Angry Johnny

I'm going to do my best to relate the encounter but I just don't have the time to type the entire conversation. The encounter lasted about an hour.

About 7:30 PM there is a loud and repetitive banging on my front door. The dogs of course go crazy and as I approach the door I see a flashlight moving around out front. So I open the door making sure the dogs don't get out. Now mind you I'm getting ready to go to bed as I get up at 3:30 AM so all i have on is a pair shorts. So I say yes, can I help you? He says can you squeeze out here and talk to me? Sure. So I step outside and he says Do you know why I'm here? No.
Because of that truck! As he points to my 92 D250 CTD CC. What about my truck? It was involved in a hit a run today! No it wasn't! I didn't hit anybody or any thing! Were you on Saxon Blvd. today? Yes.
You rear ended a lady on Saxon Blvd., she flagged you down and you started to pull over into the RaceTrac gas station, then you took off and got on I4 then doubled back around and got off on Saxon again. No I didn't! No one flagged me down, I never hit any body and I didn't get back on I4 after I got off!

Well this lady followed you and called us and gave us your tag number and when I pulled up you DL picture (which is 7 years old and I look a bit different now) you looked just like her description.

Then he walks over to the truck and shines the flash light on the front bumper. See these abrasions on here? No! Those are horizontal scratches from some one using steel wool to clean the bumper at some point. This truck hasn't been washed in at least two years! There are no marks in the film of road grime that has accumulated and no damage to the bumper or front of the truck!

Well then how did she get you tag number? I don't know! Maybe she was behind me at some point but it wasn't me that hit her!

Look, if you confess now it's just a ticket and no one goes to jail! I didn't hit any one!! There is another truck in this area that looks nearly identical to my truck!

I drive around here for six hours a day and have never seen another truck like this. Well, I've seen it 3 or 4 times. So has my GF, who is outside by now.

Anyway this goes on and he keeps telling me I can confess and it's just a ticket, I'll even give you until 3 AM and I won't take you to jail. I said I'm not confessing to something I didn't do. Why would I hit someone and take off? I have a DL, I have insurance, I own my own home here, that would be stupid to risk my DL over a fender bender because without a DL I don't have a job. I have nothing to hide.

So then I ask what time did you get the call? I'm asking the questions here! Well, that's fine but I also know I don't have to answer your questions. You want me to answer your questions but you aren't giving me any answers. So he calls back to the station and asks what time the call came in. 4:22 he says. I was home at 4:08, I remember looking at the clock on the radio when I pulled up. Which way was the lady heading on Saxon when this took place? She was heading towards I4. I wasn't even on that side of Saxon. Do you work in Deltona or Orange City area? I work in Orlando, I was headed east bound on I4, got off at Saxon headed east bound to Tivolli, to Providence, right past the police station, in fact I passed two officers going in the other direction on Tivolli one in a marked car and one in an unmarked car right behind the other.

When I told him I worked in Orlando his demeanor changed a little but kept insisting I could confess now because he was going to go try and find some video from the gas station and I4 and if I can prove it's you I'm coming back and arresting you! I said good, I hope you do find some video then you will know it wasn't me.

So I'm thinking he's fishing, if he had my tag number why didn't he arrest me there on the spot? BTW I have a vanity plate that says MO POWRD so it's not easily confused.

I called my insurance company Thursday and reported the encounter and they assigned a claim number and adjuster. But I have no information on the other car. The officer didn't ask for my DL, registration or insurance card. He gave me no police report number or even his card. If he wanted me to call and confess you would think he would at least give me some contact and incident information, but I got nothing and didn't ask for it either because I'm not confessing to something I didn't do.

So needless to say I didn't sleep but a few hours Wed. night. With everything else going on from being out of work for a week after the hurricane, the GF getting attacked by the neighbors pit bull and being out of work for over 3 weeks as well and still out, this is some BS I really didn't need.

oliver foster

Wow AJ!
I hope they sort that all out and your luck takes a turn for the better.

mknittle

When I was a truck driver I would hear this type of thing happening from time to time.
Most of the time the supposed victim would write a tag number and fabricate a story to get either money or repairs for something (unrelated) that usually resulted from their negligence.

Jim Lane

Wow AJ
That would make me angry
That is insane,
You need a dash cam.

Now you know why I have my own onboard video recorder,
It records front, back both sides including me driving, it displays gps coordinates over a satellite map, speed, acceleration and the video.

When I am at work I aim the camera at me in case someone tries to mess with me.

I would have let him accuse me then said here let's watch the video and see if she was ever in front of me.

I hate liars.
I also have a dash cam.
Good luck.
Jim

bigragu

Keep us posted, AJ, and hopefully you win this one.

Lary Ellis (Top)

He was definitely fishing AJ.....going off very little facts or he would have taken you in. Good Luck, keep us informed

NJTman

Well, that sounds like a scam to me for insurance fraud, you being the victim, if the cop was telling truth..although I don't get the demanding you confess thing. He's been watching too many reruns of Perry Mason on the ME channel.

Fake report, filed insurance claim, the lady and her conspiring partners split the payout (if she really exists)


Crazy stuff... but at least you weren't shot dead at a country music festival, eh ? Now that's insanity... Just ask his brother. He's right down the road from you.... https://www.reviewjournal.com/crime/...of-our-family/

Angry Johnny

Cheese and rice man. I heard this on the news this morning when I got up but they hadn't identified the shooter yet. Stupid crazy, that guy could have been living here. Prayers for all those involved.

mknittle

I heard that the shooter converted to Islam some time ago.

cougar

Hey Johnny, went through the same thing years back. Watched a car wreck right in front of me so I gave the cops my statement. A year later, I got a summons to appear. The the guy who wrecked is sewing me for "causing" his accident. He claimed I pulled out in front of him. Right, from where. The closest access to the highway was 1/4 mile up the road. What happened is he lost control while cutting off a commuter van while trying to pass me at a high rate of speed. I was never charged with anything, but my insurance company paid the jerk the limits of my insurance and left me to twist in the wind.

Angry Johnny

And people wonder why no one wants to get involved these days.

MAC702

Outstanding!Call the police station and ask for the incident number. When they ask why, they should be VERY interested in hearing this. Please be part of the solution in a better police force.

Dash cams are CHEAP these days.

And never talk to the police without recording it. Any good police officer is recording it, too.

thrashingcows

Wow AJ that is seriously screwed up. Hope it all clears up with no hassles.

Guy I worked with years ago was driving around town early doing deliveries (commercial trucker) and a police car came roaring out of a side street and nearly side swiped my friend in his truck, no siren or lights. He gave to officer a couple "toot toot's" and the carried on.

He got to his next delivery in an alley and this cop comes in and parks his car with lights on and demands he get out and come over to his car. Friend asks him what's this about? Cop demands he get over here NOW! Friend says unless I have done something wrong I don't have to do anything you say, and that he has a delivery to do. Cops gets even madder and starts to threaten him. So friend whips out his phone and walks up to the officer and snaps a pic of his face and badge and tells him he will be stopping by the station when done this delivery.

Several hour later he gets a call from the head of the police apologizing for the actions of this officer and that he is being disciplined as a result.

Hope things go this way for you too....

edwinsmith

The cop was probably lying when he said she got your tag number. She probably gave a vague description of the truck and the cop knew of yours or had spent all of the intervening time looking for one that matched the description. SO then he bangs on your door and tells you this pack of lies he made up in order to get you to confess. If you were guilty you might confess but since you aren't you didn't.

It's best to refuse to answer any questions at all and just keep asking for an attorney. If he arrests you anyway, without a confession or probable cause, then he and the city will be liable for false arrest.

Angry Johnny

I figure since I wasn't under arrest and hadn't been read my rights what ever I said to him could be thrown out of court anyway so it wasn't a big deal. I wanted to clear it up and I kept my mouth in check.