I was recently arrested in the US for an expired driving license (well, in fact the license was not expired but I'm from Europe and had a European license and no idea that I can only use that in the US for 12 months after which I need to get a US one) and was wondering if the way I was treated is normal and legal in the US.
I was arrested and taken to the station, searched and asked to remove my shoes, time at which I gave them a bit of a hard time by pointing up how stupid all this is as I certainly did not kill anyone. They got "pissed off" and as a result I had the pleasure of spending the next few hours partly in a jail cell partly in a room being interrogated, handcuffed behind my back as well as barefoot during the entire time as my shoes were not given back to me (no idea why).
I was eventually taken to court during the same day (my shoes finally returned), where, to my horror, I had to appear in front of the judge in chains (handcuffs, bellychain, shackles, the whole enchilada). Finally the problem was resolved and I had to pay a fine as well as get a US driving license.
I was wondering if treating me like that was legal or could be considered abuse. I am a quite petite woman so I really don't understand why it was necessary that I be paraded in chains like that in court like some hardened criminal.
I was arrested and taken to the station, searched and asked to remove my shoes, time at which I gave them a bit of a hard time by pointing up how stupid all this is as I certainly did not kill anyone. They got "pissed off" and as a result I had the pleasure of spending the next few hours partly in a jail cell partly in a room being interrogated, handcuffed behind my back as well as barefoot during the entire time as my shoes were not given back to me (no idea why).
I was eventually taken to court during the same day (my shoes finally returned), where, to my horror, I had to appear in front of the judge in chains (handcuffs, bellychain, shackles, the whole enchilada). Finally the problem was resolved and I had to pay a fine as well as get a US driving license.
I was wondering if treating me like that was legal or could be considered abuse. I am a quite petite woman so I really don't understand why it was necessary that I be paraded in chains like that in court like some hardened criminal.