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 ...
The story continually refers to “her” and “she”, as though it were a female officer doing all of this.
I didn’t see a female in the video, is there another one? LOL
I’ll accept the review board’s decision. It was just a bad decision - not a cop-hate-crime. I still think, after two-turn-offs, it looked like he was luring a cop to a secluded place. But, I don’t think female cops are very effective anyway.
/dripping sarcasm
Letter of reprimand? Is that all? Typical Minnesota lack of professionalism. LEO’s here in Texas (I’m visiting family at this time) have seen this video, and have heard other tales about Minnesota. Minnesota cops are considered a laughingstock down here.
Seriously? I hadn’t heard that before.
The only story I’ve heard was from a PI in Florida who told me, that from his excperiences and anectodally, that Minneapolis cops are corrupt and thuggish.
From my own personal experiences, if you ever wanna see law enforcement that behaves in an asinine, heavyhanded or capricious manner, you should head to Florida.
Just about any part of Florida too.
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