Bert Hyman wrote:


"Fernandez-Armesto admits to jaywalking, but the officer seems to be
saying he arrested the historian for disrespecting him."


I get the impression he though the cop was some yobbo shouting at him,
so walked away.

If the uniform wasn't easily recognizeable, he might well
have been justified. (For that matter, I'm not sure there
aren't a few "yobbos" in uniform, in the American South.)

James Silverton:
It's my impression too that the cop was in plain clothes and did
not identify himself. In the circumstances, I hope the Police
Department is exposed to a lot of creative legal suits!

This article gives the cop's version of events:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...10metwalk.html

He says he was in uniform. Evidently either the professor is being a
gadfly or else it was not something that he recognized as a uniform.
I draw no conclusions myself.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | This process can check if this value is zero, and if
| it is, it does something child-like. --F. Burkowski