TN proposed bill: Drivers who hit protesters immune to civil liability

NationalTitles18

TideFans Legend
May 25, 2003
29,547
34,574
362
Mountainous Northern California
1st Amendment covers protests. Which one covers your right to drive unimpeded?
My guess would be the right to not be falsely imprisoned.

http://injury.findlaw.com/torts-and-personal-injuries/false-imprisonment.html

In fact, any person who intentionally restricts another's freedom of movement without their consent (and without legal justification) may be liable for false imprisonment, which is both a crime and a civil wrong. It can occur in a room, on the streets, or even in a moving vehicle—just as long as the subject is unable to move freely, against his or her will.
Similarly, "false arrest" is when someone arrests another individual without the legal authority to do so, which becomes false imprisonment the moment he or she is taken into custody.
 

MattinBama

Hall of Fame
Jul 31, 2007
11,144
5,453
187
You've probably got a bigger chance of getting killed by an asteroid. Better go buy some asteroid insurance.
Maybe right now. But if we allow interstate protests to become the norm the chances increase drastically.
 

Tidewater

Hall of Fame
Mar 15, 2003
22,401
13,176
287
Hooterville, Vir.
1st Amendment covers protests. Which one covers your right to drive unimpeded?
I would say the IX Amendment.
But, by all means, please do go protest on an interstate. Preferably in the dark stretch of interstate in the wee hours of the morning. Let us know how that works out.
 

2003TIDE

Hall of Fame
Jul 10, 2007
8,557
4,831
187
ATL
You snowflakes are right. Impeding traffic has no place in protests. Someone impedes traffic , they should be shot. Just like they probably did to tank man.

 

selmaborntidefan

TideFans Legend
Mar 31, 2000
36,432
29,730
287
54
This is awesome, I can hop in front of a moving car, and when you hit me, it will be your fault.
If you're dead, it won't do you much good.

Meanwhile, I have the right to slickest tongued attorney devil I can find to make the argument "only an idiot goes out in front of the car and this could happen to any one of you at any time."

Guess how that one is most likely going to come out?
 

rgw

Suspended
Sep 15, 2003
20,852
1,351
232
Tuscaloosa
By the way, I misread "civil" as "criminal" in my mind multiple times. This isn't as sick obviously...I think it sends the wrong message though. Someone will make the same mistake I did and think they can run over protesters with impunity now.
 

Aledinho

All-SEC
Feb 22, 2007
1,377
3
57
We are not endorsing anyone running over a person with a car, whether it is protestors or anyone else. If someone intentionally harms a person, they are going to be charged with a crime, period.

I think a lot of us our seeing what we want in this bill. It looks like the bill is intended to give a measure of protection from punitive lawsuits for people who are put in dangerous situations not of their choosing. The way I see it - the people that would be protected would be a person who thought his life was in danger and hit a protester trying to escape the area (see Reginald Denny), someone that was being blocked from reaching medical help and hit a protester trying to save a life, or a driver who didn't see the protesters and accidentally hit one (e.g. when the BLM protesters started marching on to the interstate in Atlanta during the middle of the night.)
 

LA4Bama

All-SEC
Jan 5, 2015
1,624
0
0
Los Angeles, CA
I think the thing is, this law makes a driver immune from "civil" lawsuits. It does not make him immune to criminal lawsuits, but that's already a different beast since in civil court negligence may or may not come into play, but you can be also responsible for what happens by accident even if you weren't technically doing anything wrong; but in criminal court some degree of negligence or intent has to be involved. So this is not about the right to do something intentional, like drive into somebody blocking your path (which is still certainly illegal unless the guy is a straight up threat) nor to drive fast through a street crowded with people (which would still be negligence) but it's only about being blamed for hitting someone by accident (due to ignorance of their being a protest) and being monetarily liable for damages. The whole point of the bill seems to be to attribute the negligence to be on the part of the protester who is intentionally placing himself in place to block a moving vehicle. In essence it is just saying, damages that happen in an accident when there is someone else intentionally trying to block traffic is not your responsibility. To be technical, it has nothing to do with people's rights one way or the other, but about situations in which an accident happens.
 

LA4Bama

All-SEC
Jan 5, 2015
1,624
0
0
Los Angeles, CA
By the way, I misread "civil" as "criminal" in my mind multiple times. This isn't as sick obviously...I think it sends the wrong message though. Someone will make the same mistake I did and think they can run over protesters with impunity now.
It doesn't mean a person can't be sued if they hit a protester; it just shifts the line where responsibility meets, so to speak. Now the protester has to show not only that he was struck, but also that the person driving was being negligent in some manner. It does not permit or protect negligence except accidentally if the protester can't show it. I don't have a problem with that, though. The flip side is the driver would have to show this person was in fact a protester and not a normal pedestrian.
 

Bama Reb

Suspended
Nov 2, 2005
14,446
0
0
On the lake and in the woods, AL
Protestors shouldn't block streets.
Protestors blocking streets shouldn't be run over.
Is that too hard to understand in a civilized society?:rolleyes:
No, not for me. At the same time, being "civilized" automatically assumes that you conduct yourself according to the rules of society. In this case I think it means it means "If you'll stay out of the roadway, I agree to not drive on the sidewalk."
 

Latest threads

TideFans.shop : 2024 Madness!

TideFans.shop - Get YOUR Bama Gear HERE!”></a>
<br />

<!--/ END TideFans.shop & item link \-->
<p style= Purchases made through our TideFans.shop and Amazon.com links may result in a commission being paid to TideFans.