Disorderly Conduct Charge for Giving Officers the Finger

My question involves criminal law for the state of: Missouri

I live in a small town in the middle of Missouri with what many consider a corrupt police force. Last week to show my disapproval for the the P.D. I gave 2 officers the finger while in a drive thru line. They came over to the car, told my friend who was driving to pull over and get out of line. They told me to get out and give them my I.D., I complied. I was then arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct and taken to jail where I was held for a full 24 hours.*

This is the exact law I'm being charged with.*Sec. 18-84. - Disorderly conduct.(a)It shall be unlawful for any person to be guilty of disorderly conduct or of any conduct tending toward a breach of the peace. The causing or making of any unnecessary loud noise or shouting or yelling shall be considered disorderly conduct.(b)It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in any violent, tumultuous, offensive or disorderly conduct; by threatening, traducing, quarreling, challenging to fight or fighting; or by using obscene, offensive, profane or unseemly language to the annoyance, disturbance or vexation of another.

I've been doing a good amount of research regarding the finger and its 1st amendment protection. There are plenty of examples of high courts (including the SCOTUS) overturning convictions and ruling that speech (including gestures) insulting LEOs and other government officials is completely protected. I may have technically broke that law but if that's the case than the law itself is illegal.*

I've gone to the station to get the police report but it won't be ready for a few more days, I'm waiting on it before I make my next move. I'm strongly considering filing a complaint with the ACLU ( and maybe a lawsuit against the P.D.), they've successfully defended cases very similar to mine. More immediately though I need a lawyer, but I barely have enough money to pay my bills let alone a lawyer or even a fine if convicted. My first court date is in about a month and a half, will I be able to get *a public defender then?

This is my first arrest in my life so I don't really know what to expect, the clean record will be a help though.

*How can I ask to have the charges dropped? Paper work? Go directly to the court and try to talk to the attorney's office? Or do I have to wait and ask the judge to dismiss the case?

Any advise on this situation is really appreciated, I know I've missed some questions so please talk about things I can do that I've missed.*

P.S. this was after midnight so not to many people were around who could've been offended (even though that's not against the law) or who's peace would've been disturbed by a silent gesture.

*P.P.S. the finger wasn't accompanied by anything that could've been perceived as a threat of violence and while being arrested I was not resisting, I was completely submissive.*

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Quoting jkl1234

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My question involves criminal law for the state of: Missouri

I live in a small town in the middle of Missouri with what many consider a corrupt police force.

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That can be said about anywhere. "Many" doesn't mean a whole lot unless they are objective bystanders who both have firsthand knowledge of events and police procedure and policy. I can walk down the street right now and find "many" people that would say the same thing here ... but those 5 people are arrested a lot for burglary and dope. ;)

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Last week to show my disapproval for the the P.D. I gave 2 officers the finger while in a drive thru line.

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That's just rude. If you want to show disapproval for the conduct of the force, or the management, then there are many other ways to do it that are not personally insulting or derogatory. I suppose, then, you wouldn't mind if the local cops show their disapproval of irreverent members of the public by flipping YOU off?

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They came over to the car, told my friend who was driving to pull over and get out of line. They told me to get out and give them my I.D., I complied. I was then arrested and charged with Disorderly Conduct and taken to jail where I was held for a full 24 hours.*

This is the exact law I'm being charged with.*Sec. 18-84. - Disorderly conduct.(a)It shall be unlawful for any person to be guilty of disorderly conduct or of any conduct tending toward a breach of the peace. The causing or making of any unnecessary loud noise or shouting or yelling shall be considered disorderly conduct.(b)It shall be unlawful for any person to engage in any violent, tumultuous, offensive or disorderly conduct; by threatening, traducing, quarreling, challenging to fight or fighting; or by using obscene, offensive, profane or unseemly language to the annoyance, disturbance or vexation of another.

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Whether your state regards an obscene gesture is considered to be the same as "language" in this context, I can't say. But, you can't really argue that the gesture was not obscene, profane, unseemly, annoying or vexing, can you?

A court may not file on it, but it was still a rude and disrespectful thing to do to anyone - much less individuals you likely do not even know.

In my state we cannot arrest for this, but, different states hold different standards. A personal gesture like that may not be considered protected speech as it applies to the law in your state, so a 1st Amendment argument may not hold any water. If you were holding up a sign that had a drawing of a finger with that obscene gesture, and it said on the sign, "Our police are corrupt" you might very well get away with it.

It might also be possible that the police cannot be a victim of disorderly conduct acts. Not sure. Laws differ by state. Your attorney will know as will the prosecutor. If no charges are filed, then you'll know what the prosecutor thinks. However, even without charges, that doesn't mean that you have any kind of a lawsuit against the police unless you can prove that they knew or reasonably should have known that such a gesture was protected speech (assuming that it actually IS).

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I've gone to the station to get the police report but it won't be ready for a few more days, I'm waiting on it before I make my next move. I'm strongly considering filing a complaint with the ACLU ( and maybe a lawsuit against the P.D.), they've successfully defended cases very similar to mine. More immediately though I need a lawyer, but I barely have enough money to pay my bills let alone a lawyer or even a fine if convicted. My first court date is in about a month and a half, will I be able to get *a public defender then?

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What are your damages? Without damages, any lawsuit will be difficult. And without statutory damages for whatever violation you might claim, this can be a lengthy and expensive suit to engage in. But, if you have a few grand sitting around, you do have the right to spend it.

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*How can I ask to have the charges dropped? Paper work? Go directly to the court and try to talk to the attorney's office? Or do I have to wait and ask the judge to dismiss the case?

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You can call the prosecutor and ask, but he's not likely to care what YOU say. The prosecutor will care what the law has to say. If the law does not support an obscene gesture to the police as being a violation of the statute, then no prosecution will likely occur. If it does, then your attorney can file whatever motions you wish to try and argue that the law is unconstitutional or whatever.

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A New York man arrested after he gave the finger to a police officer can sue police for malicious prosecution, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday, overturning a lower-court decision that deemed the officer's response reasonable.

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But the appeals court deemed his conclusion unreasonable. "Indeed, such a gesture alone cannot establish probable cause to believe a disorderly conduct violation has occurred," court documents read.

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http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...warrant-arrest

Not the OP's district but it is at least a federal court. Unless the OP's district has controlling case law contrasting with this, this is likely to be held as supporting in the OP's district as well.

I tend to agree, but more than once I have been dumbfounded by the legal findings of even one court to another in the same District. Hence the reason the OP needs to speak with an attorney and then weigh the cost of an expensive suit versus what might be gained even if he were to prevail.

Sometimes boneheaded acts result in equally ill-thought out consequences. Best not to be a twit to begin with. And if these guys were actually "corrupt" to the extreme, they might have decided to drop contraband on him. Best not to poke the angry bear lest you get bit.

Carl - if you didn't get the memo, we've replaced "twit" with "nozzle" this week. =)

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Quoting aardvarc

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Carl - if you didn't get the memo, we've replaced "twit" with "nozzle" this week. =)

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In all fairness, nozzles do have some useful attributes ;)

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Quoting Dogmatique

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In all fairness, nozzles do have some useful attributes ;)

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Oh, dear ... :eek:

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Quoting cdwjava

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That can be said about anywhere. "Many" doesn't mean a whole lot unless they are objective bystanders who both have firsthand knowledge of events and police procedure and policy. I can walk down the street right now and find "many" people that would say the same thing here ... but those 5 people are arrested a lot for burglary and dope. ;)
When I first moved here my landlord who owns multiple stores and landlords a lot of property around town told me to watch out for the police because they're corrupt. That didn't come from some drugged criminal, it came from a really respected person in the community. And I've witnessed it first hand.

That's just rude. If you want to show disapproval for the conduct of the force, or the management, then there are many other ways to do it that are not personally insulting or derogatory. I suppose, then, you wouldn't mind if the local cops show their disapproval of irreverent members of the public by flipping YOU off?

It maybe rude but its not illegal, if the cops want to go around flipping people off I really wouldn't care. It would probably be the best thing they do all day

Whether your state regards an obscene gesture is considered to be the same as "language" in this context, I can't say. But, you can't really argue that the gesture was not obscene, profane, unseemly, annoying or vexing, can you?
What I can argue is that its not legally obscene(miller test), and profane, unseemly, annoying, and vexing speech is protected by the 1st amendment and backed up be the Supreme Court

A court may not file on it, but it was still a rude and disrespectful thing to do to anyone - much less individuals you likely do not even know.
If you say so, I call it political speech and disapproval.

In my state we cannot arrest for this, but, different states hold different standards. A personal gesture like that may not be considered protected speech as it applies to the law in your state, so a 1st Amendment argument may not hold any water. If you were holding up a sign that had a drawing of a finger with that obscene gesture, and it said on the sign, "Our police are corrupt" you might very well get away with it.

http://www.aclu-mo.org/newsviews/tag/middle-finger Here's a similar case that is also in MO.

It might also be possible that the police cannot be a victim of disorderly conduct acts. Not sure. Laws differ by state. Your attorney will know as will the prosecutor. If no charges are filed, then you'll know what the prosecutor thinks. However, even without charges, that doesn't mean that you have any kind of a lawsuit against the police unless you can prove that they knew or reasonably should have known that such a gesture was protected speech (assuming that it actually IS).
The entire time while being arrested I was telling the officers that they were breaking my 1st & 4th amendment rights so if I know what the law is I would expect 2 police officers to at least as much as I do

What are your damages? Without damages, any lawsuit will be difficult. And without statutory damages for whatever violation you might claim, this can be a lengthy and expensive suit to engage in. But, if you have a few grand sitting around, you do have the right to spend it.

I was held for 24 hours and only given around 500 calories worth of food, was not given a phone call, and this being a small town everybody has heard about it and it may effect my standing with people and my ability to get a job. There are plenty of examples of people winning lawsuits for the middle finger and in a lot of those the person wasn't even taken to jail, only given a court date.

You can call the prosecutor and ask, but he's not likely to care what YOU say. The prosecutor will care what the law has to say. If the law does not support an obscene gesture to the police as being a violation of the statute, then no prosecution will likely occur. If it does, then your attorney can file whatever motions you wish to try and argue that the law is unconstitutional or whatever.

If they follow the law then the charges should be dropped

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It certainly seems reasonable that you spend lots of money defending yourself for being a nozzle. I can only imagine police corruption from being forced to deal with a city full of nozzles.

You are lucky they didn't kick you're arse like this guy. http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6FnY6OK...%3D6FnY6OKN3RI