Harvard Law Grad Calls Out Cops Trying to Ticket Him for Playing 'Fuck Tha Police'—So They Find Other Reasons to Ticket Him, Obviously

Yesterday I blogged about Amy Barnes, a Georgia woman awarded $100,000 in a settlement
with cops who arrested her for shouting “fuck the police” at them.
Today, another tale of cops who can’t take that particular
criticism—even when it merely happens to be coming from the radio
of a nearby car. But the ending in this case (so far) isn’t nearly
so happy.

Cesar Baldelomar, 26, was driving to his parents’ home in
Hialeah, Florida, on Thanksgiving morning when he pulled up at a
stoplight near where Hialeah Police Officer Harold Garzon was
standing. Garzon was filling out paperwork from a traffic accident,
according to Miami alt-weekly the Miami New
Times. Baldelomar had his radio turned up loudly, and while at
the stoplight the N.W.A. classic “Fuck Tha Police” came on the
air. 

“Really?” Garzon said to Baldelomar through his open car window.
“You’re really playing that song? Pull over.”

Garzon is a buzzcutted cop with sleeve tattoos and sunglasses.
He’s also a 17-year veteran with 16 internal affairs cases against
him, according to records. (It’s unclear how many were sustained;
Hialeah PD didn’t respond to New Times’ requests for comment.)

But Baldelomar is no Hialeah bro. He’s a double Harvard graduate
now studying law at Florida International University. So when
Garzon told him it was illegal to play loud music within 25 feet of
another person, Baldelomar called bullshit. “In 2012 the state
supreme court struck down any law banning loud music,” he says. “I
knew that because it was a case I had actually studied in law
school.”

Garzon grew angry, though, when Baldelomar told him that fact.
He called over two other cops and then demanded proof of insurance.
Baldelomar pulled up his info on his phone, but Garzon waved it
off, saying, “It’s got to be paper.” (It doesn’t. Florida changed
the law a year ago.)

This didn’t stop Garzon from writing Baldelomar three tickets:
one for the insurance (non)violation, one for not wearing a seat
belt, and one for having an out-of-state license plate while
a resident of Florida. Baldelomar maintains that he was wearing his
seat belt, and he doesn’t have a Florida license plate because he
is still legally a resident of Massachusetts. 

Baldelomar told the New Times he plans to fight the
violations in court; hopefully a judge will throw them out as
quickly as the judge did in Barnes’ case. Baldelomar also said he plans
to file a complaint against Garzon. 

“I’m educated. I know my rights. And I speak English, so I can
fight this,” he points out. “But what about when this happens to
someone who’s not so lucky? Policing has to change in this
country.”

In other words…