Nothing 'Shocking' About This Arrest

By James Brady
McLean

I don’t find it “shocking” that Pepin Andrew Tuma ["My 'Crime' on U Street? Offending the Police," Local Opinions, Aug. 9] was arrested for disorderly conduct after walking past five or six police cars “engaged in what appeared to be a simple traffic stop” while chanting “I hate the police” loud enough to be heard by the officers and, one presumes, others who were involved or nearby.

I don’t know what the police were doing at the time, and it appears that Mr. Tuma doesn’t either. With five or six police cars involved, though, it may have been something quite different than a “simple traffic stop.” It might have been a situation that could have been made much worse by his “I hate the police” chant.

There have undoubtedly been instances in which the police have arrested people for disorderly conduct when they should not have. This particular situation, however, hardly seems a clear-cut example of that.