Sorry All, I have to vent... This shit has got to (RANT)
Stop!!! Today, I was driving my 98 Tahoe down a Major artery call Manchester in the city of Maplewood Mo. I was not speeding; I was obeying all traffic signs and laws. I noticed a squad car at an intersection.
This was no big deal to me because I have absolutely nothing to be afraid or worried about. I have done nothing. Next I see that the squad car is about two cars behind me. He is trying hard to see my plate.
I know this because I can see him in my rear view, and after the other car cleared I could see him reach for and start to talk into his handset/radio.
A minute later his lights are on and he is right behind me. I am like WTF!!! I knew I had done nothing; maybe my brake lights are out or something. Maybe there is something wrong with the car.
The very young looking officer steps to my car asking for the Registration and my license. I say sure, but can you tell me what I am being pulled over for? He said that my license plate was non-existent, I asked him what he meant, he said it’s not showing up anywhere in the system.
I said that was odd, because the state of Mo. Makes you show proof of insurance, paid personal property taxes, bills of sale and a notary stamped lien release for cars that were co-owned by lien holders. You will not get your license plates by any other way short of stealing them.
They can’t be stolen because they are coming up as non-existent. I mean if they were stolen they would be registered to some other car, correct? He said not if they had not been reported.
I again said, you said non-existent not stolen. That means they are not registered to anyone, they don’t exist, so therefore they can’t be stolen. I assured him that I didn’t make them myself and there has to be a major mistake.
I then showed him all of the paperwork from the day I purchased the truck and registered it. He asked if I had the plates on another car before, I assured him that the plates were new to the truck, and that I had legally registered the truck in accordance with Missouri laws. He decided that he was going to give me a ticket for improper plate.
WTF!!! I just looked at him, and asked how could he give me a ticket for Missouri’s Mistake? I would now have to go to court and waste my time for something that was totally out of my control. By this time another officer had arrived, he flanked my car with his hand at the drawing position, trying to find something of threat, by looking through the windows.
The other officer was busy trying to justify the ticket, then I asked the Million Dollar question: Why did you run my plate in the first place? I mean what prompted you? He said it was random. I just said oh, okay. But why was I the randomly chosen person? When he had so many other cars between him and me? What made me stand out? Was I being profiled? This is where I must have struck a nerve, he was not happy with this question at all. He and his friend conversed with each other and he came back to my truck and set his metal clipboard on my hood, the board slid down the hood, and I asked him if he would please remove it. I also asked for both of their names and who was the watch commander on duty. This made him even more agitated. He then went back to the car. After returning a minute or two later, he then said:
“Sir now you are not free to go, you have a warrant and I am going to arrest you”
Now I know some of you are saying, you should have just complied and been nice to the officer, thanking him for the ticket and moving on. (WELL I WON”T DO THAT AGAIN)
I just smiled and asked, Ohh now I have a warrant? I can’t have a warrant; my profession and clients will not allow it. I am checked monthly, so I know that there is nothing on my record. I have one ticked in the last 15 years and that was dismissed in court. I was found not guilty and all charges were dropped.
At any rate he proceeded to put the handcuffs on me. I told him that I needed to call my wife and let her know that she needs to pick up our 5 year old at her ride stop. His partner then told me that I would not be using the phone. I responded fine, that he or the other arresting cop should call then, because my 5 year old would be alone at the ride-stop and I am being arrested on BS. That they could almost bet everything that they had that I would spend every dime I had suing them in a court of law for this circumstance.
The officer that pulled me over decided that he would call my wife and tells her to arrange for my kids, due to the fact that he would be arresting me. He wouldn’t tell my wife where he was taking me. He just said he was fulfilling a warrant. My wife told him BS, my husband can’t have a warrant, and you need to check your system.
This made him think, he had gotten the same unsolicited response from my wife that he had heard from me. He calls in again and asks them to check the plates and the warrant one more time. Which, I clearly hear them say that there are two warrants not one. The plates were still MIA. He and his co-officer converse some more, then they decided to proceed with their action. My car was towed and I was going to be arrested.
The hand cuffs were put on improperly, behind my back, they cut my wrists. I was in pure agony at the shoulder due to a recent accident in which tendons were torn. I told them of this and asked them to consider putting the cuffs on with my hands in front of me. They said they could not do this. I explained that I was bleeding and that the cuffs were just plain too tight. He said we were going to leave soon and that I would have to wait. We stayed there until the tow truck came.
The officer had to adjust me in the back seat of the car three times there was simply no room. He became very unsettled when he pulled on my arm and heard a loud pop. (Pulled it out of the socket) At this point I was so mad that I wasn’t saying much. (For the record, I never raised my voice or disrespected either of them) I just asked that they secure my truck and the goods within the truck. Einstein then walks over to the tow truck driver and informs him of the 20k worth of computers and peripherals in the truck.
Well it’s now time to head to the station, this City uses another city jail as there processing and holding facility. When we get there the officer has changed his tune and tone. I simply listened to everything he had to say and complied with everything asked of me. I was being processed as a criminal. I then found out that the warrant was for not registering a vehicle. IRONY! so much I just chuckled to myself. I asked if I were going to be able to post bond there, they did not know. They couldn’t tell me what date the warrant was given, just that it was from 99/00, they couldn’t tell me what city just that it was in North County, they couldn’t tell me what kind of car I didn’t register. At this point they were just following the ghosts that were in the machine.
After finding out that I was upstanding individual, I was now talked to like a person and not a criminal. I was processed and put into a holding cell. My brother had already arrived before me; he was there to pay the bond. They told him, for 2 hours, that I was not there: I wasn’t in the system yet. They then told him that he would have to go to the County seat (Clayton, Mo.) to pay the bond and that by the time he got there with the money, I would be transported there.
Well I am in the cell and there is a phone, by the way, these guys acted as if anyone was in there, they had been there before. I was allowed to use the phone, so I called my Hysterical wife and asked that she calm down, I let her know that I was okay and calm. I would process out over the next 12 hours due to holding laws and the fact that these guys are trying to teach me a lesson. I tell her to call a few people and that I would call here and there to see what’s going on. She asks if I was okay and says she would continue to get in touch with everyone. She was told that I would be transported within 2 hours to the county where the bond could be paid. This is the same thing that they told my brother, who had already left to make sure he paid my bond. When he got to the county, I was not in the system yet; they had no clue as to why the arresting city would send him there.
I had resolved myself to the fact that I would be there for awhile longer. I could have shut up and gotten a free reach around, however, I am tired of having to put up with bullshit like this.
I have to admit, a part of me didn’t mind at all. I simply sit there listening to all of the stories of the incarcerations that I was now part of. Some of these guys knew the system well enough to be lawyers. All of them knew what city I was arrested in and the fact that there was a cloud around my arrest. A cop there had spoken louder than others may have wanted him to. These guys were telling me some pretty hard to believe stories, I was like that sounds like BS, only to realize that mine may sound that way as well.
I was there unjustly, I only had to accept the BS and I could have gotten a free walk. Good thing the warrant wasn’t for a serial killer. I mean these guys were so lost within the system that they thought nothing of their situations, it was cool, and it was a right of passage. I was called OG, Yeah right, me an Original Gangster. I had become leery of the institutionalized only to become face to face with those fears. A lot of kids, another guy named Lenny, He was on medicine, he didn’t get 2 dosages, because the conveyance officer was too busy with running out of the building with some girl.
There were 3 women on the other side of the Jail that were dialoguing with a few guys on the male side. The conversation was very graphic. The main character was a young guy maybe 20-22 years of age, father of 2 girls and a son that died at birth. He was a natural comedian. He was also savvy of the entire booking and transport process. At one point, after eating the Juice and Hot pockets supplied by that city, he became very emotional and started singing. I mean really American Idol-ness singing. I and everyone else were in complete awe. I couldn’t believe that this kid was not recording an album for someone.
I asked him why he wasn’t pursuing the singing; he said he thought he would if he could afford lessons. The consensus was unanimous: he absolutely did not need lessons.
6 hours later I was finally transported to the county, why so long? The conveyance officer never called for transport. He was covering for his buddy. They were trying to make sure that the system hadn’t made a mistake. They would not give my wife, lawyer or my brother any info. Until my wife had a Judge call they would not give her any info. After the Judge called, every thing kind of ramped up. A Latino officer, who told me that my situation was BS, he was also nice enough to put the cuffs on with my hands in front, he had a torn rotator as well and he knows how they feel, transported me. After getting to the county jail, the processing officer and the Transport officer tell me how I have things all riled up there. That a Federal judge has called there twice wanting to know where I was. (Nice to have friends and the coolest wife) Well this was about 8:00pm; it took until 12:30am to process out. For what you ask. The ticket says Improper Plate; the warrant was a glitch in the system.
Why was I pulled over in the first place? It was simply random. Yeah right… What do I get out of it? First hand knowledge of how unfair the system is. Racial profiling is very prevalent in the St. Louis, Mo. Area.
People are guilty until proven otherwise, and some Info in computers is terribly flawed.
12 hours were taken from my family, lost wages, my truck will have a huge impound fee. The only way to recoup any of my charges is to sue. WHICH I WILL.
No matter what I do, I will always be a color to some people, a valid excuse to harass me with no worries. There was much more to the story as far as the goings on in the Jails. I have run on enough. Just needed to vent.
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