Media morality activist L. Brent Bozell III was arrested for disorderly conduct yesterday after he allegedly went on a profanity-laced tirade and threatened a Washington, D.C. police officer during a parking ticket dispute.
Police said Bozell, a culture warrior who made his career pushing for more regulation and higher fines for "indecent" media content, was taken into custody around 2:30 p.m. yesterday.
Officer Jack Mannion of the Metropolitan Police Department wrote in a police report that he was patrolling the area when he noticed Bozell’s car had been parked in a commercial loading zone for at least 25 minutes along bustling K Street, near an elementary school. A nearby sign says parking is limited to 5 minutes for loading and unloading between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.
Mannion wrote that he had just placed the $25 ticket on the car’s windshield when Bozell walked up. That’s when the situation reportedly heated up.
"Hey a**hole, what the f**k is this (ticket)? I was only gone for two f*****g minutes!" Bozell reportedly said. "Are you f*****g kidding me?"
Bozell said the ticket was "b******t" and demanded that the officer tear it up, according to the police report.
Mannion said he refused and warned Bozell to stop swearing, since they were two blocks away from William McKinley Elementary School. But Bozell allegedly refused.
"I want your f*****g badge number, goddamn it!" Bozell said. "You will eat s**t for this."
Mannion said Bozell "became abusive" and "kept grabbing for my ticket book, threatening to rip it up." Mannion then arrested Bozell despite repeated warnings.
"After I arrested the suspect and placed him into my patrol car," Mannion wrote, "the suspect continued to yell. He said: 'F*****g miserable p***k, your parents must be so proud.' "
Bozell was released from police custody yesterday on his own recognizance. He is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 1.
Dirty deeds
Bozell is best known for founding the Parents Television Council, a media watchdog group that lobbies for increased government oversight over media and higher fines for programming that it deems "indecent."
The group is best known for pressuring the government to issue record-setting fines for racy television programming in the wake of pop singer Janet Jackson’s "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl halftime show.
When reached for comment, Bozell said he planned to challenge both the citation and the parking ticket in court.
"I was not parked there for 25 minutes; I was parked there for two, three minutes, tops," he said. "That f*****g cop is lying about everything. I didn't see any f*****g children around.
"And even if I did curse, who gives a s**t? I’m an adult. I'm entitled to free speech. If that traffic cop doesn’t like what I have to say, he can f**k right off and bother someone else."
