Myrtle Beach lawsuit may leave would-be good Samaritans to think twice about helping those in need
I’m not sure how I would have reacted had Myrtle Beach police done to me what Ronald Thomas Uhrie alleges they did to him.
If events unfolded as he claims in a lawsuit, it’s the kind of entrapment that isn’t only bad for Uhrie but bad news for anyone thinking about helping a stranger on the street, especially if that stranger happens to be a woman.
I know because I once picked up a prostitute near 17th Avenue South.
Uhrie didn’t pick up anyone or even try to, according to his lawsuit against the city.
After leaving a gas station parking lot, he noticed a woman “wave frantically” his way. He stopped, asked the woman if she needed anything. She offered to perform a sex act in exchange for $20. Though Uhrie did not know the woman was an undercover officer, he rolled up his window and drove off.
A mile down the road, he was pulled over and arrested for soliciting prostitution and possessing a small amount of marijuana. He was released on bond the next day. Because of long-standing policy, Myrtle Beach officials declined comment and wouldn’t confirm if things played out as Uhrie claims.
The lawsuit noted that the charges were later dismissed, and claims the cop lied and Uhrie lost his job because of the arrest.
As described, it appears to be entrapment, police creating a crime that without their intervention would not have been committed. If true, those facts should mean a settlement or verdict in Uhrie’s favor. He’s asking for legal fees, lost wages and other damages.
That would be good for him, but bad for the city and every resident and visitor who is prone to helping strangers or need assistance in a moment of distress. It would make good Samaritans think twice before stopping to help a suffering stranger.
If you can be arrested and have your life upended for the sin of rolling down your window to respond to a woman waving frantically, the risk of stopping becomes too great.
It would have made me think twice all those years ago when I picked up that prostitute. I didn’t know she was a prostitute when I pulled over. All I saw was a woman with dirty-grass-stained knees holding her bra while stumbling on the side of the road. I asked if she needed help. She stumbled into my car. She was frantic. I accidentally butt dialed my wife, who heard the entire exchange between me and the woman without my knowing it. I got the woman over to the rape crisis center where I found out her background.
Before we could do anything to help, maybe provide medical assistance, she walked away. Though I never saw her again, I’ve never forgotten her in part because I’m not sure my stopping did any good, and in part because I know things could have gone much differently.
Had that woman been an undercover officer, I could have ended up where Uhrie’s lawsuit claims he is. It gives me pause. I have responsibilities to my wife of 23 years, my two kids, colleagues and so many others. Should I risk that to help a stranger? It’s a question that has long tickled my brain.
With crime generating headlines during a hyper-partisan time such as this, the police are being asked to do more to curb any excesses, to ensure the quality of life in the city remains high.
No matter what you think of prostitution as a moral matter, you would consider it a nuisance if it became an open problem in your neighborhood, and you’d want something done about it.
But there has to be a better way to fight crime without unnecessarily creating more criminals.
Issac Bailey is a columnist for The Sun News.
