How can you arrest a driver, impound his car, if he tests clean for drugs & alcohol??

[NsXMas]

How can you arrest a driver, impound his car, if he tests clean for drugs & alcohol??

http://www.azcentral.com/community/...10ariz-man-seeks-over-dismissed-dui-case.html

I know this gentleman. I play racquetball with him at my local gym. He is a retired firefighter, 64 years old, but clean and healthier than anyone I know. He has 6 pack abs, and more lean muscle than most 20 year olds I know.

This gentleman is one of the nicest guys I know. He will lend a hand, give you a ride if your car has issues, and even insists on paying for dinner even if you've just barely met him playing racquetball. His knees have taken a beating from a lifetime of marathons, basketball, and racquetball, so he walks a little funny. His right hip was also replaced recently due to injuries incurred in his line of duty as a firefighter.

This guy is one of the best man you will ever meet in life, period. This is why it's especially shocking to hear that the local police arrested him for DUI after playing racquetball at the gym and using the jacquzzi there before the gym closed at midnight.

He tested multiple breath-a-lyzers and the results came back with .000, and his blood test also shows zero traces of any alcohol or drugs. Not surprising given the upstanding citizen that he is.

However, he walks with a hobble due the hip and knee injuries, being 64 years old.

How can any police justify putting this man in jail for DUI, even after the clean tests? And oh yea, they impounded his car as well. WTF?

To add insult to injury, a few weeks later, the DMV suspends his license for DUI, and demands he take drug / alcohol treatment therapy. WTF?????

I hope he sues the pants off the city.

Some of my best friends work in law enforcement, and I know the commander of the Phoenix Police very well, so I highly respect our public servants.

But the cops in the case need to be severely reprimanded, and the police chief should consider retirement for backing his cops even though the facts show otherwise!!

http://www.azcentral.com/community/surprise/articles/20130613chief-stands-by-force-dui-case.html

As a law abiding citizen, and a fan of the police, I am outraged and shocked by this case. Justice and liberty truly has gone out the window these days!!!

EDIT: also wanted to add... Most of Jesse's friends are white, hispanic, asian, and a few blacks. We are all color blind, especially when it comes to our friendships. Jesse is the last person to accuse anyone of racial profiling, but I truly believe this is a case where he is targeted because he is a black gentleman driving a sports car (late 90's Mitsubishi 2000GT he's owned since brand new) near a retirement community. Racism is truly alive and well in the hick town of Surprise.

 

[KSXNSX]

I don't doubt it.

I think the Breathalyzer tests should be enough evidence for a good lawsuit. Hopefully he gets a nice settlement, and those cops are fired.

 

[davidf]

Let me just say this about your friend......................................................I hope he gets all the money he's asked for.:wink:

 

[Night Prowler]

^+1 :wink:

 

[Vega$ NSX]

I have spoken about this before (read: the Dorner case), but there is a brewing police state where law enforcement officers are increasingly allowed to enforce their own "laws" with little to no ramifications for their actions and protect their own interests.

 

[Miner]

How can the cops do this? They are cops! More correctly they are poor cops.
Sadly we as a country don't always live up to our credo. Perhaps your friend should take the moral high ground, accept an apology and move on. The best revenge is living well, the best action is forgiveness!
Miner

 

[curtsr]

Subscribed

 

[Night Prowler]

I have spoken about this before (read: the Dorner case), but there is a brewing police state where law enforcement officers are increasingly allowed to enforce their own "laws" with little to no ramifications for their actions and protect their own interests.

You sir are absolutely correct. The evidence is out there and many recent events have proven this. It is sad that this great nation is going downhill.

 

[NsXMas]

Thanks to everyone for your support and replies. All of my friends at the gym who know Jesse for 5-10 years are in shock ourselves at how poorly he was treated.

How can the cops do this? They are cops! More correctly they are poor cops.
Sadly we as a country don't always live up to our credo. Perhaps your friend should take the moral high ground, accept an apology and move on. The best revenge is living well, the best action is forgiveness!
Miner

That's easier said than done. Jesse is a retiree living on a fixed pension. He had to spend $5k to retain a lawyer, to get his car back from the impound lot, to get the DMV to drop the DUI suspension, and fight the DUI charges. All of this occurred days before he was scheduled to get hip replacement surgery where he could ill afford to be distracted and distressed over this nonsense. He had to get his wife to drive him to everywhere since he couldn't drive, and his wife had to take multiple days off from her work to support him. This has cost him thousands of dollars.

In addition because he likes to go the gym later at night when it's much less crowded, and hang out with his friends, use the pool to recover, Jacuzzi to help his aching body feel better, he is going to be under constant harassment every time he drives home. The gym is his social outlet as most of his friends are there, for him to socialize with and do physical activity with.

He has greatly reduced his time going to the gym because of the harassment. I feel very sorry for him. I hope the city loses its pants and pay him a financial settlement that will sting, and rein back the cops from harassing him.

- - - Updated - - -ANOTHER STORY

More unbelievable cop behavior - http://www.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/v...n-suing-over-strip-search-dui-arrest.hln.html

They strip search this rather attractive women, WTF??? The cops needs to be fired and charged for violation of citizen rights!!

I hope the citizens win lots of money, but tax payers should not have to foot the bill..the cops should be paying the price!!


EDIT: yet another story - cop stun guns / roughly handles / mistreats an entire family... http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023695386

WTF?

I like this letter from one of the posters:

to the police department at [email protected]

Hello. I am currently writing a blog post about the above incident.

I would like comments from your department relating to several sections of the videotaped incident:

At 1:26 Officer Hart is seen picking up one victim/handcuffed suspect by his handcuffs and pants while the victim's legs flail unable to gain purchase to stand upright. At no point does the victim/suspect appear to be resisting in any fashion. Please describe if this is considered standard practice in your department.

At 3:30 Officer Hart is seen raising another handcuffed victim/suspect's hands at an angle that appeared to be threatening her with dislocated shoulders. Again, at no point does this victim/suspect appear to be resisting, and is instead screaming in pain and anger. Please describe if this is considered standard practice in your department.

At 4:19 Officer Hart is seen approaching a witness, taking his phone from his hands, and then throwing it to the ground. This assault appears to be completely unprovoked and appears to be done to intimidate the person, while the destruction of property appears to be vindictive. Have charges been filed against Officer Hart for this videotaped behavior?

It seems unlikely that a middle aged father with three children in his vehicle (two still in car seats in the vehicle) would deliberately initiate an encounter where his children would be left unattended. The three people lying on the ground include a 14 year old minor; the adults repeatedly are crying out for help, and begging their neighbors to "call the police" while Officer Hart's report includes him pointing his gun at the victims/suspects. Does this refer to his "stun gun" or a service revolver?

Last but not least, per the report submitted by Officer Hart, he was unable to establish a positive rapport with any of the people in the video before escalating the situation to the videotaped violence/arrest. Per the official report, Officer Hart was being verbally abused (while other witnesses report he initiated the encounter with rude and/or inappropriate language to a 21 year old girl), and unable to calm the situation using any tactic other than intimidation and violence. Since Officer Hart does not appear to be able to establish "calm rapport" with citizens who were NOT engaged in criminal activity prior to his interaction with them, will he be relieved from his duties?

Does your department place a value on "positive rapport / trust" with citizens?

To be blunt, Officer Hart looks like a stressed out ticking time bomb. Not every man is qualified to be a peace officer, and I would love a statement on whether there have been any other "questionable" instances in his past performance.

Thank you in advance.

Respectfully,
Etc.

These stories show how a few bad apples can give the well meaning and hard working public servants a black eye, time and time again.

I support our police fully, but they need to weed out the bad apples and make them pay for their abuse of the public, instead of hiding it and trying to back the loose cannons who have complete disregard for citizen's rights.

 

[docjohn]

For any group of "public service" workers the fault lies in the belief that there can not be "bad apples" because this would undermine the reputation of the larger group.This is a flawed strategy.....The cathlolic church has had a tough time with this as well. I think they should all look to(as a role model) the rather homogeneous/consistant performance of state motor vehicles depts.....

 

[passline]

For any group of "public service" workers the fault lies in the belief that there can not be "bad apples" because this would undermine the reputation of the larger group.This is a flawed strategy.....The cathlolic church has had a tough time with this as well. I think they should all look to(as a role model) the rather homogeneous/consistant performance of state motor vehicles depts.....

+1 ........... as well as the church of England. DUI of what????????

 

[sahtt]

The police in these situations remind me of the IRS. Nobody really understands the power they have over your life until it's you they are after.

I know in Texas if the cop thinks he has sufficient evidence to take you in for driving under the influence (alcohol, prescriptions, whatever) you automatically lose your license for 3 months -even if all charges are dropped and you are proven innocent in a court of law.

Your friend should be able to get an occupational license easily but the damage is already done.

 

[Miner]

My comment / suggestion that your friend forgive and move on is not meant as a trivial platitude. It sounds as if he is struggling to get past the incident.
As a non white person, it is easier to understand and relate to the experience. Perhaps a course of action is for you and your friends work to improve the police dept

 

[Hasdrubal]

Don't take this as trying to defend the officers in this one, because I don't really know enough to have a firm opinion, but curious about something. The blood test was negative and they still made an arrest? Here in WA, if there's a result over the alcohol limit from the BAC machine (breath), then that's enough for the case to go through. The arrest happens out in the field wherever the traffic stop or collision takes place, and the charges are in court the next day the court is open.

If there is no alcohol found or if the test is of blood rather than breath, then there are no charges until other evidence (the lab results of the blood test) is available. The arrest already happened, but then the person is released on their own recognizance pending a possible future summons to court, and then only if the prosecutor thinks there's enough to make the case work. In WA, there is a mandatory vehicle impound with a 12hr hold, but I don't think the Department of Licensing will take the driver's license until the charges are filed.

Nothing useful to say about the potential for racism- where I work it's nowhere near as big a problem as elsewhere, but I know very well that there are individual people and whole parts of the country where that's not the case.

 

[NsXMas]

In my friend's case, he took a breath-a-lyzer test in the field, which came back negative. They still took him to the station, where he took another breath-a-lyzer test, again the test came back negative. Then they insisted on a blood test, which my friend consented and gave. The results of the blood test would not be known for a few weeks.

However, despite blowing zero alcohol on both breath-a-lyzers, the cop still arrested him and put him in jail.

The cop said he couldn't complete a balance test... no duh - he's 64 years old with bad knees, and scheduled to have hip surgery in 3 days. The cop said his eyes were blood shot. No duh, he was swimming at the gym due to the less stressful exercise water based activities, and the chlorine in the pool and jacuzzi turned his eyes red. He explained all of this to the officer, and was still arrested. Simply stunning!!

 

[KSXNSX]

Tell your friend to google this, and make sure his lawyer knows if he is incompetent:

Section 1983 Suit.

Make sure all the elected officials know about it, and make a petition to let them know that they will NOT be reelected unless justice is served.

 

[NsXMas]

Tell your friend to google this, and make sure his lawyer knows if he is incompetent:

Section 1983 Suit.

Make sure all the elected officials know about it, and make a petition to let them know that they will NOT be reelected unless justice is served.

Thanks, will do.

 

[Hasdrubal]

Ok, I don't know exactly how the laws there work, but here we would never book a dui on a blood draw alone. Do you mean that he was taken to a police station (some have a jail attached) and processed before release, or that he spent the night in jail? It may seem like a stupid or trivial question, but it makes a difference for the odds of winning a lawsuit.

Procedure wise, the portable breath test (PBT) is not uncommon, but it is never used for evidence. I find it odd that they brought him in for the full size BAC test. If the pbt had shown anything, they would need the bac reading because it's the only certified test for a court case. However, if there's a negative pbt, there's really nothing to test for. At that point, with or without the bac reading, a blood draw is the next proper step. I don't know of any state that has mandatory blood, WA certainly doesn't, but you said this was voluntary.

His lawyer will be looking at the report pretty closely, to figure out what the reason for the stop was. Also to see if the officer was DRE (drug recognition expert) trained. If there was no dre around, it will be a weaker case. I've stopped many people and found the reason they were driving poorly was entirely due to being one hundred and fifty years old. At that point I ask them to please be careful and head home, none have been arrested.