Radly Balko talks today about Terrance Crossland’s failed appeal over his arrest and conviction for assault on a police officer. Which sounds like a pretty slam-dunk Bad Action, though maybe marginally less so when you discover it came after an inappropriate detention and search.

The officers, who were in full uniform, stopped appellant and his cousin Joseph Womack, both of whom were standing near the corner, as part of their effort to gather information about a rash of recent shootings and drug sales in the area. Officer Baldwin acknowledged that neither man was “doing anything unlawful” when the officers stopped them. The officers instructed both men to place their hands on a nearby fence for a weapons pat-down. Appellant “initially” complied, but quickly became “agitated,” telling Officer Baldwin words to the effect of “Fuck this shit. I’m tired of this.”

Whether Crossland actually physically resisted after that point is in dispute, but the case also mentions a sad fact you should know: just because an officer is violating your rights doesn’t mean you have any right to physically resist – a delightful little clause in a 2001 DC law that says “It is neither justifiable nor excusable cause for a person to use force to resist an arrest when such arrest is made by an individual he or she has reason to believe is a law enforcement officer, whether or not such arrest is lawful.” (emphasis mine)

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‘Cheverly – Rabbit – 7-31-08’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

‘Bunny’
courtesy of ‘jsprig’

Rabbit, rabbit.

‘Vet Visit’
courtesy of ‘captainpancakes’

Yes. This exists. Apparently. Who knew?

Well, Gene Weingarten knew. At the closing of his chat today he posted this call to action:

Molly’s veterinary clinic, one of the largest in the Washington area, is running low on cat and dog blood.  They desperately need donors.     They are the VCA Veterinary Referral clinic, at 500 Perry Parkway, in Gaithersburg.

The deal is, you call em up and make a free appointment for your dog or cat.   They will do a general exam and take bloodwork, and if your animal qualifies, it goes on a donor list for future lifesaving calls, on a case by case basis.

Call Adrian M-Th from 6 am to 4pm, to set up an initial appointment.     301 926 3300

Yay!  Do it.   Your pet will be grateful.

He later tweeted: “If your pet is chosen as a donor, you get a free annual exam & heartworm pills!”

I wouldn’t start taking my pet to an out-of-the-way clinic for this, but if you’re already in the Gaithersburg area and your pet isn’t too wigged out by the vet it certainly seems like a good deed with some positive payoff. Above and beyond the good karma, that is. Lastly, they are also in need of vet techs and posted Jobs for Vet Techs for interested applicants.

A car overturned on Connecticut ave today; Mike Riggs has a picture over here. As DCist’s Aaron Morrissey points out we’ve had them in the area during dry weather before – on the same ave, even.

If you’re less interested in this specific incident than the “how the hell do you manage that anyway” question then How Stuff Works has the writeup for you on how rollovers occur and why some vehicles are more prone to them. It’s interesting how little it can take to flip a vehicle if the angle and weight profile is right; you can see it on the above video that a small dip and sufficient speed will to it. I’d wager that the access road divider on Conn played a role here.