Officer Disciplined After Threats

[grydth]

Yep; I got called into the sergeant's office one day for speaking rather sharply to a woman who was taking her kids to TKD class. The fact that she rolled several stop signs, and I followed her for several blocks, with lights and sirens, and she only stopped when she parked to drop the kids off -- and hadn't noticed me... Nah, details. Probably only lasted a minute or two... but that's a LONG minute when you're the one wondering why this car won't stop.

After reading this, I'm not thinking there is any "right" answer for LEO's anymore. That cow represented a deadly danger not only to her kids but any other family using the intersections.... and yet your talking sharply was considered too harsh?

I would like to see such individuals cited for each violation and, if legal in your area, taken to the station and made to call for a ride home.

How many times have I seen people cruise through red lights with a cop sitting right there......who keeps sitting right there......and I think ' what the **** are we paying you for? '

So what can LEOs do anymore?

 

[jks9199]

After reading this, I'm not thinking there is any "right" answer for LEO's anymore. That cow represented a deadly danger not only to her kids but any other family using the intersections.... and yet your talking sharply was considered too harsh?

I would like to see such individuals cited for each violation and, if legal in your area, taken to the station and made to call for a ride home.

How many times have I seen people cruise through red lights with a cop sitting right there......who keeps sitting right there......and I think ' what the **** are we paying you for? '

So what can LEOs do anymore?

I was OK, after the sergeant got my side. I think her's consisted of "I parked my car and your officer came up and yelled at me in front of my kids!" Sarge had to talk to me about it... Didn't go any further.

You ask what can cops do? It depends. I'm willing to take the occasional hassles and chats with the sergeant, and I do my job. That doesn't mean I go after every traffic violation; there's times I just don't think I can reasonably do it without creating a greater hazard. Or I've got something else I must do... or even just plain am tired, and it's the end of the day! Of course, as a detective, I've done some crazy driving on surveillance, too. And sometimes right in front of a marked car -- who knew what was up.

 

[Empty Hands]

This sort of thing isn't unknown. A similar thing happened to a pregnant woman in labor on her way to the hospital in Boston. Thankfully the consequences weren't so dire in that case.

At least Moats didn't get shot. Progress!

 

[Gordon Nore]

The officer used crappy discretion and judgement. The driver contributed very slightly by arguing.

I agree.

Moats is understandably agitated over the stress of his mother-in-law's illness. The fact that he is still arguing with the officer when the nurse is saying it's time to go shows that.

Fire the officer? Had he drifted from procedure? What's his record like? How long has he served? Can the family and the department sit down and figure out a way to resolve this? Maybe the officer should be removed or disciplined, but does that provide any kind of long-term improvement in police/community relations?

I mention this because I used to by acquainted slightly with Rubin "Hurricane" Carter here in Toronto -- around 1996. About sixty at the time, Carter was mistakenly detained by police who were in fact looking for a man believed to be in his 30s or 40s. When the error was discovered, Toronto police were rather contrite about having wrongly arrested someone who was famous for having been locked for two murders he claimed he did not commit.

He described his arrest in the media but rather than calling for anyone's head, he used the opportunity meet with command and the civilian-run police commission. He appeared on radio with the deputy chief, I recall, and they gave a thorough accounting of events. I happened to be having dinner the night before Rubin was to meet with the chair of the police commission, and he was looking forward to contributing to a dialogue with the department.

 

[Archangel M]

The knee-jerk "fire him" reply is "typical". Fire him over what I saw in that video? I don't think so. Officer had a valid reason for a car stop. The failure to stop elevated the officers caution. Was this a regrettable situation? Sure, but fire-able? IMO no.

 

[MJS]

I havent read every post yet, but I'll touch on a few things. The first thing that caught my eye from the article was the race card thats being played. No need for that IMHO. As far as people jumping out of the vehicle and the gun being drawn...I'd probably have done the same thing, espeically not knowing whats going on. Jumping out of the car is going to put the cop on more of an edge, than if they had stayed in the vehicle.

If I were in the shoes of the cop, I probably would have just let the people go inside. The story could've always been verified afterwards. The vehicle was there, they knew who it belonged to, so at that point, if the story was BS, action could have been taken later on.

I was glad to see that a nurse came out to help clarify what was going on.

I do find it interesting that the cop told Moats that he should've just explained what was going on. Ummm...he did, although it was in a very excited tone, but nonetheless, he did tell him what was happening.

 

[Archangel M]

I thought he was telling the driver that "if he had stopped and told him..." implying that if he hadnt have driven on things may have gone different. I'll have to re-listen.

Stopping immediately after running the light would probably have resulted in a different officer attitude (maybe...dont know the guy) then refusing to stop.