Driving tip: Don't honk at the cops

[KingPriest2]

Driving tip: Don't honk at the cops
Student protests police using flashers to run red light

Friday, February 24, 2006; Posted: 11:16 a.m. EST (16:16 GMT)

Manage Alerts | What Is This? CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee (AP) -- A Tennessee judge gave a college student a driving lesson in court this week: don't correct the police.

Clay Palmer, a student at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, honked his car horn when he saw a policeman turn on blue flashers to pass through a red traffic light. The officer then turned the flashers off after moving through the intersection.

Palmer said officer Matthew Puglise then stopped his patrol car and issued him a ticket for honking his horn for no reason -- a violation of the city noise ordinance.

The charge was reduced to a warning Wednesday when he went before a judge who told him he acted wrongly.

"The horn blowing is not the real problem here, it's that you were trying to correct the police and they didn't need correcting," Judge Russell Bean said.

Palmer left traffic court saying he still believed officers were abusing their authority.

"I see this cop with his blue lights come screeching up beside me and I didn't know what was going on," Palmer said. "Before they got to the next light, I could see they turned their blue lights off."

Officer Puglise said he was helping fellow police track down a speeder when Palmer saw him pass through the red light.

Judge Bean said Puglise was right and Palmer was wrong.

"I expect officers to follow the rules like everyone else," Bean said

[KingPriest2]

I do agree with the kid. I see it all the time.

[bkkcoh]

i was coming into work today and was driving in a construction zone doing about 60 (55 MPH speed limit) and then I look over in the left lane and there is a highway patrolman that is pulling away from me. He had to have been driving around 65 MPH.... That would be a $200 fine for the common schlub, but nothing for him.

That is absolutely wrong.......

[sedated]

and the judge defended the cop.

what a surprise.

cops can sh!t on anyone's face and get away with it.


who will police the police? nobody, apparently.

[sedated]

i was coming into work today and was driving in a construction zone doing about 60 (55 MPH speed limit) and then I look over in the left lane and there is a highway patrolman that is pulling away from me. He had to have been driving around 65 MPH.... That would be a $200 fine for the common schlub, but nothing for him.

That is absolutely wrong.......

Kripsy Kreme must have just turned on the "Hot Donuts Now" sign.

[ChiefsfaninPA]

I think that there should be a police for that polices that police force. Oh wait, they already have on called internal affairs, and they are made up of fellow officers. So you know they are impartial.

[morphius]

i was coming into work today and was driving in a construction zone doing about 60 (55 MPH speed limit) and then I look over in the left lane and there is a highway patrolman that is pulling away from me. He had to have been driving around 65 MPH.... That would be a $200 fine for the common schlub, but nothing for him.

That is absolutely wrong.......
Of course you could have taken down the car number and called it in. I know my uncle used to get bitched at for speeding by his boss's when he was a highway patrol man.

Not that it will really do any good, but hey, its something you can do.

[Denizen]

So the officer felt the best way to help a fellow officer track down a speeder was to stop an issue a noise citation to another citizen. That usually doesn't work.

[bkkcoh]

I think that there should be a police for that polices that police force. Oh wait, they already have on called internal affairs, and they are made up of fellow officers. So you know they are impartial.


But I am sure that unless there are a lot of people that are complaining, it will fall on deaf ears.

Also, how about people not doing it because of fear of retaliation. I think that would keep a lot of people from doing it.

[Braincase]

Buddy of mine's sister was killed when she was broadsided by the HP. HP was doing over 100 MPH with no flashers on when he hit her little convertible as she was just getting onto the highway. She didn't see anybody coming, thought it was safe. 2 dead 19 year old girls.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Buddy of mine's sister was killed when she was broadsided by the HP. HP was doing over 100 MPH with no flashers on when he hit her little convertible as she was just getting onto the highway. She didn't see anybody coming, thought it was safe. 2 dead 19 year old girls.I hope they threw away the key on that guy.
:shake:

[Braincase]

I hope they threw away the key on that guy.
:shake:


When the patrolman is the only surviving witness and he can say it's the other persons fault, and all his buddies are investigating the crime scene, there isn't a whole lot there to prosecute.

[Pitt Gorilla]

When the patrolman is the only surviving witness and he can say it's the other persons fault, and all his buddies are investigating the crime scene, there isn't a whole lot there to prosecute.Well, the least one could do is drag the guy's name through the mud. Does the family have a website or something?

[Bob Dole]

So the officer felt the best way to help a fellow officer track down a speeder was to stop an issue a noise citation to another citizen. That usually doesn't work.

That's exactly what Bob Dole thought as he read the article.

Of course, what we don't know is that they announced they had apprehended the felonious speed demon just as the officer passed through the intersection, so his assistance was no longer needed.

[greg63]

I do agree with the kid. I see it all the time.

Yep, especially small town police like where I live; the good 'ol boys club headquarters.

But honking at the police is never a good idea. It's a rap that you'll never beat.

[morphius]

That's exactly what Bob Dole thought as he read the article.

Of course, what we don't know is that they announced they had apprehended the felonious speed demon just as the officer passed through the intersection, so his assistance was no longer needed.
Or there was a cop who came on a second later to say that he was closer and would take care of it.

[Mike in SW-MO]

Yep, especially small town police like where I live; the good 'ol boys club headquarters.

But honking at the police is never a good idea. It's a rap that you'll never beat.

Normally I would agree.

A neighbor in KC pulled up next a police car that had run a red light using their lights only to turn them off in the ensuing bloc then get stuck by traffic. He pulled up next to the car then rolled his window down and told the officer he didn't think she should be using her position in that way.

She pulled him over, called in backup, then dragged him over coals for ~1 hour in front of his 4 YO son. There was absolutely nothing wrong with any of his paperwork or equipment so she had nothing to warrant the action.

He's an attorney and she's now out of work.

[Rain Man]

You never know what the situation is, so it's hard to judge, but I must admit that I'll see law enforcement guys cruising at high speed or going through red lights with their lights on occasionally, and it sure looks to me like they're not responding to a call. It's annoying.

[Pitt Gorilla]

Normally I would agree.

A neighbor in KC pulled up next a police car that had run a red light using their lights only to turn them off in the ensuing bloc then get stuck by traffic. He pulled up next to the car then rolled his window down and told the officer he didn't think she should be using her position in that way.

She pulled him over, called in backup, then dragged him over coals for ~1 hour in front of his 4 YO son. There was absolutely nothing wrong with any of his paperwork or equipment so she had nothing to warrant the action.

He's an attorney and she's now out of work.Excellent.

[Extra Point]

Our 4-month-old black Lab was killed by a cop speeding to work. My son was 7 at the time, and watched it happed 25 ft from him. Nothing I could do but tell the guy to get to work, as I knew he was late.

[KC Kings]

What do you expect when the all police departments condone and encourage corruption?
I'm no Clint wannabee, I know several cops and have never been arrested on US soil so I have no chip on my shoulder.

My sister was married to a cop, was speeding, made a bad judgment call and rear-ended an elderly couple. Cop buddies show up and give the ticket to the couple doing 55 in a 65 (above minimm), and let my sister who was doing 80, off with no ticket.

All this "professional courtesy" BS is just a nicer way of saying police corruption. You let some of the smaller stuff slide, but where does it stop? I know of plenty of domestic abuse, drunk and disorderly, and dui cases that the offender got away with it because they were a cop. If I Know about these things, what else goes on that the public doesn't about? They create this fuzzy line on the wrong side of the law that you shouldn't cross, but if the media gets a hold of it and the departments ass is on the line, they put the young cop doing what he was trained to do up on the chopping block.

[Inspector]

Normally I would agree.

A neighbor in KC pulled up next a police car that had run a red light using their lights only to turn them off in the ensuing bloc then get stuck by traffic. He pulled up next to the car then rolled his window down and told the officer he didn't think she should be using her position in that way.

She pulled him over, called in backup, then dragged him over coals for ~1 hour in front of his 4 YO son. There was absolutely nothing wrong with any of his paperwork or equipment so she had nothing to warrant the action.

He's an attorney and she's now out of work.

The last sentence in your post lifted my heart just a little. It will never balance out, but at least there was a little bit of justice served in this situation.

[Dunit35]

Our Chief of Police got busted for looking the other way in a drug case. He lived next door to the guy who was making the Meth and knew it. Amazingly the cop got caught and got into a bunch of trouble.