A Cleveland judge thinks a woman she sentenced to hold a sign in public for driving on the sidewalk is also guilty of a bad attitude.
Cleveland resident Shena Hardin, 32, was sentenced by Municipal Court Judge Pinkey Carr to hold the sign, which read, “Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid a school bus” on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings. Hardin was caught making the dangerous maneuver in a cell phone video from Sept. 11. The school bus had stopped to unload children.
On Tuesday, Hardin chain-smoked, texted on her cell phone and repeatedly jumped in and out of a nearby car during the hour she was supposed to be displaying the sign, according to NBC Cleveland affiliate WKYC. That did not sit well with Carr.
“If I wanted someone standing there for an hour texting and smoking cigarettes, I would have had that as part of her sentence," Carr told WKYC. "But, clearly, she's missing the point. Clearly, it's still a situation where she's defiant.’’
Carr denied media reports that she would personally supervise Hardin holding the sign on Wednesday morning, telling WKYC that she did not want to cause a scene. Carr informed lawyers for Hardin, who also lost her license for 30 days, that she wants Hardin to hold the sign up higher.
“She's offended the public,’’ Carr told WKYC. “She's offended this community and they have a right to know who this person is. It's cold out there and it's snowing but at least hold the sign because that was part of your sentence. She needs to hold that sign up. It kind of defeats the purpose."
Hardin wore a winter hat and large sunglasses in the 34-degree weather while leaning on the sign Tuesday, which Carr said is acceptable as long as the words are visible. Passing cars honked, news crews filmed and pedestrians taunted Hardin at times. She was also yelled at by Lisa Kelley, the mother of a girl in a wheelchair who was heading toward the bus when Hardin drove around it.
"She did this almost every day last year," Kelley told the Associated Press. "She won't stop laughing. She's not remorseful, she laughed at every court appearance. She's still laughing, so she needs to be humiliated like this."
"How else are you going to stop her from doing it again?" nearby resident Bill Lipold, 37, told the AP. "She really didn't show remorse for her action after being caught, so you've got to try something."
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