I have a lot of slack for law enforcement. They have an exceedingly tough job, but as “Another Mike” points out, this Claymont basketball hoop drama is effed up in a score of ways.
By now, you’ve heard of the removal of offending basketball hoops in Claymont and the family who would not give in so easily. I was wondering if any of you watched the video at TNJ of the eventual removal of their hoop. (Catch it here)
I’m not here to debate the law or the decision to remove the hoops, although I really see no sense in taking harmless property because one neighbor has a problem with it. No, I want to know if the conduct of the female state trooper in the video bothered anyone as much as it did me.
First, she was not dressed in a uniform. She was there in an FBI hoodie and a pair of jeans. Is this how we send troopers out on official duties? No uniform, no visible badge, nothing.
Second, before the pole was removed, the owner asked if DelDOT could lay it in his driveway. The trooper said yes. Then, as soon as it was out of the ground, it was secured to the front-end loader. The homeowner said he had just been told he could keep the pole, and the trooper said she told him he could go pick it up from DelDOT. Then she denied ever telling him it could be left in his driveway. Just flat-out lied to him.
Lastly, while Mr. and Mrs. McCafferty stood in their front yard yelling “You lied to me” at the trooper and the crew, the trooper told them to go back in their house and stop talking or she would arrest them. When Mr. McCafferty asked on what charge, she said “You can’t taunt these people.” There was no obscenity or physical threat. When he mentioned the First Amendment, suddenly the threat of arrest went away.
This entire affair has been unsettling, but it’s this trooper who bothers me most. This is not a homicide suspect they’re trying to get a confession out of. All the trooper really did was make a bad situation worse.