I totally disagree. I'm a law and order type of libertarian and I was ready to see jMyles being obnoxious in the video based upon your comment, but he wasn't at all.
That police officer was totally out of line. I'm surprised jMyles was as calm and polite as he was in the video. I would have just kept repeating "Am I being detained?" over and over until they either let me go or until they took me in.
The funny thing is, even if I were to agree with you on the police officers, it would still be besides the point. I'm saying jMyles was saturating their patience by being an annoying smart aleck, and you're arguing back by saying the police officers were... tools? As if somehow that contradicts what I said?
jMyles could've been way more respectful in his tone than he was (and no, that need not have included showing his ID). His word choice was fine, yes, but his attitude and tone wasn't. You don't need to lecture police with a smart aleck attitude in order to assert your rights. Could he have been more rude? Of course. Could the officers have treated him more nicely? Sure. Does either of them contradict the fact that was showing an attitude and thereby ticking them off? No.
No, my observation that the officers were tools is vitally dependent upon the fact that jMyles did and said nothing wrong. Nothing at all. The only way that you could think that he was saturating the patience of that officer is if you conceded that said officer has a total right to use his authority to detain jMyles and to demand things from jMyles that he had absolutely no legal right to demand. If you think that officers should be bullies above the law, then sure, the victim of the bully can always be viewed as saturating the bully's patience in some way.
jMyles was not a "smart aleck" in any sense of the phrase that I know. He said nothing flip or rude to the officers. It seems like you're mistaking his attempt to be precise in his language as instead being a "smart aleck". Maybe you expected him to just roll over and show his ID while telling the officer where he was coming from and where he was going to?
In my opinion jMyles went out of his way over and over to express his respect for the officers and sympathy for their position. I thought that his behavior was practically fawning except for the fact that he was sticking to his right to not be forced to provide ID or to divulge what he was doing, where he was coming from, or where he was going to.
That police officer was totally out of line. I'm surprised jMyles was as calm and polite as he was in the video. I would have just kept repeating "Am I being detained?" over and over until they either let me go or until they took me in.
Those officers were being total tools.