A Las Vegas man has been arrested in association with several violent rapes of local prostitutes, and authorities are seeking help in locating other possible victims. Police say 29-year-old Denver Baoec-Ascuncion was arrested earlier this month after multiple women came forward recounting recent incidents of kidnapping and sexual assault. 8 News Now reports that the 28-year-old Las Vegas man faces multiple counts , and there may be other victims. Two separate prostitutes between December 20th and January 7th reportedly told police that Ascuncion picked them up and forced them into sexual acts. Both alleged victims claimed that the Las Vegas man used a firearm to threaten them. Non-virtual sex work (i.e., physical prostitution) is a dangerous line of work, especially in large cities like Las Vegas -- where rates of non-virtual sex work have increased by 50% in recent years. Prostitutes -- especially street walkers -- are often victims of violent crime and robberies. It's fortunat...
Insulting a police officer might sound like a good idea, but is it illegal? It really all depends on the situation and context, so the answer isn’t just a simple yes or no. If you want to know if you can get arrested for insulting a cop, the following will attempt to explain the legality of it.
Fighting Words
Before you start acting foolish toward a police officer believing it’s your “First Amendment Right,” you might want to learn a thing or two about the concept of “Fighting Words.” To put it plainly, the Fighting Words Doctrine allows governments and people who work for them to limit your free speech if they believe you’re going to incite violence or retaliatory violence. In other words, if your idea of an insult is to essentially challenge someone to a fight or cause them to feel like you might become violent, then you might not want to have a war of words with a cop. So-called “fighting word” insults could absolutely get you arrested.
Obstruction and Disturbing the Peace
Before you start insulting all the cops in your path, you may also want to make sure you’re not going to get busted for obstruction of justice or disturbing the peace. Depending on where you live, some of these laws can be pretty loose, making it easier for police to arrest you for being loud and mouthy. Sometimes these laws are essentially abused and enforced to break up otherwise civil protests.
Racism, Sexism and other ‘Isms
Just don’t do it.
General Insults
Flipping off a police officer, calling him a “pig,” or telling them they’re low IQ tools of an oppressive and racist system probably won’t get you arrested.
Things to Consider
Sure, you can legally get away with insulting a police officer if you really want to. But just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should, especially if you’re currently breaking any laws. You might be legally allowed to flip-off a cop or even make pig noises at them, but that just puts you on their radar and gives them a direct reason to observe whether or not they have reason to arrest you. Broken tail-lights, expired tags, missing seatbelts, going a few miles over or under the speed limit, not using your turn signals — practically anything can be used to stop you and inconvenience you and your time — or worse, your freedom.
Furthermore, as national news has displayed over the years, some cops are simply not good people. Some cops can become unhinged and violent, and go completely against their training or policies. Some cops maliciously murder unarmed Black people out of racism and pure hatred, and some cops snap and harm the people they stop and ticket. Going out of your way to be insulting to a police officer is a gamble no matter how you want to look at it.
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