HeiBlog

While I was visiting my parents over the Thanksgiving holiday a good friend and I hung out a bit. I don’t get back to the hometown that much any more, so part of our reunions is us driving around and my friend showing what was changed in the last year, homes or areas he’s found interesting, etc. Mostly it’s just us chatting and getting caught up. For certain our activities are not a threat to society. One evening we were just driving around, checking out some new development in the township next to where we grew up. We didn’t know that we’d get a chance to meet the townships finest dick. What should have been a few simple situation as turned into a incident by failings of observation, attitude, and non-professionalism.

My friend and I came up on what should have been a typical intersection in Lancaster County. Four-way stop with signs, no signal, and no officer in the intersection. So, what are you supposed to do at a stop sign? Stop, right? Well that’s what we did. We even waited for some other cars to go through the intersection and wait for a car that was across the intersection to signal us to go by flashing their lights (even though they had the right-of-way since they had stopped before us).

We were signal a left turning left to we turned left. Any car that is on the side of the intersection that we were turning to, would need to be in the intersection a bit to see on coming traffic and since there is no shoulder anybody turning would would need to turn wide. My friend didn’t see a car on our left before he started to turn, but did in time to avoid it. He also noticed that it was a police cruiser. By my memory they were far out into the intersection and my friend remembers that the car was in motion. So, we avoided an accident. Anybody in that vehicle would have been taken aback, but most people would just be thankful and drive on. But, if you’re a cop you could do something about it.

Now, to recap. We stopped, then turned, and had to adjust our turn avoid a cop car. Simple.

My friend comments, “He’s going to pull us over.” “You think,” I respond. Then we see the police lights over the small hill after the intersection. The officer approached our vehicle and asked to see my friend’s license and registration. When the officer did not tell him why he had been stopped over my friend asked why and the officer stated that he had failed to stop at a stop sign. My friend tried to explain his perspective. From his body language I could tell that the cop was not interested. A few minutes pass and the officer became agitated, cut my friend off, and headed back to his car saying “whatever.” Since when does a cop say “whatever” after he pulled over.

When the officer returned he finished filling out the citation and motioned slightly for my friend to sign. My slight I mean that it could have been misinterpreted as a figet. Again, my friend respectfully tried (addressing the officer as “Sir”) to make his point. He was understandably irritated, but he was still speaking at a normal level. The officer motioned again for him to sign the citation and when my friend did not respond the cop stated that he had refused to sign the ticket. “I’ll sign the sign the ticket,” said my friend but added that he wanted to explain himself before he did. At this point the officer became more argumentative and criticized my friend’s abilities to drive in general, especially through a 4-way stop and pointed out that my friend could have involved him in an accident. More dialogue was exchanged, but I do not recall the details. At the end the officer was clearly agitated, stated that the citation was refused, tore it off of his pad, tossed it toward the car, and started to walk back to his vehicle.

I had a question about my role as a witness to the incident and said “Officer, may I ask a question?” He responded in an aggressive tone, “Leave now or the cuffs come on” and walked back to his vehicle without further discussion.

The first part of that story seems pretty normal. The cop was mistaken, but we have no idea what he saw. From some of the things he said my best guess is that he was in a hurry, didn’t see us in the intersection and thought the flashing light signal was yielding to him. Then he sees a car coming from his right, almost crashes into it and gets pissed off. Even if he came to the intersection the same time we did, he should yield to his right. Which means we go first.

In talking with a lawyer we found out that an officer who pulls you over really doesn’t have to explain himself. For this type of offense they can just give you the ticket with no discussion or explanation. We initiated a discussion with the officer and he probably did like his authority being questioned. I would think it would be good practice to give the person you pulled over a chance to explain themselves, at least so that it was clear that they knew all of their rights. Hell, you might even be able to get them to admit to something else that you could cite them for. Our officer was not in the talking mood.

The end part of the interaction was uncalled for. You don’t threaten arrest just because somebody requests permission to ask a question, at least not in the USA. There are many ways that could have been handled. At least he gave us a warning and didn’t pull his weapon. We were questioning his observation and decision, but I don’t think we did it in a disrespectful manner.

In the end the cop always thinks he’s right and will use his authority to enforce that fact. I’m reminded of the video clip that I saw where a police officer thinks a fast food drive-through cashier short changed him. In the end the officer wants take the teenage girl to the station, she wants to wait for her mother and ends up getting pepper sprayed. Now are little interaction didn’t go that far thankfully, but the thought still did occur to us that it might be interesting to take the officer up on his offer and make him look like a complete dick in front of the district magistrate at our arraignment hearing.

I never, ever want to be on the short end of a cop’s temper. I don’t care how well trained or dedicated to their duty they are. They are human beings and prone to mistakes and errors; ups and downs, just like the rest of us. In their little circles (as with other others) the have a status of infallibility which I feel is inappropriate and dangerous. At least our judiciary has the potential to be separate and impartial. Other places in the world can’t claim that. They serve a necessary function in our society and can be very effective at keeping peace and order. For myself I’m going to make sure that I’m not someone they feel the need to exert force over.