NCGOPer_for_Paul
11-09-2012, 01:17 PM
About a month ago I posted about my 4 year old daughter's fear of police, and did not include details of the traffic incident which caused her to have nightmares about "scary policemen", because the case was still pending. Well, the case is still pending, however, I completed my part of the deal yesterday and the court is supposed to dismiss based upon my "completion" of a "behavior behind the wheel" course yesterday that only cost me $100 and a vacation day (sarcasm).
Background - I have not had a ticket, citation, or anything else of the sort since November of 2001. My driving record is clean. I rarely drive more than 9 MPH over the speed limit. I do not do things that would cause me to get ticketed.
Situation - (I won't use places or names, in case the court trolls these boards) On a Saturday morning back in the early summer, me, my wife and my daughter were traveling from a Home Depot to Toys R Us, when I came upon what appeared to be a wreck which would be blocking the road in which I would have had to continue down to get to my destination. Traffic was not clogged, but moving into two lanes, one to go right and one to go left. Even though this is in my city, I was not sure where I was, or which option was correct (We do not have GPS in our vehicles and my phone was off). There was an officer on the scene, just standing in the road (not really doing anything). I got into the right lane and made the universal what to do sign(hands up with a confused face) toward the cop. COP SMIRKS AT ME. I roll the window down, and ask "where do I go to continue straight?" COP SMIRKS AT ME. I ask again, a bit more loudly, WHERE DO I GO TO CONTINUE STRAIGHT? COP LAUGHS! I then yell "Yeah, you're lot of help, you bald-headed fascist", and just go right.
As I go right, it appears to be a PVA (Private Vehicle area) and an entrance to an apartment complex. I slow down to gather my bearings because I have absolutely NO CLUE as to where I am. There's a bank parking lot on the left, and as I start to turn into it, I notice in my rear view that a car u-turned and saw a spot to go right, which would be continuing straight. So, I follow that car. As I prepare to go right, the cop comes running over to my vehicle with his hand up and starts barking at me and demands my license. I didn't fight him with that, but I did say I did nothing wrong, I asked for assistance, and you refused to render aid, therby causing me to yell at you, which is NOT against (state) law. He was HOT, continuing on about how I didn't follow his command. I said, you didn't give me a command, you were just standing there. I ASKED for a command. He never asked for registration or insurance. He took the license back to his cruiser (whereby leaving me in a very vulnerable position, as well as the tow driver), he then GUNS his cruiser, almost taking out three cars, pulls behind me and starts screaming at all of the other confused people to leave (like they knew where they were supposed to go). He comes back up to the window and starts yelling again. This time, I'm just staying silent, and not going to give this gorilla any ammo to take me out of the car.
I end up getting cited for "impeding traffic", which I never did, because I never came to a stop until directed. The last thing he said to me was "if you just followed the car in front of you, you wouldn't have gotten this." I didn't say anything as he ran back to his cruiser and u-turned and gunned it at about 70 into the apartments (or what looked to be apartments). (Google maps later told me, that it was indeed an access road, but it did flow to another street). As a child I remember always hearing when a kid said he did something because his friend did it "would you jump off a bridge if he did that too?"
I retained a lawyer. He went to court back in August. Cop didn't show. Used to be if the cop doesn't show, automatic dismissal. No, not any more. Ends up continued to October. Lawyer goes to court and talks to the asst. DAs. NONE of them want to prosecute it, BUT, the cop wrote a note on the file saying DO NOT DISMISS. DAs are in a tough spot. Every time the lawyer tried to talk to one, the cop comes over and starts his act. My lawyer sees through it, and then starts thinking that I'm telling the complete truth and not just looking to get out of a ticket. One DA agrees that if I take this "course", he'd dismiss the citation. I took the course yesterday and have the paperwork.
During the course yesterday, we're all telling the instructor "what we're in for". Maybe 5 of the 17 people there actually should have been there. No DUIs, no license suspensions, five egregious offenses, a few minor out-of-state speeding, and one other cop making something up. Upon hearing what happened to me -- now, this is a former cop, actually said, "I don't usually say this, because it is so rare, but you NEED to file a complaint against this officer. This kind of behavior makes ALL of us look bad."
Later in the course, there's a section on what happens if you refuse to take a breathalzyer, and how they can forcibly extract blood. I was quiet and let the others remark, NO, THEY CAN'T DO THAT! After about 5 violently reacted, I casually shouted out "See, the Constitution doesn't apply anymore, and cops gleefully go along". I had a few others too when talking about "new laws designed for safety", talking about unintended consequences of the Move Over Law, where I saw a 2 year old killed by a panicked driver trying to "move over". I could have probably converted 10 people to the liberty cause if the instructor let me. She wasn't all that thrilled with me, but I made sure I stayed at the end and had a one on one with her about the state of policing. I was an institutional parole officer in New Jersey (so I had the law enforcement in). She did admit that I brought up legitimate points, and things do need to be thought about a little more thoroughly before laws are passed.
I tried to make people think a little about liberty yesterday. I figured if I had to sit through something that I shouln't have had to, I might as well use the forum to try to open people's eyes.
Background - I have not had a ticket, citation, or anything else of the sort since November of 2001. My driving record is clean. I rarely drive more than 9 MPH over the speed limit. I do not do things that would cause me to get ticketed.
Situation - (I won't use places or names, in case the court trolls these boards) On a Saturday morning back in the early summer, me, my wife and my daughter were traveling from a Home Depot to Toys R Us, when I came upon what appeared to be a wreck which would be blocking the road in which I would have had to continue down to get to my destination. Traffic was not clogged, but moving into two lanes, one to go right and one to go left. Even though this is in my city, I was not sure where I was, or which option was correct (We do not have GPS in our vehicles and my phone was off). There was an officer on the scene, just standing in the road (not really doing anything). I got into the right lane and made the universal what to do sign(hands up with a confused face) toward the cop. COP SMIRKS AT ME. I roll the window down, and ask "where do I go to continue straight?" COP SMIRKS AT ME. I ask again, a bit more loudly, WHERE DO I GO TO CONTINUE STRAIGHT? COP LAUGHS! I then yell "Yeah, you're lot of help, you bald-headed fascist", and just go right.
As I go right, it appears to be a PVA (Private Vehicle area) and an entrance to an apartment complex. I slow down to gather my bearings because I have absolutely NO CLUE as to where I am. There's a bank parking lot on the left, and as I start to turn into it, I notice in my rear view that a car u-turned and saw a spot to go right, which would be continuing straight. So, I follow that car. As I prepare to go right, the cop comes running over to my vehicle with his hand up and starts barking at me and demands my license. I didn't fight him with that, but I did say I did nothing wrong, I asked for assistance, and you refused to render aid, therby causing me to yell at you, which is NOT against (state) law. He was HOT, continuing on about how I didn't follow his command. I said, you didn't give me a command, you were just standing there. I ASKED for a command. He never asked for registration or insurance. He took the license back to his cruiser (whereby leaving me in a very vulnerable position, as well as the tow driver), he then GUNS his cruiser, almost taking out three cars, pulls behind me and starts screaming at all of the other confused people to leave (like they knew where they were supposed to go). He comes back up to the window and starts yelling again. This time, I'm just staying silent, and not going to give this gorilla any ammo to take me out of the car.
I end up getting cited for "impeding traffic", which I never did, because I never came to a stop until directed. The last thing he said to me was "if you just followed the car in front of you, you wouldn't have gotten this." I didn't say anything as he ran back to his cruiser and u-turned and gunned it at about 70 into the apartments (or what looked to be apartments). (Google maps later told me, that it was indeed an access road, but it did flow to another street). As a child I remember always hearing when a kid said he did something because his friend did it "would you jump off a bridge if he did that too?"
I retained a lawyer. He went to court back in August. Cop didn't show. Used to be if the cop doesn't show, automatic dismissal. No, not any more. Ends up continued to October. Lawyer goes to court and talks to the asst. DAs. NONE of them want to prosecute it, BUT, the cop wrote a note on the file saying DO NOT DISMISS. DAs are in a tough spot. Every time the lawyer tried to talk to one, the cop comes over and starts his act. My lawyer sees through it, and then starts thinking that I'm telling the complete truth and not just looking to get out of a ticket. One DA agrees that if I take this "course", he'd dismiss the citation. I took the course yesterday and have the paperwork.
During the course yesterday, we're all telling the instructor "what we're in for". Maybe 5 of the 17 people there actually should have been there. No DUIs, no license suspensions, five egregious offenses, a few minor out-of-state speeding, and one other cop making something up. Upon hearing what happened to me -- now, this is a former cop, actually said, "I don't usually say this, because it is so rare, but you NEED to file a complaint against this officer. This kind of behavior makes ALL of us look bad."
Later in the course, there's a section on what happens if you refuse to take a breathalzyer, and how they can forcibly extract blood. I was quiet and let the others remark, NO, THEY CAN'T DO THAT! After about 5 violently reacted, I casually shouted out "See, the Constitution doesn't apply anymore, and cops gleefully go along". I had a few others too when talking about "new laws designed for safety", talking about unintended consequences of the Move Over Law, where I saw a 2 year old killed by a panicked driver trying to "move over". I could have probably converted 10 people to the liberty cause if the instructor let me. She wasn't all that thrilled with me, but I made sure I stayed at the end and had a one on one with her about the state of policing. I was an institutional parole officer in New Jersey (so I had the law enforcement in). She did admit that I brought up legitimate points, and things do need to be thought about a little more thoroughly before laws are passed.
I tried to make people think a little about liberty yesterday. I figured if I had to sit through something that I shouln't have had to, I might as well use the forum to try to open people's eyes.