I have to go with the line of "Yes, you were an idiot and nothing the police did even deserves a slap on the wrist."

They did their job. They observed suspicious behavior and reacted to it in a suitable manner.

You are lucky that no other crime in the area was reported, otherwise you could be facing charges yourself. You wouldn't have been the first 'innocent' person to run interference on law enforcement to distract them from an 'actual crime'.

You acted like a dumbass and got less than you deserve.

It is perfectly legal in a Western democracy to decide to run at any time I want

It is also perfectly legal to talk loudly about bombs while at the airport or on an airplane. Even if you talk in something that sounds Arabic.

While you're at it, when you go skiing next time, wear the full outfit. You know, the ski mask and all that. Then, walk to a bank carrying a box of cake. Watch hilarity ensue.

Or perhaps buy a BB gun, walk to police station and point it at one of the officers there.

Second, I did not resist when he caught up to me and he punched me[/quote]You ran. That classifies as resisting arrest.

non-threatening skinny geek of 6'1" / 137 lbs dressed in business attire.[/quote]Like barely-teens in England, wearing school uniforms while stabbing their peer to death.

I couldn't have been further from the look of a street criminal.[/quote]Pimp? Yuppy drug dealer? Car thief? Street criminals have gone with times, some wear suits.

The way I see it is this: I did a dumb thing by running, but it was perfectly legal.[/quote]Exactly. Did you learn your lesson?

This is probably the reason airports have a big sign saying: "Bomb jokes are not funny".


But, the system works. You were not charged of anything and you even got an apology. So what's the big deal? There are places where you could have gotten shot. 14 times. Just for warning.

[quote name='Antheus' timestamp='1298039058' post='4775870']
But, the system works. You were not charged of anything and you even got an apology. So what's the big deal? There are places where you could have gotten shot. 14 times. Just for warning.

Wow, fourteen times. You humans sure have mastered the art of overkill. Perhaps there even is a place where he could have gotten shot fifteen times. In that light, he would have been lucky, had he only been shot fourteen times.

God
[/quote]

Two or three soldiers/thugs with automatic weapons and a short burst or two of gun fire from each of them? Yeah, 14 times sounds about right in that case. There are parts of world where you can get killed for less than being a dipstick.

So you were a dumbass, and expected the universe to reward you for being a dumbass?

This is why the human race can't have nice things.

It's about dumbassnass and pussiness in the same time. Okay, I admit that you have to stand up for your rights, but that is taken to an extreme. Guys like the OP are the guys that will burn cars, break windows and throw stones at policemen on a demonstration, then cry for getting a punch in the face or being taken to the police station for 2 hours. Eat what you have cooked (Hungarian saying)

You deserved getting punched, it was what you sought out. On the other hand, if you had realized that you were late for something and ran home and all this happened, I'd have more sympathy for you. As for what should you do, I don't know. It's more likely that if this issue got a lot of publicity that a law like the one JTippetts mentioned gets passed so that what the officer did becomes accepted as standard practice.

You got what you asked for. Move on dude, or else you're giving a bad name to those that actually have endured real unfair police violence.

I typically don't side with cops on these things, but damn dude, you were asking for it.

Holy crap, a $4 fee on an ATM? And I thought the $1.25 fees on normal ATMs sucked.