Because Margaret Miller can't raise a kid right, she sues the police.

So what we have here is a case where some single mom lets her little crotch-fruit run wild with a skateboard and no manners until he runs up against a police officer in Baltimore. And when the officer gives her baby boy a bit of a lesson on how to interact with adult authority figures--a lesson that Margaret Miller should have taught her own child years ago--she sees dollar signs and runs down to the courthouse, shyster lawyer in tow, and files a lawsuit demanding that her and her little precious be given a bag of cash because her boy's feelings were hurt. That's right: hurt feelings. He wasn't arrested, he wasn't injured--he was just scolded. but in Margaret Miller's world, no one can ever scold her little darling. And if someone does, she wants cash.

Fortunately a judge just tossed her frivolous lawsuit out.

BALTIMORE, Md. - A civil lawsuit filed by the mother of a defiant skateboarder who was berated and grabbed by a Baltimore police officer while skating near the Inner Harbor has been thrown out by a judge.

"The family is incredibly disappointed, and feels wronged," attorney William P. Blackford tells WTOP. "They've had their day in court taken away."

Blackford filed the suit on behalf of Margaret Miller, and her son, Eric Bush.

Three weeks before the civil case filed against Salvatore Rivieri - a 17-year-veteran - was to go before a jury, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Evelyn Cannon granted a defense motion to have the case dropped.

Rivieri had been suspended, but was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

A Baltimore police spokesman tells WTOP Rivieri has been back on patrol for several months.

Blackford says Judge Cannon's decision essentially trumped another Circuit Court judge's decision to allow the civil case to go forward, even though it was filed more than 180 days after the deadline.

Blackford had argued Maryland's law was unclear whether a juvenile's complaint can be held to the same 180 day standard.

"The family has the right to appeal, and I believe has a very strong case for appeal," Blackford says.

The 2007 exchange between Rivieri and the then 14-year-old Bush had been surreptitiously videotaped by one of the teenager's friends. It showed the officer pointing at the teen while lecturing him.

"First of all you disrespected me, this badge, and my department. You understand me? When I'm talking to you, you shut your mouth and you listen," Rivieri said.

"Obviously your parents don't put a foot in your butt quite enough, because you don't understand the meaning of respect."

The teenager's quietly mumbled responses were barely audible. Rivieri took offense to how he was being addressed.

"I'm not 'man.' I'm not 'dude.' I am Officer Rivieri."

In the defense's pretrial statements. Rivieri's attorneys said the teen "held his skateboard in a threatening manner," prompting Rivieri to push Bush to the ground, before seizing the board.

Blackford says it's unclear whether Miller, a single mother, and her son have the money to pursue an appeal to Maryland's Court of Special Appeals.

"The city has thrown up every roadblock in this case," Blackford says. "They should have just issued an apology, and that would likely have made this go away."

Fine, you want an apology? I'm sorry that William Blackford was ever admitted to the bar of Maryland or any other state. It's lawyers like him who give the profession such a bad reputation. I'm also sorry that Margaret Miller was even allowed to have a kid since it appear from his attire, his haircut and his demeanor that he's nothing but a little slacker with a future in fast food employment ahead of him. What's more, I apologize because this society that I'm a part of has devolved to the point where slovenly, rude kids are accepted and tolerated.

When I was a little kid, we were taught that adults were always "Sir" or Ma'am" and any teacher, neighbor, church member or police officer them had as much authority over any kid in the absence of the kid's actual parents as the parents did. If any adult saw me doing anything wrong, not only could they chastise me for it, but when they told my parents--and they usually did--I got it that much more from my dad when he found out. It wasn't acceptable to be a "bad kid" and bring disrespect upon the family, and punishment was sure and serious when I or my friends erred in that fashion.

But now we've had a couple of generations of single moms raising broods of little slackers who can do no wrong in the eyes of their mothers and who have never had a man in their lives to teach them what respect is, including the need to show it to others. It's because of things like this that our crime rate is rising, our scholastic achievement scores are dropping, and Democrats who support a "if it feels good, do it" policy are ruining our country by lowering the bar even further on behalf of the underachievers who vote them into office. And it all begins on a micro scale with kids like this punk, Eric Bush, and his layabout mom Margaret Miller. So my advice to Margaret is simple: Put down the bag of chips, turn off Oprah, get up off the couch, and start teaching your kid how to behave. Because you, Margaret Miller, are bringing down my country by raising bad kids and also by making things harder for countless other mothers who actually do their jobs and try to raise decent kids.

Hell, when I get to be President, I'm deporting Margaret Miller and her kid, probably to France, because one more surly kid and indifferent mom wouldn't even be noticed there.