So as a small digression from speaking about defendants and the silly stuff they do I am going to take a second to talk about what are supposed to be the good guys.
Recently in my area we were fortunate enough to have a few motorcycle related events. One about 35 south of here in a small town and another the following weekend at our County fairgrounds. Well as you might guess for those two weekends and during that week there was a heavy law enforcement presence to help discourage some behavior inherent to any big event.
On one of the days during that week a close friend of mine was pulled over on a freeway exit and ticketed for doing 45 in a 40. Now if you know anything of the geography of the Hamilton I90 exit in Spokane you know that it is a very long bridge and many people frequently go much faster than 45 coming off the freeway to go down the hill. So just for the record my friend rides a KLR 650 (not exactly a rocket) with large bags and he wears enough safety gear to keep a GP rider safe in a 130 mph sweeper. Basically saying he is not a casual rider, but a professional motorcyclist that rides defensively and also has never had a ticket in his life. This blog is really not that he recieved a ticket but more of the treatment he recived during his interaction with the State Patrol Trooper.
So as he is exiting and coming around the corner, out from behind a tree and the corner steps a WSP Trooper pointing and shouting for him to pull over. My friend was a bit surprised by it all and hits the brake slightly locking up the rear brake and pulls over to the side of the exit ramp. The trooper approaches and my friend steps off the bike and asks whats wrong. The Trooper asks for the normal paperwork in a very rude manner and heads back to his own motorcycle. The trooper comes back a few minutes later and has him sign a ticket and hands it to him and begins to walk away. So my friend never having a ticket before has no clue what is next so he asks the trooper what to do with it. The trooper comes back and gets right up in his face and tells him to read it and he will figure it out. I know I am not totally accurate in all this but what I am getting at is the Trooper was way out of line as far as I am concerned.
So continuing on later that evening my same friend is riding down the road and comes to the freeway entrance ramp. Working his way in traffic puts on his blinker and goes a block and a woman waves at him to let him in ( not a usual thing here). Next thing he knows he sees a Trooper in a car hit the lights and pull in behind him and pull him over. So by this point with the frustration of the morning still fresh in his head he shuts off the KLR and awaits the Troopers approach. When the Trooper gets to him he is told he cut the woman off. My friend now on the defensive tries to explain that the woman waved him in and there was no way he cut her off. The Trooper looks him in the eye and says "well I guess she is not here to verify that is she."
So taking a second to soak that in, him telling me this already has me apologizing for the representation of my proffession BUT.........it gets better.
The Trooper never asks him for any paperwork and says get moving this is a high traffic dangerous area to be. ( um ...excuse me who pulled who over? ) My friend looks at the Trooper and asks him if he can take a second to cool off and relax from the anxiety of being pulled over again. The Trooper looks at him and said "get moving unless you want to cool off in the back of my car". So as most would do he fires up the bike and gets out into traffic and on the way home.
Like I said my point of this blog was not the tickets or being pulled over. My real point is that I am a bit ashamed to even say that I am a Law Enforcement Officer. I want to sincerely apologize for all those that have been truly treated wrong by any law enforcement and to let you know that for the majority of us, we take a lot of pride in our duty.
It's always hard to know what is going through anyone's head. A trooper would be no exception. I've only been stopped twice in my 38 years on the road but no tickets. Both times the troopers seemed agitated, especially when they realized their stop was off base. But I figured they had a pretty thankless job and what could be worse than spending time enforcing traffic laws.
ReplyDeleteYour friends story really sounds bad. Shouldn't happen that way. Just like store clerks shouldn't be the way they sometimes are. But what can you do? Best to just listen, shut up, and go on down the road.
Hmmm, maybe that's just denial...
Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks
Steve- Thanks for reading. Stress and intolerance can really create bad attitudes I have found in this field. The link below is familiar to you as he is the friend in the story.
ReplyDeletehttp://thevampireduck.blogspot.com/
Charlie,
ReplyDeleteNice blog you have here. I look forward to reading future posts.
Earl??? What the heck did he do to tick-off the Trooper Gods? I regularly read his blog and can't imagine... I don't think I have ever read anything there that would indicate him being an unsafe rider in any way. And, five miles over posted??? I ride 20 over posted on the highway here just to keep up with traffic. Police don't even blink.
And to pull him over for 'cutting into traffic?' Either that was a slow day for the officers or Earl really ticked somebody off.
I suppose many have their 'bad cop' stories. Hey, they are human and have good and bad days. Only difference is their bad days may involve things like homicide, rape and/or high powered fire arms.
Personally, I have been pulled over four times in my life and received two tickets. Only one bad experience. I pulled out on a large street from an alley with no traffic visibility... right in front of an LVMPD cruiser. His lights go on.
Being new to Vegas, I use what Chicago police would tell people... Slow down and pull over where you feel safe. So, I pull off the busy road into an empty parking lot. He proceeded to 'get in my face' about that, and how I was reckless and I am supposed to stop immediately when I see the lights.
Trying to explain that I didn't feel it safe for he or I to stop on a busy six-lane street with no curbs at night, was going no where; just ticked him off worse, so I shut up and accepted the attitude.
I guess, at the end, I was looking rather pale and shaken. He asks why I am shaking (or something like that) and I reply, "You are the one that's upset and YOU have the gun." He smiled and told me to be safe, but it took me two beers and a few hours at home to calm down.
Glad to see you on here and I hope to read more of your writing soon!
-Ken
Ken-
ReplyDeleteNo reason for the attitude other than they did an emphasis patrol on all motorcycles that week due to two rallies.
I spoke with a trooper friend of mine and he said alot of the Bike officers are that way since all they do is traffic. He could not explain the other Troopers tude though.
Earl probably wished he was a drinker just so he could chill out after that day.
Thanks for the comment.
You're not responsible for the whole profession. I'm a motorcycle instructor who trains motor cops. I think they get on some sort of over-protective crusade and tend to be harder on motorcyclists. It's been a long time since I packed tin, but I remember a lot of the feelings. There's good days and bad days. The only problem is that their bad days affect others more adversely than a civilian's bad day.
ReplyDeleteIrondad-
ReplyDeleteThanks for the response. I have my days like anyone but I always keep it in my head that these people are already having a bad day when I show up at their house or work to check on them. I love my job and really want people to see that by my attitude.