Close encounters of the LEO kind.
03-08-2011, 01:32 PM
#31
03-08-2011, 02:01 PM
#32
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03-08-2011, 02:18 PM
#33
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03-08-2011, 02:20 PM
#34
Top's Younger Twin
Years ago I was caught up in a situation of mistaken identity.
I walked into a restaurant, sat at a booth with a friend and the next thing I know I have a mad Greek weilding his 24" pizza knife at me.
He was so mad he was not speaking any english.
I tried to get up and leave and I was pushed by the other owner who finally started talking in English and told me I wrecked their restaurant, cut up their booths. Now I was understanding why they had the knife but I was not going to put up with their threats anymore. I managed to 'move' them out of the way so I could at least get some space around me but it was too late. 6 cop cars arrived and 8 cops converged on me like I was some kind of...you get it.
I had no intention of going down but I knew that even the slightest bit of resistance would put their thoughts of guilt a bit higher and more trouble would come of it so I hit the ground...got cuffed and banged up.
Luckily at the same time the cops arrived, so did my friend that owned one of the other restaurants in this chain. He came to my rescue yelling in Greek to his partners that it was not me and then he told the cops..."You got the wrong guy!"
I had heard that there is a possibility that we all have an identical twin out there somewhere but this guy that was already in jail looked just like me! I was shown one picture of him and the similarities where scary!
This situation could have been a lot worse had I did what I felt was correct...to defend myself and get the heck outta there. After things settled down, I received an apology and I got a letter from the police that made it very clear that this kind of a situation was/is unacceptable. I left it alone after that. I could have pressed on with a lawyer etc etc.
Certainly was a situation that could have been much much worse. My way would have brought me several assault charges and a record for life had I not had that one moment of clarity and hit the ground.
And no it was not my older Twin.
I walked into a restaurant, sat at a booth with a friend and the next thing I know I have a mad Greek weilding his 24" pizza knife at me.
He was so mad he was not speaking any english.I tried to get up and leave and I was pushed by the other owner who finally started talking in English and told me I wrecked their restaurant, cut up their booths. Now I was understanding why they had the knife but I was not going to put up with their threats anymore. I managed to 'move' them out of the way so I could at least get some space around me but it was too late. 6 cop cars arrived and 8 cops converged on me like I was some kind of...you get it.
I had no intention of going down but I knew that even the slightest bit of resistance would put their thoughts of guilt a bit higher and more trouble would come of it so I hit the ground...got cuffed and banged up.
Luckily at the same time the cops arrived, so did my friend that owned one of the other restaurants in this chain. He came to my rescue yelling in Greek to his partners that it was not me and then he told the cops..."You got the wrong guy!"
I had heard that there is a possibility that we all have an identical twin out there somewhere but this guy that was already in jail looked just like me! I was shown one picture of him and the similarities where scary!
This situation could have been a lot worse had I did what I felt was correct...to defend myself and get the heck outta there. After things settled down, I received an apology and I got a letter from the police that made it very clear that this kind of a situation was/is unacceptable. I left it alone after that. I could have pressed on with a lawyer etc etc.
Certainly was a situation that could have been much much worse. My way would have brought me several assault charges and a record for life had I not had that one moment of clarity and hit the ground.
And no it was not my older Twin.
03-08-2011, 02:26 PM
#35
Administrator
03-08-2011, 04:18 PM
#36
Registered User
the motor vehicle code may be simple to understand ... but it's not so simple to know when the light will turn red when different municipalities have their yellow lights timed and different intervals, much less the same municipalities have their lights and varying lengths from one another, is it 5 seconds, is it 10? I wonder if they have a traffic camera on this one? I've had people nearly run into the back of me on multiple occassions while I was stopping fairly aggresively for red lights, because I stop - that's what I do.
One law I can stand behind is one to move and and slow down when emergency vehicles are on the side of the road, for example.
I have significant problems with how speeding is written into the laws and enforced - the underlying premise being that any/all speed is dangerous in and of itself and the government must protect the poor "dumb" citizens by making the speed limits so low that you can't hurt yourself if you crash. Oddly enough, making the speed limits absurbly low (in some cases) creates a culture in which ALL speed is taken for granted so drivers get bored and play on their stereo, cell phone, eat fast food, etc etc. Why do you think it took Porsche so long to put cup holders into their cars? They had no idea why we (Americans) would need them.
I have absolutely no problem following laws that have any amount of sense in them, but when they are violated, or the underlying goodness in them is violated by moronic politicans and citizens who never want to own any of the responsibility of making a stupid decision or being dumb makes me insane.
see also my post in the "drivers get an A+ or an F" thread.
One law I can stand behind is one to move and and slow down when emergency vehicles are on the side of the road, for example.
I have significant problems with how speeding is written into the laws and enforced - the underlying premise being that any/all speed is dangerous in and of itself and the government must protect the poor "dumb" citizens by making the speed limits so low that you can't hurt yourself if you crash. Oddly enough, making the speed limits absurbly low (in some cases) creates a culture in which ALL speed is taken for granted so drivers get bored and play on their stereo, cell phone, eat fast food, etc etc. Why do you think it took Porsche so long to put cup holders into their cars? They had no idea why we (Americans) would need them.
I have absolutely no problem following laws that have any amount of sense in them, but when they are violated, or the underlying goodness in them is violated by moronic politicans and citizens who never want to own any of the responsibility of making a stupid decision or being dumb makes me insane.
see also my post in the "drivers get an A+ or an F" thread.
03-09-2011, 12:27 AM
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I pulled into the parking lot at Wiki Watchi to watch the mermaids and was walking across the lot when a car comes flying up to me an locks it up, jumps out tackles me an hand cuffs me...then as he stands me up, 15 cop cars a 4 helecopters surrond us...I matched the description of the guy that robbed a bank up the street...
03-09-2011, 08:12 AM
#39
Muted one day, Banned the next....... Ah the life of a DTR 1%'er
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I pulled into the parking lot at Wiki Watchi to watch the mermaids and was walking across the lot when a car comes flying up to me an locks it up, jumps out tackles me an hand cuffs me...then as he stands me up, 15 cop cars a 4 helecopters surrond us...I matched the description of the guy that robbed a bank up the street...
03-09-2011, 09:24 AM
#40
Top's Younger Twin
I pulled into the parking lot at Wiki Watchi to watch the mermaids and was walking across the lot when a car comes flying up to me an locks it up, jumps out tackles me an hand cuffs me...then as he stands me up, 15 cop cars a 4 helecopters surrond us...I matched the description of the guy that robbed a bank up the street...
03-09-2011, 09:32 AM
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I have absolutely no problem following laws that have any amount of sense in them, but when they are violated, or the underlying goodness in them is violated by moronic politicans and citizens who never want to own any of the responsibility of making a stupid decision or being dumb makes me insane.
I'm sure most cops would rather not enforce them either.
03-09-2011, 10:48 AM
#42
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Yep....I was held for over a hour waiting for them to find the teller who could ID me...He had gotten scared an went to a resturant...they finally found him an drove him by me....He said no not him, it was a short fat guy with a beard...ok I have a beard but at 6'7" an 265 lbs I'm not short or fat...
But the more I looked around I was the only one with a beard....Anyway the city of Wiki Watchi paid for my day at the park....Had a blast once everyone thought I was a bad boy.....Even got a date with a mermaid....
But the more I looked around I was the only one with a beard....Anyway the city of Wiki Watchi paid for my day at the park....Had a blast once everyone thought I was a bad boy.....Even got a date with a mermaid....
03-09-2011, 11:00 AM
#43
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I pulled into the parking lot at Wiki Watchi to watch the mermaids and was walking across the lot when a car comes flying up to me an locks it up, jumps out tackles me an hand cuffs me...then as he stands me up, 15 cop cars a 4 helecopters surrond us...I matched the description of the guy that robbed a bank up the street...
scary stuff though. both you and scotty are not little ones, tough to do best judgement at such a quick pace.
shoot, don't know if it is age or finally common sense but I just got rid of any judgement or anger issues I had with NY state troopers. and I taught at the academy in the 80s. would not even go into a restaurant, shame on me. Now I write letters of thanks....
03-09-2011, 11:56 AM
#44
Top's Younger Twin
Yep....I was held for over a hour waiting for them to find the teller who could ID me...He had gotten scared an went to a resturant...they finally found him an drove him by me....He said no not him, it was a short fat guy with a beard...ok I have a beard but at 6'7" an 265 lbs I'm not short or fat...
But the more I looked around I was the only one with a beard....Anyway the city of Wiki Watchi paid for my day at the park....Had a blast once everyone thought I was a bad boy.....Even got a date with a mermaid....
But the more I looked around I was the only one with a beard....Anyway the city of Wiki Watchi paid for my day at the park....Had a blast once everyone thought I was a bad boy.....Even got a date with a mermaid....
...
03-09-2011, 12:09 PM
#45
I had a similar experience, was pulled over riding shotgun in my brothers Pontiac and had a 12 ga shoved in my face and he on his side as we were ordered out of the vehicle.
These Officers were Scared, I could see it in their faces and I figured remaining calm was the best way to survive long enough to find out what the heck was going on.
They cuffed us and my Actual Twin is about 4 inches taller than I am, (the two of us in those days were not the kind of guys even 10 guys wanted to mess with unless they were committed to receiving as much as they gave out) and still with no clue why they started to place us in the back seat of a cruiser.
They were not very gentle to say the least and slammed my head on the door frame as I went in, I knew right then that it was on and proceeded to kick all the rear windows out of the cruiser. They bull rushed my brother to another vehicle and got him in the back and as I was sitting in the car I heard it come across the radio that they had captured the Armed Robbery/ attempted Murder suspects on another road.
It just so happened we were driving a similar vehicle and fit the description of the two guys that had just shot a store clerk in the process of robbing the store. They turned us loose and were not too happy about the rear windows of the cruiser being broken out but they also understood that they got a little rougher than the situation dictated as we were NOT resisting in any manner up to that point.
I understand how it happens, adrenaline flows hard and you are dealing with people who think YOU just shot another human being, that can sometimes cause them to become more aggressive than they mean to.....it is something all LE have a hard time dealing with everyday simply because they are HUMAN and make Human mistakes. Sure we expect them to be professional and not make mistakes but that simply is asking them to be something even we are not capable of always doing ourselves.
Had we started that encounter being belligerent and non cooperative, there is a good chance we would have died right on that highway that day. The Cops would have been proven wrong eventually but that would not have helped us at that point.
Arguing your point on the side of the highway will ONLY bring you bad stuff, that is what a Judge is for and in most cases once you get to tell your side at the station they will have had time to sort out the actual facts anyway so all the drama on the side of the road is ONLY going to cause YOU problems in the end.
Keep your mouth shut, listen to the Officer and things go much much smoother because he doesn't know if you are a good guy or a bad guy and His priority is going home to his family at the end of his shift. He has procedures he has to follow and if you try to take control of the situation by running your mouth, it just escalates the tension and causes YOU more problems than either of you actually need.
These Officers were Scared, I could see it in their faces and I figured remaining calm was the best way to survive long enough to find out what the heck was going on.
They cuffed us and my Actual Twin is about 4 inches taller than I am, (the two of us in those days were not the kind of guys even 10 guys wanted to mess with unless they were committed to receiving as much as they gave out) and still with no clue why they started to place us in the back seat of a cruiser.
They were not very gentle to say the least and slammed my head on the door frame as I went in, I knew right then that it was on
and proceeded to kick all the rear windows out of the cruiser. They bull rushed my brother to another vehicle and got him in the back and as I was sitting in the car I heard it come across the radio that they had captured the Armed Robbery/ attempted Murder suspects on another road. It just so happened we were driving a similar vehicle and fit the description of the two guys that had just shot a store clerk in the process of robbing the store. They turned us loose and were not too happy about the rear windows of the cruiser being broken out but they also understood that they got a little rougher than the situation dictated as we were NOT resisting in any manner up to that point.
I understand how it happens, adrenaline flows hard and you are dealing with people who think YOU just shot another human being, that can sometimes cause them to become more aggressive than they mean to.....it is something all LE have a hard time dealing with everyday simply because they are HUMAN and make Human mistakes. Sure we expect them to be professional and not make mistakes but that simply is asking them to be something even we are not capable of always doing ourselves.
Had we started that encounter being belligerent and non cooperative, there is a good chance we would have died right on that highway that day. The Cops would have been proven wrong eventually but that would not have helped us at that point.
Arguing your point on the side of the highway will ONLY bring you bad stuff, that is what a Judge is for and in most cases once you get to tell your side at the station they will have had time to sort out the actual facts anyway so all the drama on the side of the road is ONLY going to cause YOU problems in the end.
Keep your mouth shut, listen to the Officer and things go much much smoother because he doesn't know if you are a good guy or a bad guy and His priority is going home to his family at the end of his shift. He has procedures he has to follow and if you try to take control of the situation by running your mouth, it just escalates the tension and causes YOU more problems than either of you actually need.