You have the right to get your head slammed against the hood of a car.
In June of 2014, Dr. Ersula Ore, a professor at Arizona State University, was navigating construction and a closed sidewalk in downtown Tempe, Arizona. She crossed the street and was promptly stopped by Officer Stewart Ferrin for jaywalking. From there the situation
quickly escalated:
“Let me see your ID or you will be arrested for failing to provide ID,” Ferrin said.
“Are you serious?” Ore asked.
“Yes, I am serious. That is the law,” Ferrin replied.
According to police reports, Ore said she was trying to cross College Avenue in the same fashion as several others trying to avoid construction.
“I never once saw a single solitary individual get pulled over by a cop for walking across a street on a campus, in a campus location. Everybody has been doing this because it is all obstructed. That’s the reason why,” Ore said to the officer. “But you stop me in the middle of the street to pull me over and ask me, 'Do you know what this is? This is a street.' ”
Dr. Ore was subsequently slammed on the hood of the car and then wrestled to the ground and arrested. She was initially charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, but eventually
pled guilty to resisting arrest and was sentenced to nine months probation.
And now, after almost two years, the Officer Stewart Ferrin has resigned.
"The lack of support, cooperation, and downright bias, coupled with an agenda to ruin my career, has become unbearable and I will not subject my family to this any longer," he said Monday in a resignation letter sent to ASU.
Judging by the comments of Police Chief Michael Thompson, Ferrin was never going to be back on the job in Tempe:
The chief's letter says that the officer's "rigid, power-based approach to law enforcement and unwillingness to exercise discretion and sound judgment culminated in you arresting Dr. Ore without a lawful basis. In doing so, your actions brought discredit to yourself and ASUPD."
Good riddance and here's to hoping the now former Officer Ferrin can find a job more suitable to his temperament.
See video of the original arrest here: