NFL player pulled over while rushing to see dying mother-in-law

[karamazov80]

Officer apologizes after delaying Texans' Moats as mother-in-law died

That's weird. All yesterday on CNN, they kept saying that the cop refused to admit wrong-doing, insisting that if he could go back in time, he would do everything the same.

Anyway, the sad thing is, if this wasn't a famous football player, we probably would never hear of this, the cop would keep working, and no one would give a crap. You get national attention, and all of a sudden the police captain publicly apologizes, the cop will probably be sent off the equivalent of Siberia, etc. But, to quote Biohazard, that's just how it is.

 

[dr_teng]

There's actually a few decent websites that track police abuses of their power (the vast majority that are far far worse than this) but yeah, for a lot of people, this would get no attention or apology whatsoever.

The cop's myspace was checked on another website or two, when you have a guy who has his badge tattooed on his arm, you gotta realize he's probably an abusive ^^^^head.

https://elected.by.dogs.mirror.waff.../8132883c1ec5d1cbe6472338b0aad9e3e3a012de.jpg

 

[Bannister]

That's weird. All yesterday on CNN, they kept saying that the cop refused to admit wrong-doing, insisting that if he could go back in time, he would do everything the same.

Anyway, the sad thing is, if this wasn't a famous football player, we probably would never hear of this, the cop would keep working, and no one would give a crap. You get national attention, and all of a sudden the police captain publicly apologizes, the cop will probably be sent off the equivalent of Siberia, etc. But, to quote Biohazard, that's just how it is.

We would have still heard of this even if it didn't happen to a football player.

 

[Anzik]

Its a job I wouldn't want. You can't afford to second guess yourself which is why you generally get an over confident type A personality signing on for it. You also have to imagine how many times cops hear stories like this.

I think the officer was definitely wrong in this case but his whole record should be looked at before he is run out on a rail.

 

[karamazov80]

We would have still heard of this even if it didn't happen to a football player.

What's the chances that the only time this happens and gets national headlines, it is an NFL athlete? If you go to one of the sites referenced by dr_teng (I don't know anything about them), I'm sure you will see worse stuff than this that almost no one has heard about. . .as he says

 

[Bannister]

What's the chances that the only time this happens and gets national headlines, it is an NFL athlete? If you go to one of the sites referenced by dr_teng (I don't know anything about them), I'm sure you will see worse stuff than this that no one has heard about.

I heard about a similar story involving a dog dying because a cop stopped the guy for speeding. The guy wasn't famous. Once a lawyer would have gotten a hold of this, this story would have been everywhere, NFL player or no.

 

[karamazov80]

I heard about a similar story involving a dog dying because a cop stopped the guy for speeding. The guy wasn't famous.

I never heard of that , and it certainly didn't provoke national outrage like this did (though, arguably, a person dying is more important than a dog). though I did once read of a cop pulling a guy over for speeding, the guy saying that he sped because he need to crap, and the cop checking the toilet after the guy was done to make sure it was true.

 

[dr_teng]

Its a job I wouldn't want. You can't afford to second guess yourself which is why you generally get an over confident type A personality signing on for it. You also have to imagine how many times cops hear stories like this.

I think the officer was definitely wrong in this case but his whole record should be looked at before he is run out on a rail.

He couldn't afford to second guess himself...on a ticket for running a red light, after the car was stopped?

The cop came out, gun drawn, on a traffic violation. He was told, multiple times by hospital employees, that the story was real. Taking his whole record into consideration, not only should he be fired, but I'd say there's a reasonable chance that he should be in the one in jail.

 

[Bannister]

I never heard of that , and it certainly didn't provoke national outrage like this did (though, arguably, a person dying is more important than a dog). though I did once read of a cop pulling a guy over for speeding, the guy saying that he sped because he need to crap, and the cop checking the toilet after the guy was done to make sure it was true.

Agree to disagree.

 

[karamazov80]

Stay classy, Bannister.
Seriously though, what a thing to argue about

I think there is something to certain personality types choosing to be cops. This isn't always the case, of course (I have a cousin who is a cop, and he is literally as humble and as nice a guy as I know), but for guys who like to bully people around, and feel like they have some small level of power over others, etc., being a cop is an easy way to express that part of their personality. "I could screw you over if I wanted to," etc. The benevolent cop "allows" a guy to get off light by not throwing him in jail, etc.

This isn't to say that most criminals don't deserve to be treated tough, or that I blame the cop for questioning some of what the guy said (until the nurse came out, that is, or until he saw that the guy was speeding to a hospital). I know that criminals exploit the weaknesses of a liberal society, etc. etc. But at the same time, I would hope that guys driving around with guns and the authority to incapacitate a person would be able to exercise some semblance of good judgment most of the time, and when many are predisposed to be bullies, I'm not sure if that is always possible.

 

[pmtz2005]

Cops like this piss me off give em a badge and all of a sudden they're Judge Dredd.
This reminds me of a similar story. Dont remember where it happened but this family was rushing their elderly mother or father to the hospital because they were having a heart attack. Of course speeding a cop tried to pull them over. Im not sure how many miles it took for the driver to pull over, but the driver finally pulled over. Needless to say the cop was very irrate. When the driver tried to explain that they're elderly parent was having a heart attack the cop just yelled at driver for not pulling over and threating to put him in jail. I can't remember how long the cop had them there, and he did give them a citation. And it was on the police units video recorder. Well the elderly parent ended up dying because they didnt get to help on time. The family sued the police dept. and the dept won stating that the officer had the right to pull over the irrate driver and protect the safety of the public on the road.
Where was the sensitivity? Would've had been that troublesome to provide a police escort to the hospital for a dying person? Stories about police abuse are all too common.....

 

[Anzik]

They appear too common because they get covered by the media. For the thousands of officers out there how many perform their duties admirably? What is the percentage? Lets play devils advocate here, and say the driver hit a pedestrian or another vehicle, then the cop would have been negligent. There was a case in Philly about a year ago where the police were called to a home for a domestic violence event. A teenager was threatening his family members with an iron. When the officer arrived the teen came at the officer and the officer was forced to shoot him. Of course there was outrage, but what if he struck the officer and got hold of his gun?
There are great cops, good cops, complacent cops, anal cops, bad cops. There are even really good cops that can have a bad day the one time it really matters. That's because they're human. I'm quite sure every one of us has had a bad day when we acted poorly and our judgment caused something bad. It just so happens that when a cop, or a doctor, or a fireman or an EMT has a bad day someone can die.
The point is that its easy to get all mad at this cop, and he might in fact deserve it. He might be the biggest jerk wad out there, but he is an officer of the law, so let the system work this out and not the outrage of the headline.

 

[pmtz2005]

Its a two street man I know and there are good officers out there. But of course these are the ones that get coverage and cause outrage. Poor choices come with consequences

 

[karamazov80]

Yeah, unfortunately, as with everything, "positive" news stories just don't grab people's attention the way that the bad stuff does. We would rather hear of some idiot like "Octamom" over people that adopt kids from China and raise them to be contributers to society, or of the stories of serial killers and mass murderers over that of good teachers and philanthropists. The good stuff that good cops do often goes unheard.

But I still think that, though there are lots of great cops (I'm sure a lot more are, on the whole, doing what they do for the right reason), it is a job that draws a particular personality type--one that is not always going to be the kind to "do the right thing" in situations like we see here. Just like you get a disproportionate number of introverts doing things like accounting and computer programming, you are going to get a disproportionate number of "Type A control freaks" as cops.

 

[pmtz2005]

Sorry I posted before I got to finish what I was saying. I believe what your talking about is a deadly force situation. That's different when you know what the situation is. I know anything can turn turn into a deadly force situation. I understand that a speeding person who doesn't stop raises an officers awareness. But given the situation of a dying person at hand, I believe that pride should be put aside(what else could it be?). That cop should put himself in those shoes what if it was him in that situation taking his dying mother to the hospital. Its awful to hear those stories and even worse to see them on video...

 

[karamazov80]

But given the situation of a dying person at hand, I believe that pride should be put aside(what else could it be?).

Kind of like Dennehy's sheriff in First Blood--guy just couldn't back down once he started escalating things, even though it just became an issue of a power-trip.

 

[pmtz2005]

I haven't seen that movie in a long long time will have to check it out

 

[King Darkness]

They appear too common because they get covered by the media. For the thousands of officers out there how many perform their duties admirably? What is the percentage? Lets play devils advocate here, and say the driver hit a pedestrian or another vehicle, then the cop would have been negligent. There was a case in Philly about a year ago where the police were called to a home for a domestic violence event. A teenager was threatening his family members with an iron. When the officer arrived the teen came at the officer and the officer was forced to shoot him. Of course there was outrage, but what if he struck the officer and got hold of his gun?
There are great cops, good cops, complacent cops, anal cops, bad cops. There are even really good cops that can have a bad day the one time it really matters. That's because they're human. I'm quite sure every one of us has had a bad day when we acted poorly and our judgment caused something bad. It just so happens that when a cop, or a doctor, or a fireman or an EMT has a bad day someone can die.
The point is that its easy to get all mad at this cop, and he might in fact deserve it. He might be the biggest jerk wad out there, but he is an officer of the law, so let the system work this out and not the outrage of the headline.

 

[bran-chan]

And he officially resigned. I would have preferred a firing.