whiskey tango foxtrot: baltimore PD

[beerslurpy]

I dont know whether to laugh or gather a lynch mob. How can they behave like this?

Cliff Notes: Baltimore Police have report of stolen grey cadillac. Pull over black guy in red cadillac and arrest him for stealing it. Yes really. Before he can go to trial, they auction off his car. Judge laughs prosecution out of courtroom for incompetance. Black guy still minus a car.

Man arrested for ‘stealing’ own car

BALTIMORE - Baltimore City police have a new crime on the books: Stealing your own car.

Just ask Keith Spence, a Baltimore City resident who was arrested when he was driving home from work in a car he bought with a tax refund.

“I couldn’t believe it was happening,” Spence said.

Spence, 28, said city police pulled him over in his 1993 red Cadillac Elderado coupe for a cracked rear window in February. Four officers dragged Spence and his two passengers from the car and said they were under arrest for stealing it, he said.

“I was listening to the radio from the back seat of the police car. It said a gray Cadillac sedan was stolen; mine is a red coupe. I guess the officer must have been color blind,” he said.

“I tried to tell them it was my car, but they wouldn’t listen.”

Spence and his two friends were arrested, and the car was impounded. Charged with one count of motor vehicle theft, Spence represented himself in court in June.

“I owned the car — I knew it wasn’t stolen,” he said.

Even though Spence had the title proving he owned the car, he said he was cleared of the charges because of the testimony of the owner of the stolen car.

“The whole courtroom fell out — even the judge laughed,” Spence told The Examiner.

Still, police sold Spence’s car at auction two months before his day in court.

Now Spence is without the car it took him a year to buy, and his lawyer, Roland Brown, said he is preparing to sue the city.

“Not only did the police violate my client’s constitutional rights by selling his car before the trial, but the case demonstrates that young black males in this city are blindly targeted by the Baltimore City police,” he said.

Brown said the case also points out problems with the city’s management of stolen vehicles. “You have to question why a stolen car would be sold at all,” he said.

Police spokesman Matt Jablow said police are investigating the incident.

“We’re looking into the circumstances surrounding why the car was sold,” Jablow said.

Spence said he only wants the Cadillac he worked so hard to buy.

“I loved that car.”

 

[taliv]

I wonder if Matt's related to Haywood

 

[rangermonroe]

I am also interested it the thought process that believes that selling the evidence before trial is good for prosecutions.

 

[rangermonroe]

I wonder if Matt's related to Haywood

ROFLMAO!

They are cousins, but by marriage.

 

[beerslurpy]

I am also interested it the thought process that believes that selling the evidence before trial is good for prosecutions.

I think it is more of a policy of treating everyone like toilet paper and mistakenly assuming the judge would go along no matter how sloppy they got.

 

[Warren]

So when they they went to contact the owner of the "stolen" car I wonder what happened.

Did they even try?

Do they routinely sell stolen property before contacting the rightful owner?

Every cop involved should be fired, fined and jailed. The DA who let the charges stand should be disbarred and fined.

The citizens of Baltimore should pay this fellow a sum that at least is mid 6 figures.

I wonder what it would take to disband a police force.

It could happen if enough people think that having a police force is worse than not having one.

That would be an interesting campaign, not only in Charm City but here on THR as well.

 

[Shield529]

That had to be intentional.

Just a brief summary of what I do with a stolen occupied vehicle

1. Stop vehicle for violation.
2.Run plates or VIN and get initial hit.
Sometimes 1-2 is interchangable.
3. CONFIRM as correct vehicle and stolen.
4. upon confimation arrest person.
5. Call owner from scene and ask them to come and get car.
6. If not able to reach impound car with a hold for the owner.

If I made and arrest and impounded a vehicle that did not match in descripton, and I had not confirmed VIN I would be spending at least twenty unpaid vacation days off. Before paying back the owner for his fees.

That was a pure scam. Sadly I expect it from that PD.

 

[longeyes]

Preview of a Pelosi Presidency.

 

[Frog48]

Thats just pathetic. To begin with, the "stolen" car should never have been sold. It should have been returned to the rightful owner. If it really had been stolen, I'm sure the rightful owner would be pissed that his car was not only stolen by a criminal, but then stolen again when the police took custody and sold it without owner's consent.

 

[spartacus2002]

Preview of a Pelosi Presidency.

Why do you say this?

 

[Helmetcase]

(Art's Grammaw was here. DMG)

You might remember the couple from out of town arrested for asking directions? The officer in the case finally had her day in court--the judge cleared the young couple of wrong doing, and the cop was laughed out of court. It was great--they're also going to get to sue the city and take home much taxpayer money.

Part of it is just the bad actors that are getting hired for the job, but that happens everywhere. A BIG part of it is that our fair Mayor, in his rabid bid for the governorship, is putting huge amounts of pressure on the cops to improve arrest figures. They figure if they have everyone in Central Booking, there are fewer people to get shot. So the cops are effecting lots of arrests that shouldn't happen in the first place--as many as 1/3 of all arrests never result in any charges!

Matt Jablow is an idiot who makes Scott McClellan look effective.

 

[Ed Ames]

I wonder what it would take to disband a police force.

Sounds more like grounds for another consent decree al la the LAPD... of course with the current administration that'll never happen.

 

[SigfanUSAF]

When I was 19 or so, me and my wife (g/f at the time) were traveling through northern SC, when we got pulled over by a local Barney Fife. I'm from Maine, this was Barney in every sense of the name. He informed us that we ran over someones dog a few miles back and failed to stop. Note: Yankee attitude and southern cops DO NOT MIX! After asking him why the **** he pulled us over for that, we were told to follow him to his station. My Isuzu was thoroughly checked by two of his comrades while me and my g/f were detained in the gestapo, I mean police, station. Three and a half hours later, the local county police arrived. They had found nothing, no sign that we had hit the dog at all(I would have stopped if I did hit it btw). The County cop informed us that the town actually had a leash law, said he was sorry and told us to go. I realize these two stories are no where near the same magnitude, but I thought I'd share one of my horror stories. If I had more sense, and knowledge of the law at the time, I would have been furious, but being young and stupid, we were just happy to leave.

 

[Molon Labe]

The car was stolen. By the Baltimore PD.

 

[beerslurpy]

Anyone with enough drive and ability to fix the baltimore political situation can exert 1/100th the effort and LEAVE like I did. Which begs the question- who would stay behind and want to run things in the current situation?

Another unfortunate thing I just realized is that disenfranchised voters (homeless people, addicts, felons) all count towards representation even though they can't vote. But the people who live around them will have a disproportionate say in how MD is run overall.

 

[Erebus]

The car was stolen. By the Baltimore PD.

Bingo, the rightful owner should report it stolen as he has a valid title and never signed it over. IF they say it was seized it's clearly a breach of the 4th.

 

[Molon Labe]

Applying Occam's Razor, this is the most likely explanation:

The cops saw a young black guy driving a nice car. They figured he was a drug dealer gansta-type, and decided to rough him up and take his car. The didn't feel bad about doing this, since they figured he bought the car with drug money. Furthermore, they assumed the driver wouldn't do anything about it, since they assumed any investigation would reveal the car was bought with drug money.

So they told him his car was stolen, and took his car. The department then sold the car to one of the cops who originally pulled him over (or to a friend or relative of one of the cops). My guess is that the records will show the car was sold for a very low amount.

It's a scam.

 

[beerslurpy]

What is sad is that a poor black guy driving a 13 year old cadillac will probably spend more in attorneys fees than he will recover in damages. And the officers and prosecutor will get off scot free despite their obvious malfeasance.

There is obviously a serious cancer in the baltimore PD that this wasnt caught and immediately rectified. There are a LOT of people that had a clear opportunity to perceive the officer's wrongdoing and instead turned a blind eye or helped. Where was his supervisor, where was the prosecutor?

Also, who made the policy of selling rather than returning stolen vehicles? This is so obviously illegal, you would think no cop or prosecutor would even contemplate it. You know something is stolen, you know that taking custody of it doesnt grant title to you yet you sell it and pocket the money? This is theft, plain and simple.

 

[longeyes]

the idiot speaks

I didn't mean she would become President--although anything's possible these days--I meant that that surreal and repellent stupidity of this case reflects the Baltimorean subculture of which Mrs Pelosi and her bloodkin are so much a part. I mean, yes, corruption, old world ward-healing, etc. All we have to do is look, hard, at how she "arrived" and who her pals are. Another rocket to stardom.

 

[Blackfork]

Baltimore Police car theft ring

So, would you think this is an isolated incident or happens all the time and doesn't get reported?

 

[Erebus]

So, would you think this is an isolated incident or happens all the time and doesn't get reported?

I doubt this partiicular kind of thing happens all the time. But the Baltimore PD seems to get alot more than it's fair share of well founded complaints.

 

[justashooter]

somebody failed the ishihara test.

 

[Sven]

If it turns out the cop IS colorblind, then at least you can't claim he was profiling.

 

[molonlabe]

This city is run by the same mayor who wants to be governor.

Lord help the people of MD.

 

[AZRickD]

You might remember the couple from out of town arrested for asking directions?

Yes, I do remember. And I recall taking quite a cyber-beating for saying the city would soon make the couple rich. I can't recall if it was this forum or another one.

Let's revive that one, shall we?

Rick