General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Teenager Alerts Police That They Left Their Brights on -- 5 Minutes Later They Shoot Him Dead [View all]Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Someone put it in this kid's head that "if you get pulled over, cops dont have the right to see your identification". That's simply fucking false. It's called a driver's license, so if he didnt understand he needed to have one to drive, whoever gave him the keys to the car shouldnt have let him drive it.
He seemed to really badly want to get into it with the cop. Stupid. Doesn't mean he deserved what happened- not by a long shot- but he handled it like an idiot. The cop was trying to de-escalate the situation, at least at first. Once he had a guy on his hands a) doing the "i dont need to show you my license and registration" and then b) changing his story as to whether or not he actually had his license (and furthermore, was acting erratic and potentially inebriated) no, he wasnt gonna go "oh, my bad, you can just go" ... He was going to get him out of the car. He told the kid in pretty clear terms, look, either you comply with a lawful order, or i will take you in.
Picking a fight with a cop for no reason is stupid, i dont care how old you are.