Controversial Police Action

[Mitsuki]

This was an interesting read.

A state trooper rammed a Hudson, Wis., man's van on New Year's Eve and arrested him for fleeing a traffic stop because he did not quickly pull over. The driver, who had his kids along, says he was looking for a safe place to stop.

More than a month after Sam Salter wound up in the Ramsey County jail for two nights, the 40-year-old adjunct college instructor from Hudson, Wis., is still fuming. "You feel totally helpless," he said.



At the end of a New Year's Eve traffic stop on Interstate 94 in St. Paul, State Patrol Sgt. Carrie Rindal rammed Salter's 2001 Toyota Sienna van, causing $1,500 damage to his vehicle, and arrested him at gunpoint while his three children, ages 2, 3 and 6, sat in the van. His wife had to pick up the kids as he was taken to jail.



Rindal said Salter was attempting to flee. He said he was merely looking for a safe place to pull over.


The Ramsey County attorney's office declined to charge Salter after reviewing the evidence, including a video of the stop. "It was our belief there was insufficient evidence to prove that the suspect was knowingly fleeing police, and that is what he had been arrested for," said Paul Gustafson, a county attorney spokesman.
In late January, the State Patrol mailed Salter a ticket for making an illegal lane change. He faces no other charges.


The squad car's video shows that Rindal first noticed Salter about 11:40 p.m. Dec. 31. She said in a report that she had witnessed him weaving within a lane, changing lanes without signaling and going 70 miles per hour in a 55-mph zone on I-94. She turned on her lights to pull him over, and the video shows what followed: A one-mile pursuit that ended on a side street off I-94, where Salter said he had turned to look for a safe place to pull over.



It was never a high-speed chase. After Rindal rammed Salter's car -- a police tactic sometimes used for stopping fleeing vehicles -- he stopped abruptly and emerged from the van questioning why she had hit his vehicle. Rindal emerged from her squad car and, with gun drawn, forced him against the side of his vehicle and arrested him. Salter registered zero in a preliminary alcohol-breath test

You can view the video of what happened here:http://www.startribune.com/local/ea...PYDiaK7DUvDE7aL_V_BD77:DiiUiacyKUnciaec8O7EyU



Not really sure what's going on with the cop yet, but I really do think she needs to face some consequences for what she did. That was way out of hand - she shouldn't have rammed her vehicle into his van, regardless of whether she knew there were kids inside or not. You just don't do that, period. He was clearly slowing down and trying to find a safe spot so he can pull over - either that cop is desperate to catch someone or she didn't know what she was doing. You can hear her voice getting all shaky - her responses are quite stupid.

The only thing I would say is that the guy shouldn't have gotten off his vehicle since you should never ever do that when you get pulled over, but heck, I can understand that he was extremely pissed off that he just didn't think about it. That sucks that he was fined and had to spend two nights in jail, but at least the charges were dropped against him. In the cop's defense, she probably genuinely misunderstood that he was trying to get away from her, although him slowing down should have been a big hint for her. Still, the fact that there were kids inside probably did not help her case - whatever that may be.

 

[Shu]

Well I haven't read this article, so at first I was really judgmental of the police officer. For one I thought it was a male police officer.. so I was like "figures."

I don't understand what was going through the officer's mind, I mean it almost was something you would hear from a movie. Honestly I would have suspended the cop and had the county or state pay for the damages as a collateral response. Then to have kids in the car? That just makes the Police woman look like totally guilty.

I am biased in saying they should have taken actions against the officer for ramming him in the first place. Also if it was a lie, then there should be repercussions for her actions, I mean maybe she was having a hard week and a sudden jolt of anger came over her, but damn she wasn't thinking. I have no defense for the officer.

Also where is the apology? That's what I don't get. If a police officer does wrong maybe her precinct should have offered a public apology.

I feel bad for the man.. honestly his kids must have been shook up to. To have your father treated like that in front of your eyes.. those kids will already probably deem police as "bad" people in the future.

Oh well.. that's my piece.

 

[Mitsuki]

Yeah, her pointing the gun at him must have been quite a shocker for his kids. 2, 3, and 6 years old...they shouldn't have to see and experience such hostility. And notice how she just left them in his car while she talked to him and accused him of trying to get away from her. Poor kids must have been crying since there were no assurance that everything was 'okay'. She should have at least made sure that his kids were okay from the jolt of the vehicle. I don't know, maybe she did after and it just didn't show in the video, but the first response should have been that after she cuffed him, she should have checked on the kids and apologized for her improper action. Instead she got stupidly defensive over the whole thing. I definitely have no respect for what she did and I don't feel any sympathy for her either. If she gets suspended or possibly lose her job, fair enough.

 

[LuvHerEyes]

ramming....at 5mph?.....she was trying to make him loose control and wildly spin off the road?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj0i7_YqQJ8


Mod Edit: Due to the nature of the section, this post is considered spammy, so if you could put a little more effort that would be great. Perhaps post your own opinion about the subject at hand, to start. Thanks.

 

[GameGeeks]

Great vid LHE. As for the police officer she should have been more then aware of what's going on. 70 to 5 mph is not trying to flee speed. It did seem she was overly aggressive. She just needs to chill and be aware on a high way that there's not many places to stop without the chance for and accident by another car.

 

[CassinoChips]

Taking pictures completely out of context is fun.

I'll give cops all the latitude in the world. They have to put up with the dregs of the human gene pool on a daily basis. And people are stupid. And crazy. So I can handle a minor incident like this every now and then. Because the amount of shit that they have to put up with and handle professionally far outweighs the occasional outburst.

Should she be reprimanded? Probably. But let's not get bent out of shape over it.

 

[Nalaar]

....Becoming so accustomed to the smell of your own lower intestine?...priceless. For everything else, there is the associated Press.

7-Year-Old Arrested for Assault​

MONTICELLO, FL-September 29, 2004 � The mother of a seven-year-old Florida boy says he's too young to have been arrested, booked and taken to a juvenile facility.​

Sheriff's officials in Monticello say they didn't have a choice because a warrant for battery charges had been issued for the child. He's four-foot-six and weights 60 pounds.
He's accused of hitting a classmate, a teacher and a principal, and scratching a school resource officer. But the boy's family has retained a lawyer and disputes the official account of what happened. The lawyer says the boy has an attention deficit disorder
The mother of Johnnie Lee Morris � whose name was released by the attorney � says he was held in detention for several hours.
The boy is under house arrest.​

(Copyright 2004 by the Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

 

[Warbsywoo]

I didn't like the responses she gave to Mr. Salter.

"...we PIT people when we see the opportunity to PIT people..."
I thought officers were only supposed to use that maneuver when it is absolutely necessary, not whenever they want to just to get someone to stop.

"...you keep driving and driving and driving...what do you think is going to happen when you don't pull over?..."
I thought he was trying to pull over, as his speed was reduced to a crawl and his vehicle was tending to the right side of the road from that perspective.

Yeah, well, I'd have launched a complaint.

 

[Bun]

This is a difficult issue to deal with, but I think both parties are at fault.

In the suspect's defense, while he may've been trying to find a safe place to pull over, he was also presumably speeding, not using his turning signal and weaving in the lanes. This could indicate MANY things, which officers have to deal with on a daily basis: drunk driving or any kind of driving under the influence of an illegal or prescribed substance, medical issue, etc. It's kind of unreasonable to ask a police officer to be a mind reader, and the guy should know you need to stop ASAP when you see those lights. If he can stop after being rammed, he could've stopped before it ever had to come to that point.

As for the cop, she did overreact and should be reprimanded accordingly, but we also have to remember that police officers put their lives on the line to make sure people who are speeding, weaving and just downright not using their vehicles properly don't injure themselves, their passengers or anyone else on the road. Had the officer used the pit maneuver at a higher speed, I might be more inclined to say she was completely out of line, but at 5 mph - and assuming she waited until it was clear to do so - she made the proper decision when her lights were not doing the job.

If you've seen as many car chases as I have (I come from southern California; and those World's Wildest Police chase videos are just fun to kill time with), you'd know that someone slowing down doesn't mean jack shit. It doesn't mean their gas pedal is broken, it doesn't mean their brakes are bad and it sure as hell doesn't always mean they're GOING to stop. Many people use that tactic to attempt to fool the police and end up speeding off a few moments later, which is probably why she did what she did.