This is a purely educational website. Nothing here is legal advice or creates or implies an attorney-client relationship. If you have a specific legal issue, PLEASE talk to a lawyer who practices where you live—laws vary from place to place, and how they're applied varies from courthouse to courthouse. Your local county bar association can probably refer someone.
By using this site, you agree that you are awesome. Use of this site also constitutes acceptance of its
Terms of Service and Privacy Policies, which are known to medical science as a cure for insomnia.
It's best to keep all discussions in the comments. But if you really need to reach Nathan privately, go ahead and email him at n.e.burney@gmail.com. He won't mind.
THE ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO LAW and the PEEKING JUSTICE logo are pretty damn cool trademarks and should probably be registered one of these days.
© Nathaniel Burney. All rights reserved, though they really open up once you get to know them.
Of course, it’s more than the cops letting them block the bridge, they made them block it by blocking them off at both ends.
When did it actually describe anything remotely like that?
The hypothetical situation being referenced here is very similar to a real thing that was widely publicized a few years before the time of publication of the comic during the height of the Occupy movement. Whereas the details here are sparse, during the Occupy protests police officers were actually reported (by the protesters at least) to have effectively sheparded the crowds onto the bridge, where they proceeded to blockade them and then arrest them for blocking traffic. Many people were unaware that the police had, in fact, directed people onto the bridge, and believed that the protesters were blocking the bridge in protest and thus had committed a crime, and criticized the protesters for proclaiming their innocence and that they were entrapped.
But that’s not what happened in this scenario. The protesters were crossing the bridge of their own accord. The police did not cause them to do it. Nor did the police block them off. All the police did was ALLOW the protesters to break the law, before arresting them for doing it. The police didn’t create the offense, they merely didn’t prevent it.