Off The Beat: Finger pointing flap reaches point of no return

Will Greenlee | Treasure Coast Newspapers

PORT ST. LUCIE — There’s a point at which you can get in trouble for pointing your pointer finger at someone.

A 31-year-old Port St. Lucie woman apparently reached that point Oct. 19 as she was accused of “pointing her right pointer finger” at her husband and not stopping, according to an arrest affidavit.

The husband pointed out to Port St. Lucie police that he and his wife returned home from a party. He said his wife was beyond the point of intoxication, but he evidently didn’t belabor the point.

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He said his wife started an argument over their relationship. He tried to leave, though the affidavit did not state whether he expressed concern about things reaching the boiling point or getting to the point of no return or being of the opinion that quarreling was pointless.

He said his wife got in front of him to stop him from leaving. He alleged his wife “kept pointing her right pointer finger at him and would not stop.”

The pointer finger, also known as the index finger, is the first finger and second digit on the hand. There is a popular middle school prank involving flatulence in which the prankster asks an unwitting victim to “pull my finger,” which triggers the prankster’s audible passing of gas and usually shrieks of laughter.

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Meanwhile, from the husband’s point of view, he told investigators his wife’s “pointer finger struck him in the left corner of his left eye,” which perhaps was the turning point in the situation.

Thus, in terms of who pointed the pointer finger, the husband pointed the finger at his wife.

The wife, however, made a different point. She said that while at the party her husband got jealous, but she wouldn’t say why, perhaps not wanting to put too fine a point on things.

She said the incident never reached the point of physical violence, and she didn’t know how her husband got the mark near his eye.

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The affidavit did not state whether the couple were fans of “Grosse Pointe Blank,” a 1997 film starring John Cusack and Minnie Driver, or whether a PowerPoint presentation was used in explaining the case.

It could be said the wife got no brownie points from police, because she was arrested on a battery charge and taken to the St. Lucie County Jail.