Heartless Cop Tickets Homeless Navy Vet For Retrieving A Doughnut From A Garbage Can!

Just when I think LEO's and humanity can't stoop any lower, I read an article like this and it angers me beyond words.

In Houston, Texas a 9-year Navy vet recently came upon hard times. Hard enough that he rummaged through a garbage can to retrieve a doughnut....and was ticketed! What a "crime", eh?

Yep! That city has had a statute since 1942 that prohibits removing items from garbage cans.

“I know on the face of it, it sounds very cruel,” Ray Hunt, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, told the Chronicle. “It’s not officers being inhumane. It’s police officers responding to citizens’ complaints about someone removing garbage from their garbage can, and leaving it on the ground. It’s creating a mess.”

quote source

Yep, they have a JOB to do.

Gimme a break..............and you wonder why so many LEO's are still regarded as "pigs?"

I was equally enraged over Houston clamping down on nonprofit organizations and individuals feeding homeless people last year. And I am aware that this is not an isolated incident. There are other cities, nationwide, that have come under scrutiny for enacting or enforcing similar statutes in the recent past.

The best thing to come of this doughnut incident in Houston is that it got the ACLU's attention and they will represent the Vet, James Kelly, in court - free of charge.

Note: There's also an embedded video with a brief interview with this Vet Here

So, who are the "real" criminals? Those trying to survive on the streets, or those enforcing their "laws"........?

For the record, I live in a city that allows panhandling with a permit. There are a large number of panhandlers (many professionals) at just about every Interstate ramp throughout the city. Some of those faces I've seen many times over the years. A few have even bragged about pulling in $60K -$100K annually. I never enable them, but I sure wouldn't turn my back on someone rummaging through a garbage can for food! Would YOU?

Okay, I'm through ranting. I'm hoping to see a few compassionate ATS members respond with their thoughts or personal experiences regarding this issue of people foraging for food in garbage cans.

God help us ALL when the excrement r-e-a-l-l-y starts hitting the proverbial fan!

Don't they have anything better to do, you know, like maybe arrest some actual criminals? That is the point of law enforcement, no?

The man wasn't hurting anything, and, honestly, if he is hungry enough to fish a doughnut out of the trash they should have just let him have it.

Watched the video, the guy said he has been out of the military since 89'. So he fell on hard times at some point in the passed 24 years. What does him being a veteran have to do with anything? Also, I'm just gonna go ahead and say it..

Who cares?

He got a ticket, so what?

The cop said he was throwing trash all over the ground on the side of a downtown street. If true, I think that sort of behaviour warrants a citation. Alot of these homeless people have been to jail so many times the cops just give them tickets to avoid a hassle. Besides, if he is rummaging through main street garbage for a donut, why not put him in jail for the night? He could get some food and shelter that way at least.

I say, if a person is hungry and has no choice but to rummage through a bin to get some food, he/she should be allowed.
BUT, if the person leaves crap laying everywhere, then definately should be cited. If folks dont make a mess, there would not be complaints. I have seen folks rummaging and they leave stuff laying around even when they discovered nothing they wanted after their search.

Originally posted by 1/2 Nephilim
Besides, if he is rummaging through main street garbage for a donut, why not put him in jail for the night? He could get some food and shelter that way at least.

You're such a humanitarian. You want to take this man's freedom because he was hungry.

You know, this is going to be the DHS reasoning for locking you away in a FEMA camp. "It's for your own good. We'll give you food and shelter. You should be thanking us."

I think the law prohibiting people from feeding homeless folks is pretty lousy and needs to be done away with.

On the other side of things, I can understand folks being upset about someone leaving a mess after rummaging. Get the pastry, then pick up after yourself. If you are causing a big mess, then I think that a littering ticket is reasonable.

I have been dumpster diving a few times and love to find cool stuff for free on big trash day, but there is an ethic to it. Folks don't mind as long as you leave things as tidy as it was before you got there.
Heck, we have people stop by here sometimes and pick up stuff. I would be pretty upset if I had to go out and pick up my trash again because someone was so disrespectful.

~OkieDokie

Meanwhile the local donut shop is filled with cops stuffing their faces with fresh, hot donuts! This cop should have given that man a ride to the local donut shop and made sure he got a fresh donut and not one out of a garbage can.

reply to post by ProjectAlice


I was saying if the cop actually wanted to help the guy then thats what he should have done. Obviously this vet bum can't pay a ticket. Duh.. If they locked him up for the night he wouldn't have gotten a ticket. It would be 1 day time served, a nights shelter for him and a few meals.

I'm not a fan of the cops. Believe me... but after reading this story a few times, it seems more that the man was not ticketed for "taking a doughnut out of the garbage to eat". It would seem that he was ticketed for removing the garbage to find the doughnut and not putting the garbage back.

Yes, it is very sad that people are homeless and hungry. It's sickening actually. We spend hundreds of billions of dollars every year to kill and injure people around the world. But we can't seem to afford to feed our own citizens, and especially military veterans.

However... let's say you just put your garbage out, and here comes Mr. Homeless guy. Poor guy is hungry. So he dumps out your can all over the road looking for something to eat. He finds it, and leaves... with the garbage all over the ground. In this sense... yes I can see a ticket being issued. Of course, if it was a first offense (which I can not determine for the article, or any other sources)... the police officer simply could have informed the man of the situation, and asked him to pick up the garbage.

Originally posted by 1/2 Nephilim
Watched the video, the guy said he has been out of the military since 89'. So he fell on hard times at some point in the passed 24 years. What does him being a veteran have to do with anything?

I thought exactly the same thing. 24 years after 9 in the Navy, why does that make the story anymore emotive?
If he was throwing everything that wasn't food onto the floor then yep, I wouldn't want that going on in my street. A warning first perhaps, an advisory to put it all back or 'you'll have a ticket' of course, but to walk past and ignore such behaviour, nah, not if I was a cop, or even a local resident/business owner. I like clean streets.

Originally posted by daryllyn
Don't they have anything better to do, you know, like maybe arrest some actual criminals? That is the point of law enforcement, no?

The man wasn't hurting anything, and, honestly, if he is hungry enough to fish a doughnut out of the trash they should have just let him have it.

edit on 15-3-2013 by daryllyn because: (no reason given)

there was a complaint filed...so if an officer did not respond, the police and the officer would be called on the carpet for that....maybe the fault should lie with the person that filed the complaint. why didn't he go out and actually ask the guy what he was doing, and maybe bring the guy a cookie, doughnut or sandwich, if he was hungry?
we call the police for everything now... how about if the person complaining simply went outside, handed the guy a broom, and offered to pay him a couple of bucks to sweep the sidewalk.

reply to post by jimmyx

Good idea to a point.
It all depends how many homeless are in your area. Plenty near me, and word spreads fast so I wouldn't want a different one turning up every day doing the same thing. Gonna feed or pay them all?
For the record, I spent 6 months sleeping the streets many years ago, it wasn't pleasant and I do have some sympathy, but you didn't see me trashing an area when I was trying to sustain myself. Fair enough, get something useful from a trash can, but don't throw what you don't need on the floor.

I never understood the "kick them while they're down" attitude. In some situations, it's very apparent that the person's punishment is delivered every second of every day. No need to add to the sense of humiliation, desperation and disgust.

I'd have whipped him up an egg sandwich and delivered it curbside.

reply to post by chasingbrahman

As I questioned earlier though, how many folk are you prepared to that for?
Word spreads amongst homeless circles, you gonna do it for everyone in similar situations in your area?

...hope you have a lot of eggs.

A complaint was called in.

A police officer showed up.

Police issued a citation to a man he knew wouldn't be able to pay.

Complainer was satisfied.

Police officer saved himself a headache.

Homeless man got his doughnut.

Complainer will have karma take a dump on his head in the future.

Whats the problem?

According to NationalHomeless.org, about 40% of homeless men are veterans. This is slightly more than the 34% of the general adult male population that're veterans. Only 4% of homeless veterans are females. Homeless female veterans are more like to have a serious mental illness, but less likely to be employed and have an addiction disorder.

Another article I read says 10% of the general population are veterans and 16% of the homeless adult population are veterans.

Yet antoher artiocle says one in four homeless people are veterans and are only 11% of the general population.

It's hard to pin numbers down.

reply to post by Becoming

I don't believe in karma just the 'real' stuff I see in my community that can be dealt with as needed.
From my own experiences I'm not going to cry for everything I see around me, can't really cry for the whole world, I'd run out of tissues if I did.
Personally I wouldn't have called the police, but I would certainly challenge anyone throwing rubbish onto my street from a trash can if they were making my area a mess. What's wrong with that?
The 9 years Navy service from 24 years ago is irrelevant, throwing trash on a street while cherrypicking the best bits from a bin/trash can is not really acceptable though is it?
...or would you be happy with that?

reply to post by jonnywhite

Similar figures in the UK, that's a different issue, it relates to the lack of follow up care by the ministry/department of defence.
I've no problem with anyone taking something useful from a trash can, just the issue of throwing anything that isn't useful onto the floor. If you're happy with that then fair enough, but I wouldn't be if it was my street.

reply to post by grainofsand


If a man is starving I wouldn't stand in his way. I most certainly would not have called the cops. Here is how I would deal with that situation.

I would ask the man if he would like me to buy him a meal.

Then I would ask him to please clean up what he did.

If he does great, if not I would still buy the meal and then pick the trash up myself.

Originally posted by grainofsand
reply to post by chasingbrahman

 

As I questioned earlier though, how many folk are you prepared to that for?
Word spreads amongst homeless circles, you gonna do it for everyone in similar situations in your area?

...hope you have a lot of eggs.

Yeah, you're right. Helping would be silly. And anyway, what's more fun that watching some homeless dude rummage through your garbage for your leftovers? Oh! I know! Watching them rummage through your garbage you've carefully made sure doesn't contain leftovers? Hahahahaha!

Get a grip. It's an egg sandwich for a vet that probably got so screwed up overseas that he can't hold a job long enough to pay rent.

But you go ahead and save the world, talking one person at a time out of fixing food for a homeless person. Wow.