<p>Technically, he was arrested, but apparently allowed to leave on his own recognizance afterward (rather than being required to post bail to get out of jail). Of course, it could certainly be that being allowed to leave on his own recognizance instead of having to post bail could have depended on things other than the crime that he was accused of.</p>
<p>Re: #135</p>
<p>Looks like you found some corruption in the police department and the traffic court… although you were driving too fast for the conditions if you were unable to find a safe path (stop or avoid) in the situation where the roadway was partially obstructed ahead. Be really careful when approaching corners or hilltops where the view around is obstructed. Traffic jams, crashed cars, pedestrians, fallen trees, etc. could be just around those corners or over the hilltops.</p>
<p>The point is, though, the officer lied about having been there in a situation where I was going to get a ticket either way and when I pointed that out I was bullied and belittled. </p>
<p>The judge made it sound like I was taking my life in my hands accusing an officer of perjuring himself. I was afraid to find out what would happen if I didn’t just let it go. What if instead of an $85 first moving violation in 25 years they had said I looked like I had a weapon or smelled like alcohol or anything else?</p>
<p>Saintfan, in the last 15 years, I got involved in two cases where the police officers lied, bold face lied about the situation. Police officer are just as vulnerable to fraud, lying, cheating, stealing as anyone. </p>
<p>My brother had an issue many years ago, where a bunch of police officers lied and issued him a ticket and colluded about it. There are situations where there isn’t a thing you can do when something like that happens.</p>
<p>Now again I want to point out that this was suburban traffic court and I am a middle aged, middle income white woman with no record of any kind including moving violations. I just had a sickening feeling standing there of what it would feel like to have been accused of something worse and to have no recourse. It was Kafkaesque.</p>
<p>Let’s face it, on the morning of 12/14/12, if my son(no record, never been arrested, polite, hard working, mannerly, kind) were standing on a street corner in Newtown, CT along side of Adam Lanza. Who would have been stopped & frisked? Who would have been overlooked?</p>
<p>Point is, the boogie man comes in all colors, shapes & sizes. </p>
<p>Cptofthehoise said “Hayden, the difference is that the one guy did not resist arrest.”</p>
<p>From my post: “He sideswiped a police cruiser and then, in his drunken stupor, tried to resist arrest. He was taken to the police station, but not arrested. He got a ticket.”</p>
<p>I don’t mean to nitpick you, i just want to be clear there are not the differences you’re assuming. </p>
<p>The sad fact is when there is no accountability, there will be no limits. Those police who behave badly and are never punished, will continue the bad behavior. after all, why not? What’s to stop them?</p>
<p>The video is the most incriminating evidence in the Garner case and I’d like to see all police officers have body cameras, although I don’t think it will provide clarity in every instance. In cases like Garner’s, because the video was shot by a bystander we were able to pretty clearly see how things transpired. But if the officer(s) involved were wearing body cameras, what would the videos have looked like? The initial events would pretty much look the same, but what will we see and/or hear from a body camera once they begin wrestling/fighting/running etc? Take your smartphone and video yourself running around your house and see how decipherable the video actually is. I still think it’s a great place to start and could avoid a lot of conflicting testimony issues that don’t escalate though.</p>
<p>Even more useful, IMO, would be to equip every officer with stun guns. I realize they run the risk of being used in an abusive manner the same as guns can sometimes be, but at least it’s usually a non-lethal option. Maybe a lot of these shootings turn out differently if the officers have the option to defuse the situation and subdue a potentially physical altercation with someone before it starts. Anyone who’s watched an episode of Cops can see that in the vast majority of cases a stun gun will pretty much stop most people in their tracks.</p>
<p>FWIW…I watched the video of the officer in Pontiac, MI with the black man with his hands in his pocket. Not sure what everyone else’s take on the video was, but I was very impressed with both the officer and the AA man and how they handled the situation. They were respectful and courteous to each other in what could’ve turned from an aggravating situation into something much worse. I don’t hold the officer at fault for responding to a citizen’s call…but I do take issue with the citizen who assumed the black man was a threat. The officer was doing the job he’s supposed to do and investigating a complaint, and when he discovered it was an unwarranted complaint the situation ended. The AA man was obviously irritated, and rightly so, but he restrained his anger and the situation ended. Although the citizen’s complaint is indicative of the underlying issues that need to be addressed in our country, I actually think the actions of the officer and the AA man are examples of how a potentially volatile situation can be resolved peacefully. And the “dueling cell phone cameras” was an interesting commentary on how far technology has come. </p>
<p>@saintfan, I had a similar incident with a cop lying. He said I “blew through a stop sign”, when I had been crawling, and hadn’t come to a complete stop because that would have left my rear tires on top of the speed bump before the stop sign. There was no one else around. </p>
<p>He ended up giving me a warning but I really, really regretted not having my dash cam on. I have one, but its a PITA and leaves cords everywhere and falls off every so often so I usually don’t use it. Someone needs to invent a simple, remote operated one that just sticks to the back of your rearview mirror so you can protect yourself from all the liars out there. </p>
<p>I’m getting pretty pessimistic about the police situation. I don’t think the answer lies with any mechanical device, although I agree we need them. Those devices become a way to punish susp cats instead of merely subduing them. Think of the cop who casually strolled down the line of kneeling or sitting protestors at one of the California colleges back during the OWS spraying pepper spray directly into their faces. Pepper spray is not supposed to be to hurt people the police aren’t happy with. Same with stun guns. </p>
<p>The only answer is for elected officials to hold police brass accountable, and for police brass to hold the police they supervise accountable. Truly accountable, not just words. Maybe one tactic would be a citizens board of review, not just friendly prosecutors and friendly internal affairs. </p>
<p>Officers equipped with stun guns have also made deadly mistakes (using the real gun instead of the stun gun) when subduing suspects (particularly if there is a struggle or the overall situation is chaotic).</p>
<p>Basically, Staten Island precinct 120 appears to be high in both minor crimes per felony and in complaints against the police per felony. South Bronx precinct 42 is also high in both (and also is a generally higher crime area).</p>
<p>The BART officer who shot Oscar Grant claimed that he thought he was using his taser when in fact he pulled his gun and shot grant in the back while he was on the ground.</p>
<p>The thing that really shook me about my little run in was that the point in question was not open to interpretation. How fast someone appears to be going or whether or not they cam to a complete stop or looked both ways is open to interpretation. Whether you look like you might be thinking about reaching for your waist ban is open to interpretation. This guy said that he was there and saw my accident where in fact he arrive on the scene approximately 5 minutes after the accident. I had crawled out of my vehicle, assessed the situation, regrouped, called my mom to come retrieve the kid and get him to his event, and called my insurance company before the arrival of the officer who said in a sworn statement that he saw my come around the corner.</p>
<p>Let’s not forget that Oscar Grant was also handcuffed. There was a movie made about the last day of his life. I have never been able to bring myself to watch it. </p>
<p>I realize that no solution is going to be perfect, but it seems to me that a combination of the body cams and some form of non-lethal deterrent would at least help to provide clarity and possibly lessen the number of unnecessary shootings.</p>
<p>None of that is a long term solution though. The underlying issues of pre-conceived ideas by some citizens and some police regarding (primarily) AA’s and the pre-conceived ideas that all police officers are power crazed and abusive have no chance of being resolved without honest, thoughtful dialogue between both sides. It’s a very small fraction of both of these groups that feed the overall stereotype, and each of these issues has multiple sub-issues that contribute to the problem. There’s no shortage of things that need to be fixed, and maybe we’ve finally hit the tipping point with cases like Eric Garner and Tamir Rice where everyone can agree that changes can no longer wait. Hopefully we can get the cooler heads from all the communities in our country to get things headed in the right direction. It’s long overdue.</p>