This was an arrest that shouldn't have happened
By Harry Dunne
The reason it's against the law to sell single cigarettes is because no tax is collected for the tobacco. It's done everyday in most large cities that have a low income black area.
The states and cities brought this on themselves by taxing tobacco through the roof. Just like alcohol prohibition, cigarettes went underground. Most folks in the black urban environment can't afford to buy an $8.00 pack of named brand smokes. Most convenience stores know this and will sell two smokes and a 16oz malt liquor for $2 or $3 and throw in a pack of matches. That my friends is a good value and it's illegal.
If the truth was ever told, a convenience store owner probably called in on Eric Garner for under cutting his sales.
In my jurisdiction, it is a felony to possess a pack of cigarettes that doesn't have a state tax stamp affixed to the bottom of the pack. The reason most people aren't arrested for the offense is because it is just CHICKEN SHIT.
Do the math
Eric Garner buys a pack of generic smokes for $5. He sells individual smokes at .50 each. He probably makes $5 profit. He probably also bought the smokes from the store that complained on him.
Most states have a taxing entity that is charged with enforcing these laws. It is usually the state comptroller's office. They have special agents' that are supposed to enforce the law. Instead they never leave the office. When they receive a complaint, they stat the case for their records and then forward the enforcement work as a complaint to the local police. In law enforcement, this is called Duck Hunting. You see the state gets a duck on the complaint and on an arrest made by the local police. The city gets a duck on the complaint and on the arrest. One complaint, four ducks.
Duck Hunting 101
The State Highway Patrol stops a person for driving a stolen car. He checks out on the radio. Units nearby hear the stop. Local backup units arrive. Here is how it plays out. The state shows a duck for Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle and does the physical arrest, vehicle inventory, booking and D.A. intake. The first local backup walks up to the highway patrolman and says, "Let me see his drivers license." The local unit takes a picture of the D.L. with his cell phone and then claims a UUMV arrest locally for the duck and the value of the recovered vehicle. If a Game Warden unit would have stopped, they would also have claimed the duck along with the recovered vehicle. One person does all the work and everyone gets a duck.
The Eric Garner case would have yielded four ducks. Instead, he resisted arrest and died. I don't think anyone will ever be successfully criminally prosecuted for his death.
What I want to know is, why didn't someone simply write this poor schmuck a ticket and move on.
Harry Dunne is the prn name of a veteran Texas law enforcement official.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Points very well taken. But when they made that poor decision to arrest Garner, the 300+ pounder had no right to resist. As for the chokehold, how can you subdue a 300+ pounder who is resisting arrest without shooting him? In any event, since there have been no criminal proceedings against any of the arresting officers so far, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton has started dropping them in the grease on his own.
3 comments:
I have arrested several 300 pound men in the course of my career. Once my partner informed the person of their imminent arrest the next word that is usually heard is "Lookout" or "Shit".
This was before Tasers and we found that pepper spray usually wound up on us as well.
There is no way to take such a beast down without someone getting hurt. All the training with pain compliance holds and verbal judo go out the window in a no holds barred fight. The only way to keep from being hurt is to hurt the arrestee.
There were many times that we would have to take such a beast to the E.R. for stitches before booking them at the jail.
Eric Garner was such a beast. He had to be taken down any way possible and then held down to keep him from hurting the cops. He resisted arrest. It is sad that he died, but he chose to resist a police officer in the performance of his duties.
The cops weren't picking on Gardner. They were responding to phone calls from local merchants. The guy was hurting their business and they were pissed, and he WAS breaking the law. So they did what law abiding business owners are supposed to do, they called the cops. If you think the law is chickenshit, you should work to change the law. That is how a civilized society is supposed to work.
I agree the law about a single pack of untaxed cigarettes being a felony should be changed. As it stands now, a person can go to a smoke shop on an Indian reservation and buy a pack of smokes without paying a state tax. When they leave that reservation with that pack of unstamped/taxed smokes they are felons. I think possessing an amount such as one carton should be allowable.
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