Posted on 05/01/2013 9:18:08 AM PDT by Altariel
ames Eades of Augusta is charged with obstruction of a police officer, stemming from an incident during Operation Thunder, but he says there is much more to the story than that.
Eades says that he and a friend were driving down Alexander Drive early Friday morning when they came to an Operation Thunder Checkpoint on River Watch Parkway. What happened during that stop lead to Eades getting arrested... and he says it's all because he didn't roll down his window all the way
"We saw what appeared to be an accident scene. A couple of police cars with blue lights, a car carrier and a couple of cars sitting around with no lights on," says Eades.
James Eades says he pulled a u-turn to avoid what could be a traffic delay, but as it turns out, the police presence wasn't from a car accident, it was actually an Operation Thunder checkpoint. So when officers saw Eades turning around, they went after him.
"When he turned his blue lights on I immediately pulled over to the side of the road, put my window down about halfway," says Eades.
Eades says the officer told him to roll down his window all the way. He says he didn't want to roll it down anymore than it already was, and that's when the officer told Eades he was obstructing his investigation.
"I think in this instance the guy didn't want to let the window down, didn't want to talk to the officer and didn't want to give him the information. So when you don't give the information you can be charged with obstruction on a traffic stop," says Lt. Amelio Lamkin of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office.
Eades says he was arrested and charged because he didn't roll a window down. He says he wasn't doing anything illegal, he was just protecting himself. But police say you have to cooperate with officers during traffic stops.
If you come to a road block, police say the best thing to do is to roll down your window all the way, put both of your hands on the steering wheel, and if you have to look inside of your glove box, make sure you let the officer know that before you do so.
Avoiding a road block is a big no-no and if you do so, you will be pulled over. Eades says Operation Thunder is nothing but an intimidation game in Richmond County.
"It's obviously to cite and arrest as many people as possible, and to raise as much revenue as possible," says Eades.
But the Sheriff's Office says it's about safety
"Our overall goal is to lower the number of crashes, lower the number of injuries and lower the number of fatalities in Richmond County," says Lamkin.
Eades says his bond was $1,300 and he says his court date is set for June 20th, where he will fight the charges.
As for the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, Operation Thunder will continue through May and as of right now, Lieutenant Lamkin says traffic fatalities are down 23%.
Law enforcement for revenue purposes only.
These cops, just a few of the 80% that give the rest a
bad name.
Interesting name for an “Operation” that is supposed to be about traffic safety. These operation code names are code names given to offensive military actions which is essentially what the new up and coming police state is about.
A friend of mine and I were stopped by a deputy one evening, amny years ago. The deputy played the “Do you know why I stopped you?” game. My friend, the driver, said he might have been going a little quick. The answer actually was we had a tail light out. The prize was a ticket for both speeding and a non-working tail light.
Cops are not necessarily your friend, especially with what government is becoming. They do not necessarily share your ideals and agenda.
Those settlements and fines need to start coming out of the offending officers pension.
This crap would stop over night...
I remember when they started these DUI checkpoints, they went through gyrations to claim that no one who turned around before the checkpoint would be hassled. That didn’t work out so well.
Same thing with seatbelts, at first, they said they would only check if they pulled you over for another reason. No we have, nationwide, click it or ticket.
Sacramento county in an ultimate act of B.S. said it was installing water meters because they wanted to see how the water usage was distributed. Now they charge you per gallon and once you go past some arbitrary limit, your rate goes up.
I wonder what the tipping point will be and how soon until we hit it, that or God hits the reset button.
Actually Jesus returns but reset sounds better.
Yes, the almighty power and authority of police is becoming increasingly out of control.
Collect money and clean up after a crime has been committed.
Not very good at either...
These cops, just a few of the 80% 95% that give the rest a bad name
I just love it when a cop says something like this to a citizen: "Just be honest with me. I'm just looking for a little honesty here."
Which translates exactly to: "Confess to something so I can arrest you."
‘Was there a “strange odor?” Were the windows tinted so dark as to obstruct the view of the officer? Was the driver acting belligerently?”
I’m sure that all your questions were answered and appropriate
charges were made. The charge? Obstruction. The cops could
smell the Obstruction, but couldn’t see it through the dark
tinted windows and the driver was acting belligerently by
not rolling his window all the way down.
You do have to invoke it.
Being an expert on law enforcement (I've seen every episode of Cops!) they always tell the guy, just cooperate and things will go better. I saw one the other day where the officer flat out said the guy wouldn't go to jail if he cooperated. He did and they hauled his but to jail.
Cops always say, "Mind if we search your vehicle?" Then when you say no, they say, "What do you have to hide?" Never agree to a search, they're going to search if they want to but if you agree to it, you lose out in court if you try to claim they didn't have probable cause.
Many years ago, I read a book called, "Patrol Procedure". In it, they explained it was OK to lie to get information from a suspect. Nice.
Officer friendly was laid to rest many years ago. Now we have officer roided out punk, thug. If you have to talk to cops, always talk to the oldest one in the bunch. They don't need to project the tough guy image and they've seen it all. Just watch Cops! and see how the young cops react to people compared to seasoned cops.
One final question, when did police forces allow their officers to have tats that look like they were in prison for twenty years? You want a tat, fine, don't expect many offers for any CEO positions.
I was stopped a couple months back and asked the same question. When asked the magic, “Do you know why I stopped you,” I answered I hadn’t a clue since I knew I was not speeding. Being courteous, respectful, and genuinely surprised earned me a warning for no tail lights or brake lights in a town that never gives warnings. Of course, mine was a legitimate stop for safety reasons. I’d have likely been arrested for asking why I needed to lower my window the rest of the way.
I thought with ‘Click it or Ticket’ it was nationwide?
“You don’t have to talk to cops. It’s called the 5th Amendment.”
You don’t have to talk to cops but you also don’t have to drive or avoid a fine.
/johnny
Once you say talk to my attorney, then you've invoked. I would like to hear the ex wives (plural, really?) story.
Key words are high-lighted
It's goons with guns that do that, whether they wear a snappy uniform, or pants around their knees. No difference.
/johnny
Every time I see Mike he asks "You aren't thinking about getting married again are you?" ;)
/johnny
He just didn’t think he should have to wait like the “marks”. Being an icehole can be expensive.
“Do you know why I stopped you,”
The best and most truthful answer to this question is ALWAYS, “No.”
LEO’s next angle: “Do you know how fast you were going?” Answer, “No.”
LEO’s next angle: “Do you know what the speed limit is?” Answer, “Yes.” Offer no further info.
In summary, use only the following responses in a traffic stop: Yes, NO and I don’t know. Offer no qualifying information.
If LEO want’s something else, ask, “Am I being detained or am I free to go?”
Trust me, if LEO wants to keep you, he WILL make up something (”I can smell alcohol.”).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.