Projo Offbeat Blog

Just as you'd want Col. Nathan Jessup "on that wall," you'd want retired police Sgt. John Clifford on the train, bus or in the restaurant.

As he polices public cell-phone etiquette, Clifford sounds every bit as tough as Jack Nicholson's Marine colonel character in "A Few Good Men," who boasted, "You want me on that wall. You need me on that wall."

Clifford went on trial in New York City recently for screaming obscenities at a train passenger who was talking on his cell phone, according to an Associated Press story.

During trial, Clifford, 60, admitted cursing at Nicholas Bender and slapping the hand of Lydia Klein after she slapped his when he reached for a business card she was handing Bender on the train from Long Beach to Manhattan's Pennsylvania Station, the Associated Press said.

Clifford, now a lawyer, represented himself at trial. He made no apologies, calling Bender "a 19-year-old nitwit waking up one girlfriend after another."

It's not the first time Clifford has gotten in trouble for confronting another passenger. Sure, Clifford might be over the top, but who hasn't had the urge to do just what he did?

By the way, Clifford was acquitted Tuesday following a two-day, non-jury trial. Maybe the judge rode the train to work with somebody who was yapping on a cell phone the whole trip.

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