A plotline worthy of The Office

The city of Scranton, Pennsylania has agreed to pay a resident named Dawn Herb the tidy sum of $19,000, plus attorney's fees.

Why is Scranton giving Ms. Herb so many of their taxpayers' dollars, monies that were taken from them on pain of imprisonment?

Because an off-duty police officer neighbor heard her swearing at her broken toilet in her house through an open window, and decided to have her arrested for disorderly conduct.

Laughably, here's what Ms. Herb reported that her virgin-eared neighbor, Patrick Gilman, yelled back at her in an attempt to stop her cursing:

"'A guy is yelling, ‘Shut the f--- up,’ and I yelled back, 'Mind your own business.'"

Now the "special people" can loudly curse, but the peasants can't, it seems. Just another example of how people that happen to possess a badge are better than you.

As usual, I can't find any evidence that indicates that Gerald Tallo, the arresting officer who so zealously overstepped his bounds, was disciplined in any way for violating the woman's Constitutional rights and costing his city such a large settlement. Can anyone else have a screwup this bad at their job and not pay a penalty? Hands? Anyone?

"A judge later found her not guilty, saying her language was constitutionally protected free speech."

How did this ever get so far down the legal system?

And does Officer Tallo happen to be a devotee of fictional volunteer sheriff's deputy Dwight Schrute? Because this is just the kind of stupid stunt he would pull on the TV show.