Cleared by jury, she sues police

The Columbus Dispatch ^ | Wednesday, August 7, 2002 | Alayna DeMartini

[Erasmus]

This cop should change jobs and become an airport screener. Although he'd probably flunk the intelligence test with too high a score.

[Printers Angel]

I've never been copgaited before, but once a cop tried to pull over an entire group of cars at one time. I was in the group, knew I wasn't speeding so just kept going. Luckily, he didn't chase me down. I knew if I stopped that he would have grouped me in with the speeders and gave me a ticket.

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be extra careful not to panic or speed up when a cop is following me.

[monday]

"In conclusion, if the police and our other agencies would stop going after "harmless citizens" and catch the real people that threaten our freedoms, they might find more support and fewer complaints."

If you have known Law enforcement officers you would know that they almost all develop an 'us' vs. 'them' mentality. "Them" being the public.

It is somewhat understandable since all day long, for the most part, their interactions with the public are negative. (giving tickets, making arrests, etc.) They are only human and if everyone you meet all day long is mostly hostle you start having a very negitive perception of the general population.

Try this? Next time you are pulled over for speeding or what ever, instead of frowning and getting angry, smile and joke around if you can. Act like you couldn't care less if you recieve a speeding ticket. LEOs like smiling people just like you do.

Chances are very good you will get a warning instead of a ticket. Over the last 5 yrs I am batting .800, recieving only one ticket for 5 traffic stops.

[FreeTally]

They like to follow right on your bumper in hopes that you will speed up so they can haul you over for speeding. That's a favorite trick out here in Oregon and Washington.

I have had cops do that at night here in Florida. One almost clipped me as I pulled into a median turn lane. When he passed, I looked, and saw a light bar and Sheriff markings. Couldn't believe it. Just like this story, I could hardly see his headlights he was so close.

[Erasmus]

New Rome. That must be the place Dan Aykroyd made the move about, called "Nothing But Trouble."

[headsonpikes]

Thanks for the New Rome link.

There's a certain irony in the name, or perhaps a foreshadowing. ;^)

[gcruse]

Americans are free as long as we don't act like it.

[Thisiswhoweare]

Noted. One of the reasons it's called Law Enforcement is, to be at odds with those whom for one reason or another (don't agreee with the law or think it doesn't apply to them). People should know this when applying for this career. It's my understanding that they have been trained to overcome negative comments etc.

We civilians on the other hand, have not. Wouldn't we all respond better if the next time we smiled at someone, they smiled back?

[Darkshadow]

[PLMerite]

Are those some of the 72 virgins waiting for Osama and Friends?

[Itzlzha]

I can tell you something else about this incident. This cop was trolling for a violation. Whenever a cop in an unmarked vehicle pulls up behind you so close that you can't see their headlights, they're trying to goad you into speeding up to get away from them. Cops know d*mned well that they can scare people into breaking traffic laws by shadowing them at night and scaring them.

I have a solution for that...I'd speed up to just about 3 miles over...wait till they are right on the bumper, and SLAM ON THE BRAKES!

The level of the lawsuit would BANKRUPT the police force, as well at the town/city!

[dpa5923]

Self-ping so I can read the comments later.

[tracer]

If more rogue cops were de-badged and then visited "for old times' sake" by those they abused, this kind of outrage would taper off considerably.

Most of the smart-ass bullies-in-blue (in contrast to professional law enforcement officers)I have seen likely would not sport the bravado and phony machismo when "civilianized" they did while unjustly empowered by virtue of their occupation....

[CONSERVE]

nolanville?

[newwahoo]

"When will you people get past this 'hero' crap for the NY Firemen, Police and victims in the towers! Do you think for 1 minute that they would have gone in those towers, or for that matter been allowed to go in, had they known they would collapse? True heroes go in when they know it will probably kill them, not when there's a stray chance it will. I'm not trying to put down their sacrifice, but by calling everybody who died 'heroes', you diminish the meaning of the word."

Of all the things gone wrong in this world I'm amazed that you took the time out of your life to whack those guys. I guess you would have gone in knowing there was only a "stray chance" of not going home to your own family?

[maxwell]

Are you being sarcastic?

[razorbak]

I was going to reply to state that some moron would certainly offer a knee-jerk reaction to your posting without even noticing that you even stated that it was sarcasm. Guess I was too late.

Thanks for being one of the few on the web who can spell MORON. I'm so tired of seeing moron spelled MAROON.

[Now watch me spell something wrong.]

[cut and pasted from Merriam-Webster's online dictionary-don't blame me for the format]

Main Entry: mo·ron Pronunciation: 'mOr-"än, 'mor- Function: noun Etymology: irregular from Greek mOros foolish, stupid Date: 1910 1 : a mentally retarded person who has a potential mental age of between 8 and 12 years and is capable of doing routine work under supervision 2 : a very stupid person

Main Entry: 1ma·roon Pronunciation: m&-'rün Function: noun Etymology: French maron, marron, modification of American Spanish cimarrón, from cimarrón wild, savage Date: 1666 1 capitalized : a fugitive black slave of the West Indies and Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries; also : a descendant of such a slave 2 : a person who is marooned

Main Entry: 3maroon Function: noun Etymology: French marron Spanish chestnut Date: 1791 : a dark red

[flying Elvis]

I turn on my windsheild washer when I'm tailgated. I love seeing them hit the brakes and activate their washer to remove the crud that just flew off of my truck. Works every time.

[metesky]

I'm so tired of seeing moron spelled MAROON.

Not the sharpest blade in the pack are ya? Freepers with a sense of humor use the maroon spelling 'cause it comes from the old Bugs Bunny cartoons, but you would have to have had a childhood to understand it.

What a maroon, what an ignoranimous

[FreedomPoster]

Good Grief! Arrested, strip-searched, and thrown in jail for filing a complaint. All the while, we hear constant complaints about how little jail space we have...this is crazy.

In a mature society, 'civil servant' is semantically equal to 'civil master'

Robert A. Heinlein

Which pretty well describes what's happening here.