Good For Her!

[dgriffin]

Can you pick out the REAL public servant?





Speeding cop pulled over

Nov. 1, 2011


MIAMI (CBS4 ) - When Florida Highway Patrol Trooper D.J. Watts saw a marked Miami police car blaze past her earlier this month on the Turnpike in Hollywood, allegedly going more than 120 miles an hour, with no lights on or siren blaring, she rushed to stop him.

Her dashboard camera recorded it all. Her lights were on and sirens were blaring.

Instead of stopping though, Watts said the officer continued to drive recklessly. When he finally pulled over several minutes later, Watts said she approached him with her gun drawn.

"Put your hands out that window right now! Put your hands out the window!" she yelled at the officer, later identified as Miami police officer Fausto Lopez.

She cuffed Lopez and put him in the back of her patrol car.

See the tape here:


In the off-camera exchange, Lopez can reportedly be heard telling Watts he was rushing to his off-duty job. Watts however wasn't having it.

"You don't respect me sir. You don't respect these people out here. Right now to me, you are a criminal," Watts allegedly said.

"It's unusual for one officer to stop another, admittedly," former Miami Police Chief Ken Harms told CBS4's Natalia Zea.

Harms said no officer should break traffic laws, unless they are responding to an emergency call and even then they should be careful.

"Just because there's an off duty police officer, en route to an off duty job doesn't give him the right to violate Florida statutes. I think the highway patrol officer ought to be commended for her diligence in pursuing this matter," said Harms.

Despite the apparent high-speed pursuit and the reckless driving, which is offense in which an individual can arrested, Watts only ticketed Lopez for reckless driving and let him drive away.

"The Highway Patrol may not want to pursue it because it involves another police officer and may create some bruised feelings between the agencies, that's up to the highway patrol," said Harms.

www.wtsp.com/news/article/218361/58/Speeding-cop-pulled-over

[JGRobinson]

Perfect!

[chris]

I recently had two similar expeiences and saw both were involving cops that looked like they were breaking the law. First one was a cop making a uturn at a stop light. (when light turned green he decided to head back to where he was coming from. If I had made my turn at a second earlier he would have hit me for sure.

Second was four cop cars that were speeding down Carter and then made a fast turn onto the on ramp for 104...if they were all heading for an emergency then why no lights, no sirens, no warnings.....They were putting people in harms way. At the next light they were alll lined up in a row at a stop light........looked like they were all just goofing off.

Good for that officer should be more like her. Cops are there to serve the law not break the law. I don't find them any more special than any other person.

[Swimmy]

The fact that she let him off with a traffic ticket on an offense that would have landed anyone else a night in jail until a judge was "available" says it all. Had this marked cop car been doing 90, she probably would have just let him go. Further proof that many cops believe the law only applies to everyone else, but them. And they wonder why they receive little to no respect from the public...

[bobbbiez]

Nov 1, 2011 21:37:37 GMT -5 Swimmy said:

The fact that she let him off with a traffic ticket on an offense that would have landed anyone else a night in jail until a judge was "available" says it all. Had this marked cop car been doing 90, she probably would have just let him go. Further proof that many cops believe the law only applies to everyone else, but them. And they wonder why they receive little to no respect from the public...

Once again Swimmy, one officer doing wrong should not be a reason to condemn a whole department and that goes for any line of work including yours.

Instead of criticizing the officer giving the ticket I give her kudos for showing the off duty officer his actions will not be tolerated. Any officer receiving a ticket no matter what it is for is a great embarrassment and far worse then the ticket itself.

[Clipper]

You are right BZ. I HAVE however seen the same sort of abuse of authority take place in Utica. I have seen UPD cars in past years slow for a red light, look and go, with no red lights and not on a call, to simply meet another car in a parking lot where they would sit driver's door to driver's door and chat for an hour.

I somehow think that with Mark Williams for a chief, there is less and less of that sort of thing going on.

Troopers I have known in the past are infamous for speeding, even in their POV's. I guess they think that their tactical driving skills make them safe, and their badge makes them immune to being stopped.

The main thing to remember is as you say. Don't let a few bad apples spoil the image and reputation of all the honorable and good cops we all know.

A now retired Sheriff's Deputy that I know was on his way to Florida when he got stopped for doing in excess of 80 if I remember correctly, on I-95. He flashed his tin and was told that as a deputy he should know better, and was promptly written a citation. Gotta tell ya, he was pissed, haha.
His attitude was that the Carolina Cop better NEVER be found driving in Oneida County, LOL.

[bobbbiez]

Clip, I guess I'm just sick of people generalizing. None of us are stupid and know that favoritism takes place in all professions. I am not saying it is right but that is just the way it is with all.

I am a person who keeps up on the news and I read about individuals in all professions doing wrong but I never condemn all for a few bad apples. Just in the last few weeks there have been military people, doctors, lawyers, and judges doing serious crimes and I always look at the person not the profession they represent. Guess it is something more should look to do.

[Clipper]

I agree. Reminds me of the incident involving Matt Sullivan. Trooper Dave Olney took a lot of heat for doing his job THAT night.

The truth of the matter is that all of us are human, no matter our profession, and humans will always tend to push the envelope and get away with anything they can on occasion. Cops are no different.

[Swimmy]

Nov 2, 2011 12:43:54 GMT -5 bobbbiez said:

Nov 1, 2011 21:37:37 GMT -5 Swimmy said:

The fact that she let him off with a traffic ticket on an offense that would have landed anyone else a night in jail until a judge was "available" says it all. Had this marked cop car been doing 90, she probably would have just let him go. Further proof that many cops believe the law only applies to everyone else, but them. And they wonder why they receive little to no respect from the public...

Once again Swimmy, one officer doing wrong should not be a reason to condemn a whole department and that goes for any line of work including yours.

Instead of criticizing the officer giving the ticket I give her kudos for showing the off duty officer his actions will not be tolerated. Any officer receiving a ticket no matter what it is for is a great embarrassment and far worse then the ticket itself.

Wrong! These are TWO officers doing WRONG! One ignored the very law she is supposed to enforce and allowed someone who would have been jailed to drive away! If that's breaking your oath to enforce the law, then I chose the wrong profession! Every time I am on the highway, there are state troopers, sheriffs, and local police who zoom well over 90 with no lights, no sirens, and when I phone the headquarters, they acknowledge that those cars are NOT on emergency calls. So I report them. In Binghamton, I report at least three cops a day for rolling up to a stop light, looking both ways, putting their lights on, CASUALLY rolling through the intersection, turning their lights off, and driving away, slowly. So not so much a generalization, is it. Some of us just have our eyes open. lol

[bobbbiez]

Nov 3, 2011 7:14:54 GMT -5 Swimmy said:

Nov 2, 2011 12:43:54 GMT -5 bobbbiez said:

Once again Swimmy, one officer doing wrong should not be a reason to condemn a whole department and that goes for any line of work including yours.

Instead of criticizing the officer giving the ticket I give her kudos for showing the off duty officer his actions will not be tolerated. Any officer receiving a ticket no matter what it is for is a great embarrassment and far worse then the ticket itself.

Wrong! These are TWO officers doing WRONG! One ignored the very law she is supposed to enforce and allowed someone who would have been jailed to drive away! If that's breaking your oath to enforce the law, then I chose the wrong profession! Every time I am on the highway, there are state troopers, sheriffs, and local police who zoom well over 90 with no lights, no sirens, and when I phone the headquarters, they acknowledge that those cars are NOT on emergency calls. So I report them. In Binghamton, I report at least three cops a day for rolling up to a stop light, looking both ways, putting their lights on, CASUALLY rolling through the intersection, turning their lights off, and driving away, slowly. So not so much a generalization, is it. Some of us just have our eyes open. lol

Oh trust me, Swimmy, my eyes are always opened. What really upsets me is you being an attorney and hearing you generalizing. Always good to keep ones eyes open but I suggest it not only be on police departments cause while you're concentrating on them alone people in your own profession who also took oaths for justice are getting away with much more then an act of favoritism.

There are many attorneys that have been brought in front of the Bar Associate for mis-conduct which I myself have reported two and lets not forget to mention the judge in Texas who presides over custody cases but recently was accused and admitted to brutally beating his own disabled daughter.

Swimmy, even with my own personal experiences with some bad lawyers, reading disturbing news stories of others and learning about some judges who shouldn't be handing out sentences to others, I do not see the whole profession as all bad. I will not allow a few bad to tarnish all the good done in that field. Anymore then your mom being a teacher shouldn't be looked down on or chastised because some teachers (and there have been plenty) have been a accused and found guilty of sexual misconduct with students and young children.

My point is and will always remain, in generalizing, you become an instrument in society punishing and tarnishing all the good in any profession. I choose not to be part of that instrument.

[Clipper]

I guess I don't see him generalizing as much as you seem to see BZ. I too have seen the cops, in Utica, here in Bristol, and all over the country, putting on their red lights to get through and intersection because they were too damn lazy to wait for the light.

I didn't see any reference to ALL cops in his post.

I also have to agree with him when he says that the off duty cop should have been jailed, just as you or I would have been if we were stopped for doing 120mph.

75 in a 60, maybe, but 120? No excuse or justification, and damn sure no reason to allow him to drive away with a ticket for reckless driving. If he had gone on down the road and killed someone after she let him go with a ticket, she would have been as guilty as he was and they would have been justified if they prosecuted her as an accessory to vehicular homicide.

He isn't making it personal, and I think that this is the distinction that needs to be made. I HAVE read posts from Swimmy describing those in his own profession that he reported to the ethics committee for wrong doing. Let's not make it personally accusatory. We aren't talking about crooked lawyers. The thread was about one particular incident of a cop doing 120 and getting caught by another cop that let him off easy. It wasn't a Utica cop, and it WAS wrong for the trooper to let it go with a ticket. He should have at least been detained until a superior could be notified and he should have been suspended until he went to court. If he drives that recklessly OFF duty, how the hell reckless is he when he is ON Duty and there is a REAL emergency? Might be a case where the man needed to be fired. That would be up to those that followed up on the case.

As far as I am concerned there are very few cases where that kind of speed would be acceptable even by an ON duty officer responding to a real emergency. 120 is unsafe for anyone, even a cop. Save it for Daytona or Pocono race track.

[bobbbiez]

Nov 3, 2011 12:56:54 GMT -5 Clipper said:

I guess I don't see him generalizing as much as you seem to see BZ. I too have seen the cops, in Utica, here in Bristol, and all over the country, putting on their red lights to get through and intersection because they were too damn lazy to wait for the light.

I didn't see any reference to ALL cops in his post.

I also have to agree with him when he says that the off duty cop should have been jailed, just as you or I would have been if we were stopped for doing 120mph.

75 in a 60, maybe, but 120? No excuse or justification, and damn sure no reason to allow him to drive away with a ticket for reckless driving. If he had gone on down the road and killed someone after she let him go with a ticket, she would have been as guilty as he was and they would have been justified if they prosecuted her as an accessory to vehicular homicide.

He isn't making it personal, and I think that this is the distinction that needs to be made. I HAVE read posts from Swimmy describing those in his own profession that he reported to the ethics committee for wrong doing. Let's not make it personally accusatory. We aren't talking about crooked lawyers. The thread was about one particular incident of a cop doing 120 and getting caught by another cop that let him off easy. It wasn't a Utica cop, and it WAS wrong for the trooper to let it go with a ticket. He should have at least been detained until a superior could be notified and he should have been suspended until he went to court. If he drives that recklessly OFF duty, how the hell reckless is he when he is ON Duty and there is a REAL emergency? Might be a case where the man needed to be fired. That would be up to those that followed up on the case.

As far as I am concerned there are very few cases where that kind of speed would be acceptable even by an ON duty officer responding to a real emergency. 120 is unsafe for anyone, even a cop. Save it for Daytona or Pocono race track.

"and they wonder why they receive little to no respect from the public," sorry Clip, I see it differently and I do see that as generalizing. No where in my post did I say the cop was right for speeding so why even bring that up. Was not my point at all.

Sometimes what those in the public sees isn't always the way it is. Giving an example how one can misunderstand what an officer might be doing, the day before Halloween, seeing an officer going through a light without his lights on or siren on the 1700 block of Whitesboro street ( heavy crime area) and then just pulling over to park a guy approached the patrol car to bitch out the officers for going through the light and was also bitching at him for being parked in front of a fire hydrant. The guy was making such a scene that all the degenerates (who he was with) standing on that corner started to gather around the patrol car until an investigator came to the officers rescue. The investigator was my son who was parked on the other side of the street in an unmarked car watching a building (known trouble spot) there and waiting to see and make an arrest of a sex offender parolee who had violated his parole and was hiding out at another residence. He had called for a silent patrol car to meet him to help him make a possible arrest.

Not all calls are advertised by lights or sirens and yes officers do go through lights for many reasons on calls. Like I said, they are not all of what the public might think.

Maybe we should start specific topics on all other professions to discuss all the screws ups in those fields also. I only hope that when any topic is discussed about professions that those who criticize will learn to be just as quick to post complements of the good as well. Until then I will ignore this topic completely. Saves on being aggravated.

ps: Because of this idiots interference and scene he made warning the parolee who did escape and is still on the loose.

[Clipper]

Probably a good decision to ignore the topic BZ. It is frustrating to read the incessant on and on defense of the cops too. News flash, they are not always in the right. They ARE HUMAN. They screw up just as often as any other human. Give it a break. Just this past August when we were home a trooper passed us on a double solid line on Seneca Turnpike and when I got to Breakfast at Tiffany's there he was with two other troopers ordering breakfast. What did he save? I was there before the waitress could pour his first cup of coffee. Gee tell me that they were on a stake out.

[Ralph]

Nov 3, 2011 11:50:04 GMT -5 bobbbiez said:

My point is and will always remain, in generalizing, you become an instrument in society punishing and tarnishing all the good in any profession. I choose not to be part of that instrument.

I don't wish to wade into the middle of a battle royale`, but if there was no one doing any wrong.......there would be nothing to tarnish. They tarnish themselves and in turn affect all in their profession, no matter what it is, all by themselves.

Think of it in a Zen light...............

When we see a bad apple in the basket, we do not toss out the whole basket thinking it is tainted. And if we do not want the basket, we are apt to point it out to the person next to us that does want it so that they may toss it out.

But when we see many bad apples in a basket, perhaps it is time to point it out to everyone so that all may see where the bad apples come from.

This does not mean that all apples are bad, or that the trees that produce them are bad, simply that the farmers that produce the apples need to take better care of what they market to the public.

[JGRobinson]

Cops and Infantry grunts have much in common. They both have jobs they are expected to perform in the most desperate of working conditions, access fluid situations, often with very little intel, interpret the ROE's and make split second decisions daily. The best will make many more good calls than bad but all will likely make mistakes that could possibly cause death, injury or dishonor to the force. Our tools are Uniformity, Command and Control, Technical and Tactical Superiority and zero tolerance for dissenters in the ranks that could jeopardize accomplishment of the mission for all of us.

The more a profession effects important things like Public Safety, Health or our life in general, the higher the pedestal that we will put it on becomes. The Military, Legal Services and Government Officials are on some of our tallest platforms. Its not a shock that when one of them screws up, everyone sees it and has a strong opinion on it.

We certainly have a right to high expectations from these professionals in very sensitive jobs. The higher the pedestal gets, so goes with them the responsibility and accountability. Even they are innocent unless proven guilty but if suspected of wrong doing, cannot be allowed to continue business as usual until cleared or convicted.

Too many exceptions have been granted from the top of our food chains on down for bad behavior. How many politicians end up behind bars after getting caught with their hands in the kitty or even committing Manslaughter, (Ted Kennedy)? Most just end up with a slap on the wrist, some sealed documents and "Censure". That doesn't improve the perception of across the board cover-ups, insider trading and special favors. This has lead to a common perception that every politician is on the take, ready to deal and in the pocket of Special Interests.

We may not always know when we are personally acting like a Sociopath but almost always easy to recognize it in others. It doesn't make the bad guy any worse or the good one any better to cast a wide net based on titles without proof of an epidemic.

Just like Ralph said, perfect apples dont grow, pick or distribute themselves. If there is a measurable trend, look at the farmer not just the crop. One or two bad ones just leave the rest to be shining examples of what an apple should look like, praise them and turn the bad ones into fertilizer!

Unlike the Military, the police do not seem to have the same higher expectations of their own as the Military does. From the lowest E-1 to the highest level of Stars and Bars, we are mandatory self reporters, not allowed to turn our backs on unauthorized activities of our comrades ever. We wear this as a badge of honor, our lives depend on our battle-buddies representing our Nation, Military, Branch and Platoons legitimate mission 24/7. UCMJ, Courts Martial, Leavenworth and the Gallows are all deterrents to any bad conduct unbecoming of a Service Member. The Military holds its own to a much higher standard of conduct than the standard civilians are held to.

I once stood in defense at a Court Martial for a friend who failed to empty the Garbage one Saturday Morning. He and we were so drunk that standing was a problem, A bathroom GI Party wasn't a very friendly wake up call, Sp4 Barrett didn't show, the rest of us did. It sounds silly but he failed to report for duty, he could have ended up in prison, he almost did, we saved his ass but it was a bad call on our part. I didn't comprehend the seriousness of even this stupid little mistake back then. 8 years later as a Non Commissioned Officer Section Leader in an Anti Armor Platoon charged with the lives of Soldiers, Equipment and things that explode, it became apparent quickly why we must be able to anticipate almost perfect performance from every single one of our Defenders of the American way, Cops are no different.

Mutual Support doesn't only come from others that carry the same ID card as you, it also comes or is denied by the locality in which you serve. Much like the Police, Soldiers must gain and maintain the trust and support of the local inhabitants and leadership otherwise they may become our second enemy. Locals can be even more dangerous than the first as we found out in Vietnam. We always knew, our own peers and leaders would judge and punish us much more harshly than any civilian court ever would or could.

My Other Sister used to be so proud of her State Trooper Issued "get out of trouble free cards". She was a reporter in her former life and had access to these folks weekly, they liked her, she got the cards! She never got a ticket that I ever heard of and as a nearly terminal alcoholic that drank upwards to a case a beer a day, Im guessing there were many times she shouldn't have been on the road. She used those cards before her Alcohol Dementia Diagnosis and partial booze inflicted lobotomy in the past and they worked. What if they had arrested her, made her get the help she wouldn't get herself and dried her out? She might not be a pseudo Vegetable today! Those little cards haven't done anybody any good, just tarnished the entire force for a few bad ones participating in any type of preferential treatment.