Traffic stop erupts into confrontation in Lake Wales (FL)

Tampa Bay Online TBO ^ | 11/08/09 | Neil Johnson

[jwparkerjr]

A traffic stop in Lake Wales for tinted windows turned into an angry confrontation between police, deputies, state troopers and as many as 100 bystanders.

Two officers and one of the two people arrested were treated for minor injuries. Police are looking for three others in the incident, which started around 2:45 p.m. Saturday, the Lake Wales Police Department said.

[rawhide]

I know the argument, it's the same thing with a van, but most vans at least have a window in the drive's door.

Darkly tinted windows allow those inside to see out, but prevent those outside from seeing in. A cop could walk right at a shotgun pointed at him on the other side of a darkly tinted window' and be killed at point-blank range and never see it coming.

With a paneled van, you cannot see through the metal sides, only through the windows.

[DocRock]

I just happened to be a few hundred yards away from this mess on US27. I live about 15 miles north in Winter Haven and needed an oil change in my motorcycle so I headed to Lake Wales Skypower Motorsports. On my way, I was passed by no less than four county sheriffs at very high speed. When I arrived at my destination, a chopper was circling low a few hundred yards behind the service area and the staff was standing out back watching. None of them knew what was going on, but some were calling their friends in the dept. to find out, however, they weren't getting through. They said at there were around 50 cop cars from all agencies that had arrived including the boat pulling fish and wildlife officers with lights and sirens. I looked around and asked if anyone else was armed if it turned into another Ft. Hood or Orlando? They all looked at me and I became their new, best friend.

Side note: Needed the oil change so I can ride over to the Tea Party Express II in Orlando Thursday. Any other central FL Freepers plan on riding over on their bikes?

[Pan_Yan]

Sounds like a crowd control issue.

There is a solution.

[Iron Munro]

When it really hits the fan and the parasite/moocher class Democrat cattle get impatent for their reparations money from the Obama Stash there won't be enough law enforcement in all of America to protect you and your family.

[Tunehead54]

We were just out there Saturday to hear the Orlando Symphony and the Carrillion Bells - we'd seen the cutoff sign for Bok Tower and Spook Hill. Last time we were out there we'd tried it - as I recall you can put your car in neutral and it appears to roll up hill ...

Anyway, no GPS on Spook Hill, I guess we had a guide book last time - so at the cutoff I flipped a U turned into a "7-11" and the gals all went into a tizzy! "Don't stop! Don't Stop!" - While I get that all the time (;-) I agreed and we buzzed out of there ... the "patrons" all looked like they's just left state prison and every eye was on us ... we still looked around for it but failed and just went on home ... like you say - except for Bok Tower - not a pretty place. ;-)

[Erasmus]

Looks like a Wyeth. Smithsonian gallery, perhaps?

[Charlemagne on the Fox]

The story says that police are still seeking three of the perps and yet they already have mug shots. You don’t think the perps have ever had any previous arrests, do you?

[Rannug]

I am a racist and I shall protect mine, as my late cousin should have done instead of giving the whatever you want to call him, too little money. My cousin was then shot at an intersection. In Florida.

[org.whodat]

Tinted windows have become a problem for law enforcement.

That is the cops fault, just like slow drivers in the fast lane, over tinted windows are illegal in just about all the states, but the cops don't get enough points for the ticket, and the fine is really small. The cops are selective law enforcement.

[Tomato lover]

Joe,
you said:”Lake Wales is a poor crummy little whislte stop a little east of Tampa and Brandon on route 60.
Lots of despair and unemployment.
Poor blacks, farm workers and not a lot of hope, just like a lot of towns out there.
Only thing worth a crap there is Bok Tower.”

In the Florida I remember, Lake Wales was a beautiful town. Slim chance of my getting downstate to see it again, so it will remain that way in my memory.

Sad to say, all that is left of beautiful Florida is memories - they paved paradise and put in a parking lot.

Kind regards,
TL

[jwparkerjr]

Florida had such a law but repealed it when someone pointed out the cops often had windows tinted beyond what the law allowed.

[jwparkerjr]

re: Only thing worth a crap there is Bok Tower

And Spook Hill! For those of you not familiar with Lake Wales, sounds racist, but it's not. Look it up!

[jwparkerjr]

Do you honestly have a problem with providing an officer the safety of being able to see what's happening in the car he is approaching after a traffic stop?

[Ruy Dias de Bivar]

***...so at the cutoff I flipped a U turned into a “7-11” and the gals all went into a tizzy! “Don’t stop! Don’t Stop!” - While I get that all the time (;-) I agreed and we buzzed out of there ... ***

That happened to us on I-40 in Tennessee. My mom and wife isnsisted on stopping in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I didn’t like the place even though it was very well lit but isolated. There were lots of cars in the parking area with too many people sitting in them doing nothing.

My wife amd mom made it half way to the door then made a u-turn and headed back to the truck. they decided to stop somewhere else.

As for me, I never got out of the truck. I had my hands around a fully loaded Browning Hi-Power and a Cz-75.

Just in case.

[jwparkerjr]

re: odd request for a Monday morning

Thank you, sir. May I have some more?

I'm an old fart. I grew up in a day when truth was an absolute defense. If what you said was true, you were free from fear of being called racist, bigot, extremist, etc.

Discrimination was judged by intent, not outcome.

Those days are gone. Now, speech is measured by how it's heard by the listener. And the speaker is held responsible for how the talk is heard. We live in an upside down, topsy-turvy world.

[jwparkerjr]

Actually, I was referring more to the surly, hateful looks on their face and the variety of hair fashions. I would feel the same way had they been white skinheads or just the kids next door in white, middle-class America who think they are deprived and beset upon and hate their life.

re: just a realist

Sadly, in today's world, with the liberals at the helm, reality is a subjective term. And if reality turns out to be unfavorable to a protected class, and it pointed out, then it's no longer reality but the rantings of a right wing extremist who worships Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, et al.

[Oatka]

Heh, now I’m picturing horse-drawn buggies with dark tinted windows.

Mebbe coming sooner than you think. :-)

I was in Lancaster Co., PA last July and some of the Amish teens had boomboxes hooked up to a car battery and were boogying down the road. (They carry a battery to operate the running lights at night - some terrible accidents have happened because of black buggies and 10 mph speeds on the roads. Some Amishman even came up with a device hooked to the axles to charge the battery.)

[tbpiper]

I'm an old fart. I grew up in a day when truth was an absolute defense.

Ah so. My farts are probably as old as yours (remember 'duck and cover' in school?). I'll be glad to forward any new insults I get as soon as they come up with some creative new ones. These old ones are getting tiresome.

And now for something completely different:

Have you ever seen a DC-3 on floats?

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Naughty Amish chicks - kinda cool....

[Tunehead54]

I used to carry all the time. One time, 11-22-07, I was attacked by a big fella, drew my weapon, racked a round and stopped the assault. No shot fired.

I called 911, notified them of the assault on me, that I was CCW, led the deputies to my location, even while on my cell to 911 (8 minutes + recorded), I was knocked down by 4 plus deputies, tortured for 4+ minutes with both my arms held up to the breaking point, a knee drop into the center of my back - felt like broken ribs for months but the x-rays said "no" - was arrested for two Ag Assault charges - bailed out (lost) $2000.00, went through a year plus facing a single Ag Assault charge with a penalty of 3 years state prison, hard time, no time off for good behavior, no parole until I finally beat my attorney into filing a motion for dismissal based on Florida's Stand your Ground Law(1995).

The case was dismissed (12-31-08 right of "immunity from arrest" self-defense upheld - See Peterson v. St. of Florida - Established pre-trial procedures to dismiss charges when self-defense pleaded ... ;-)) but I'm out $12,000, a year of my life and I will now ALWAYS question LEO's accounts of any incident and now only carry in the "worst" circumstances. :-(

I know you didn't ask for this but I've been meaning to get going on this to keep others from suffering through what I went through. Licensed to carry, 911 had every opportunity to have me set aside my weapon to "discuss" the incident, they KNEW I was CCW and yet I was arrested "because the guy with the gun is the greater danger" while the ex-con felon who attacked me, one of whose convictions included lying to cops (felony obfuscation), who lied to the cops that night effectively had me beaten far more effectively than he could have managed - all without even a bruised knuckle. Sigh.