Sounds like an episode from South Park
Allegations fly over alleged racial comment in incident between Ridgewood resident and sanitation worker
Tuesday January 22, 2013, 9:19 PM
BY CHRIS HARRIS
STAFF WRITER
The Record
RIDGEWOOD — A village employee has filed a formal criminal complaint alleging a 68-year-old Alanon Road resident made a racist remark aimed at him in late December. But a judge on Tuesday found there was enough cause for a counter claim against the employee.
On Monday, Ridgewood Police Capt. Jacqueline Luthcke said others allegedly overheard Eugene Koret use a racial slur when referring to a village sanitation worker on the morning of Dec. 26. The village employee, Wallace Hancock, alleges that he called him a racially insensitive name.
In a fight people say a lot of things to hurt their opponent. The resident and worker did not threaten to kill each other – that would be cause for arrest. A woman in town was arrested just this week for threatening to get a gun to harm someone.
Can you really be arrested for insulting someone or calling them a name? I know that I cannot cause someone bodily harm and I cannot threaten to kill them. Are their guidelines on what I cannot say in a fight? I am thinking about George Carlin when I ask – is there a list of words that are against the law and can get me arrested? Does the list count when I am driving my car and the other driver can’t hear me?
America… Land of Free Speech.