Posted on 05/03/2007 8:41:59 PM PDT by Teflonic
Hillsborough County Deputy Kevin Stabins has been suspended for five days after an internal affairs investigation found he used excessive force on a woman he pulled over.
The woman, Melissa Langston, had been pulled over for going 63 in a 35 mile an hour zone on Nov. 1. Langston was on the way to make sure her father, who was driving himself to University Community Hospital after suffering a heart attack, got there safely.
When Stabins went back to his car to run her plates and write a ticket, the woman waited three minutes, but then took off and drove a short distance to park her car.
Stabins is accused of using excessive force to pull her out of her car and pin her to the hood.
Langston's father survived the heart attack and all charges against her were dropped. She spent about five hours in jail.
Stabins's suspension starts May 22.
The sheriff's office says Stabins said he thought Langston was making up the story about her father's heart attack and that Stabins is a good deputy who showed bad judgment.
Langston declined an interview request.
The conversations between Langston and Stabins
Langston: Hi, I'm so sorry. My father's having a heart attack, can I please get there?
Deputy: I need to see your license, registration and proof of insurance please.
Langston: Please, come on just take it in there.
Langston again tried to explain about her father's condition.
Deputy: He's in the care of the doctor ma'am.
Langston: I don't know that he's there. I don't know that he made it to the hospital. He was driving himself.
While Stabins was writing the ticket, Langston drove off to check the parking lot for her father's car. Stabins followed her and pulled her over a second time.
Deputy: That was not smart.
Langston: I need to get there. I'm sorry but I just need to get there.
Deputy: Put it in park. Put it in park. Put it in park. Out of the car. Hands behind your back. Now you're going to jail.
Langston: Please let me get to my dad. Please, my dad's having a heart attack. If it was your dad. . .
Stabins: Now you're not going to get to see him because you're going to jail. Not smart.
There are some that use common sense. In an emergency, I’ve always put on my emergency flashers while driving to where I’m going and haven’t had a problem. When my first daughter was born, we lived about 15 miles from the hospital. My wife said it was time, I loaded her in my 300ZX Nissan and drove 100mph to the hospital. As I came to the city limits I slowed to 85 in a 45 zone and a police cruiser was going the opposite direction. I never let up as he turned around and followed me, never turning on his blues. Pulled into the hospital, jumped out and helped my very visibly pregnant wife from the car as the police cruiser slowly drove past watching to see the reason for my haste. Satisfied he drove on.
She stopped to start with, she provided the officer with her license and registration and she wasn’t verbally or physically abusive. I would not consider that a total lack of cooperation. She was clearly in the wrong. But she was in a situation that she was not trained to handle. That cannot be said for the officer.
She was speeding—not a capital offense for goodness sakes. Don’t tell me you have NEVER driven over the speed limit.
After having dealt with cops (most notably Lt. — formerly Captain — Lucious Howard of the Tennessee Highway Patrol), I never, ever, ever give them the benefit of the doubt.
Cops are just under journalists and politicians on the integrity scale, in my experience.
What about serving the other public, the people who don’t want to get run over by someone driving at 63 mph in a 25 zone in the dark? They also get some protection.
Pay close attention. I stated that I feel sorry for her situation but that is no excuse for her endangering anyone else. I worked as a paramedic for quite a few years and saw the result of reckless behavior and in many cases stupidity.
Did the officer over react? Possibly. But she should not have taken off after she was stopped.
One more thing. I used to work the night shift in an urban area. I worked with police on a routine basis. It's true some are jerks but for the most part I found them professionals doing a dirty job and the only thanks they got was criticism for doing that job from people like you.
PS. What do you do for a living?
Not according to some it seems.
Didn’t you just love the people who tailgated the ambulance?
No. But you can bet scumbag lawyers are going to jump all over this case.
Same here. I used to have the up most respect and admiration for the police, especially as I was growing up. At one time I was even interested in being a police officer. I used to think that the police were really fighting the bad guys and were looking out for us law abiding citizens. Then as I got older I began to recognize what they were really all about....
Revenue generation.
By and large, I have no respect for them. Sure there are a *few* good ones out there, but I'm sure there are a few good people in any bad enterprise. I think it would be a great idea if each and every police officer should have to be elected by whatever area or jurisdiction they work in. Then, you would start seeing the police doing what it is they should be doing. Helping and defending the tax paying/law-abiding citizens, and going after REAL criminals.
I just saw footage with audio of the officer stopping this lady on FNC just now. She was crying asking to get to her father, withe the hospital clearly nearby in the picture, and he seemed to taunt her by saying that instead of seeing her father she was going to jail, as he slammed her against the car.
Disgusting. Given how easy it was for him to physically ‘manhandle’ a woman in such a way, I feel sorry for his wife, if he has one. It would make my day if I heard of this “guy” getting his ass kicked.
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