M
MidnightRun
Guest
What is the name of your state? Texas
Ok, this is my first post here, so please bear with me as this is a very simple yet somewhat long story. Here's tha basic layout of my situation, as well as many others.
Tonight, I was with my car club for our usual meeting at a car wash only blocks from my house. In attendance were probably about 14-18 cars and about 30 people. We have gathered here for months with no problems at all until tonight. We were doing the usual, hanging out and washing our cars. Everyone got done, and we were talking about what we had planned for the night(Bowling & Dinner). As all the discussion and hanging out was going on, 5 police cars pulled in a basically told everyone to stay put. I had no idea what was going on, only to find out they were to give us all citations for 'Attempted Criminal Trespassing!'
Why? I guess the answer to that would simply be look up and you shall see! Literally! We had never been harrassed by the cops before here at this exact location. They even would park across the street and keep an eye on us from time to time. We never did anything wrong! Well, since last weekend, apparently a NEW(as in not there before) No Loitering Sign was posted on the premises that no one had seen until the police pointed it out to us last night. Why didn't we see it. Because it was posted about 30ft in the air on a flagpole!!!!
Honestly, had we seen the sign, we would have gladly left. Had we recieved a warning to leave the premises, we would have left! How could we possibly have noticed a 1ftX1ft No loitering sign 30ft in the air.
All of us recieved the same citations. I'm wondering how legal this is.... how can we be ticketed for something so obviously unfair, and blatantly set-up by the cops!!! To make it even worse... we experienced severe misconduct on the part of the officers there, one in particular.
He was cussing, yelling, and obviously abusing his power... and it's not the only time this same officer has done so. My brother(who was also there and the main target of the officer's abuse) and I had a similar encounter with the same officer about 6 months prior. We were going to a friends house, and while on the way, were pulled over at a road block because my brother had no front plate, and was displaying expired registration even though he actually had the new sticker in the car with him. Anyway, this cop physically threatened my brother during this altercation for no reason at all. My brother signed the tickets, and was very polite despite the circumstances. He asked for a badge number and name with the intentions to file a complaint, which set the officer off. He refused to give the info to my brother, threatening physical harm to him again, until him finally swung the door open and manhandled my brother out of the vehicle. He put him under arrest, the proceeded to make me walk blocks in what he admittedly called a 'very dangerous environment' even though he had a phone in his car that I asked to use to phone my father. Some of his exact word were 'get the **** out of my site!' Please excuse my language. Anyways, the cop was bluffing the whole time.... my brother asked for his supervisor, who arrived and let my brother go and apologized. My brother filed a complaint, only to find they didn't discipline the officer at all. He laughed at the fact that my brother was upset at his abuse of power while at the meeting last night, stating that 'his superiors won't do **** to him regardless of his conduct because he can do as he pleases!' He reffered to the fact that he had gotten off unscathed from the previous altercation, and hinted that he could always do whatever he pleased!
Anyways, my question is, where do i go now? All 30 or so people there are ready to file a massive complaint, along with a petition to have this officer removed from the police force! We intend to all plead Not Guilty because of the fact that we were never warned to leave the premises, and the sign was in such a place to make it impossible for anyone to actually see it! Does anyone think we stand a chance? This little sting was well orchestrated, and I'm sorry to say that I have lost ALL RESPECT FOR ALL OFFICERS because of the conduct I have witnessed on there part. We were held for about an hour while they issued the tickets, and I immediately phone my GF when they arrived because things seemed 'shady.' She came to the site(across the street) and recorded almost everything that heppened, taking note of the sign's location and the conduct of an officer when he got into the face of one of my member's little brother, cussing at him and downright being abusive for no apparent reason!
Please help me and give me some advice. I know this is a long story, but I also left a lot out. It's just a lot to cover when so many bad things went down. Things that I certainly feel are unjustified and seriously against the law and code of eithics that I believe everyone shoud carry themselves by, especially people in positions of power!!
Ok, this is my first post here, so please bear with me as this is a very simple yet somewhat long story. Here's tha basic layout of my situation, as well as many others.
Tonight, I was with my car club for our usual meeting at a car wash only blocks from my house. In attendance were probably about 14-18 cars and about 30 people. We have gathered here for months with no problems at all until tonight. We were doing the usual, hanging out and washing our cars. Everyone got done, and we were talking about what we had planned for the night(Bowling & Dinner). As all the discussion and hanging out was going on, 5 police cars pulled in a basically told everyone to stay put. I had no idea what was going on, only to find out they were to give us all citations for 'Attempted Criminal Trespassing!'
Why? I guess the answer to that would simply be look up and you shall see! Literally! We had never been harrassed by the cops before here at this exact location. They even would park across the street and keep an eye on us from time to time. We never did anything wrong! Well, since last weekend, apparently a NEW(as in not there before) No Loitering Sign was posted on the premises that no one had seen until the police pointed it out to us last night. Why didn't we see it. Because it was posted about 30ft in the air on a flagpole!!!!
Honestly, had we seen the sign, we would have gladly left. Had we recieved a warning to leave the premises, we would have left! How could we possibly have noticed a 1ftX1ft No loitering sign 30ft in the air.
All of us recieved the same citations. I'm wondering how legal this is.... how can we be ticketed for something so obviously unfair, and blatantly set-up by the cops!!! To make it even worse... we experienced severe misconduct on the part of the officers there, one in particular.
He was cussing, yelling, and obviously abusing his power... and it's not the only time this same officer has done so. My brother(who was also there and the main target of the officer's abuse) and I had a similar encounter with the same officer about 6 months prior. We were going to a friends house, and while on the way, were pulled over at a road block because my brother had no front plate, and was displaying expired registration even though he actually had the new sticker in the car with him. Anyway, this cop physically threatened my brother during this altercation for no reason at all. My brother signed the tickets, and was very polite despite the circumstances. He asked for a badge number and name with the intentions to file a complaint, which set the officer off. He refused to give the info to my brother, threatening physical harm to him again, until him finally swung the door open and manhandled my brother out of the vehicle. He put him under arrest, the proceeded to make me walk blocks in what he admittedly called a 'very dangerous environment' even though he had a phone in his car that I asked to use to phone my father. Some of his exact word were 'get the **** out of my site!' Please excuse my language. Anyways, the cop was bluffing the whole time.... my brother asked for his supervisor, who arrived and let my brother go and apologized. My brother filed a complaint, only to find they didn't discipline the officer at all. He laughed at the fact that my brother was upset at his abuse of power while at the meeting last night, stating that 'his superiors won't do **** to him regardless of his conduct because he can do as he pleases!' He reffered to the fact that he had gotten off unscathed from the previous altercation, and hinted that he could always do whatever he pleased!
Anyways, my question is, where do i go now? All 30 or so people there are ready to file a massive complaint, along with a petition to have this officer removed from the police force! We intend to all plead Not Guilty because of the fact that we were never warned to leave the premises, and the sign was in such a place to make it impossible for anyone to actually see it! Does anyone think we stand a chance? This little sting was well orchestrated, and I'm sorry to say that I have lost ALL RESPECT FOR ALL OFFICERS because of the conduct I have witnessed on there part. We were held for about an hour while they issued the tickets, and I immediately phone my GF when they arrived because things seemed 'shady.' She came to the site(across the street) and recorded almost everything that heppened, taking note of the sign's location and the conduct of an officer when he got into the face of one of my member's little brother, cussing at him and downright being abusive for no apparent reason!
Please help me and give me some advice. I know this is a long story, but I also left a lot out. It's just a lot to cover when so many bad things went down. Things that I certainly feel are unjustified and seriously against the law and code of eithics that I believe everyone shoud carry themselves by, especially people in positions of power!!
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