From: hasch@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (Veljko Roskar)
Subject: ***Police intimidation ???
Followup-To: rec.autos.driving
Reply-To: roskar@kavazi.uucp.jhu.edu (Veljko Roskar)
Organization: Acme Money Launderers, Inc.
     
Distribution: na
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 03:58:45 GMT



An ugly incident with the Baltimore's "finest" happened
to me on an early Sunday afternoon while looking for
parking before an Orioles game.
 
My court date is this Monday, Nov. 16, and since I wish to be well
prepared for my defense, following is my (longish) story
that I hope will elicit some advice from the wealth of
experience on usenet.
 
In the car were my wife and 10 month old son, who was
asleep. We were driving in the vicinity of the new
Orioles stadium looking for parking lots that still had
space available. Traffic was heavy but not gridlocked.
 
I approached a parking garage entrance on our right of a
4-lane, two way street, just before the next inter-
section. We noticed the sign that it was full. I decided
to make a left at the intersection, and crossed over into
the left turn lane.  The light turned red and we became
the first car at the light.
 
Looking behind, I noticed that I passed the white marker
where the cars should stop (it was ~2 car lengths back
from our car). This didn't concern me since our car was
not blocking any traffic, nor was it in the intersection.
 
What did concern my wife and I was the behavior of a
police officer who was yelling at the driver of a van in
the right lane and a little ahead of us. 
 
We had our windows up, so we couldn't hear what the
policeman was shouting, but it was obvious that the
driver of the van was apprehensive and/or confused, since
he accelerated his vehicle and then abruptly stopped it
(twice). The cop banged on the van driver's door,
shouting. 
 
The policemanthen turned towards our car and started 
shouting at me. 
 
We didn't hear what he was yelling, so I started to roll
down my window. Coming around to my side, he yelled:
"You! Turn your car around and go back where you came
from!"
 
I told him I wanted to make a left turn at the light. He
then kept shouting "Turn your car around!" And when I
started to speak again (respectfully) he shouted: "Pull
up on the curb right now!"
 
By that point I realized that I cannot reason with this
guy, so I obeyed. When he came over to us on the curb,
STILL shouting, he said something to the effect: "I told
you before to stay back! (???). "Let me have your
driver's license and registration!"
 
I asked him to please lower his voice because our baby
was asleep in the car and gave him the documents.
 
Right there my wife and I thought this was ridiculous and
expected a ticket for gridlock or something like that but
he came back and gave us a ticket for $260 (!), for
"Disobeying a lawful and direct order of a police
officer." (!!).
 
That week I contacted the Police's Internal Investigation
to complain against the cop's behavior.
 
They said since he didn't use profanity, they can only
refer my complaint to his commanding officer, who will
call me (he never did).
 
Like I said, I am going to court soon and want to gather
all useful info before I defend myself.
 
Going to court involves a catch 22 -- 
a) plead NOT guilty: tell your story and the judge finds
you GUILTY. You then pay the FULL fine and get points.
 
b) plead guilty, (feel cheated), but it's likely the
judge will fine you a smaller amount and probation (no
points), if you have a clean driving record (I do).
 
My idea is to plead not guilty, and see how the case
goes. If the judge doesn't seem to be going in my favor,
I'll ask to change my plea. IS THAT A GOOD IDEA? I can't
really afford a lawyer (the public defender will not
handle such a case). Nor can I afford this ticket, points
and associated rise in auto insurance.
 
I'll have a chance to ask the cop questions if I plead
not guilty. AGAIN, I REALLY DO NOT FEEL GUILTY IN THIS
MATTER. Here are questions I have so far:
 
1) Why where you shouting and initmidating other drivers
and  my family when no emergency was apparent?
 
2) Why didn't you let me make the left turn at this
intersection, since there was no backed up traffic in the
street I wanted to turn into?
 
DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER/BETTER QUESTIONS IN MIND? 
 
Any other useful stories of past experiences, legal 
suggestions, etc. would be very helpful. 
 
Oh, yes. What I really feel about this is that this cop
just plain didn't like us. I guess we gave him the
appearance of a young, urban professional family that
"deserves" a little lesson in "obeying authority" (read:
harrassment) here and there. 
HOW CAN I GET THE JUDGE TO SEE THIS?
 
Thanks.
 
veljko 
Newsgroups: rec.autos.driving