EJ MONTINI

ASU professor's big lawsuit proves how small we can be

EJ Montini
opinion columnist
ASU professor Ersula Ore

Each time there is a big news story about someone who does an amazing and selfless thing it serves as a wake-up call for the rest of us. Not necessarily to get us to do amazing and selfless things, but to at least put things in perspective. That's what I believe.

And I am wrong, every time.

This week, as the nation and the world was mourned and celebrated the life and death of Prescott aid-worker Kayla Mueller, the Valley news media received a lengthy statement from the client of personal injury attorney Danny Ortega.

There, in an instant, went our perspective.

The statement is meant to be an explanation for why Ortega's client, Arizona State University English Professor Dr. Ersula Ore, was suing Arizona State University campus police officer Stewart Ferrin for excessive force and false arrest. The asking price, according to news reports, is $2 million.

The problem?

Jaywalking.

Or, not jaywalking, if you're Ore.

In which case the problem is violating a person's civil rights.

Or, if you're Ferrin, it has more to do with failing to properly respond to a police officer.

You know how it went.

Ore got into confrontation last summer with officer Ferrin. The officer accused the professor of jaywalking and all hell broke loose. The ugly dashboard-camera video of the arrest shows Ferrin ordering Ore to put her hands behind her back and eventually tackling her to the ground.

In her statement, Ore argues that she was standing up for her rights. As she puts it, "I had to decide which was more important; respect for one authority figure with a badge or the respect for the Constitution of the United States that protects each citizen from unlawful search and seizure."

I get that.

The Constitution is important.

And while I understand how this incident could instigate a constitutional argument and end up in court, or end up in a monetary settlement, I'd like to believe we were better than that.

I'd like to, but I can't.

As I've said before, the officer and the pedestrian overreacted. Ore should have shown more respect. Ferrin should have shown more restraint. Two people who are disinclined to back down bumped into one another and now there is a lawsuit. Now there is a news story.

Not a big news story about someone doing something amazing and selfless.

But a small news story about people acting … small.