G
Giamilton
Guest
What is the name of your state? Oregon
On the morning of Friday, the 16th of August, I was heading eastbound on Burnside at approximately 1 AM heading to I-84 to return to my home in SE Portland.
I made a left turn at 6th and Burnside and approached Couch Street. There is a stop sign at that corner with a group of men congregated on the SE corner of Couch and Sixth, It was a warm night and I had all my windows down in my 2002 Subaru. As I came to a complete stop, the men on the corner (a group of 3-5 young men 18-25) watched me as I came to a stop, there was a car parked at the corner with 1 man on the street at the drivers window and the rest on the curb. The men made several comments of which two caused me great alarm. The man on the street turned so he was at my passenger window, leaned on my car and said “ let me driver your car man”, at the same time a voice from the curb also said, “take us for a ride” when the man had leaned on my car all I could think of was that my windows were down and that my doors were unlocked. I quickly decided that this was not a good situation and proceeded to turn left on couch heading west. I looked in my rear window and the men were yelling something I couldn’t hear and gesturing wildly, the car parked on the corner lights came on and he honked at least once. The light was green at couch and MLK so I quickly turned right and accelerated for the freeway on- ramp about 2 blocks away. I turned onto the freeway at approximately 45-50 miles an hour and quickly accelerated onto the freeway, checking my rearview mirror as I drove, as I merged onto the freeway it was at this time I noticed a car very rapidly accelerating down the on-ramp 500-1000 feet behind me. I was at this point doing, and I’m not sure exactly but from my gearing maybe 65-70 MPH, when I saw that car behind me I was sure it was those men and I proceeded to accelerate fully. I was not aware of my exact speed at this time as I was concentrating on the road ahead, I checked my mirror and the car was still accelerating with me, still maybe 500-1000 feet behind me, I was aware that I was moving pretty good and was not comfortable so when I got a little space between myself and the pursuing young gang members, I slowed to search for my cell phone and call the Police, it was at this point the pursuing car caught up with me and I realized it was in fact a Portland Police vehicle with no roof lights. At once relieved it was not the young men who verbally accosted me, I was now dealing with a whole new situation. I had just recently received my license reinstatement and was extremely worried I was going to be arrested. The police car tailed me for about ¼ mile or more, while I’m sure he ran my plates. Then he turned on his lights to pull me over, I waved to the car and motioned that I was pulling over, I then moved into the right lane and looked for a suitable area to pull over. When I pulled off to the shoulder, I turned my car off and waited for the officer to approach. The first thing I hear is “ Damn, these WRX’s are fast!”
I replied, “You guys scared the hell out of me! I thought you were these guys back there!”
I don’t recall ever word exchanged between Officer Adrian and myself, but he asked for my keys “so there won’t be a problem” and asked me if I had been drinking, to which I replied that earlier that evening I had in fact had a few drinks, I also said that I would be happy to perform any field sobriety tests he would like me to, to which he responded, “that won’t be necessary, I don’t believe you are inebriated.” He also commented that he saw I had just gotten my license back, and told me that he had paced me at 100 mph, I responded that I was in fear from some young men, and, he commented that he saw me get on the freeway “really moving” He then said, he couldn’t catch me and that he even had the police cruiser floored. I again tried to explain about the situation before he saw me and Officer Adrian said something to the effect “we will see in court” He then asked me later how many horse power my car had, to which I replied “227” He then said to his partner “can you believe 227 hp in this little thing?” Then he cited me and returned to his patrol car, it was at this time I had to ask for my keys back, Officer Adrian laughed and handed my keys back commenting it’s good thing we didn’t forget those. Officer Adrian was most courteous and in a very good mood.
I believe I am innocent as I was under duress and was acting in self-preservation of my health and safety. I believe that Officer Adrian commented he saw me “really moving” his probably cause to pull me over had already been established before he pursued me with NO flashing lights on.
If I was indeed pulling away from his patrol car, I am concerned that he should have attempted to pull me over at once, instead of allowing me to potentially get away. I have never in my life resisted, berated, confronted or ran from the police. I have however had a gun pulled on me by gang members in Texas and have been accosted on another occasion in the Parks block North of Burnside. I am upset that Officer Adrian allowed me to reach such a high rate of speed and never once attempted to make a traffic stop until I had slowed down to call the Police.
I already plead not-guilty and plan on telling exactly as described above, do I even have a chance? Is there any one part of what happened that "might" get me off the hook? I go to court next week. I also asked the officer if he thought I was driving dangerously or erratic and he said "no" The ticket is on an Interstate and was written as a VBR.
On the morning of Friday, the 16th of August, I was heading eastbound on Burnside at approximately 1 AM heading to I-84 to return to my home in SE Portland.
I made a left turn at 6th and Burnside and approached Couch Street. There is a stop sign at that corner with a group of men congregated on the SE corner of Couch and Sixth, It was a warm night and I had all my windows down in my 2002 Subaru. As I came to a complete stop, the men on the corner (a group of 3-5 young men 18-25) watched me as I came to a stop, there was a car parked at the corner with 1 man on the street at the drivers window and the rest on the curb. The men made several comments of which two caused me great alarm. The man on the street turned so he was at my passenger window, leaned on my car and said “ let me driver your car man”, at the same time a voice from the curb also said, “take us for a ride” when the man had leaned on my car all I could think of was that my windows were down and that my doors were unlocked. I quickly decided that this was not a good situation and proceeded to turn left on couch heading west. I looked in my rear window and the men were yelling something I couldn’t hear and gesturing wildly, the car parked on the corner lights came on and he honked at least once. The light was green at couch and MLK so I quickly turned right and accelerated for the freeway on- ramp about 2 blocks away. I turned onto the freeway at approximately 45-50 miles an hour and quickly accelerated onto the freeway, checking my rearview mirror as I drove, as I merged onto the freeway it was at this time I noticed a car very rapidly accelerating down the on-ramp 500-1000 feet behind me. I was at this point doing, and I’m not sure exactly but from my gearing maybe 65-70 MPH, when I saw that car behind me I was sure it was those men and I proceeded to accelerate fully. I was not aware of my exact speed at this time as I was concentrating on the road ahead, I checked my mirror and the car was still accelerating with me, still maybe 500-1000 feet behind me, I was aware that I was moving pretty good and was not comfortable so when I got a little space between myself and the pursuing young gang members, I slowed to search for my cell phone and call the Police, it was at this point the pursuing car caught up with me and I realized it was in fact a Portland Police vehicle with no roof lights. At once relieved it was not the young men who verbally accosted me, I was now dealing with a whole new situation. I had just recently received my license reinstatement and was extremely worried I was going to be arrested. The police car tailed me for about ¼ mile or more, while I’m sure he ran my plates. Then he turned on his lights to pull me over, I waved to the car and motioned that I was pulling over, I then moved into the right lane and looked for a suitable area to pull over. When I pulled off to the shoulder, I turned my car off and waited for the officer to approach. The first thing I hear is “ Damn, these WRX’s are fast!”
I replied, “You guys scared the hell out of me! I thought you were these guys back there!”
I don’t recall ever word exchanged between Officer Adrian and myself, but he asked for my keys “so there won’t be a problem” and asked me if I had been drinking, to which I replied that earlier that evening I had in fact had a few drinks, I also said that I would be happy to perform any field sobriety tests he would like me to, to which he responded, “that won’t be necessary, I don’t believe you are inebriated.” He also commented that he saw I had just gotten my license back, and told me that he had paced me at 100 mph, I responded that I was in fear from some young men, and, he commented that he saw me get on the freeway “really moving” He then said, he couldn’t catch me and that he even had the police cruiser floored. I again tried to explain about the situation before he saw me and Officer Adrian said something to the effect “we will see in court” He then asked me later how many horse power my car had, to which I replied “227” He then said to his partner “can you believe 227 hp in this little thing?” Then he cited me and returned to his patrol car, it was at this time I had to ask for my keys back, Officer Adrian laughed and handed my keys back commenting it’s good thing we didn’t forget those. Officer Adrian was most courteous and in a very good mood.
I believe I am innocent as I was under duress and was acting in self-preservation of my health and safety. I believe that Officer Adrian commented he saw me “really moving” his probably cause to pull me over had already been established before he pursued me with NO flashing lights on.
If I was indeed pulling away from his patrol car, I am concerned that he should have attempted to pull me over at once, instead of allowing me to potentially get away. I have never in my life resisted, berated, confronted or ran from the police. I have however had a gun pulled on me by gang members in Texas and have been accosted on another occasion in the Parks block North of Burnside. I am upset that Officer Adrian allowed me to reach such a high rate of speed and never once attempted to make a traffic stop until I had slowed down to call the Police.
I already plead not-guilty and plan on telling exactly as described above, do I even have a chance? Is there any one part of what happened that "might" get me off the hook? I go to court next week. I also asked the officer if he thought I was driving dangerously or erratic and he said "no" The ticket is on an Interstate and was written as a VBR.
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