Frank Krygowski
October 2nd 04, 03:13 AM
Nate Nagel wrote:
>
> There have been times where I felt like an officer really *was* out to
> get me. Like being followed for 50 miles through GA at 3AM (with PA
> plates of course.) Or being pulled over for a "brake light out" that
> miraculously tested fine when I got to work (that one sucked, officer
> wrote me a fix it ticket not only for the brake light - which I "fixed"
> by doing nothing - but also a crack in my windshield which had just
> appeared the week before. Over $400 and a trip to the police station
> later for inspection, and I was "legal" again... I meant to fix the
> windshield anyway, but the crack was underneath the wipers when they
> were parked, so it wasn't a safety issue, and I really didn't have the
> $400 at the time... but I digress...)
Poor boy! Admittedly, you seem to have had some bad luck. The cop that
gave me an off-the-record warning for that motorcycle taillight was
quite friendly.
But perhaps my attitude was better, too. Hard to say.
I imagine it's probably due to
> my tendency to buy "interesting" cars which often end up having an aura
> of boy-racer about them - even though I don't drive in that manner on
> public roads - and also a mild beater appearance, as I really don't care
> about much other than the mechanicals, unless we're talking about one of
> my "toy" cars.
The tiny village paper here (not the large metro one) prints the village
and township police reports each week. They're interesting. Time after
time, cops stop people for lights not working, or cracked windshields,
or missing plates, etc, and they find open containers, big bags of
marijuana, unlicensed guns, people driving under suspension while drunk,
stolen property and the like.
I talked to one of my friends who's a township cop. I said "I don't
understand. If I _were_ going to be dealing drugs, I'd be sure my
vehicle was completely legal and didn't attract attention."
He said "These people aren't Einsteins, Frank."
The worst incident was the kid in the booming new Trans Am, a real
window-rattler. He got pulled over in the village center for the loud
stereo, and while the cop was at the driver's window, he started to
reach under the seat. The cop grabbed his arm, and the kid floored the
car, dragging the cop. The cop hung on literally for dear life, somehow
got his service revolver out and managed to shoot the guy dead before he
rammed the cop into a wall.
They found pounds of marijuana and a fair amount of cocaine in the car,
a bag with hundreds (or thousands?) in cash, and a gun under the seat.
Of course, the parents sued, saying (among other things) that the
traffic stop was unjustified, that the police planted the drugs, etc.
Meanwhile, I talked to people who actually knew the kid. He'd been
dealing drugs for years. But his parents were sure that he paid for the
fancy car, expensive stereo, leather jacket, etc. by the money he earned
loading trucks part-time.
"These people aren't Einsteins, Frank."
--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]
>
> There have been times where I felt like an officer really *was* out to
> get me. Like being followed for 50 miles through GA at 3AM (with PA
> plates of course.) Or being pulled over for a "brake light out" that
> miraculously tested fine when I got to work (that one sucked, officer
> wrote me a fix it ticket not only for the brake light - which I "fixed"
> by doing nothing - but also a crack in my windshield which had just
> appeared the week before. Over $400 and a trip to the police station
> later for inspection, and I was "legal" again... I meant to fix the
> windshield anyway, but the crack was underneath the wipers when they
> were parked, so it wasn't a safety issue, and I really didn't have the
> $400 at the time... but I digress...)
Poor boy! Admittedly, you seem to have had some bad luck. The cop that
gave me an off-the-record warning for that motorcycle taillight was
quite friendly.
But perhaps my attitude was better, too. Hard to say.
I imagine it's probably due to
> my tendency to buy "interesting" cars which often end up having an aura
> of boy-racer about them - even though I don't drive in that manner on
> public roads - and also a mild beater appearance, as I really don't care
> about much other than the mechanicals, unless we're talking about one of
> my "toy" cars.
The tiny village paper here (not the large metro one) prints the village
and township police reports each week. They're interesting. Time after
time, cops stop people for lights not working, or cracked windshields,
or missing plates, etc, and they find open containers, big bags of
marijuana, unlicensed guns, people driving under suspension while drunk,
stolen property and the like.
I talked to one of my friends who's a township cop. I said "I don't
understand. If I _were_ going to be dealing drugs, I'd be sure my
vehicle was completely legal and didn't attract attention."
He said "These people aren't Einsteins, Frank."
The worst incident was the kid in the booming new Trans Am, a real
window-rattler. He got pulled over in the village center for the loud
stereo, and while the cop was at the driver's window, he started to
reach under the seat. The cop grabbed his arm, and the kid floored the
car, dragging the cop. The cop hung on literally for dear life, somehow
got his service revolver out and managed to shoot the guy dead before he
rammed the cop into a wall.
They found pounds of marijuana and a fair amount of cocaine in the car,
a bag with hundreds (or thousands?) in cash, and a gun under the seat.
Of course, the parents sued, saying (among other things) that the
traffic stop was unjustified, that the police planted the drugs, etc.
Meanwhile, I talked to people who actually knew the kid. He'd been
dealing drugs for years. But his parents were sure that he paid for the
fancy car, expensive stereo, leather jacket, etc. by the money he earned
loading trucks part-time.
"These people aren't Einsteins, Frank."
--
--------------------+
Frank Krygowski [To reply, remove rodent and vegetable dot com,
replace with cc.ysu dot edu]