Submitted for your consideration: A short account of my interaction with a cop "behaving stupidly." Was this harassment?
It was a blustery day, and my parents were not at home. I was living with them at the time, and doing a bit of yard work that involved a wheelbarrow full of gravel. I was suitably dressed for the occasion, meaning old jeans, a worn jacket, and a black watch cap. Scruffy goatee, as usual.
I was in the driveway, near the road, pushing my wheelbarrow full of stolen electronics gravel, when a police car came over the hill. I looked up, and remembered that the road had just been paved and I had been meaning to have a closer look at it. Setting down the wheelbarrow, I began walking toward the hill the car had just crested, still on my parents' property.
The officer turned around, and began to question me. He said my walking away from the house as soon as he arrived made him suspicious. I answered his questions, provided ID, and he ran the plates of the cars in the drive. Before he drove off, I thanked him for keeping an eye on things.
Was I harassed? Were my rights disregarded? Was this legal? I don't know. What do you think?
