Cop: Obama Ignores the Constitution, So I Will Too

Officer Richard Recine resigns after heated remark
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 7, 2014 7:00 PM CDT

A New Jersey police officer has resigned after saying that he can ignore a citizen's Constitutional rights—because President Obama has already "decimated the friggin' Constitution." Special Police Officer Richard Recine made the heated remark Monday in a confrontation with a resident of Helmetta, NJ, who had been seen taking photos inside a municipal building, My Central Jersey reports. The resident, Steve Wronko, told Recine he had a constitutional right to snap the shots. "Obama has decimated the friggin' constitution, so I don't give a damn," said Recine. "Because if he doesn't follow the Constitution we don't have to."

What's more, Recine's comments were all captured on video (WARNING: foul language). An internal affairs investigation quickly followed, and Police Director Robert Manney called Recine's words an "embarrassment." Manney said the probe should wrap up "very swiftly" since "the evidence is right there." Recine, a 59-year-old part-time officer, told My Central Jersey why he resigned: "I don't want to give a black eye to law enforcement," he said. "I don't want all officers painted with the same brush." Wronko's wife said the whole thing started because she and her husband were trying to reform the borough animal shelter, which had given them a sick puppy that ended up costing thousands of extra dollars in veterinary services. (More police officer stories.)

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