Driver learns about 'flipping off' sheriff

The Indianapolis Star ^ | March 16, 2004 | Associated Press

[Samwise]

EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- A woman made an obscene gesture toward an SUV Monday -- one carrying the county sheriff and chief deputy -- and ended up in jail, police said.

Mary Ann Sweeney, 33, of Evansville was stopped behind a bus.

[SamAdams76]

Right out of the show COPS. Has anybody ever seen the COPS show? I discovered it recently and it's a pretty good show. There sure are a lot of morons out there.

[cinFLA]

Lesson. Never cutoff a cop and give him a finger when you are driving an illegally registered car and have outstanding warrants on yourself and your husband.

[ArrogantBustard]

The 'driver' in your tale is a jerk.

The 'trooper' in your tale is an unprofessional, authority abusing, taxpayer money wasting, judge annoying, ignorant, arrogant, worthless POS disgrace to his uniform. The citizens of Iowa deserve better from their public servants.

[looscnnn]

My question is how do you have an (or how do you) illegally registered car? Is that by having it registered in someone elses name?

[TC Rider]

Even Indiana has rednecks.

You have no idea.

The wive's family is all in Evansville. One of her sisters was once married to the 'Man with no face' that was showing up on all the talk shows a few years ago.

Every time we visited there, I felt like I had been moved 40 years in a time machine.

(apoligies to any Southern Indiana Freepers)

[cinFLA]

One common reason is registering in a state where you are not a resident in order to avoid fees.

[Sam's Army]

"One of her sisters was once married to the 'Man with no face' that was showing up on all the talk shows a few years ago."

If I am thinking of the same guy, was this the one with the rare disease that made his head look like a cave-in sort of thing?

Was she married to him before, during, and/or after that affliction?

[Overtaxed]

She must have studied to get that stupid.

[Joe Hadenuf]

All I am saying is that flipping people off may feel good, but that activity is asking for problems to happen as a result.

Your not tell me anything. People that do that kind of thing haven't been around. Where I come from you can risk dying on the spot for fliping someone off. You never know who you are dealing with on the road. Only the inexperienced or fools go looking for trouble on the road.

[hopespringseternal]

Lighten up, Francis.

[Badray]

"Stay calm and stay alive."

That's a good olan.

Last year, my ex brother in law (Dave)(who was always a hot head) decided to appoint himself the "Fire Lane Police." He pulled into a shopping center and some guy was parked in the fire lane. Dave started yelling at him to move and then got out of his truck to reeeeallllly make his point. The other guy got too and after some angry words were exchanged and Dave kept putting his finger in the other guy's face. The other guy shove Dave (6'4") and as he went back, he lost his footing and landed head first. That ended the incident. Dave got up and left.

The next day he went to the hospital with a severe headache and DIED from internal bleeding. The fall was the final straw in a lifetime of taking head shots.

At 57, he should have known better.

[cc2k]

looscnnn wrote:

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First; she was stopped, tried to pass the bus by changing lanes in front of the cops. That is not reckless driving, reckless driving involves high speed.

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Sorry, but reckless driving has a much different definition than speeding. In some states, speeding to an excessive degree is considered evidence of reckless driving, but it's possible to be guilty of reckless driving without speeding, too.

In most states, "reckless driving" is defined as driving with "willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property."

looscnnn wrote:

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If she did change lanes without looking or signalling, that is against the law. If she did look and signal, the cop could have been in her blind spot, then no law was broken.

---

Sorry, but that's another misstatement. The law requires that you yield to all traffic in the other lane when changing lanes. That means you have to yield to traffic in your blind spot, too. You can be ticketed for failure to yield during a lane change if you cut someone off in your blind spot.

looscnnn wrote:

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Third; if there was a collision, she would most likely get ticketed for it, but that is due too them being cops. If this had happened between civillians and she looked & signaled, she might not have gotten the ticket.

---

If you look, signal, and then cut someone off and cause a collision, you'll most likely be ticketed for failing to yeild during a lane change. There is usually enough physical evidence in cases like that to make a strong case. In a case where a stopped bus is at the scene, there's also a high probability of third party witnesses as well (the bus driver is usually pretty easy to find).

---

disclaimer: IANAL, and this isn't legal advice. If you get a ticket or have a collision, get real legal help, don't believe "some guy on the Internet."

[Joe Hadenuf]

Many people are very tightly wound. You never know who your dealing with. It could be some guy who's wife just divorced him, a two time loser, a crack head, a demented freak looking to inflict great pain.....The experienced knows, no matter what happens on the road, best keep your mouth shut and just be prepared.

[Pkeel]

You should be very careful. I worked driving a truck and some coworkers would follow and confront anyone who flipped them off.

They would not hesitate to hit you either. All had been charged previously for something stupid.

I haven't flipped anyone off since.

[looscnnn]

"In most states, "reckless driving" is defined as driving with "willful or wanton disregard for the safety of persons or property.""

You missed "Essentially, the prosecution must show that reckless drivers were indifferent to the probable harmful results of their driving, and that the reckless drivers should have realized that such driving posed a hazard." All the cases of reckless driving I have heard of have involved excessive speeds. They might have had a hard time proving reckless driving in this case, hence the reason for not pulling her over for reckless driving.

"That means you have to yield to traffic in your blind spot, too. You can be ticketed for failure to yield during a lane change if you cut someone off in your blind spot."

How do you yield to traffic in your blind spot? If you can't see it, you don't know it is there so you can't yield to it. I have never heard of anyone getting ticketed for not yielding to someone in a blind spot, even when there was an accident, and I know a lot of people that have done just that.

"If you look, signal, and then cut someone off and cause a collision, you'll most likely be ticketed for failing to yeild during a lane change. There is usually enough physical evidence in cases like that to make a strong case. In a case where a stopped bus is at the scene, there's also a high probability of third party witnesses as well (the bus driver is usually pretty easy to find)."

Cops like to use where on the vehicles the damage is to determine who is at fault. If the damage is far enough back the driver of the other vehicle will be ticketed, unless there are other witnesses to prove who is at fault. You assume that the bus driver is paying attention to other cars when he/she is stopped to let people on/off. Having rode on busses, they don't do that until they are ready to move. So there is the possibility that the driver did not see anything.

[rock58seg]

The article does not explain whether they considered the "flipping off," or the "cutting off," as the road rage. Pobably a combination of both, as they are indicators of "agressive driving" as opposed to "defensive driving."

The Rock has graduated from quite a few defensive driving courses caused by "minor" infractions.

[cpprfld]

The probable cause came from when the officers ran the plates, and found outstanding warrants.

[cpprfld]

If she wasn't breaking the law, she should not have been stopped.

The last time I checked inattentive driving was against the law.

"She pulled to the left to get around the bus at the same moment a Ford Explorer started to pass."

You could make an argument that would constitute inattentive driving because she was unaware of the vehicles around her.

[CharlieOK1]

that was the point I was trying to get at. Thanks for wording it better than I did.

[Henrietta]

You wrote, "She did pull right in front of him causing him to have to brake, presumably without looking or signalling."

Not quite. From the police version:

"She pulled to the left to get around the bus at the same moment a Ford Explorer started to pass. The SUV braked to let her in, police said."

She merely pulled out to pass at the same time he did. Maybe HE didn't signal, so she didn't know he was pulling out, too. A collision in this situtation would not necessarily have been her fault, as usually when one is struck from behind it is considered to be the fault of the overtaking driver.

You also assert that the reason she was pulled over was for driving recklessly. The news report contradicts your assertion: "Ellsworth and Williams pulled Sweeney over to talk to her about her "road rage" and ran a check on her license plate."

They didn't write her a ticket for reckless driving. They wanted to give her a lecture 'cause she flipped them off. Detaining a citizen because they said something you didn't like is not an appropriate use of police power.