Fla. deputy suspended
 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/nation...Suspended.html


This is a classic case, gung ho and don't take the time to listen. How hard is it to ask what is wrong before beinf a bully.

I say to bad for the cop.....the girl was doing nearly double the speed limit AND drove away while he was writing a ticket. I can related to being scared for her loved ones, but her actions did not help her father one bit, all she did was jeopardize the safety of others by getting behind the wheel in such an erratic state.

It's like the Rodney King story.....all anyone talked about was the beating, forget the man was in a stolen car, speeding, running from the police with crack cocaine in his possession (probably high too) and refused to get on the ground when ordered multiple times by multiple officers.

The girl may have made some mistakes but if the officer would have given her time to explain then he could have escorted her to the hosipital. No he says he did not believe her story, something he could have checked over the radio. Escort her to the hosiptal, if she lied then take her to jail. But what do you think she would feel if she finally arrived to find him dead. I'm sure [me included] have driven fast in an emergency than I would have normally. I have done before when time is limited. My brother got bite by a copperhead in the arm. I did what I had too to get him to the hosiptal. If a officer had stopped me, I would have to him I had an emergency and to meet me at the ER. I would expect for the officer to have some compassion.

I'm with you, Pie. If I were a cop that pulled a speeder over and was given an emergency case as the excuse, it doesn't take a psychic to read the look in their eye and know it is serious. It doesn't take much time or compassion to escort the person to the hospital to check things out. He is a public servant, for goodness sake! This cop obviously has an ego problem.

If I were this woman and this ignorant cop caused me to miss the death of a loved one, I would have his badge on my desk or his arm on my wall.

The girl didn't have a legitimate reason for speeding nor was she in need of an escort. Her father was already at the hospital and unless she's a doctor, she wouldn't have been any help nor would she be allowed to see him if his condition was indeed critical.
If the father drove himself to the hospital, then there's no reason for the police to have prior knowledge of the event. Therefore I suspect verification would have taken longer than just accepting the ticket. Instead, she drove away, compounding the problem exponetionally.

As I indicated above, if his condition was that critical, she would not have been allowed to see him immediately upon her arrival anyway.
That's my point, SHE wasn't in an emergency nor did she have anyone in her car that was in an emergency.
Again, SHE did not have anyone in the car with her that was in an emergency situation. Her father was already at the hospital.

When a person is dealing with a life or death situation they don't think straight. We don't know if the father drove hisself.


Look at this:
http://worldandnews.blogspot.com/200...on-way-to.html

>all anyone talked about was the beating,

Depends on what "anyone" you're talking about. It's all the Sharptons of the world talked about. Anybody with sense knew better.

The video shows her telling the deputy that her father had suffered a heart attack and had driven himself to the emergency room.

From your first link....

Now I agree 100% the girl probably was not thinking straight, hence my comment about her getting behind the wheel in such an erratic state. However, that "shouldn't" excuse her for speeding and "running" from the police in a non emergency situation.

I should be excused for my bad behavior because I wasn't thinking straight.


Granted, I wasn't thinking straight because I had 14 beers.

Even if he did drive himself that doesn't make it any less important. My father 2 years ago drove hisself to the hosiptal to have surgery and the whole time he was having a stroke and did not know it. His surgery was cancelled because of the stroke. Just this past Christmas he was driving and was having a heart attack. This was on a Friday. Saturday they transported him to a town 1 hour away. They found out 4 arteries were clogged. They worried about him having another heart attack in the ambulance. When he got there they had to heart by-pass on him. Do you think I worried about speed when i was 2 hours away and not knowing what was happening.

I didn't say it wasn't important, I sad the girl wasn't in an emergency situation nor was anyone in her car.
Do you think shaving 30 minutes off your arrival time made any difference in the health of your father or did you just needlessly endanger your life and the life of anyone else who just happened to be sharing the road with you that day?

Like I said, I understand what you are saying, and under the same circumstances I'm sure my actions would be identical, but that doesn't make it right or legal.

Let us not forget... that cops hear ALL SORTS OF STORIES as to why someone is speeding.. ALL DAY LONG. She could have saved them all some time by pulling over immediately.. and calmly telling her story.

Not to mention, no matter the cirumstance, driving like a maniac, only puts others in jeapordy.

I completely understand.. and under the same circumstance, I'd be driving like a bat out of hell as well. But I wouldn't drive so completely crazy as to risk injury to myself or others (hopefully) and if I cop tried to pull me over, it wouldn't do me any good to try and OUT RUN them. All you can hope for is to pull over immediately.. try to calmly tell your story, and hope and the cop is forgiving enough to let you go. But if you start cussin' out the cop, and acting irrational, they aren't going to care what your story is.

I admit that peeling out of there out of impatience wasn't smart, but I also know cops CAN check the story out before jumping to conclusions. If the police don't have knowledge of the situation, they can call the hospital.

It's true they hear these excuses all the time, but they shouldn't blow them off as lies every single time. SOME of these stories are true, so they must check them out! Look into the woman's eyes and ask yourself if she is lying! If you can't tell, check it out yourself.

The cop is going to be suspended because he acted hastily and didn't do his job to serve the public properly.

But that's what i'm saying we all would drive like a bat out of hell. It might not be right, I agree. You can drive a little faster without driving reckless. Why do you automatically say you are driving irrationally. if you are speeding to the hospital. As for my father 30 minutes could have made a difference if it didn't the ambulance would not have worried about his heart quitting before they got him there. Sure Iwas not in the ambulance but if I jacked around that could have been 30 minutes I might have had time with him. If a person is about to die they let the family stay with them. They don't seperate the family. No one knows that but the doctor, but if you don't know what is about to happen you will not be thinking straight. Why couldn't the officer offer to check it out for her on the radio, give her piece of mind. You never know when someone is going. The mind does wonders on a person during stress. Besides where the officer stopped her they were in the parking lot of the hosiptal. Why didn't the officer follow her in and check it out, then ticket her.

Also it tells the charges were dropped against the woman under the circunstances.

1. It's not the job of the street cop to investigate the story of every or any perp.
2. verifying her story would have taken more time than accepting the ticket.
1. It's not the job of the street cop to investigate the story of every or any perp.
2. verifying her story would have taken more time than accepting the ticket.
He's not being suspended for acting quickly or ignoring her excuse. He's being suspended for use of excessive force and apparently she has the bruises to prove it.

It is his job to issue citations to and/or arrest legitimate perps, a label that is applied AFTER the cop ascertains the legitimacy of the crime. Street cops ARE required to hold minor investigations when the need arises in order to legitimize citations and arrests before making them. If a street cop receives a report of an intruder in your home, they must go and investigate before making any arrests.

Also, it would have been MOST quick if the cop would've just heard the words "emergency room" and escorted the woman there to legitimize her story before writing the stupid ticket.

The girl was wrong on somethings but to use excessive force is not. The article say the officer now knows it could have been handled differently. You can look in someone's eye and see despair or fear. That should have told the officer something, he is trained to look at people actions. Also there was no need to slam her against the car when she was pleading with the officer to let her see her dad. That just plain sounds heartless on the officer's behalf. Would he have wanted to see someone treat his child that way or would he hope that the officer has enough compasion to know the difference between trying to con an officer or being truthful about the situation.

Radar gun clocked her speeding, there is no excuse where the law is concerned.
Or she could have obeyed the law, not endangered the lives of anyone else on the road, not gotten a speeding ticket, not been physically abused, and actually have seen her father that night instead of going to jail.

Yes, Brain, she could have, but that would also be the attitude of a heartless cop who has no sympathy for extenuating circumstances, HENCE where he was wrong.

No, he was "wrong" for using excessive force, something his training should have taught him to over come (or at least you hope it does). The girl obviously wasn't "fighting" him therefore there shouldn't be any reason for him to use a level of force that resulted in bruising.

Hopefully someone you love won't get shot while some cop is checking out the story of a speeder and then provide a police escort in a nonemergency situation, instead of doing his job

That's where cops have to learn priority. Put yourself in the cop's position. If I were a street cop and in the process of citing a speeder or even investigating the need for a citation and a call comes in about a shooting that happened nearby, BELIEVE ME when I say SCREW THE TICKET! I'm going to let the speeder go right then and there and go help out at the shooting.

If I were the one shot, then I would expect the nearby cop to do this as well. Let the speeder go because there are bigger fish to fry now.

However, this is a hypothetical situation that was NOT the case here. This cop was not in any hurry to get to another scene. He had all the time he needed to check out this woman's story if he were willing to take it. And I believe he SHOULD have taken it.

Well, I suppose you're right about the priorities....bad example on my part.

....but what it seems like is that you are promoting the "good ole boy system" that has corrupted our state for decades, without even realizing it.

You're advocating allowing people to break the law based on the excuse they provide.

It's not the good ole boy position has much as the officer should have been trained to interpret her begging has none threatening to him but concern for a love one. The amount of force is inexcusable. I mean she was not violent.

I agree, and he should be held accountable for his actions too. I mean they've got him on camera. However, that should not excuse HER for speeding and then "running" from the police, but all the charges were dropped against her.

Speeding, I'll give you that, but we are all guilty of that and somtimes it isn't even an emergency. Just every day driving. I try not too, but you know how it goes. As far as her running from the officer, no, she was not running from him delibertly, just trying to find her dad. She knew he was suppose to drive hisself maybe she was trying to make sure he made it. She was looking for his car.

Yes I too am guilty of speeding from time to time, but I have never driven away from the police.

As far as her "deliberately" running or not? Didn't she deliberately put her car in gear and deliberately drive away from the scene and deliberately refuse to stop again until she got to the hospital? My personal opinion, a cop should have been allowed to shoot the perp at this point regardless of the crime. Flight from an officer equals guilt every single time.

I'm sorry, Piemaker720, but you cannot (or we should not, apparently they can) allow people to get away with breaking the law simply because their actions took place during an extreme emotional state....after all, you aren't willing to let the cop slide for man-handling her because of HIS emotional state, are you?

I have been reading this entire thread.After reading I think that the lady did the wrong thing. You do not run from the police and had she taken her ticket she could have gone on to the hospital and talk to the judge later. There are to many crack heads out there with sob stories and others trying to cover up something in there vehicle to just take her word. NEVER fight with the police and certainly not over a speeding ticket :nono:

That depends on how you look at it. The cop is getting a 5 day vacation startin May 22, so you could say they did let him slide.

I will say that in her position, I would NOT have driven off while the cop was writing the ticket. That was kinda dumb.

I first saw this story on GMA yesterday. I was appalled by the lack of compassion the police office exhibited right from the start when the woman tried to tell him her situation. I was even further disturbed to see the force he used on her when he finally pulled her out of the car. She was not a large woman and she was not combative at that point. The brute force he used in slamming her to the car was totally unneccesary and just his reacting to the situation and his own anger. He was wrong at this point for the use of force on a woman.

The woman though was also wrong for initially running from him. She should have just him write the ticket and hurried on her way. Instead the whole situation escalated because she kept running. I don't believe all the charges against her should have been dropped but it's easy to tell they were dropped because of the threat of lawsuit. There is always time to court and explain your situation after the ticket has been issued. She would have even had the hospital records to prove her case. BUT the police office could have taken the time to verify her story or listen to it. He obviously must have a parent and knows he would do exactly the same thing as her in her situation. He could have even helped her look for her father. We are all still humans at this point and still need to have some compassion for one another.

>BUT the police office could have taken the time to verify her story or listen to it.

He really shouldn't have. He should have treated her just like anyone else that flees police after getting caught breaking the law.

Suspended for a week without pay isn't a vacation, it's punishment. In fact, for someone like me who's paying for a house/car/student loans/all of the bills/insurance/taxes, etc, by myself....it would be a pretty severe blow indeed....all because SHE did something everyone seems to agree was dumb and the cop lost his temper and treated her like a man resisting aresst instead of a grief stricken woman.

He admitted to not believing the story. He lost his objective views due to the feeling he lost his power over the people. He now is a liabilty to that city because there will be a settlement I'm sure. Police officers are not the best paid, however, they seem to get a lot of perks citizens do not get. He definitly be held accountable for his actions. Just imagine if you were needing an emergency specialist required surgery and that doctor got stopped by this cop. Life or death is now in the hands of the power trippin' cop!!!!

That woman was on tv this morning saying she was sorry and she was just frieghten for father. She even said the officer had reason to stop her. She could have been on the tv bad mouthing him badly. ?But she wasn't

I know from being a female I tend to react with emotions first and foremost...(I'm sure I'm not speaking for all females here) but I would haul booty too if I thought a loved one was in need or about to die!! I would want to be there ASAP to do anything at all possible for the patient or extended family etc. Men usually are more analytical therefore react more calmly than those of us that react to the "heart" and thinking as caregivers we could be of immediate help to someone. :hug:

Uhhh I know a doctor who has been stopped on the way to the hospital for an emergency. It was not a lie. It was a real emergency. They don't care but I bet he would have if it was his parent or sister or mother or child laying their in a critical situation needing that doctor. I am quite sure he'd want them to speed and get their fast.

Of coarse they would. But only us women over react. Us poor little things

On the other hand....how many of us women have cried or manipulated our way out of a ticket?:eek:

Never. I have always taken my medicine, but then I have only had one speeding ticket when I was 18.

Yes, Isaac, that was just 11 years ago!!!!!!!!!!:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: