Congressional & Capital Police Misbehavior

Police Seek Charge Against McKinney: Congresswoman May Be Prosecuted in Scuffle With Officer

Accoding to this account, Congresswoman McKinney misbehaved by acting like a pompous ass, failing to adhere to the basic rules of wearing her congressional pin that identifies her as a member of congress (which would have prevented the problem) and expecting members of the Capital Police to recognize over 400 members of congress by sight.

She should apologize for being an outrageous moron in the moment... and she should be prosecuted for failure to follow the directions of a law enforcement officer, disturbing the peace and assaulting a police officer.

Unless the officer in question grabbed McKinney in the crotch or breasts, then he should be recognized for doing his job. He has the authority to detain and/or arrest those that do not follow the basic rules of decency, as well as the rules for safety. As far as I am concerned, we should make congress critters pass through detections systems as well... as crazy as some of those silly bastards are, they represent a major threat to our nation.

I am all for civil rights... but no one has a right to entitled behaviors that place them above the basic rule of law.

U.S. Capitol Police asked federal prosecutors yesterday to charge Rep. Cynthia McKinney with simple assault in an altercation between the congresswoman and an officer at a security checkpoint last week, police sources said.

Capitol Police issued a statement yesterday saying that they had referred investigators' findings to the U.S. attorney's office in Washington. Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer declined to discuss the matter, referring questions to prosecutors.

McKinney (D-Ga.) got into a scuffle with a Capitol Police officer as she tried to bypass a metal detector in a House office building Wednesday morning. Members of Congress are not required to pass through such magnetometers.

The six-term congresswoman, 51, could face a variety of charges, ranging from assaulting a police officer, a felony, to simple assault, the misdemeanor charge that Capitol Police recommended to prosecutors, authorities said. Officials could also decline to prosecute the case.

Prosecutors must approve the charges sought by police before a warrant can be issued.

Channing Phillips, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office, confirmed that police presented the matter to prosecutors yesterday. He said no decision has been made about whether to move forward with charges and gave no timetable for any such action.

The trouble began when McKinney strode past the metal detector. An officer told her to stop, police said. He then reached out and touched her, not realizing she was a congresswoman, police said. McKinney and the officer scuffled, and she struck him in the chest with a cellphone, police said. She was eventually allowed to proceed to a meeting.

McKinney expressed regret for the incident but has not apologized. She has said she expects to be exonerated once the case is fully reviewed. At a news conference last week, she said the officer touched her inappropriately. Her lawyers said McKinney, who is black, was the victim of racial profiling.

The officer may not have recognized McKinney because she changed her hairstyle a few months ago and was not wearing a lapel pin issued to the 435 members of Congress. McKinney has said she was not wearing her pin but contended that police should be trained to recognize members of Congress and not rely on pins or hairstyles.

"If security of the House of Representatives is based on how members of Congress wear their hair . . . that is ridiculous," she told CNN's Wolf Blitzer in an interview yesterday, adding that "my face hasn't changed."