New Federal Appelate Court Ruling on Public Video of Police

reply to post by METACOMET

Ignorance of the law is a whole disaster in itself.

Many years back, a young redneck who had spent all of his life living in the country and visiting small towns decided he wanted to go to an event in Chattanooga. He parked his car as close as he could and walked about a mile anyway to attend the event. Afterward, he walked back to his car and drove home.

A few days later, he received a parking ticket in the mail.

He called the number and asked why he had received the ticket. He was told he had parked in a "No Parking" zone. He explained there was no sign saying such, and was informed it didn't matter. He explained that he had parked among other cars; again, it didn't matter. He asked why he wasn't given a ticket at the time and was told it had been left on the car. He said no, there was nothing on his car, and was told it didn't matter.

It was a $10 ticket. He just gave up and paid it. I just gave up and paid it.

Later on, I found out what went wrong: the city had adopted a color code for the curbs, and not realizing the color of the curb had significance, I parked in the wrong color. I had no way to know better, but it did not matter; ignorance is no excuse.

The concept started back in Rome, as I remember being taught, when the laws were posted openly in the town center. Makes sense in one respect, as someone could claim ignorance and do whatever they wished. On the other hand, as you say, no one can not be ignorant of at least part of the law today.

TheRedneck