Atlanta Journal Constitution: British scholar jailed for jaywalking
A police investigation is under way into how a prominent British historian was treated when he allegedly jaywalked and was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge, Atlanta Mayor Shirely Franklin said Tuesday.
British historian Felipe Fernandez-Armesto, author of the 2006 book “Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration,” was arrested during last week’s annual convention of the American Historians Association.
Fernandez-Armesto said he was handcuffed and jailed for jaywalking across Peachtree Center Avenue on Thursday. A written police account of the incident, released Tuesday, contends the 56-year-old professor refused Officer K.J. Leonpacher’s repeated warnings about jaywalking and tried to get away when Leonpacher tried to handcuff him. Leonpacher was working an extra job at the Hilton Hotel on Courtland Street at the time of the incident.
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