Pittsburgh Police Citations and ACLU

==Background==
* Police in Pittsburgh wrote nearly 200 citations within a 32 month time frame, and the ACLU has made a case of this illegal practice.
==Insights from WPXI.com==
===Lawsuit Brings Police Citations To Light===
:September 2, 2008
PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- When you're behind the wheel of a vehicle it's one thing to get a ticket for speeding, running a light, or some other moving violation, but it's something completely different when an officer writes you a ticket because of what he feels is an obscene gesture.
Dan Collins, of West Mifflin told Channel 11, "It's a little ridiculous. There's definitely bigger things they need to worry about."
It's an issue that caught the attention of the American Civil Liberties Union. The organization filed a suit with the U.S. District Court of the Western District of Pennsylvania.
"Under the law, obscenity is limited to really hard core pornography. So if you use profanity because you want to express your displeasure that's not sexual, that cannot be illegal," said Vic Walczak, of the ACLU.
According to court documents, in April of 2006 David Hackbart, of Pittsburgh, was on Murray Avenue in Squirrel Hill trying to park his car and as he was trying to back into a space another car pulled up behind Hackbart and blocked the space.
According to the citation, Hackbart was charged with disorderly conduct because he made an obscene gesture when he gave another driver and a Pittsburgh police officer the finger.
It is just one of the nearly 200 such citations found by the ACLU in a 32 month time frame.
Walczak said, "When you have nearly 200 citations that are clearly are illegal, Even the city of Pittsburgh clearly admits that they know you can't cite somebody for using profanity. The fact that it has happened nearly 200 times indicates that there's a problem."
==Links==
* Police
category:freedom