Calling it your job old hoss sure don't make it right

Apologies to John Mellencamp and a h/t to Radley Balko for this article.

When Donald Ross's sister passed, more than 100 people attended her funeral mass in Spokane.

The burial was scheduled for a nearby cemetery, but Ross and his family only made it a quarter of a mile when flashing lights forced them to the side of the road.

I don't know the laws regarding funeral procession in Washington, but in most states (including MI), they have the right of way and can ignore traffic signs. Yes, it can be annoying, but they are pretty uncommon these days. So, what horrible crime were Ross and his bunch of scofflaws engaging in?

But the deputy kept them there, writing up five citations because the driver and the passengers were not wearing a seat belts. And the sheriff's department says he had every right.

"We're out here trying to prevent funerals, not disrupt them," said Dave Reagan of Spokane County Sheriff's Office.

Granted, I wasn't there, but most funeral processions move pretty slow, so I doubt they were in a huge amount of danger. I also have a problem with the use of the word "right". The state, and agents of the state have powers, duties, and responsibilities, they don't have rights. One of those powers is discretion. I am sure that most of us have been pulled over and not received a ticket and this is an instance where discretion would, IMO, dictate not giving a ticket for a victimless crime.

Those five tickets took 12 minutes to write. By the time Ross and his family members got back on the road, the burial was over.

This department owes this family an apology instead of justifying their actions.