On Fri, 10 Mar 2006 20:52:38 -0000, Skywise
wrote:

"JohnH" wrote in news:66-
:


I've argued with a cop more than once and won every time. And I'm
not even a lawyer.

I've even given chase a few times and confronted them when I saw
THEM do something wrong.


The judge will back them though...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/24/pol....ap/index.html

In this case, the officer was in line, in performance of his duty.

Here's the stories of the times I've observed officers abusing
their powers or otherwise acting inappropriately even for the
level of the situation.

You know how many streets have those painted islands, aka chicken
lanes? I had just pulled out of a driveway and was waiting in one
before merging into traffic. Suddenly in front of me from the
other direction a police car passes traffic on his side of the
road using this same chicken lane that I am currently in. He merges
back in before getting to me, but it's still quite a fright to see
a car speeding head on towards you at a high rate of speed. He
DID NOT have his lights on. So I turned around and followed him to
where he went. Turned out to be backup for another officers traffic
stop. When I saw things were OK there I approached the officers
and asked for the one that had jsut come down that particular road.
I confronted him about what he did and why I was making an issue of
it. I explained that if he had had his light bar on I wouldn't have
cared. He apologized.

In another case I saw an officer use his lights to go through a
red light. He then turned into a Dunkin Donuts. I didn't follow in
this case, but there did not appear to be any activity going on
warranting the action.

There was one time I was on my way somewhere and had a police bike
go flying past me. I was on my bike. He stopped at every red light
and waited for green. But between signals he was doing at least 70.
I took it up to that speed and he was still going faster. Mind you,
this was in a 45 zone. This went on for a good 2-3 miles and eventually
he turned off into a restaurant where he met his buddies for lunch.
There was no call, the guys wre just standing around yacking. I
did not pursue this as I was on my way elsewhere and was terribly
sick at the time. Otherwise I would have.

Another time I was on my way home from a halloween party at like 2
in the morn on my motorcycle. As I was driving through the
neighborhood I had passed a couple police cars parked at a house.
Must have been a problem. A minute later I see these two cars come
racing up behind me while I'm making a right turn. At an intersection
where I'm beginning to make a left turn, these two cars endager my
life, one by cutting inside the turn I'm in progress of making and
the other cutting around me once I'm around the turn. They DID NOT
have their lights on. I followed them at speeds of up to 80mph.
They were on an officer needs assistance call. The excuse was it was
a code whatever and they don't use their lights in that situation.
Problem is, it was 2 miles from where they endangered my life and the
location of the call. It would have been no problem if they had
simply flipped their lights on to warn of their presence. I could
have pulled over out of their way. Since they were so far from their
destination, flipping on their lights for a few seconds would have
done NOTHING to endanger ANYONE at the scene they were going to.
Instead, they chose to endager me.

This one's a little hard to describe. Imagine an intersection, but
just before that maybe a 100 feet is another intersection for a
side street. That intersection is marked "keep clear". There's also
a left turn lane for the opposing traffic to turn onto this side
street. Anyway, a cope comes up from behind me, cuts into the
opposing traffic lanes and tries to pass through this keep clear
section whereupon he has to slam on his brakes for a car entering
the turn lane. Once clear, he then proceeds up to the main intersection
to make his left turn. As it happens, the signal timing and traffic
is just right so I can enter that left turn at the main intersection
and follow. Turns out the officer had immediately turned into a
parking lot and stopped in the middle of it. I pulled up along side
and motioned for him to roll down his window. I ask, "If I had done
what you just did at that intersection back there, would I have got
a ticket?" He pauses for a split second and then says "Yes". I then
simply say "Thank you, have a nice day" and drive off. My point
was made.

Another time I was going shopping. You know how in the front of
the store is the "No Parking Fire Lane" section? Well, this sheriff
pulls up and parks. At first I think he's there for a shoplifter
or something. Nope. He walks over to the deli counter and proceeds
to order a sandwich. I walk up and excuse myself for butting in and
ask, "If I were to park in a fire zone just so I could run in the
store and get a sandwich, would I get a ticket". Again, the answer
was yes whereupn I politely thanked him and went about my shopping.
I watched out he corner of my eye as he just stooped there dumbfounded.
He was caught. Shortly thereafter he left. I don't think he got his
sandwich.

And now my favorite, which is a bit different than the rest. I was
out cruising on my bike late one night. At oen point I noticed blue
For Taurus in my blind spot. Probably just some idiot doing the
moneky see monkey do type driving. I speed up a little and they
pae me. I slow down, and they slow down. This goes on for a couple
miles. I'm approaching a left turn I intend to make, but being a
little concerned about this car thatis obviously following me, I
decide to not signal my intent until the last second. I enter the
left turn pocket as hard as I could without being wreckless and
come to a stop a the red. Sure enough, this car stops quickly and
maneuvers behind me. Great, I've got a freak following me. So I
make this turn and I take my speed up to about 50. It's a 45. I'm
thinking about my plan. I have the advantage of speed and want to
use it, but realize I'm about to come to another red light and I
don't want this guy pulling up next to me. So I wait until he's up
to my hind quarter agian in the lane next to me, take a quick look
in the mirror to make sure no one else is around, and then slam on
my brakes in with a downshift to shut down that bike right quick. Of
course, he goes flying past. Then the little red light on the dash
pops on. It's a cop. So instead of doing the u-turn I had planned,
I proceed past him and pull over. I see him get out via my mirror
whereupon,without getting off the bike, I simply turn around and
verbally lay into him something firece, french words and all. To
make the rest of this story short, his supervisor even deemed his
actions inappropriate. I wonder what would have happened had I
decided to run instead? I would have inadvertantly found myself in
a high speed chase.

I've also been pulled over late at night after a marked car did
similar stuff to me. Supposedly it appeared I had bald tires.
Funny thing was, I had brand new tires and it being so dark, how
could he tell. It was an obvious lie.

As an example of arguing my way out of a ticket, I was out cruising
on the bike and I stopped at a light where a police car already
was. I was pulled next to him. Anyway, the light turns green and
I take the bike right up to the speed limit. Motorcycles naturally
accelerate faster than a car. At least mine does. Anyway, the cop
pulls up into my left side blind spot. I need to change lanes there
for an upcoming turn, so I slow down so I can simply pull in behind
him. He slows down. So I speed back up to the speed limit. He speeds
up. Well, My turn signal was malfuncitoning so I used my hand signal
to indicate a left turn and speed up to only 5 over and make a nice
smooth lane change. Then he pops his lights on and puls me over.
He claims I was doing at least 65. I told him exactly what I said
here, that at most I was going 50 becaue he kept sitting inmy blind
spot and preventing me from making a lane change. He says my speedo
must be off. They have to get the speedo in their cruisers calibrated
every six months. I retort, "If spedometers can go out of calibration
that badly, why aren't all cars required to get their speedometers
checked regularly." AHA!! Got him. No answer. He hands me back my
stuff and let's me on my way.

And this only includes the times where I was the supposed "bad guy".
Then there's all the times where I had people trying to run me off
the road, or the drunk that hit me at a red light, or the nut job
that went road rage on me....in all those cases the police could
or would not do anything, all due to this-that-or-the-other rule or
law. All the times *I* needed help, it was not found.

OK....I think I've made my point. Enough story telling.

Brian


This one time, at band camp, I was riding late at night and.....
--

Dave in Columbus