The Threat.
Posted on 03/18/2009 1:45:53 PM PDT by MplsSteve
The Minnesota State Patrol announced today that it has disciplined a state trooper for using her squad car to ram the van driven by a Hudson, Wis., man during a traffic stop in St. Paul on New Year's Eve.
A review board established by the Patrol concluded that while the trooper, Carrie Rindal, had reason for a heightened level of concern, her decision to ram the van was not justified.
The board also found that the driver, Sam Salter, 40, was not "actively intending to flee." Rindal arrested Salter at gunpoint for fleeing police, and took him to the Ramsey County Law Enforcement Center where he was jailed for 37 hours. The Ramsey County attorney's office was presented the case by the patrol in January and declined to prosecute.
The patrol made its announcement in a news release today. The incident was first reported by the Star Tribune in February.
Salter said in an interview that he was never attempting to flee police and wanted to find a safe place to pull over, but there was snow on the shoulder. He was eastbound on Interstate 94 in St. Paul when he saw the trooper's emergency lights. He turned off on U.S. Hwy. 61 and turned right onto Burns Ave. He was pulling over to the side of the road and said he was travelling no more than five miles per hour when Rindal struck his van.
The ramming tactic is called a P.I.T. maneuver, and stands for "pursuit intervention technique" and is used by police to stop fleeing vehicles.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
To me, this cop looked amped up and ready to tangle (with just about anyone) at the slight appearance of non-compliance by the driver.
Comments or opinions - anyone?
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He was going more than 5 mph, but he was certainly NOT evading. He was DEFINITELY slowing down to pull over when he was rammed. A minivan with a bike on top is not a good first choice for a getaway vehicle.
What the heck was that FM music playing at the beginning? Can cops play that stuff while on patrol?
That being said, the camera clearly showed the guy signalling, slowing down, and turning off. This particular cop needs to find another vocation.
Penis envy symptom and corresponding aggro compensation.
Pi...well, SOW!
Or a really bad hair day.
You can see the ice and snow on the highway. They guy just wanted to keep his family from getting smashed to smithereens.
Icy highways are dangerous places to stop and mess around. Cops, of all people, ought to recognize this.
The Threat.
Them is outlaws fer sure. You can tell by the shifty eyes. They’re plannin’ sumthin!
This officer needs more than just additional training. This officer needs to pursue other careers.
Salter's three children, ages 2, 3 and 6 were strapped into the back seats of his Toyota Sienna van at the time of the arrest, shortly before midnight on New Year's eve. His wife picked up the kids while he was transported to jail. He said his van sustained about $2200 in damage as a result of it being hit by Rindal. In late January he was mailed a ticket by the patrol for the improper changing of lanes.
I couldn't believe this back in January when I saw the video. Calling this "poor judgment" is being extremely kind. This was recklessness on the part of the trooper. The only thing she had on this driver was an improper lane change (in a driving snowstorm, IIRC, when the lane markings were probably difficult to make out).
While I do think it's a good idea to perform the PIT maneuver at lower speeds, rather than letting the vehicle accelerate again, this vehicle was already in the process of stopping when the office hit it. And I don't think the PIT maneuver is ever justified by an improper lane change. That's stupid.
See the video - citizen was right - cop was wrong.
You saw a video of it? I was wondering if she just screwed up in the icy/snow conditions, smacked the van as it slowed down in front of her... and made up this story to cover her accident.
But.....but....all you have to do is LOOK at the perp and his lil’ babies and you KNOW they are thieves, killers, and up to no good hanging around town at midnight and all....I think the “lady” cop needs to be fired and put to work in a coal mine in Winnipeg or something.....what a crock of B.S.! Dude should sue the crap out of the Minnesota State Police Dept., and he would collect a ton of cash.
If her PIT had been successful she would have spun him into traffic.
He jumps out of his car (understandably annoyed). Her next response to pull her weapon is okay, he looks combative. What she does next is really dangerous, especially for a female officer. She frisks the guy without cuffing him. If you PIT the guy, you must be planning on arresting him, cuff him first, frisk second. He looked combative (again understandable), she should never have cuffed him standing up. Once she moved up on him, he could have easily whipped around and beat the crap out of her.
This lady is all kinds of screwed up.
This is not a person who should be a police officer. She gives them a real bad name.
The word is civil suit against the police force, the officer, and the city.
She should be sentenced to one year in a hardcore men’s prison as an inmate with no protection whatsoever.
I agree. He had to find a safe place to pull over and the shoulder of the interstate is not the place to do it, judging from the number of people in Mass who are killed every year after doing just that.
Three little kids in the car — he told her that — sure, he was a big time criminal running from the law! They all take a van full of kids with them and slow down to 5 mph when they fleeing the police.
Her behavior was totally out of line. This is one case in which I hope they sue for false imprisonment and I hope the state pays the guy for the damages to his vehicle.
That lady cop had a hate-on.
“She should be sentenced to one year in a hardcore men’s prison as an inmate with no protection whatsoever.”
How many male inmates would she rape?
She appears to be attempting to stop on the ice directly behind the vehicle and slid into him instead of coming to a halt on the non-ice road and then pulling behind slowly.
Of course, maybe this civilian female technique of stopping is now PC and taught to all MN Highway Patrol Officers these days. It appears I'm fortunate I don't have to live in MN from what I see in the video.
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