Posted on 09/22/2007 8:03:54 AM PDT by beltfed308
ST. GEORGE — A police officer who was recorded berating a motorist earlier this month has lost his job.
The board of aldermen voted 5-0, with one member absent, to fire Sgt. James Kuehnlein on Monday. The vote was cast in a session closed to the public and wasn't announced until Wednesday, when a notice was posted at the City Hall of this tiny south St. Louis County community.
In a video that got wide viewership on the Internet, Kuehnlein taunts and threatens motorist Brett Darrow, 20, sometimes shouting and using profanity, after questioning him in a commuter lot near Interstate 55. Darrow posted the footage of the Sept. 7 incident on the web.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
The cop followed Darrow into the lot. He persisted in questioning Darrow when he could've just told him to have a good night. He escalated it by calling for a second officer.
So remind me again how Darrow interfered with the officer...
I did when I was twenty. An idiosyncrasy...it bugs me to no end when other drivers fail to use them.
It was free, but that matters not, because I turned it off for the entertainment value I knew you'd provide for this thread.
Keep it up, as you've even stepped further outside of reality than you normally do.
Damn straight we would.
But police officers are not soldiers, and they are not fighting a war. They are supposed to be professional public servants, rather than union thugs.
-snip-
We should not allow this Officer to be the Scape Goat and instead demand that our legislative bodies change the laws related to this.
What do you think should have happened to Kuehnlein?
Great thread.
Law enforcement uses sting ops all the time to snare those who would not appear to be engaging in illegal or unethical behaviors. Who is it that monitors the police? Internal affairs??
As the ultimate "employer" of the police, the citizenry must be vigilant to the performance of their public servants: Police and politicians and others.
If only by snaring the "servants" in webs of dubious design, then so be it.
Yes, that's me - combatting lies and nonsense when it is spread by people like you with those stubborn facts and common sense.
You are the one that started this. You stated that this guy should be forced to plubicly apologize to the officer - not the other way around. You have a very warped sense of morality if you truly believe that. Then you state that he deliberately used his turn signal to try to set up the police officer and entrap him. It doesn't get much more ridiculous than that.
Shew - talk about seeing reality completely in reverse.
Definitely time to clean house in your Police Department.
Those guys are a danger to themselves and others.
A defense attorney will make a complete hash out of any case they present on almost any crime.
Best regards,
Long overdue. In New Hampshire, 2nd Amendment Activists have set up something called Porcupine 411 to broadcast(internetcast) and archive encounters they have with the Police when they (legally) open carry their sidearms.
Best regards,
I can not share your protective view of LEOs. If anything they should be more open to civilian scrutiny, not less.
What I saw/heard/read was a citizen do what was requried and nothing more. A pattern I have followed for many years myself. Its not goading, its how all such encounters should be done. While a LEO is free to ask any questions he likes we as citizens have no requirement to answer those outside the LEO's authority. If the LEO can not handle that and stay professional, he has no business wearing a bade.
I saw a thread about exactly that about a month ago. Some fellow had called the porcupine network, and someone showed up almost immediately with a camera. The cops weren't pleased.
Figures, Mr. “No cop can do wrong (unless there’s irrefutable public video of him).” I would expect you to say nothing else. You are a disgusting waste of protoplasm, bobby. You are a statist lackey and I hope they have some of their boot polish in a flavor you like.
here's my thing with the kid:
he used a scanner to find a place where he knew he would be suspicious and there would be a cop there to stop him. he's intentionally using police resources for illegitimate means. i know what you are going to say. "if this was a bad cop then it's a good thing this kid caught him."
well, yes and no. the kid set this situation up so the interaction wasn't a random phenomenon which most cars stops are. if a reasonable person was in the lot for a legit purpose and the cop approached them, the citizen might understand what the cop meant about checking out suspicious cars and done their best to cooperate with the officer.
however, since the kid set this whole thing up he had no intention of cooperating.
that being said, the cop did wrong. and he was fired. so doesn't that tell you the system works?
the issue i take with you is that you said the cop was 100% wrong and the kid 100% right.
the officer's initial action was correct and the kid's intent was to catch an officer in a bad position by setting up the meeting. so, IMHO, the officer did some right and the kid did some bad. fair enough?
robert, i pinged you because you are getting as slammed as i am on this thread. do you agree with the assessment?
There is no evidence that he used the scanner to "set up" anythiing. Prior posts have indicated that it was off and that the dept in question does not use police radios.
Try again and remember that this is not a real cop shop we are taking about.
My video camera is on all of the time. I even posted this back in Jan. 07 in another thread.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1761977/posts?page=640#640
“The camera is ALWAYS rolling while I drive my car at night now and most of the time during the day. The reason for this is because I’ve had my rights trampled numerous times even while kissing a$$. I’ve also had officers just make up reasons to stop me (straight up lie about what I did) because I was young, it was late, and they were looking to search a car without probable cause. I’ve tried asserting my rights, but have been threaten with arrest (like I was here) and told it would be the officers’ word vs. mine”
This situation is just another reason why. Do you think I’m the only young person that has had problems with the police? I’m sure all the others that don’t have a tape of their bad dealings with the police are lying, right?
I figured if I had the 5 minutes of driving up until this point, 75% of people would have just shut it off.
I’ve looked at it, but it doesn’t appear to be fast enough to stream a decent picture. I’m still exploring some options and another type of system that should protect me for now has been put in. Send me a private message.
Come on. Read the transcript in post #8 - the cop was nice to the kid, even saying "please", until the kid starting giving him a hard time.
Sure, the cop went overboard, but can't you at least be honest as to who was provoking who?
The point is, I thought it was odd he did so.
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