Who was right?

LITTLE ROCK — NOBODY’S perfect. Dentists can have bad days. So can preachers. Certainly editorial writers do. And cops do, too.

The audio of a visit March 31st by a couple of Little Rock’s Finest to the home of Joe Thompson, who happens to be the surgeon general of Arkansas, is all over the Internet—just as it was soon after this not-so-social call. First reports said the cops were called to Dr. Thompson’s house. They would wind up escorting the doctor downtown.

Why?

Listen to the audio and you could be forgiven for thinking it wasn’t Joe Thompson who was the one causing the trouble.

All sides seem to agree on a few things: First, the surgeon general saw somebody in a strange vehicle outside his house and approached it. Inside was some sort of security guard—and the two had words. Next thing, police are knocking on General Thompson’s door.

Then things get muddy. A few more words, a flashlight in Dr. Thompson’s face, a few more words, a stand-off, and the cops arrest a man standing in his own doorway

Who was right, who was wrong? What do you think? It may depend on your experience in life. Folks had different opinions about it right here in the newsroom, even after listening to the audio.

When the cops tell you to do something, just do it. Even if they tell you to come out of your house. Why get yourself in trouble over nothing?

The man was in his house! The cops can’t pick a fight with you in your own house, then arrest you for disorderly conduct! What country do you think this is?

It was up to Pulaski County’s prosecutor, with a judge’s approval, to set the matter straight. Or rather set the matter aside.

The Hon. Larry Jegley says his office is dropping the charges against Joe Thompson. No disorderly conduct, no resisting arrest, no nothing. That is, if Joe Thompson’s record stays clean for six months.

Larry Jegley called the agreement a “good resolution to the situation on all sides.” As he explained why this case was settled: “It’s sort of taken on a life of its own and I wanted to make sure and respect the fact that no citizen has the right to refuse to comply with a police officer’s requests when you’re out on the street or even in your front yard.”

Okay, but what if you’re standing in your own home, the cops knock on your door, you open said door, step into the doorway and a cop shines a light in your face?

If not for the audio making the rounds, this thing might have gone to trial and it would’ve been the cops’ word against the homeowner’s. For those keeping score at home, that’s 3-to-1 if you count the rent-a-cop.

And what do you think the verdict would have been in the court of public opinion in that case? Maybe it would have been the same verdict a lot of folks reached the day this story appeared in the paper. Who does this Joe Thompson think he is? Just because he’s a big shot, he thinks he can get smart with a couple of cops just doing their job.

Now that early prejudgment (that is, prejudice) is, at the least, debatable. Maybe the next time Dr. Thompson has a run-in with the law, he’ll use a few more “sirs.” That never hurts. Maybe the next time the cops have a run-in with a citizen, they’ll act with more respect for a citizen’s rights. Maybe the cops will even explain themselves—because they do have some explaining to do.

Here’s another lesson or two: Let’s respect those in authority. And those in authority need to respect the rest of us, even if we’re not the Surgeon General of Arkansas. And even when the cameras and recorders aren’t running.