RE: http://www.timesdaily.com/arti...5/articles/911055038

I am not an officer of the law, but it seems to me that if I was, and I suspected that a driver was intoxicated, I would approach knowingly with the fact most drunk people believe they are super-human. OK. I turn on my lights. The person does'nt pull over and stop, they take off. Hmm. Should I risk the safety of presummed outcomes by escalating with high speed? I am not saying let the person drive drunk, nor, don't stop them somehow. But, who knows what the outcome could be either way. A law officer is always on duty-technically and instinctively-we know this,thankfully to them, when we need them most. Was the off-duty officer given a sobriety test?

This Valentine mans name seems to come up in the news a lot. I wonder why

He was in his personal car, no lights. I don't know what I would have done if I was in the sticks and someone started to follow me. I don't know where it happened, but if the guy had been killed, his family would have sued Laud. Cnty.

The volunteer fireman was not the man who was being chased, right? He was wrecked by the off duty officer?

I recall hearing this on our Scanner that morning , at the time I did not know it was an off duty Deputy that was chasing this man.. So I am sure they have a recording of this as it was happening. I wonder if the Volunteer Fireman had not made his report , would they be an investigation into this ?

As I said in the other thread, the guy ran at over 100MPH. And was arrested for DUI after the wreck. Id say the deputy had every right to follow him while waiting for an on duty deputy to arrive and, once the guy ran, had every right to persue to prevent him from escaping.

I agree that many police chases are not worth it, Ive said that before, but the question here is not about the validity of chasing this person. Had the officer been in a patrol car, there would be no question. The questions is: should he have followed him off duty? My answer would be yes.

Notice it was a volunteer fireman who brought this up? The driver has already admitted in the other thread that he has contacted the news outlets and nobody wanted to touch this story. Exactly what knowledge does the volunteer fireman have about police procedures? My father in law is the assistant chief on a volunteer fire dept and I dont think I have ever heard him question an officers procedures....

Kirk

Let's think about this...at 2am in his personal vehicle. Well first, I seriously doubt this poor ol'drunk driver was doing 45mph, was aware enough to look into his rear view mirror and say to himself, "Oh my God, I'm being chased! I better speed up to over a 100!" COME ON PEOPLE! The fool was more than likely already all over the road traveling at a high rate of speed. 99% of officers that see that when they're off duty would've of followed and called dispatch to get a marked unit in route. This fool must of crashed before the marked unit arrived. I also highly doubt there were that many families on the road at 2am.

Second, while I'm thankful for our volunteer fireman (my brother is one) they are last the people that need to criticize anyone on their driving or the duties of what an Officer or Deputy should or should not do.

Third, I'm always amazed at the people on this forum finding someway of taking blame away from drunk drivers. Next time you start to have that thought that drunk drivers are out there obeying all the traffic laws at 2am and only decide to act crazy and/or become a scared honest citizen because they don't know who is behind them, I suggest you pack your family in a car and go for nice 2am ride at club closing time. If you do, you might want to take that ride in a semi-truck...just in case.

quote:

Originally posted by dntblnk:
Let's think about this...at 2am in his personal vehicle. Well first, I seriously doubt this poor ol'drunk driver was doing 45mph, was aware enough to look into his rear view mirror and say to himself, "Oh my God, I'm being chased! I better speed up to over a 100!"

Im thinking he more than likely thought "Oh my God, this guy is following me, I must have run him off the road back there somewhere. I bet he is really ticked off at me. Thats OK, Im ten foot tall and bulletproof, I can out run him. Watch this." (Famous last words, usually used in conjunction with 'hold my beer.')

Either way, it was this idiots fault, not the deputies.

Kirk

Kirk your'e a smart man good points.

I don't think cops should have free reign, but I have met more and worked with more good cops than bad cops over the years. I think it says a lot about our society and the downhill slide of our morals when we justify and condone drunk driving because they claim it was the officer's fault. If the officers weren't doing their jobs -- both on the clock and off -- where would we be? We would asking where is the justice? Where is our protection? etc...We want it when we need it and we are in trouble we want someone to blame.

The guy was driving drunk. Even if they ever decide to blame the officer -- that should not negate or erase his 1) DUI, 2) speeding 3) wreckless driving etc...

as A CONCERNED CITIZEN OF lAUDERDALE cOUNTY THINGS LIKE THIS NEED TO BE BROUGHT TO EVERY ONES ATTENTION. oN THE NIGHT IN QUESTION I WAS LISTENING TO THE SCANNER WHEN THE DISPATCHER STATED THAT SHE WAS TALKING TO LA 36 ON HIS CELL PHONE AND HE WAS CHASING A POSSIBLE DRUNK DRIVER ONHWY 157 TURNING ONTO COUNTY ROAD6 GOING BACK TO CENTRAL AREA. THE DISPATCHER ALSO STATED TO THE DEPUTIES THAT WERE WORKING THAT NIGHT THAT LA 36 HAD BEEN DOING 100 MPH TO CATCH UP WITH HIM. ONE OF THE DEPUTIES ASKED THE DISPATCHER IF LA 36 WAS IN THE HIS PERSONAL
VEHICLE OR PATROL CAR, DISPATCHER STATED HIS PERSONAL CAR.

THERE WOULD BE NO QUESTIONS /COMPLAINTS FILED IF LA 36 WOUILD HAVE BEEN IN HIS PATROL WITH LIGHTS AND SIRENS ON. AND WHO IS TO SAY IF THE BOY WOULD HAVE NOT STOPPED IF HE HAD HIS LIGHTS AND SIRENS ON.

THINK ABOUT THIS FOR A MINTUE WHAT IF THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN YOUR CHILD, OR LOVED ONE THAT WAS BEENING CHASED BY LA 36 .WHAT WOULD YOU DO.

WE WILL NEVER KNOW THE OUT COME OF THIS CAUSE THAT IS HOW THE SHERIFF'S DEPT WORKS.

ALSO THE BOY THAT WRECKED WAS ARRESTED FOR DUI BUT DOES IT HELP TO KNOW THAT HE WAS UNDER THE LEGAL LIMIT BY LAW.

ALSO I THINK THAT LA 36 SHOULD BE PUNISHED FOR THE CRIME HE COMMITED WHICH WAS CHASING SOMEONE IN HIS PERSONAL VEHICLE!!!!!!!!!!

Welcome to the forums, Ashley. All caps indicates you are yelling. If that was your intent, I doubt many will bother reading your posts.

As for this person being my child, had this been my child, he would have sat in jail. .06, .08, I dont care. If you get in a car and drive after you've been drinking I have no pity for you. You have no way to measure your BAC personally, so you have no right to say 'I'm ok to drive' after you have been drinking. The only way to be certain is to not drink. Period.

As for him following someone that is possibly drunk off duty, good for him. I'm glad he pays enough attention to catch that. The car following did not force this driver to do 100MPH. That made him look even more guilty. He should have drove somewhere safe and stopped if he was worried about who was behind him, not jumped on the gas like this is NASCAR. This falls squarely on the shoulders of the person who ran. Trying to defend it just makes you look as silly as the guy who did the running.

As someone else stated, had the tables been turned and an off duty deputy let a suspected drunk driver go and that drunk driver killed someone, people would be in an uproar about him not protecting the citizens even when he is off duty. You cant have it both ways.

Kirk

quote:

Originally posted by ASHLEY201:
as A CONCERNED CITIZEN OF lAUDERDALE cOUNTY THINGS LIKE THIS NEED TO BE BROUGHT TO EVERY ONES ATTENTION. oN THE NIGHT IN QUESTION I WAS LISTENING TO THE SCANNER WHEN THE DISPATCHER STATED THAT SHE WAS TALKING TO LA 36 ON HIS CELL PHONE AND HE WAS CHASING A POSSIBLE DRUNK DRIVER ONHWY 157 TURNING ONTO COUNTY ROAD6 GOING BACK TO CENTRAL AREA. THE DISPATCHER ALSO STATED TO THE DEPUTIES THAT WERE WORKING THAT NIGHT THAT LA 36 HAD BEEN DOING 100 MPH TO CATCH UP WITH HIM. ONE OF THE DEPUTIES ASKED THE DISPATCHER IF LA 36 WAS IN THE HIS PERSONAL
VEHICLE OR PATROL CAR, DISPATCHER STATED HIS PERSONAL CAR.

BTW, since you were listening in on the scanner, did you at any point hear anyone say that the off duty deputy was instructed to terminate the pursuit? Just because the on duty officer asked if he was in his personal vehicle doesnt mean the on duty officer disagreed with what LA 36 was doing. He just needed to know the entire specifics of the situation.

Dont you think, had this deputy been in the wrong, the dispatcher or the officer in charge that night would have instructed LA 36 to disengage and terminate his pursuit?

Kirk

They also probably didn't tell him to kick the driver in the head either.

The guy drinking and driving should be prosecuted not doubt.

The off duty officer chasing him was wrong. What if this happened. I am driving down a back road at night look away and drift across the yellow line and correct. The officer decides I must be drunk and starts chasing me in an his personal unmarked car with no blue light. I am not looking for a fight so I drive to a lit area and he jumps out and runs toward my car and sees I am armed. Now is when it gets interesting because bad things can happen. I will not take his word he is a LEO and want to seen credentials and he is wondering why I am armed never thinking I am a LEO "I AM'.