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 ...
Yep. Just as I am nauseated by the idea that someone believes a gentle little bunny should have to sit there and take it.
Personally, I would expect the bunny to react. But that doesn't mean I condone what the bunny does.
So, sorry, I don't see the contradiction.
Read it yourself in post #8. The kid is mouthing off and being a jerk.
Oh yeah, people never antagonize, smart off, or talk crap to people in law enforcement, and only do so when armed with cameras.
Do you ever stop and think before you type?
Actually, they aren’t in a steel lock box. The officers have complete control over their 7 tapes.
Don't you start with me, punk! Oh, sorry. For a minute there I thought I was a St. Louis cop.
"He could've approached with a "Hi, everything OK?" if he felt the need to approach at all."
Yeah, you're right. I mean, if he was nice about about it, the kid might have been more cooperative, right? Something like:
1:07
Officer #1: How we doin? What’s going on?
Brett: Nothing.
Officer #1: Why you parkin here?
Brett: Can’t I park here? It’s a commuter lot right?
Officer #1: Yeah, but we have problems after midnight time. People break into cars. You got any ID on you?
Brett: Yeah, I do.
Officer #1: Can I see it please?
Brett: Did I do something wrong?
OK. Who's being nice? Who's explaining themselves?
And who's being the a$$hole?
"Without a clear reason to suspect something illegal"
The cop had reasonable suspicion. He even explained why to the punk (though he didn't have to).
You seem to have lots of other answers. I was hoping maybe you'd tell me why the punk was there?
Yea, that entire pesky 'honor a persons Constitutional rights' thingy is so last century....
The kid was doing absolutely nothing wrong. Nothing.
The cop got off easy by only being fired. He should have been prosecuted under 18USC242.
Now this City needs to be sued until it's bankrupt. Maybe that will teach the citizens to hold its Mayor and Police Chief accountable for their actions.
God I hate bad cops more than just about anything else.
Mostly I hate bad cops because I count several good cops among my circle of friends.
People appear to be so SMART when doing so.
Unlike people who defend crooked cops. They don't just appear to be @$$holes, they are @$$holes.
L
Viewed through the lens of the cynical hubris of a professional bureaucrat, I imagine is is.
Knowing nothing else about this case, it sounds like they are trying to protect themselves here, not the public. You need to answer the question: do police (and other public servants) have 4th and 5th amendment protection from the public that they serve? If you believe they do, that's fine, we will know where you stand on the issue (we are their servants not vice versa). If not, then you need to stop calling this a case of the citizen entrapping the police. Because clearly, without the camera, the kid would have had no protection from trumped up charges.
The officer’s comment about the crime rate in that area was a LIE!
And yes he should honor my constitutional right to be in a public place at a legal time and in a legal manner.
Joseph, it is actually not in St. George, but in unincorporated St. Louis County. Even Chief Uhrig told me this.
Just what I was thinking.
My abbreviated way of saying "an area where a recent rash of break-ins by car thieves occured to cars parked in that lot". Better? Or do you know people who actually live there and have statistics showing that these break-ins did not occur? Maybe the cop was parked there to catch some shut-eye, huh?
"He was there to meet a friend."
Who never did show up.
"It is a public 24 hour lot (also mentioned) so he did have a reason to be there"
Sure. And we have public parks on the south side of Chicago that are open 24 hours. Maybe you'd like to exercise your constitutional rights to visit one at 2am?
"and he is Constitutionally right to ask why he was being delayed."
He was parked! What do you mean "delayed"? "Delayed" from doing what?
It was constitutionally proper for the cop to ask the questions he did, given the circumstances. The kid was evasive, adding to the cop's suspicion.
"You are being rhetorically slaughtered."
Not by you. Not by anyone.
Socialism is a political disease, and as we see, it has even infected some here at FR.
Gee, I don't know. Should we take the word of a disgraced and fired cop or the statistics from the State of Missouri's website.
Tough call...
Okay as far as my friend is concerned...
There have been lots of misquotes and just things said out of the blue in the media and online about why I was there.
I had ethics class that night until 10PM with a friend. Her and I went back to her house (very close to school) to start working on a paper about the harm principle. I left her house at about 1AM. After I got home, I realized I didn’t have my cell phone. I called her and asked if she could meet me somewhere so I could get it back. She agreed. We talked about meeting in a shopping center lot that was almost directly in the middle of us, but I thought we might get trouble from the police or security so I said we should meet in the commuter lot since it’s open 24/7.
I live about 5 minutes away from it and she lives about 15 away. I left right away, but she had to get out of bed before taking off.
I obviously got there before she did and that is when I had the dealing with the officer. As soon as I was aloud to leave, I called my friend on her cell phone with my mom’s cell phone I had taken with me. I told her not to come to the parking lot (she was about 2 miles away), but to instead just go back to her house and I would meet her there. I didn’t want to go to any other parking lots after that incident.
Chief Uhrig has talked to this girl and confirmed the story.
I hope that clears some questions up.
So you’re saying that it’s not possible that a recent rash of break-ins by car thieves occured to cars parked in that commuter parking lot?
Good on you, Brett. Government tyranny never rests - history has well taught us this.
And welcome to Free Republic. We can always use more Freepers with the innards to publicly confront that tyranny.
Well I do in fact ALWAYS use turn signals. I take driving very seriously.
Even if I did not, Everyone knows while going through St. George, you always follow the rules of the road. That includes making sure your license plate lights are functional, because if they are not, you’ll get stopped and get a ticket.
Ah, but there's the distinction. I only expect bad cops to react if someone acted like a smart a$$; you evidently expect all cops to react. A case of projection, I suspect. Just because you're unable to restrain yourself, don't assume everyone else lacks that ability.
Can you even read? Here, I'll type real slow. "THIS KID would never have been so stupid as to antagonize the officer."
Not "people". Not "everyone" THIS KID. Got it?
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