Odd Cop Stop. Thoughts from Lets Runners?

trigger warning!! wrote:

Licketysplit wrote:

And let's all bear in mind while reading OPs story that this cop probably has a 12th grade education (so like 9th grade reading comprehension level - local PDs have no standards) and couldn't break 30 minutes in a 5k even if he was chasing a donut down a mountain.

low effort attempt. you can do better, I believe in you

Not even trolling. Almost certainly the truth. And yet a certain segment of the population is more than willing to give up their autonomy and ask "how high, sir?," anytime one of these stunted humans decides to go on a power trip and ask someone to jump. Those are the bootlickers i'm talking about in this thread. You are one.

I got pulled over for turning right on a no turn on red even though the light was green. Contested it with the judge with the officer there who seemed to be really friendly with the judge. I didn't get to speak but got a whole, "I hope you learned your lesson, but I'll dismiss this" from the judge. Absolute BS and a waste of time, but it is what it is.

You left out the part where you were driving slowly past prostitutes and crack dealers.

Not weird. Slower, which I maintain was safe given 1. night, 2. deer, 3. bend in road, 4. odd cop behind me. Plus he was behind me for only three quarters of a mile, including only about a tenth of a mile in a 55 MPH zone. The rest of it was all 45 MPH zone, in which case 35-40 MPH given #1-4 is prudent, not weird.

Yes and I told him I had it. NYS and I think the majority of other states now allow electronic proof of insurance. And I think they mostly all have for some time. And he told me don't worry."You're good" he says.

Waiting on shoulder? LOL. I didn't order him to wait on shoulder while I looked and tell him to straddle the white line as he did. He's a grown man with a gun and a badge. He couldve said keep looking while I run this if he wanted it. I've seen videos of cops doing just that.

And I don't fiddle on my phone. I keep a violin bow at arms length at all times and I bow it like Jimmy Page in "Dazed and Confused" when the mood strikes. And yes, I'm quite good, too.

As far as phone being out, recording: He couldnt see it, it was face down on my dash just recording audio. He didnt know it was on until I took it out of car /w me for field test and told him then. As far as reasons for me being out so late: He didn't ask me where I was coming from or going to (poor investigating IMO).

As for being banged up: I dont look like a post-fight Balboa. My face/head're fine. No gashes/bruises. Even my arms, which hurt, aren't bruised. Its was just my legs, which he couldnt see. So you're wrong there, too.

And finally, as for using phone again: Make up your mind, would you? Am I using my phone to video record the cop or using to find my insurance in you're cops are perfect fantasy? What do you think I'm doing, holding it out the window at him to record him with one hand as I swipe to browse files with the other? LOL.

Read again. I said was looking through papers in registration folder for my insurance card - neatly in my lap I'll add - when he came back after running my info. And guess I was right to keep looking, wasn't it, since the officer vengefully wrote a ticket anyway. If I'd found it then, wouldve been on audio.

I never told officer about my shower accident earlier in the day and never wrote here that I did. I told him I'm in Crocs and not in regular shoes and that's when he threw his hissy fit, stopped the field tests. Excuse me, correction: first he suggested I walk on glass for him. Then he threw his hissy fit.

Nor did I harass (harass implies intimidation) him about my legal rights. I asked and - le gasp - was honest with him that I didn't know exactly what my rights were in that circumstance. Then he - the cop with the gun, mace, and badge - freaked over a few questions and polite objection from a guy packing...a smartphone.

And that smartphone...it was at my side once we were out of the car... just recording audio. I already told you he made me do the eye test. What do you think, the cop let me keep the phone in front of my face so I could record him while he gave me test and he moved the light around my phone while he did it? LOL. You goof.

No, he didn't explain every little thing. Read my post carefully or have someone who can do it for you. I said he went from talking normally, in non legalese, albeit as vaguely as possible so as to not clearly answer my question and get me to do things I didn't have to do...to saying robotically (sp?) one specific phrase.

I said he that said that one specific phrase" I smell or detect alcohol in the vicinity of your person or vehicle" robot-like and he only mentioned smell when I asked him, like he was quoting a regulation. As I said, in hindsight, that phrase of legalese was for the recording, I believe.

And say what you want about me but you watch your mouth when talking about Crocs. They may look dumb (ok...they definitely do), but they're comfortable, cheap, and timeless. Doesnt matter if its 2119. I'd recommend you give them a try. You're welcome.

No, at the time I couldn't fathom it. Nor could I delve, probe, plumb, gauge, measure, or perceive it. Nor could I have then dove to the bottom of the ocean of my consciousness to dredge up that possibility. But now that you mention it, Jules, and I think about it honestly...no, I'd still say surely not. He didnt smell alcohol.

No, he definitely wasn't the Gestapo. The officer was Hispanic (which is on a short list of things I actually like about him, in retrospect) and pretty sure there weren't many Hispanics, if any, in the Gestapo. I may be wrong, though.

And to be fair to him, he was not one-of-those-wide-as-he-is-tall cops, as previous posters have surmised. He was young, in pretty good shape (props to him) and a little smaller than me (5'8", 160ish) so, while fit, not at all a physically imposing presence and thus, should esp de-escalate interactions, IMO

First, rudeness ain't illegal and if it is, it wasnt on any of the tickets. Second, I wasn't rude at all, much less from start to finish. The initial interaction while we were both driving was a mutual misunderstanding. Fine. I fault him a little for his light being on and a very early pullover of me in the 55 MPH zone.

I wouldnt fault him for the stop if he thought I was driving dangerously slow for long. I'd get that. But it wasn't dangerously slow at all and wasnt for long at all and I was accelerating right after posted sign when he pulled me over. And then went out of his way to give me a hard time.

He was talking over me, even when I was trying to answer his questions and trying to explain what I thought was happening and de-escalate everything. Then he would not answer my questions and give deceptive answers.

He started a field sobriety test he either didnt need or didnt finish one he should have. And he screamed and wrote vengeful tickets when I didn't cooperate in my own false-incrimination and respectfully, honestly asked about my rights. I don't get any of that. Highly unprofessional to me. All of it.

Oh, you don't even know, chief. But overall, 3/10 on the troll effort... ya got me, but way too bootlicky to me...but some value there. I took it as practice for explaining my situation when I ask for ticket dismissal. Obviously, I'll keep my thoughts on the officer and his conduct after the stop to myself during my request.

Thanks for practice.

Wow. You are long winded and full of excuses. Try listening, paying attention and giving brief responses.

Cop had no probable cause to pull you over.

Slow ride wrote:

Cop: Just looking for trouble when things get slow. If there's no trouble, he seemed capable of creating some. You: Didn't help much with your uptight self.

The problem is cops have all of the power/discretion in these cases. There's no innocent until proven guilty. They don't respond when you ask them direct questions and then they come back with a ticket regardless if they're right or wrong. I got pulled over once I was approaching a red light and breaking, was almost stopped well before the line, the light turned green and then I went through. A cop tailed me for a mile. Pulled me over and said I ran a red. Each question I asked was not answered in full. Wouldn't give me his badge number. Wouldn't let me talk to a supervisor or tell me who the ranking officer on duty was. Went to the police station to try to file some sort of a report/see what my rights were and the cops there basically told me it's a ton of paperwork and not to do it. They make it really hard for you to get a fair shake. Cops in this country make me feel nervous, not protected, not like they work for the community.

Cops are 80% assholes. Especially at the lower-rank ones with their first taste of power.

Nothing you could have done would have changed the fact he was going to make himself feel important that night.

Think of it is a decade-ly (if you're white) or semi-annually (if you're not) tax.

Glad you survived your fall. Don't worry about what you could have done differently, can't change a jackbooted thug.

Sounds like you need a bit more respect for the men who serve this country. If you hadn't been acting suspicious, you wouldn't have been pulled over. #thinblueline #bluelivesmatter

Truth: People who hate cops were once the type of kids that cried and said they hated their parents/wished they were dead everytime they got punished for being bad. Now that the roles of mommy and daddy as an adult are played by police, they throw internet tantrums and cry about their rights during traffic stops for inane violations. Grow up, children

oind wrote:

It's the end of the month, you were driving in a not-busy area, and you were driving under the speed limit.

There was no - real - reasonable suspicion you were doing something wrong, but you got pulled over because of the above things, because the cop was working the graveyard and was bored, wanted to fill his quotas, and thought there was an offhand chance you actually were drunk and would blow over the limit.

You just have to know things like this definitely happen at three in the morning and be prepared for it.

This post is spot on.

I used to do a lot of driving late at night and I got pulled over a couple times for incredibly minor stuff. I think it happened 3 times, each time it was a catch-and-release type thing. Never got a ticket. They're basically playing the increased odds that someone out at 2 or 3 in the morning is on something. Fortunately I'm a night owl so I was wide awake and didn't come off as suspicious. It also helped that I'm a white guy, sad as that is to write.

think about it wrote:

Now that the roles of mommy and daddy as an adult are played by police, they throw internet tantrums and cry about their rights during traffic stops for inane violations. Grow up, children

Grow up and let us harass you (under threat of execution) because we are bored!

Your tax dollars at work, citizen.

paul72 wrote:

think about it from the cop's perspective. at 2:30 am they probably doesn't want an long-winded explanation/asking questions why they are doing stuff; if he asks you questions you do it.

Think about the poor cops, we should ask that they actually do the job we pay them to...

God forbid....

Yep, have your stuff together. I also highly reccomend that before the officer even begins approaching your vehicle that you roll your window down, turn off the engine, and keep both hands on the steering wheel at 10 & 2 o'clock in plain sight and dont reach for anything or move until instructed to do so by the officer.

The one time I felt like I was being treated unfairly by a cop was at a DUI checkpoint. After asking me if I had been drinking (I hadn't been) I was asked "are you sure you haven't been drinking?" with seemingly intentional disdain. Like yeah I get it you have the power.

EasternWash wrote:

Yep, have your stuff together. I also highly reccomend that before the officer even begins approaching your vehicle that you roll your window down, turn off the engine, and keep both hands on the steering wheel at 10 & 2 o'clock in plain sight and dont reach for anything or move until instructed to do so by the officer.

Just sad that we give instructions like you are rolling up to a third world contested border checkpoint.

ban karl wrote:

Karl Hungus wrote:

Sounds like you brought this upon yourself and you’re luck the officer didn’t make you take a meat breathalyzer test.

idiot

Might've been crudely made, but Karl Hungus' point here is sadly accurate. For example:

If true, the cop was an a$$ and you should fight the tickets. I am skeptical though.

Lawyer here. Your license would be gone under implied consent if you refused. Suspended or the penalty greatly exacerbated by so doing (or not). He can probably stop and ask questions but he shouldn’t have taken his anger at not pr’g out On you. He does in most states legally have to take your insurance info from your phone. Most if not all states require acceptance of that. You did the right thing. This was a disproportionate response with the tickets. But this wasn’t like a civil rights violation. Caveat it is/was. But anyone that hears of your discomfort versus the very low intrusion visited upon you would award you nothing. In short it’s part of the social contract. An inconvenience like you described.