You have given no cogent reasons for questioning the honesty of the couple,
The guy was driving on a suspended license. That's illegal. Btw, around here they jail you for that. (NY State)
The plates on the car were registered to a different car.
They had no proof of insurance in the car. None of that speaks to their honesty.
I hope the investigation answers questions that the article didn't.
If Officer Hellfire had a clear cut legitimate reason for the stop, the Greer Police wouldn't have to be "investigating," at this point they are "investigating" so as to find some reason that they can use to defend themselves in the lawsuit.
Maybe. The Hubby was driving on a suspended license so he may have been erratic because a cop was behind him. People are stopped for no turn signal, no license plate light, unsignaled lane change, driving too slow (35 in a 55)...there are a lot of reasons to pull someone over or run the plate.
DJ MacWoW wrote:The guy was driving on a suspended license. That's illegal. Btw, around here they jail you for that. (NY State)
Tony Gainey admitted he was wrong, and gave a plausible explanation of why he did it. I was once arrested for (but not convicted for) driving with a suspended license; I'd failed to file an accident report; I just assumed that I didn't have to file an accident report since I was the smashee, not the smasher, and I wasn't even in the car when it happened. Silly me! I guess that makes me very dishonest! And while the cop put the handcuffs on so tight that it was some months before I regained full sensitivity in my hands, at least he didn't proselytize his religion to me. While you want to impute some deep criminality to Tony Gainey's driving suspension, sometimes its a result of an overgrown bureaucratic system and some peoples inability to quite keep up with it.
DJ MacWoW:The plates on the car were registered to a different car.
They had no proof of insurance in the car. None of that speaks to their honesty.
One fine New Years Eve my wife and I went to a "First Night" in a city about an hour from where we live. I was careful not to drink too much, but in changing unfamiliar highways coming home almost made the mistake of entering on an exit; realized I was making a mistake and backed off...but then the blue light. My encounter with Maine State Police, they were very professional and pleasant, engaged me in conversation, clearly wanted to see if I'd been drinking but didn't insult me by asking. Ran my plates. They were not the plates for the car I was driving. Oops! We have two cars, the plate numbers were almost identical, I'd put the wrong plates on the wrong car! The cops must have assumed I was a criminal and arrested me! But they didn't; and they didn't proselytize me with their religious or political viewpoints. And I didn't get letters!
They had no proof of insurance in the car. None of that speaks to their honesty.
I was involved in a minor accident that was mostly my fault, but the police officer thought that I had done a real good job of avoiding it, and didn't cite me. But he asked to see proof of insurance, which I was required to show. Looked in the glove compartment. Looked again. Opps, not there! I was able to go to a nearby house, knock on the door, ask to use the phone, call my wife, who brought the card. This is all a long-winded way of saying that failure to fully comply with every bureaucratic requirement on the part of the citizen-subject is not evidence of his deep dishonesty. But in a "Free Republic" we hold our officials, including the first-line police officers to a higher standard; and they are expected to obey the rules and not engage in the oppression of citizens on account of their religion.