Late last month, Judge Eric R. Linhardt of Pennsylvania handed down a rather unusual sentence: He ordered a woman to perform community service in the form of spending 24 hours washing police vehicles in Lycoming County. Technically, it was the second time he’d done so, but the first time he tried he was overruled by an appellate court that found he could not sentence her to community service without a sentence of probation.
Now, this just seems like the kind of kooky, attention-grabbing nonsense that makes for a good “weird news” headline and not much else. In fact, I came across this story through the Not The Onion subreddit. But it’s not just kooky and attention-grabbing, it’s actually completely fucked.
The recipient of this sentence, Mercheleyn Shanae Fisher, was initially pulled over by police for having tinted windows on her car — the kind of offense that usually ends with a ticket rather than a sentence of three to 30 days in prison, a $300 fine, a $25 fine for a Vehicle Code violation, followed by probation and community service.
It’s also worth noting that the mother of three, who operates her own cleaning business while attending community college, actually lives three hours away in Philadelphia. But this judge thinks this is such a fabulously important lesson that he’s teaching her, that it’s worth it for her to have to drive down there and back for however many days it takes her to finish.
Judge Linhardt said that he assigned that specific community service for the following revolting reasons, according to Penn Live:
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Serve as a practical and symbolic form of restitution for the harm Fisher has caused the community and the victim, in this case, the South Williamsport Police Department.
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Expose her to law enforcement in a nonconfrontational setting that will hopefully allow her to see law enforcement as the positive role model it is.
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Allow her to consider her wrongdoing in a civil and mild manner so as to deter her and others from repeating the same unlawful behavior.
Allow me to note here that not very long after Judge Linhart handed down this sentence for the second time, a police officer in Lycoming County was put on leave after being caught on camera using the n-word during a “confrontation.”
In 2021, the Lycoming County DA began an investigation into police officers after video of them following and racially profiling some young men was posted on Facebook by their mother.
Gee, I wonder why Fisher might not think of law enforcement as “positive role models!”
Judge Linehart also said that he was “disturbed” by the fact that “even at trial she was continuing to blame everyone but herself and believed her actions ought to have been without consequence.”
And what were those actions, exactly? Well, according to a previous Penn Live report:
South Williamsport Officer Gareck Esposito stopped Fisher’s vehicle on Route 15 just outside the borough in Armstrong Twp. about 9 p.m. on Sept. 19, 2021, for a window tint violation.
Fisher provided requested documentation only after she argued whether Esposito had the right to stop her and use a flashlight to look into the car.
The officer explained the flashlight was to assure safety given the window tint and time of day.
First of all, she had every right to ask that question. Police are, in fact, allowed to use a flashlight to see into a vehicle at night, but it’s not unreasonable for someone who is not a lawyer to inquire if that is a violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. This is especially true in Pennsylvania, where privacy laws are far more strict than the federal standard and does not allow police to search a vehicle without a warrant.
After more argument and non-compliance with directives, Fisher was ordered out of the car. She refused until another officer opened her door.
This was at 9 p.m. at night. She is a woman. These officers were men. I do not blame her for not wanting to get out of the car for reasons of personal safety. I’d also like to point out that the Hillside Stranglers pretended to cops in order to pull over Lissa Kastin, whom they later raped and murdered. Ted Bundy also pretended to be a cop in hopes of trying to kidnap and kill Carol DaRonch, who figured out he wasn’t in time to escape. Oh, and let’s not forget that actual cops can do some pretty messed up things as well.
In fact, just this September, in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia cop Patrick Heron went on trial for having sexually assaulted 48 women and children, many of them while on duty.
From the beginning of the traffic stop Fisher had been on her phone resulting in another individual arriving. She refused multiple requests to surrender this phone that was in her bra.
The requests were made to prevent more people from coming to the stop along a busy highway, she was told.
Or because the police officers wanted to pull some shit without any witnesses. Quite frankly, this move may have saved her life, prevented her from being sexually assaulted or beaten. It was smart as hell of her to do this.
Esposito detained Fisher for non-compliance so he could complete his work related to the traffic stop. A female officer from another department arrived and removed the phone. Its contents were never searched.
The opinion notes the traffic stop should have taken only a short time under normal circumstances but it lasted more than one hour due to her non-compliance and her insistence a female officer be summoned to search her.
Again, also very smart. If this judge and these officers gave one good goddamn about actual public safety, they would be commending Fisher instead of trying to prosecute her. They should know, better than anyone else, what their own kind is capable of. She did exactly what she should have done to protect herself from potential harm.
I am not sure how washing police vehicles will make Fisher or anyone else see cops as “positive role models” when they refuse to behave as such, especially when they deliberately make those they pull over for minor infractions feel unsafe.
In the past five years, at least 600 people have been killed, by cops, during traffic stops — and, no big surprise, a disproportionate amount of those people have been people of color. Given this and the truly startling number of results that appeared on the very first page when I Googled “traffic stop rape,” every damn thing Fisher did in the course of this incident was not only warranted but, quite frankly, could have very well saved her life.
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