A
alawrence101
Guest
I am writing in regards to a very unfavorable encounter I had with two UW Madison campus police officers the other night (in Madison, WI). First of all, let me say that I'm an 18 year old student who will be of junior standing this fall, and I've never had a drink in my life. I won't touch drugs and I won't even take asprin for a headache.
I was with six of my friends sitting on one of the piers (all of us were completely sober and not causing any sort of disturbance) quietyly talking and enjoying the beautiful weather. I saw some bright lights shining on us, so I turned around and saw that it was the headlights on the bikes of two campus police officers as they rode by. I turned back around and didn't think anything of it until there was another light shining on me and a hand on my shoulder. It was one of the officers, and they asked me to come with them as they led me away from the shore to an open area under a street lamp. When I asked them why they were doing this to me, they informed me that I had looked at them like I "had something to hide". One of the officers then demanded my ID saying, "I know you're underage and you've obviously been drinking." The other officer then insisted that he could even smell this non-existent alcohol on my breath. They then started claiming that they thought they had both seen me throwing something into the lake which is a complete and utter lie.
Basically they were both being pricks and trying to get a reaction out of my, which I'm ashamed to admit they did. After their insistence that I was drunk I was so disgusted with their treatment of me after never having broken a law in my life that I moaned in self-pity and frustration "oh, **** off" (not at all belligerently or aggressively in which case I would understand why it would be a big deal). I imediately realized how stupid that was, and when he asked me what I said, I replied, "nothing," and I apologized. I cooperated with them completely after that and I must have apologized twenty times. They, of course, were happy to have their reaction out of me and immediately went off on me. One of them called me "stupid," they called for backup, they frisked me in a very public place, which was completely humiliating, they gave me a breathalizer test (which I blew a zero on), they threatened to have me arrested, they questioned my friends, they searched the area I had been sitting still hoping in vain that they could find something to write me a ticket for, and when they realized that I was completely innocent, they told me they were writing a report on me for disorderly conduct because of my momentary lapse of intelligence so if I ever got in any other confrontations with the police they would see it on my record. They demanded that I treat them with respect when, having been completely innocent all along, they hadn't treated me with a shred of decency or respect themselves, and I have six people who witnessed the whole thing that can back me up on that.
I don't know if my rights were violated, but it certainly felt like they were. My questions are:
1. Were my rights violated at any point?
2. Do I have grounds to file an official complaint? If so, how would I go about doing that?
3. Could they honestly have arrested me?
4. Could they really have disorderly conduct put on my record, and if so, how long would it stay?
5. Does the first amendment have any relevance? I wasn't using fighting words or slandering them. The way I said it was more out of self-pity and exasperation than anger or aggressiveness.
I've never had any problem with this sort of thing before, and any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
I was with six of my friends sitting on one of the piers (all of us were completely sober and not causing any sort of disturbance) quietyly talking and enjoying the beautiful weather. I saw some bright lights shining on us, so I turned around and saw that it was the headlights on the bikes of two campus police officers as they rode by. I turned back around and didn't think anything of it until there was another light shining on me and a hand on my shoulder. It was one of the officers, and they asked me to come with them as they led me away from the shore to an open area under a street lamp. When I asked them why they were doing this to me, they informed me that I had looked at them like I "had something to hide". One of the officers then demanded my ID saying, "I know you're underage and you've obviously been drinking." The other officer then insisted that he could even smell this non-existent alcohol on my breath. They then started claiming that they thought they had both seen me throwing something into the lake which is a complete and utter lie.
Basically they were both being pricks and trying to get a reaction out of my, which I'm ashamed to admit they did. After their insistence that I was drunk I was so disgusted with their treatment of me after never having broken a law in my life that I moaned in self-pity and frustration "oh, **** off" (not at all belligerently or aggressively in which case I would understand why it would be a big deal). I imediately realized how stupid that was, and when he asked me what I said, I replied, "nothing," and I apologized. I cooperated with them completely after that and I must have apologized twenty times. They, of course, were happy to have their reaction out of me and immediately went off on me. One of them called me "stupid," they called for backup, they frisked me in a very public place, which was completely humiliating, they gave me a breathalizer test (which I blew a zero on), they threatened to have me arrested, they questioned my friends, they searched the area I had been sitting still hoping in vain that they could find something to write me a ticket for, and when they realized that I was completely innocent, they told me they were writing a report on me for disorderly conduct because of my momentary lapse of intelligence so if I ever got in any other confrontations with the police they would see it on my record. They demanded that I treat them with respect when, having been completely innocent all along, they hadn't treated me with a shred of decency or respect themselves, and I have six people who witnessed the whole thing that can back me up on that.
I don't know if my rights were violated, but it certainly felt like they were. My questions are:
1. Were my rights violated at any point?
2. Do I have grounds to file an official complaint? If so, how would I go about doing that?
3. Could they honestly have arrested me?
4. Could they really have disorderly conduct put on my record, and if so, how long would it stay?
5. Does the first amendment have any relevance? I wasn't using fighting words or slandering them. The way I said it was more out of self-pity and exasperation than anger or aggressiveness.
I've never had any problem with this sort of thing before, and any help you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.