HCSO Traffic Stop

Im sorry to bring this up, but I have to find out if im the only one that feels this way....

I just had the chance to watch the video from the HCSO traffic stop involving the woman that fled from the scene to get to her "dying father" who apparently was healthy enough to drive himself the the hospital (You can find this video about anywhere on the news websites or on mjmorningshow.com).

I have to say that I am upset by the decision that HCSO made to suspend the deputy without pay. Ok, I could expect the media to publicise this in a negative way. But from an officer's standpoint this is bogus!

How many times are we given BS excuses for the way people drive? ummm.....maybe 75%? So are we now required to personally decide whether or not an excuse given has any truth? Do we have the time to follow someone to the hospital to see if their excuse is valid. And even so, what does it matter?! These laws are made to protect other drivers. Is this to say that because her father was in the hospital she now has a LEGAL right to place other drivers in danger? What if she would have hit somebody going as fast as she was.... would she still be found at fault or would we let her walk?

Furthermore, this lady not only committed a felony by fleeing and eluding, but she continued to drive while the officer was caught withing her doorframe! Oh wait, thats right....she "yelled out the window that she was going to leave". yeah, because we can always hear the drivers while we are sitting inside our cruiser. This is a case of an overdramatic female looking for a way out of a ticket. Furthermore, her father was at the hospital! He was where he needed to be! She wasnt racing to give him CPR on the side of the road...there was nothing she could do when she go there! And realistically, I doubt that there was any genuine fear that her father's life was about to end. All I can say is that I can gaurantee that I would have acted in the same manner in which the deputy did. And if that happens, I hope my agency backs me up as I would expect them to do.

Come on guys.....this ridiculous stunt to save face with the public is going to cause a crippling affect on our day-to-day traffic enforcement. I can only imagine how many sh!theads out there are going to try and use this same excuse now. And according to HCSO, are we now required to check out the validity of all of these excuses? I am angry and appalled at the lack of backbone that HCSo showed in the lack of support of their deputy. If I was him, I would be taking these 5 days to fill out applications.

Well, I guess the only positive of this whole thing is that I now know how to get out of a speeding ticket in that county.

Were we watching the same video? He stops a middle-aged woman hurrying to the hospital because her father had a heart attack ( he stayed there for most of a week and had 2 stents put in ). He shows no concern or compassion for the woman nor does he bother to check out her story by following her to the hospital that you can literally see in the background. She does leave the traffic stop and drive into the parking lot. If you think that is a real case of "Fleeing and Attempting to Elude" then I pity you if you ever have a real pursuit. After she stops again ( in the parking lot ), he yanks open her door and begins a vehicle extraction technique. As she starts to leave the vehicle, her foot comes off the brake and the car begins idling forward - at which time he yells at her to put it in park, which she does. He then pulls her from the vehicle, applies an arm bar, and slams her across the trunk hard enough that her feet come off the ground ( it takes a REAL man to handle a soccer Mom! ).
The funniest part is when his backup arrives and helps him handcuff her. Then, as they walk back toward the camera, the backup looks bewildered and holds his arms out, palms up as though to ask "what the F**k".
The traffic stop was mishandled from the start. I've stopped people in the same state of mind on their way to Largo Med and have followed them to ascertain the validity of their claim. Then issued a warning or citation, whichever was more appropriate. The level of force was completely over the top ( and I've taught defensive tactics ). The deputy was slapped down for failing to handle the situation in an appropriate manner and for unnecessary use of force. My guess would be that this was not his first incident of this nature.
In 1993 I was coming home from teaching at the academy when I received word that my father had had a heart attack and was being transported to Meese Countryside. I cannot honestly tell you whether I exceeded the speed limit to get there or not. I strongly suspect that I did. I can tell you that I would have given anything to look in my father's eyes one last time and tell him how much he meant to me and how much I loved him. I never got that opportunity.
I was too late.

So you will forgive me if I don't find the deputy's actions laudable or justified or if I don't want to name LEO of the Year.

The term Heartless Prick does leap to mind, however.

#28

That's a bunch of crap!!!!!! She fled and in the amount of time it took her to run away and get pulled out of the vehicle, she could have gotten her ticket and been on her way.

Bottom Line...SHE FLED FROM A POLICE OFFICER!!!!! I would have pulled her out of the car and put her on the ground..not the trunk....she's lucky that it wasn't worse.

We get lied to everyday and personally I am not going to follow everyone that says they are on thier way to the hospital for an emergency. Its crap......

Who is she to leave the scene...everyone wants to feel special and thinks that they are above the law...KISS IT!!! I have no patience for people who think that way. Now she has a bad feeling about the deputies...too bad....when her house is getting broken inot she's gonna want us there to protect her.

Oh yeah and #28.....if you would have paid attention, she passed the ER when she was flying by and that is why the deputy did not hold her story as valid...so pay attention next time and maybe you won't feel the same way.

And from what I heard...you weren't that compassionate....

Jeez, you sound like one of those peudo-macho newbies that's never been in a real fight but talks real tough. I guess you're big enough to manhandle a middle-aged woman. Congratulations on that.
Just for a moment, though, put on your thinking cap and consider that a distraught woman, thinking that her father might be dead or dying, might miss the ER entrance. That's not really a stretch. And I didn't notice the deputy considering anything after he stopped her the second time - he basicaly just yanked her out of the car. Which is why he was disciplined and that should be an object lesson for you.
As for my compassion or lack thereof - those who deserved it got it and those who didn't got something else. That's life.

#28

28 is right on in his evaluation of this situation. Serve and Protect folks....it's that simple. Those that see this as a fleeing and eluding (contempt of cop) are the same ones who will whine when some other LEO writes someone they know a cite and violate the "thin blue line".

Remember, the lady didn't contact HCSO, they contacted her. If you've ever raced to the ER for a family member maybe you can understand how she felt. Yeah, we get lied to, and somtimes guilty people go unpunished, but let's not make this worse by not admitting it could have been handled differently. If she was your wife/daughter/mother/sister you would be outraged.

#28 not compassionate? Tell that to the family of a child that died in his arms a number of years ago.

#117

...Those that see this as a fleeing and eluding (contempt of cop) are the same ones who will whine when some other LEO writes someone they know a cite and violate the "thin blue line"...

Ok, so when someone flees from your traffic stop, what would be your preferred method of handling that?

316.1935 says: "It is unlawful for the operator of any vehicle, having knowledge that he or she has been ordered to stop such vehicle by a duly authorized law enforcement officer, willfully to refuse or fail to stop the vehicle in compliance with such order or, having stopped in knowing compliance with such order, willfully to flee in an attempt to elude the officer"

She drove around the parking lot looking for her father's car. My PREFERRED method of handling any situation is to look at all the facts, interview the people involved & then decide if probable cause exists. It's called conducting an investigation. That's my PREFERRED method of handling things. I'll admit, sometimes we all let our tempers get the best of us, and that's what appears to have happened here. The deputy didn't just have a high speed pursuit all over the county after a stolen vehicle, he followed a distraught lady through the hospital parking lot at about 15 mph.

Weenie...so you can copy a statute book. Go out and have about 5000 people lie to you on traffic stops and then have one run. Then come talk to me about this. Go back to your day job and quit getting on this site b/c sooner or later your boss is gonna find out that you are not doing your job. :twisted:

My PREFERRED method of handling any situation is to look at all the facts, interview the people involved & then decide if probable cause exists. It's called conducting an investigation. That's my PREFERRED method of handling things.

Bear in mind your preferred method works great, since you already know the outcome of the situation.

However, the key is that at the time of the event, no one knows what the final outcome will be. A basic officer safety principle is that people who do not comply with your lawful orders have to be considered threats. You can go back to (at least) the late 70's and see this documented in the book "Officer Survival." Or, read through the FBI's Officers Killed Summaries, or talk to cops who have been in multiple violent confrontations.

Maybe she is just trying to find her dad's car. Maybe she has decided that she will risk going to jail by driving away from the officer to search for her father's car. Maybe she would also decide to shoot the officer so she can get away from him.

Here's another "maybe." Maybe the officer decided that regardless of her actions, he was going home safe that night.

Keep in mind that the officer made a valid traffic stop and the motorist failed to obey the officer's lawful commands. As a result of the motorists actions, the motorist went to jail.

In your opinion, the deputy may be an unpleasant individual, but he didn't violate anyone's civil rights.