The Steeler doofuses and the clueless lawyer


                             The 'burgh was not another Ferguson 

Last night, looking for something to watch after the Pirates game, I ran into a program on one of the stations used by the NBC affiliate (39) in Pittsburgh. On this program, two lawyers were discussing with a host the arrests of two Pittsburgh Steeler doofuses who were nailed last Thursday for possession of marijuana, with one glassy-eyed player arrested for a DUI. 

The one lawyer was trying to argue that the police had no reason to stop the two doofuses and their female companion. He argued that the doofuses were stopped because they were black. 

That does take place, but in this case, if the lawyers and the host had expended any energy scouring the Internet -- as I did -- they would have discovered why this had occurred, and that the police officer indeed had probable cause to make a stop.

I thought the same thing when I first read about the arrest on Thursday. How would a policeman in a cruiser smell marijuana inside a car? It did not make sense. 

However, these two facts made a difference. First, the police officer was on a motorcycle, which would change the dynamic considerably. Second, the doofuses, demonstrating their stupidity, had their windows down. (I know nothing about smoking "weed," but I do know what it smells like and that having windows down demonstrates their stupidity.)

So, mr. smarty-pants lawyer, who is black, was trying to make these arrests another Ferguson, with a white officer and two black players. He should have tried to discover some of the facts that about the case that he was spouting off about on this show. These doofuses were black and the police office was probably white -- the alleged lawyer did not even know that for certain -- but that was completely irrelevant. 

If a police officer is on a cycle and drives up to a stoplight near the doofuses who have a window down, the officer has probable cause to make a stop because he then can smell the weed. 

Case closed.

(Note: I do acknowledge that racial profiling takes place, particularly in large cities, but not in this case.)

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