Run in with LEO last night, not too happy....

[50 Freak]

Moderators, please keep this post open as this is not a LEO bash but a discussion of a particular incident that happened to me.

Well last night, as I was watching "The Shield" with my wife, we get a call about 10:30 p.m. from my little 5'1 115 pound 18 year old sister. She's freaking out and crying because her car had just run out of gas going Northbound on the 280 (for those of us here in N. Cali, the 280 is a very fast, very dark freeway with nothing but hills on one side and a steep incline overlooking a large reservoir on the other side). Anyways, she was calling from a call box and the dispatcher said that she was dispatching CHP and it would be high priority. So I grab my CCW my trusty Glock 27 (to comply with the Gun Discussion purpose of this board), and surefire and both me and the wife get into the car and drive to where she is. We get there and thank God she is okay, terrified but okay. All of us sit and wait for about 30 minutes for CHP, but all we see is 2 or 3 of them going by (more concerned with pulling over speeders apparently than helping stranded motorist). So I decide to go for gas (as I knew there was a gas station just 6 miles north of us). I leave my surefire and CCW with the wife (in retrospect, I should have taken the girls with me, (but we had thought the gas station was so close and my car was full of crap from just having moved, and the girls didn't know how to drive stick). Anyways, I get the gas, and drive back getting off opposite the freeway where my wife and sis are. I drive over to the other side and start entering the freeway where I remember the car to be. I see the spot where they were stopped, and I see the callbox where my sis called from, but no car, no sis, no wife. I'm starting to freak out. I look back on don't see any cars on the on ramp, no buildings/houses for miles. So I start backing up on the on-ramp looking to see if I passed them. Midway down the ramp, the red light come on and a Sheriff's car pulls up to me (he had been parked at the bottom with his lights off). He comes up and asks for license/reg/insurance. I say to him, "before you start, can you please go with me to find my sis/wife, they should have been parked on the side of the freeway". I'm not contesting the ticket, as I know I broke the law backing up on the onramp. I'm not pissed at that at all. The officer doesn't say anything other than he didn't see any car, and then went back to his cruiser (another cruiser had pulled up in the mean time). I watch through my rear view mirror as they start joking and laughing about my actions. As the officer comes back and has me sign the ticket. I'm pretty angry as we have been there for about 15 minutes now. I say to him "I can't believe that you are more concerned about giving me a ticket than the safety of two females stranded on the freeway". The officer yells at me to "shut up, I can pull you out of this car, search you and drag you of to jail for reckless driving!"

I sign the damn ticket and drive off to look for my sis/wife. Luckily, after I had left, a tow truck had found them and gave them gas, and instructed them to leave the freeway. I'm happy that my sis didn't become a missing person statistic, but am angry at the callousness and the unprofessionalism of the officer. I'm pondering with the idea of filing a complaint for unprofessionalism with the dept.

Question is, am I blowing this all out of proportions? I don't have a lot of run in with LEO's and don't know if this is a-typical of this dept. What do you guys think?

 

[J Jones]

the girls didn't know how to drive stick

Rectify this.




Contest the ticket and call the supervisor/watch commander/chief deputy/sheriff to complain. The call your sister made should be in a dispatch record somewhere and they can go to court with you. The tow truck driver can make a written statement. Even if you don't win, you can put some negative exposure on the department with a judge and DA.

 

[Preacherman]

I would certainly make a complaint, in writing, to the head of the department. Also, check out whether they have a Complaints Board or something like that, and contact them. Make it clear that you're not trying to get out of anything, but that the unprofessional conduct of these officers placed your family at risk, and you would like to ensure that it doesn't happen to anyone else.

 

[Greg L]

I think that you should have grabbed the gas can that you use to fill your lawn mower & taken it with you when you went to meet your sister. Or swung by a gas station/quickie mart & bought one.

As to the other, I'm still thinking that one through.

Greg

 

[Kodiak AK]

Reporting to a supiror is the right thing to do if you are wronged . Depending on the paticulars it may or may not be circular filed . Contacting the media might get you more response ,it may be good or bad .
The other avenue you have if you choose to pursue it is to contest the ticket in court , and get every thing on file .


JBT's and DGG's. Somewhere in the middle all cops fall .

 

[c_yeager]

I would suggest that you advise your significant others that if they are stranded and you go get some help that MAYBE they should try to stay where you left them.

And there is this.

Anyways, she was calling from a call box and the dispatcher said that she was dispatching CHP and it would be high priority.

added to this.

So I start backing up on the on-ramp looking to see if I passed them. Midway down the ramp, the red light come on and a Sheriff's car pulls up to me (he had been parked at the bottom with his lights off).

What makes you think that the SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT gets dispatched to highway patrol calls?

 

[kbr80]

Question is, am I blowing this all out of proportions?

NO. Just a normal run in with JBT's. All authority, no brains at all.

 

[50 Freak]

I would have sent them in my car, and have me stay with the stranded car, but the girls don't know how to drive stick, and I don't have a lawn, so no lawnmower and no gas tank. Didn't want to go to a station first as we are a little in the boonies, and getting to my sis was first priority.

The girls wanted to stay and wait for me, but the tow truck driver instructed that they leave the side of the freeway, in retrospect, he instructed them correctly, parked on the side of fast moving freeway is no place to be.

The Sheriff wasn't dispatched instead of CHP, his car was just sitting at the bottom of the ramp somewhere in the dark.

 

[larry_minn]

Nothing wrong with writting a short note and sending it in. Or if you have time stop in. I would not include the info on your firearm and who had it when.
Finally I would take the charge from the tow truck (I assume it had time/location) and go to court on the ticket if over what you make for 4 hrs work. (unless you can go to court on day off)

 

[BerettaNut92]

What's a DGG, Do-Good Guy?

 

[Kodiak AK]

Close Skunk
Darn Good Guy.

 

[spacemanspiff]

1. paragraphs are your friend. embrace them.
2. cell phones are also your friend.
3. drivers who run out of gas get no sympathy from me. i'd help out a family member (like you did) but they'd get an earful from me about paying attentiont to the simple gauge that tells them they need to fill up the tank.
4. everyone should know how to drive a stick. what will happen when you get injured and cant drive and your wife cant drive you to a hospital?

about the LEO encounter, maybe he had a really bad day. maybe the last person he pulled over exhausted his professionalism for that day.

you might have been the only 'good guy' he came across in a long time. give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[DadOfThree]

Did you get a name or badge numbers or names? I would file a complaint with the head office and start the complaint out with, "I'm not contesting the ticket, I deserved it, I'll pay it but ...." Then go on to explain that the officers declined to help look for the missing women.

 

[50 Freak]

Oh, my sis got an earful from the entire family. Kinda felt sorry for her, as it was a tag-team action from the dad, the mom, the sis, and me. But as she is a teen, she already knows everything in the world. Hopefully this incident scared the be-jesus out of her, and she learns to be more careful.

 

[fslflint]

I agree. write or call and complain. I am 19 and I have a girlfriend and two older sisters. all of whom I have had to help on the side of the road at some point in time. its scary for them and I think that the LEOs should be a lot more concerned with the safety of 2 women rather than giving you a ticket.

 

[Josey]

DSs name and ID # is on the citation. File a documented complaint. Paper trail.

 

[50 Freak]

To tell you the truth, the citation means squat to me, if I'm out a hundred or two, makes no difference to me. What really irks the hell out of me is the fact the officer, after being told the situation and given the environment we live in where abductions and murders happen on a daily basis. Still did not care to make sure his charges (the public) were safe. Seem like he was only worried about issuing the citation. Shows lack of good judgment on his part. Had my sis/wife been abducted or hurt in any way, how would this look in the court of public opinion that rather than see to the safety of two small women stranded on the side of a freeway, the sheriff's department was busy doing a citation. Imagine the black eye his dept would have gotten, not to mention the impending litigation I would have brought upon his dept. Bad Judgment.

Second thing, is there is absolutely no need for him to threaten a civilian. Clearly I was not a danger in anyway to him or his partner. I never once used profanity, or raised my voice. Don’t know if that is standard procedure, but sure as hell not acceptable in my world. Bad Professionalism.

 

[J Jones]

Looking for stranded motorists is work, whereas writing tickets is revenue.



I'm thinking that getting one of those mini-cassette recorders would be a good idea for everyone so as to document what occurred for future reference.

 

[Navy joe]

In retrospect(20/20):
-Your sis should have filled her tank in the daylight in a good part of town. Not 5 bucks worth, full.
-You should have had spare gas on hand, because you never know. Especially in Calistan, fires, floods, muds, riots, eathquakes, I'm getting the hell out of Dodge and you need gas to do that. ATMs and gas pump might not always work when you need them. A little tough to cache gas at an apartment, but find something.
-You should have never left them out there. Or yourself. Drunk or tired drivers run over cops all the time, nothing to say they couldn't hit her car. Since your wife and sis would probably be just sitting in the car chatting with no seatbelts on it is possible to come back to the two most important women in your life DRT. Not good.

But, that said, damn I hate people who are petty tyrants just because they can get away with it. Call their boss and send a letter.

 

[PATH]

If an officer has behaved in an unprofessional manner then it is a very legitimate thing that you address it. Professionals act professionally whereas jerks act like jerks. It could be that this individual has a serious attitude problem that needs to be documented. It is not LEO bashing to expect a lawman to act professionally.

I would like to say that not all LEO's behave in this fashion. Document everything witout rancor and address it. You may be doing other LEO's and the public at large a great service.

 

[fix]

Sounds to me like you guys just exchanged a few impolite words. I wouldn't file a complaint over that.

 

[Detachment Charlie]

50 Freak:
You are operating under the misconception that LEOs exist to help the law abiding citizens. Silly boy. They exist to advance their careers through arrests made and citations issued. You, the ordinary citizen are merely (a) a source of tax dollars; (b) a warm body to be arrested; (c) an impediment to their righteous exercise of authori-tai, or (d) one of "them" -- s in "us vs. them."
I don't consider this cop bashing, just a distillation of 30-years of overheard conversations among police officers, several of whom were close relatives.
Oh, and about calling and asking if the department has a review board of any type, you might as well play Farmer Brown and ask the fox to whom you should complain about the dead chickens in the coop.

 

[Standing Wolf]

What really irks the hell out of me is the fact the officer, after being told the situation and given the environment we live in where abductions and murders happen on a daily basis. Still did not care to make sure his charges (the public) were safe.

He has a ticket quota to meet. Your tax dollars at play.

I've driven Highway 280 hundreds of times in both directions. No matter where you stop on that road, you're not safe. It's a beautiful road, but there are far, far too many criminals on it.

 

[Logan5]

The Sherriff was definitely rude, but it's not clear he really understood what you were trying to tell him. Usually they keep their cool a little better. It sounds like he thought you were spinning a tall tale to get out of the ticket... "I'm meeting my wife and sister parked on the side of the freeway" dosen't tell him the same thing as "I'm coming back with gas to help my stranded little sister, she was right there 20 minutes ago, and now they're gone!" I'm pretty sure he thought you were full of it, which is unfortunate.
I don't know how they do it in CA, but if you contest a ticket here, you will sit in the courthouse hallway all day, but the state will usually offer to cut your fine in half if you'll just go down the hall and pay it. I doubt you'd get it dismissed; it just dosen't matter why you did it for purposes of traffic infractions.

 

[J Jones]

He will still get to prove his story to a judge and, perhaps, hear this judge ream the officer for his "professionalism." As to there being no mitigating circumstances, I think that is false; if you rush someone to a hospital, I believe you can get off the hook.