In Duran v. City of Douglas, 904 F.2d 1372 (9th Cir.1989), the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the defendant police officer was not entitled to qualified immunity against a claim under 42 U.S.C. section 1983 that he had wrongfully stopped and arrested the plaintiff for disorderly conduct after the plaintiff made "obscene gestures toward him and yelled profanities in Spanish while traveling along a rural Arizona highway." Id. at 1377. The court explained that it did not condone the plaintiff's conduct, which was "boorish, crass, and ... unjustified." Id. But, the court went on, "disgraceful as the plaintiff's behavior may have been, it was not illegal; criticism of the police is not a crime." Id. Because the plaintiff's conduct took place late at night on a deserted road, it "could not have disturbed the peace or incited a riot," therefore the officer did not have any cause to stop him, let alone arrest him. Id.