Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 07/07/2015 1:35:17 PM PDT by Theoria
DaJuawn Wallace said he didn't stop immediately when prompted by police at 2 a.m. Feb. 19 because he was taught to pull into a well-lit and safe area before doing so.
The Detroit native who is a commuter student pursuing a master's degree at Saginaw Valley State University believes he did not commit a crime, since he pulled over in a Sam's Club parking lot about 1.5 miles up the road from where police activated their lights.
The Saginaw County prosecutor's office disagrees, however. Wallace faces one felony count of fleeing and eluding.
"I live in Detroit, and I know some people who were robbed by fake police officers," Wallace said. "I was taught to find a well-lit area to pullover in."
Wallace said he was making a store run to get medicine for his girlfriend when he saw headlights in his rearview mirror, accelerating behind him.
Wallace signaled and moved into the right lane to let the vehicle pass. The police car activated its lights and sirens to initiate a traffic stop.
"I was not speeding up, turning off my lights or trying to get away," said Wallace, 24.
Police dash-cam video shows Wallace sticking his hand out the window and signaling. He said he did so to show police that he was going to pull over in the Sam's Club parking lot.
'No attempt to pull over and stop'
Saginaw Valley State University Police Officer Leon Wilson wrote in his police report that he initiated a traffic stop on Wallace because his vehicle fit the description of a car that he observed driving on a sidewalk on the SVSU campus. Wilson lost sight of the vehicle.
(Excerpt) Read more at mlive.com ...
He had a little bit too much to think!
If the cam backs him up, he should get off and get an apology.
I’m with the kid on this one. I don’t blame him one bit for pulling over in a parking lot.
Many years back, a copy tried to pull my (very strong willed) sister over in rural Georgia. She kept driving several miles until she got to a well lit gas station, where she finally pulled over. The cop was furious. My sister then refused to roll the window down until he got a female police officer to the scene, because “how did she know he was really a cop?”. Not quite sure how she got away with all of that, but she did.
D@mned if you do, d@mned if you don’t.
Police procedure if there is more than one officer, for one to shout “Don’t move your hands!” and the other to shout “Show me your hands!”
Then when they pump the confused citizen full of lead, they can say: “He brought it on himself - he didn’t follow police instructions!”
Sounds reasonable to me.
Just from observation, cops really hate it when the “civilians” know their rights AND exercise them.
The prosecutor's office is not the cops.
Pulling over in a well lit area seems like it would be good for the cop’s safety as well.
Reading the article I can see both sides but for the authorities to demand acceptance of a plea that would lose the accused job rights is stupid. Once the police and DA have determined that his actions were innocent and that he was apparently not the one being sought, would not a simple warning about not continuing to drive be sufficient?
They exchange comments and the cop simply tells him good luck in the future and the kid telling him be safe and they part ways.
This isn't even a real cop. He's a campus rent a cop. Can't believe he's facing a potential felony over this.
I did something similar.
Was speeding on a busy state highway.
I made a right turn on a side road that had no traffic.
The officer came to my window. First thing he said was “did you think you could get away by going down this road?”
Yikes.
My advice: just pull over. It is too easy for the officer to misinterpret your actions.
Those guys love writing a ticket for backing into a parking stall.
I was at a safety workshop help by a Michigan State Police trooper who said that this is what you should do in situations like this. Granted, this was probably about 20 years ago, and he may have also mentioned stopping at a police station. But if you have no idea where one is, than this seems like a sensible place to stop.
A few years ago there has been a problem in Houston with fake cops pulling bogus traffic stops in the dark, in fact one punk tried to pull the same with me (I ignored him since HPD has no subcompacts in their fleet). I asked an HPD sergeant about this.
1. HPD does not use unmarked vehicles for traffic enforcement (this was in 1997).
2. Still when in doubt, stop at a clearly lit location - gas station, convenience store, etc. The officer may not like it at first, but HPD was aware of the fake cop problem.
That was the response that I got from HPD.
“how did she know he was really a cop”
There are some places where this is really a concern.
No, it’s not.
I’m also pretty sure that Sam’s Club isn’t on university property. If the rent a cop was so concerned, he should have notified the real police who’s jurisdiction he was in.
Crime Of The Century!
It's a wonder they didn't scramble a helicopter and the SWAT team!
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