Man sues NY Yankees - ejected b/c he had to pee during God Bless America

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New York Man Sues Yankees, Police Over Ejection From Ballgame - Bloomberg.com

The New York Yankees and the city’s police department were sued by a Boston Red Sox fan who said he was ejected from Yankee Stadium in August because he tried to use the restroom during the singing of “God Bless America.”

Bradford Campeau-Laurion, a 30-year-old resident of Astoria, Queens, said he was the victim of religious and political discrimination. The New York Civil Liberties Union sued yesterday on his behalf in federal court in Manhattan.

“New York’s finest have no business arresting someone for trying to go to the bathroom at a politically incorrect moment,” Donna Lieberman, executive director of the civil- liberties group, said in a statement.

Campeau-Laurion said he was stopped by an officer on his way to the restroom during the seventh-inning stretch and was thrown out of the stadium when he tried to keep walking.

The police disputed his account.

“The officers observed a male standing on his seat, cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior,” Paul Browne, a spokesman for the Police Department, said in an e-mailed statement.

Campeau-Laurion said in the interview he told the police “’I don’t care about ‘God Bless America.’ I don’t believe that’s grounds constitutionally for being dragged out of a baseball game.”

He declined to characterize himself as either an atheist or agnostic.

“I simply don’t have any religious beliefs,” he said.

Irving Berlin, who wrote “God Bless America,” was an agnostic, according to “Irving Berlin: A Daughter’s Memoir,” written by his daughter Mary Ellin Barrett and published in 1994.

The Yankees began playing “God Bless America” midway through the seventh inning after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, as did every other Major League Baseball team, according to the complaint.

Campeau-Laurion said he had no problem with the Yankees playing the song or others listening to it.

“It devalues patriotism as a whole when you force people to participate in patriotic acts,” he said. “It devalues the freedom we fought for in the first place.”
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“The officers observed a male standing on his seat, cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior,” Paul Browne, a spokesman for the Police Department, said in an e-mailed statement.

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Phalanx said:
“The officers observed a male standing on his seat, cursing, using inappropriate language and acting in a disorderly manner while reeking of alcohol and decided to eject him rather than subject others to his offensive behavior,” Paul Browne, a spokesman for the Police Department, said in an e-mailed statement.

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Ah yes, the police account must be the correct one, as cops never lie to cover their ass.
 
how can the stories be so far apart
also, was he there with ANYONE? can any of his friends speak up?
 
other opinions I have read talk about how God Bless America doesn't mean shit - the star spangled banner is the only thing you really need to adhere to protocol for (hat removing, standing, etc.)...

I dunno. I hate the Yankees, but they started this after 9/11 and it's kind of disrespectful to not "do as the Romans do" when it's sung there.

the guy sounds like a douche, whether the police account is truthful or not...
 
they shouldn't have just ejected him, they should've taken him out in to the parking lot and put a bullet through this face.
 
If you guys have ever been to yankee stadium you would know that If you are wearing a red sox hat and you turn away from the field during a big red sox play, you will be ejected immediately.
 
If you guys have ever been to yankee stadium you would know that If you are wearing a red sox hat and you turn away from the field during a big red sox play, you will be ejected immediately.
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..what?
 
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