I can see both sides of it. No doubt he was frustrated by a billing error whether he was right or wrong. On the other side, the clerk at the hospital gets to reap the consequence of counting a bunch of pennies for his little protest no matter how worthy it may or may not have been. I'm guessing for the police to be called, follow up, and issue a citation, there is a little more to this story than is reported. Remember, we are hearing one side of it so far. KSL is hardly the arbitrator of ultimate fact finding. They are merely reporting from the facts as they were reported primarily from one party thus far.
Seems to me that in all likely hood the clinic was unreasonable in negotiating a resolution over a billing problem. The debtor was equally unreasonable in paying with a bucket of copper. The one who got stuck cleaning up the mess and counting pennies, in addition to normal duties, was somebodies wife or daughter working behind the counter, who maybe had no say in the matter. Tit for tat on both sides rather than one or the other or both taking the high road wasted a lot of time all the way around.
Without knowing all the facts who knows where it will go, but the statute he was cited under is somewhat of a catch all which will certainly be difficult to defeat if he dumped the change on the table to be cute. Who knows. Its unfortunate we can't all be a little more civil with each other. I'm sure there is blame to go all the way around.
76-9-102. Disorderly conduct.
(1) A person is guilty of disorderly conduct if:
(a) he refuses to comply with the lawful order of the police to move from a public place, or knowingly creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition, by any act which serves no legitimate purpose; or
(b) intending to cause public inconvenience, annoyance, or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he:
(i) engages in fighting or in violent, tumultuous, or threatening behavior;
(ii) makes unreasonable noises in a public place;
(iii) makes unreasonable noises in a private place which can be heard in a public place; or
(iv) obstructs vehicular or pedestrian traffic.
(2) "Public place," for the purpose of this section, means any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access and includes but is not limited to streets, highways, and the common areas of schools, hospitals, apartment houses, office buildings, transport facilities, and shops.
(3) Disorderly conduct is a class C misdemeanor if the offense continues after a request by a person to desist. Otherwise it is an infraction.
