do I have anything on the cops actions?

[JT_MCLOVIN]

hey guys, quick question. I got pulled over today, and everything was okish until a second cop pulled up. he was a k-9 unit and was a overly aggressive. He kept glaring at me his hand always on his hand gun, but not unsnapped, but was ready too. I was unarmed, in a button up shirt with three kids in the car.....so obviously I wasnt going to start anything. As the cops walked toward me, I was told I have court tomorrow morning at 9a.m, how ever that is a bad time. I asked the cop who pulled me over if it was possible to reschedule the date. As soon as I did the second cop took a step forward, his left hand on his tazer this time, and said "If you cant make it we will go ahead and arrest you now or you can find away to your hearing." I felt threaten that he just took a step at me with his hand on his tazer over a simple question. I do have a witness. I dont know if there is any way I can appeal his behavior toward me or not. Any ideas my fellow people.

any ways i live in tennessee and my crime was speeding. i was going 35 in a 25.

 

[quincy]

hey guys, quick question. I got pulled over today, and everything was okish until a second cop pulled up. he was a k-9 unit and was a overly aggressive. He kept glaring at me his hand always on his hand gun, but not unsnapped, but was ready too. I was unarmed, in a button up shirt with three kids in the car.....so obviously I wasnt going to start anything. As the cops walked toward me, I was told I have court tomorrow morning at 9a.m, how ever that is a bad time. I asked the cop who pulled me over if it was possible to reschedule the date. As soon as I did the second cop took a step forward, his left hand on his tazer this time, and said "If you cant make it we will go ahead and arrest you now or you can find away to your hearing." I felt threaten that he just took a step at me with his hand on his tazer over a simple question. I do have a witness. I dont know if there is any way I can appeal his behavior toward me or not. Any ideas my fellow people.

any ways i live in tennessee and my crime was speeding. i was going 35 in a 25.

If you felt the officers' behavior was overly intimidating, you could file a complaint with their department. But you have no idea what they were thinking when they pulled you over. It is possible they were on an alert for a car matching the description of yours and, therefore, approached it and you in the manner they did for that reason.

 

[JT_MCLOVIN]

If you felt the officers' behavior was overly intimidating, you could file a complaint with their department. But you have no idea what they were thinking when they pulled you over. It is possible they were on an alert for a car matching the description of yours and, therefore, approached it and you in the manner they did for that reason.

I understand, i mean this went on for a hour, i figured by then they could tell i was of no threat, and i said yes sir and no sir. never rose my voice and still got this treatment which not only was threatening but also rude infront of my wife and three kids. i just didnt know if there was anything more i could do than file a complaint. but if thats all i understand. thank you for the swift reply.

 

[quincy]

I understand, i mean this went on for a hour, i figured by then they could tell i was of no threat, and i said yes sir and no sir. never rose my voice and still got this treatment which not only was threatening but also rude infront of my wife and three kids. i just didnt know if there was anything more i could do than file a complaint. but if thats all i understand. thank you for the swift reply.

You were stopped for an hour? That seems an unusually long time for a typical stop for speeding.

It is too bad your children had to witness (what I am assuming was) unwarranted rudeness on the part of the officers, but I don't see that you have anything to do but submit a complaint about the poor treatment you feel you were subjected to during the stop. The department will address the matter with the officers (or not).

 

[CdwJava]

A one hour stop for a speeding violation?

Something's either missing from the description of events, or your time frame is waaaaaay off. Such a lengthy stop for a traffic offense would be, on its face, unreasonable.

Did they conduct a search? Was there an issue with your license or ID? Was there an issue with the kids? Were you interviewed about some other incident unrelated to the traffic stop?

And what's with scheduling a court date for the next day???? That seems ... bizarre. But, different states have different ways of addressing systems for dealing with traffic offenses.

 

[quincy]

A one hour stop for a speeding violation?

Something's either missing from the description of events, or your time frame is waaaaaay off. Such a lengthy stop for a traffic offense would be, on its face, unreasonable.

Did they conduct a search? Was there an issue with your license or ID? Was there an issue with the kids? Were you interviewed about some other incident unrelated to the traffic stop?

And what's with scheduling a court date for the next day???? That seems ... bizarre. But, different states have different ways of addressing systems for dealing with traffic offenses.

Something seems off, doesn't it?

 

[TigerD]

Something seems off, doesn't it?

Well, you see, after the long stop, the dog alerted on the car and that's when the police found Jimmy Hoffa's remains in the trunk next to a kilo of cocaine and the unedited Zapruder film. But the OP was able to tell the officer that he had nothing to do with any of that, so they gave him a summons and let him go.

DC

 

[CdwJava]

The second officer "glaring" (or, more likely, staring) at the OP is standard fare for a cover officer on a traffic stop. And, a hand on the gun is, well, practical. Had the officer meant to be intimidating, he would have had it unsnapped and canted/rocked forward. As it is, that's kinda how we're trained. And there's no such things as an "obviously" safe situation. An officer that assumes a situation is completely safe is an officer that is likely to become a victim.

Yes, the response to the question may have been short, but, it may have been an entirely honest response. It could be that you either agree to appear for the arraignment or you can be arrested in order to guarantee the appearance. While a hand on a Taser might be seen as being overly confrontational, I there's something missing from this story and it might be the OP's demeanor or mouth. Maybe not, but, something is missing from this equation if the detention was for a full hour on a traffic citation.

 

[HighwayMan]

...so obviously I wasnt going to start anything.

No, it was not obvious. People, especially the bad guys, do unreasonable things all the time. Unless the officers knew you personally you can't make that statement.

An hour? More than likely it just seemed that long. I get that all the time in court - people tell the judge they were stopped for ridiculous periods of time when the actual stop may have been fifteen minutes tops.

File a civilian complaint with the police agency if you feel you were mistreated. That's really your only option.

 

[JT_MCLOVIN]

Truth of it is, it wasn't my opinion. My wife stood beside me, and I posed no threats, I wasn't even worked up. It took an hour, î was pulled over at 5:53 and it lasted till 6:45. So it was nearly an hour. But I was looking over the ticket, officer told me I was speeding on Pennsylvania Ave but my ticket shows 808 Anderson St, but I was never on that road. Lastly my ticket shows no information about the car I was driving, just has my name, wrong address where it happened, and my charges, ut nothing else. I am thinking this ticket is invalid as it sits.....

 

[CdwJava]

Truth of it is, it wasn't my opinion. My wife stood beside me, and I posed no threats, I wasn't even worked up.

I'm glad you think so. But, the officer is under no obligation to believe the same thing - and I have known officers attacked under similar circumstances, so any officer worth his salt isn't going to simply conclude he's safe because it looks like he has ma and pa kettle stopped. And nothing you wrote indicate the officer acted inappropriately when he was watching you. That is how officers tend to be trained.

When I was in So Cal, standard operating procedure on a traffic stop was to approach the car with your weapon holster unsnapped and the weapon canted forward or even out and behind your thigh and out of sight during the approach. Not so much of a need where I am, but I do tend to make all approaches to a car with my weapon holster unsnapped and my hand on my weapon. And, when serving as a cover officer, my hand often does rest on my gun ... and, I stare at the car, the driver, and the passengers. It's what I am supposed to do in those situations.

It took an hour, î was pulled over at 5:53 and it lasted till 6:45. So it was nearly an hour. But I was looking over the ticket, officer told me I was speeding on Pennsylvania Ave but my ticket shows 808 Anderson St, but I was never on that road. Lastly my ticket shows no information about the car I was driving, just has my name, wrong address where it happened, and my charges, ut nothing else. I am thinking this ticket is invalid as it sits.....

Then go to court and fight the citation on its merits. Arguing that the officer acted inappropriately when it is not at all clear that he did so won't help you win in court. Even if he did behave improperly, that won't help you at trial.

I'm still trying to figure out what everyone could possibly have been doing for 52 minutes on a traffic stop, but, if you say so. Was he sitting at his car for 43 minutes?

 

[JT_MCLOVIN]

To be honest, I believe gossiping. They were talking back and forth, most of the time, honestly the k-9 unit had no business unless he was bored. But yeah that's what happened....

 

[CdwJava]

To be honest, I believe gossiping. They were talking back and forth, most of the time, honestly the k-9 unit had no business unless he was bored. But yeah that's what happened....

I cannot imagine what they'd talk about on a traffic stop for that amount of time. Unless dispatch was tied up and took for-flippin'-ever to get back to them with driver or vehicle info, or was checking on possible FTAs or warrants, or something, I can't imagine why they'd want to just hang on a stop for so long.

In any event, you argue the facts of the case when defending yourself in court. If the officer testifies you were on a street you were not, you point that out. Perhaps the officer's lack of attention to that detail will be sufficient to cause reasonable doubt with the court. As for any unprofessional actions by the officers, that is an issue for the agency.