Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Pain in the ass

If you're a baggy pants aficionado, Flint's new law banning the fashion statement may seem harsh, but just be thankful you don't live in Jacksonville, Florida.

Scott Butler of The Florida Times-Union reports:

A Jacksonville man is accused of shooting an 18-year-old after telling him to pull his jeans up.
Constantin
Constantin

It happened about 7:15 p.m. Saturday at Cross Creek Apartments on Manotak Avenue. Police arrived to find the 54-year-old suspect standing next to the victim. The suspect had a gun in his waistband but kept his hands up for police.

Several witnesses told police the man followed David A. Mitchell into the courtyard from the pool telling him to pull his pants up. The two began to argue, and the younger man pushed the suspect before being shot in the stomach, according to the arrest report.

Mitchell, who was released from the hospital the same day, told the Times-Union Monday that the bullet is still in his side but the doctors say he’ll be fine. He said he had never seen the man and knew his shorts were sagging. He said he pulled them up, but the man said it wasn’t enough and just kept coming. So he pushed him off and tried to walk away.

John C. Constantin , who lives at the Westside apartments, was charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon. According to the arrest report, he told police it was self-defense after he was assaulted for telling Mitchell to pull his pants up.

Family reached at his home Monday offered their apologies and said Constantin was remorseful for what happened. He remains in jail on $100,000 bail.




2 comments:

  1. OK, I don't like the whole sagging pants look either but come on, this is ridiculous! And Flint's ordnance is silly too. If for no other reason than it will be too difficult to enforce.

    Kids are gonna' do whatever they think will be most upsetting to "the Man." Always have, always will.

    Of all the things going on right now sagging pants is not that big of a deal, imho anyway.

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  2. I've talked about this with friends and tried to figure out why Dicks would ever bother with this law. Here are some ideas people have come up with:
    1. It's a handy excuse to arrest any black kids or adults.
    2. It's a publicity stunt to make the non-baggy citizenry think the mayor and the PD are doing something.
    3. It's just a dumb idea, plain and simple, with no agenda behind it.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I moderate comments, so it may take a while for your comment to appear. You might enjoy my book about Flint called "Teardown: Memoir of a Vanishing City," a Michigan Notable Book for 2014 and a finalist for the 33rd Annual Northern California Book Award for Creative NonFiction. Filmmaker Michael Moore described Teardown as "a brilliant chronicle of the Mad Maxization of a once-great American city." More information about Teardown is available at www.teardownbook.com.