Oh, deer...

It would seem that responding to all the "save the Earth" conditioning can get you a ticket, should you choose to actually take action to save Bambi:

They fought to save a life, and now they say they’ll fight the fine.
Strangers banded together to pull a deer out of the freezing water of the Patapsco River on Thursday night.
But in the excited aftermath of the rescue, a natural resources police officer on the scene wrote both men a ticket.
“And he didn’t say anything,” Jim Hart said. “We went in and out of the water numerous times. He didn’t stop us at all.”
They say they were ticketed for not wearing life vests, although both are over the age for mandatory use of flotation devices.
The ticket itself doesn’t check off any specific violation, just a $90 fine.
The two men ticketed say they will fight the citations at the court hearing in Annapolis set for Feb. 18.

I'm starting to think Glen Reynolds has it right about bringing back the tradition of tar and feathers. This is simply ego and a badge run amok, and is a perfect example of the problem with the change from peace officers to law enforcement officers. The former respond to breaches of the peace between people. The latter are on the lookout for reasons to issue citations.

Only in this case, it doesn't appear there was a 'reason.' Not only should the officer be fired; he should have to personally reimburse the men all costs related to going to the courtroom to fight it. It's too easy for officers to write tickets they already know won't stand up in court -- they simply hope people won't take the time to challenge them. I had multiple run-ins with one such officer years ago -- it took threatening a harassment suit before his superiors stepped in and did something about him. There needs to be a disincentive for writing bogus tickets -- especially since stories like this undermine respect for our legal system and those charged with being the public face of it.