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Woman who drove on sidewalk to avoid school bus ordered to wear ‘idiot’ sign

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EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Source: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/a...o-avoid-school-bus-ordered-to-wear-idiot-sign

CLEVELAND—A woman caught on camera driving on a sidewalk to avoid a Cleveland school bus that was unloading children will have to stand at an intersection wearing a sign warning about idiots.

Court records show a Cleveland Municipal Court judge on Monday ordered 32-year-old Shena Hardin to stand at an intersection for two days next week. She will have to wear a sign saying: “Only an idiot drives on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus.”

The judge ordered her to wear the sign from 7:45 a.m. to 8:45 a.m. both days.

Hardin’s license was suspended for 30 days and she was ordered to pay $250 in court costs.

Messages seeking comment were left at a telephone listing for Hardin and at her attorney’s office.

Proper punishment?
 
Absolutely. I saw the video in the thread about this originally. I cannot think of many more reckless things someone could do other than drive over a sidewalk with kids getting off a bus.
 

Talon

Member
There was a This American Life episode about punishments for stupid crimes like this.

A judge in Florida, I think, decided to use shame instead of other punitive measures for all petty crimes. For example, shoplifters were forced to stand in front of the store they stole from with a big sign that said, "I stole from this store."
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
Absolutely. I saw the video in the thread about this originally. I cannot think of many more reckless things someone could do other than drive over a sidewalk with kids getting off a bus.

Ah, I looked up her name via GAF search and Google, but returned no results. Otherwise I would have just bumped the old thread.
 
Dont we have a law against cruel and unusual punishment? This is pretty unusual lol. But seriously, it sounds like the best way to punish her and show other people being impatient at a school is dangerous.
 
Hopefully she pays with her insurance too. Driving around a school bus used to be a 12 point ticket which can really fuck up your premium. Not sure if it still is.
 

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
Cruel and unusual

It would not qualify under Furman v. Georgia, and given the increasing number of times this sort of punishment has been applied to this sort of level of offence, it's not clear it'd qualify under the literal meaning of the words either. Your conscience can be safe here, the 8th amendment is intact.
 

Izick

Member
9DBVK.png
 

Oppo

Member
I don't find the punishment fitting unless the wording/design of the sign clearly indicates that one such idiot is wearing it.

Otherwise she will just be written off as an angry kook.
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
So she drives incredibly irresponsibility, endangering the lives of a bus full of school children, not to mention anyone else around at the time, and her punishment is to wear a lame sign for two hours?
 
Way too lenient. Wear a sign for 2 hours, 30 day suspension, and $250 charge. She drove like a maniac on a fucking sidewalk through a stop sign (on the bus) in a school zone.

Ridiculous. She got off easy.
 

DJ_Lae

Member
Hilarious and appropriate.

Though two days seems really weak coupled with that small fine and suspension.
 
Considering she had apparently done this enough times that they called the cops and were waiting to catch her, it probably should be more punishment. She clearly didn't see it as wrong...maybe she will now.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Dammit, I live in Cleveland. I could have taken pics had I known about this idiot

EDIT: Oh...NEXT week? Goodie! :)
 

EvilMario

Will QA for food.
A 30 day suspension on her license? That's it?

What the hell?

Boggles my mind too. Of course I'm all for indefinite suspension for DUIs, so maybe I'm not the best judge. It's weird how driving is treated as so sort of right, where no matter how much you screw up, you can keep coming back.
 
Way too lenient. Wear a sign for 2 hours, 30 day suspension, and $250 charge. She drove like a maniac on a fucking sidewalk through a stop sign (on the bus) in a school zone.

Ridiculous. She got off easy.

Okay what do you think is a reasonable punishment? The shaming along with the fine and suspension is appropriate, I think, for someone who was acting not out of malice, but ignorance and irresponsibility.
 

Rockandrollclown

lookwhatyou'vedone
Seems rather lenient to me. 2 hours of wearing a sign? Bump that up to about 20 hours plus the fine and suspension and that would feel right to me.
 

Zzoram

Member
While amusing, only a 30 day license suspension and $250 court fee is way too lenient. She should've been charged with reckless driving as well.

I have to wonder if her being a suburban upper middle class woman had anything to do with the leniency. I imagine that a poor man doing the same thing would've gotten reckless driving.
 

Sorcerer

Member
Its not as bad as it seems.

The sign doesn't say "I am an idiot" just that the act of driving on the curb is idiotic. Very few will know this is her punishment and its only an hour a day.

A slap on the wrist.
 

Zoe

Member
Its not as bad as it seems.

The sign doesn't say "I am an idiot" just that the act of driving on the curb is idiotic. Very few will know this is her punishment and its only an hour a day.

A slap on the wrist.

I'm sure those who live in the neighborhood are aware of what's been going on. And that hour a day is during the school bus's route.
 
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