Poor traffic officer. I hope she’s okay. Pray for her.

In Brazil, as anywhere in World, it is a crime to disobey a judge decisions. However, would you think about a judge who is driving his car without a plate and proper documentation? Both driving a car without the plate and documentation are considered to be crime in Brazil.

In mid February 2011, Joao Carlos de Souza Correa, a judge, was ordered to pulled over and then he stepped out of his car and went straight to Luciana Tamburini, the traffic official in charge of a blitz operation. When he met her, he simply said he was a judge and then the traffic official replied with the following: “you are a judge all right, but you are not God”.

Correa has arrested Tamburini and both were taken to the police station. Later on, Tamburini filed a law suit against Correa, but the court has decided that the victim was, in fact, Correa and not her. She has made several appeals until mid 2013, the court has decided again in favor to Correa and condemned Tamburini to pay R$ 5,000.00 (Five GRANT!) for moral damages.

Several institution and people protested against this court decision, the union in particular wrote a statement that I quote: “in repeal to any form of superiority complex, selfishness, rudeness, arrogance, authoritarianism and arrogance on the part of anyone “in particular” that invested in the judiciary to promote justice and social peace”.

Of course, Correa never paid anything for driving without documentation of his car, his vehicle is probably around somewhere. Certainly his move, in all aspects, was made to intimidate the official and… unfortunately he went successful on that. My impression is that the other judges will know take advantage of the case and has made Tamburini and “example” for others to be scared of. It is ridiculous that judges do not follow the law!!!

Notwithstanding, as anywhere else in the World, at least where the law is taken seriously, a man like Correa would be expelled from this bar association, just to say the least. But, this is Brazil, where judges are considered gods…

As for the population, a campaign started and people gathered the R$ 5,000 amount for Tamborini, as she was considered guilty for… doing her work right.