Cops

Protecting and Serving the Shit Out of You

A woman called police. When they arrived, she claimed that a man kicked in her door, beat her, and fled into the woods on foot. She named him, said he was her boyfriend who had just broken up with her, and was upset over the breakup. The police got a warrant for his arrest for domestic violence.

The only problem? He was a married paraplegic and had been confined to a wheelchair for the past 25 years. Instead of actually conducting a further investigation, the cops arrested him and told him that if he could bring proof that he was actually paralyzed to his trial, he could then prove his innocence. They arrested him and accused him of faking his medical condition to get out of going to jail. Watch for yourself:

The cops inform him 13 minutes into the video that he needs to get a lawyer so he can establish his innocence. Since when has that ever been the law? The cop even admits “She says you kicked down her door, but it doesn’t look like you can kick down anything.” So why are you still arresting him, you fucking idiot? This officer also admits that he spent nine months investigating this. How good is he at investigating when he didn’t even know that the guy he swore a felony arrest warrant for has been confined to a wheelchair for nearly three decades? He even says it’s been in his driving record that he requires a wheelchair and has a handicapped permit.

To make matters worse, the woman had an arrest record for lying in previous cases. This cop, his sergeant, and his lieutenant are all incompetent.

This is one area where Trump and I disagree. Cops don’t need more immunity, they need less. Qualified immunity needs to go away, and cops should be forced to carry malpractice insurance like other professions. I have a one million dollar policy that only costs me $150 a year, but then again, I am not an incompetent idiot who doesn’t know how to think for myself. They can get a policy, too.

To those who would say “Well, there was an arrest warrant, they have to follow it,” that is bullshit. I get written orders from doctors all of the time that I refuse to follow because they are stupid. Just last night, I had a doctor order me to conduct a pregnancy test on an 84 year old woman, and a second doctor wanted me to give a medication to someone when it was right there in the chart that they are allergic to that medication. I can use my brain and refuse to carry out an order that doesn’t make sense. So can cops.

It’s why they make us go to school and have a license. They expect you to not be a complete dumbass.

This story and others like it is why I won’t cry any time a cop gets killed.

By Divemedic, ago

Useless

Check out these young adults in Minneapolis trying to bait cops into chasing them:

When questioned about it, the police chief had this to say:

“If a vehicle is simply stolen, there’s no force, violence or gun involved, police are not allowed to chase stolen cars. Period,” said O’Hara, “The police department’s policy does not allow for a vehicle pursuit simply because the car is stolen. The car would have to have been taken by force, some sort of violence, there would have to be a gun involved or some other serious crime. If an individual is trying to just bait the officer into a pursuit, it’s not going to get safer once this, once the cop starts chasing them… The cops did their job. They had zero discretion in that case,” he continued. “It is just not worth the risk of endangering everyone’s lives, especially if, at the end result, even if no one’s hurt, we arrest a couple juveniles, we bring them downtown, and they’re immediately released. It is completely senseless.”

In the meantime, local residents and business owners voice complaint after complaint that the police do nothing. If the cops aren’t going to even try to catch criminals, there is no reason to have cops. This is a case for an immediate 50% cut to the police budget, to correspond with a matching tax cut for the residents of the city.

In the meantime, remove the plates from your car and simply refuse to pull over for any and all traffic stops. They can’t chase you. Period.

By Divemedic, ago

It’s a street in a strange world

Maybe it’s the third world. Two border patrol agents have been caught taking thousands of dollars in bribes to allow people to enter the country through the nation’s busiest port of entry without showing documents. Both men were paid thousands for each vehicle they waved through.

While Almonte was in custody, investigators allegedly seized nearly $70,000 in cash they believe his romantic partner was trying to move to Tijuana. Prosecutors wrote in a court filing that Almonte is potentially facing additional charges for money laundering and obstruction of justice..There have been five US Customs and Border Protection officers assigned to the San Diego area to face similar corruption charges in the last two years.

Keep telling me how we need to defend Federal workforce jobs.

By Divemedic, ago

Liars

I read this story about a former firefighter in the Keys who has been accused of making bombs. The cops found him with what they called an unregistered short barreled rifle. I don’t trust cops to know a machine gun from a shoestring, so there is that. Maybe it was a pistol AR with a brace. Because they could see part of the rifle in his backseat, they arrested him for open carry. So much for the incidental exposure part of the law, eh?

They used the short barreled rifle as an example of a threat to the public to get a red flag order, which they they used to get a search warrant for his house. Inside, they found “dozens of firearms” and more than 10,000 rounds of ammunition. They also claim to have found bombmaking materials.

This sort of breathless fearmongering sets off my bullshit detector. We all know the ATF lies to make headlines. Read about this Navy guy who got 20 years for possessing unregistered NFA items when the ATF was able to replace the firing mechanism for some replica devices with the firing mechanism from real devices, which enabled them to fire them.

Now ask yourself if someone could take all of the items in your house and spin a tale of you being a danger to society. Do you have lamp timers? Pipe? Gunpowder? Fertilizer? Constructive possession, in the eyes of the ATF.

By Divemedic, ago

Cyberstalking Cops

From wirecutter, we see that a man saw cops doing donuts in a local parking lot and posted video to the Internet. The local police union has begun posting videos and pictures of the man, along with his identifying information. I was going to comment over there, but my thoughts became too wordy for a comment.

The cops get caught by a citizen doing something that they would ticket others for, and a citizen posts video of it. The cops get in trouble, and a social media war ensues. Here is the issue. You, as a public servant, are driving around in a highly visible vehicle that has a huge billboard painted on it. We had things like this happen to the fire department when I worked there. You know that you are being watched, you can expect to be in the spotlight, and you act accordingly.

At most, the officer involved would get a talking to about “don’t do that again.” That wasn’t what happened here. The police union decided to up the ante by posting in a public forum what amounts to public threats against the citizen who did the reporting. At best, the actions of the union are poor optics, discouraging citizens from reporting crimes for fear of retaliation. At worst, the posts of the man are thinly veiled attempts at intimidating a witness to police’s illegal acts, which makes this witness tampering, a serious crime in itself. Go with cyberstalking or even witness tampering

Cyberstalking is a crime in Texas. Texas law includes provisions that prohibit stalking and harassment through electronic communication. Including email, social media, instant messaging, and other forms of digital communication. Cyberstalking is defined as the use of electronic means to repeatedly harass, alarm, or annoy another person.

Under Texas law, cyberstalking cases can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. Depending on the specific circumstances of the offense. The penalties for cyberstalking in Texas can include fines, imprisonment. As well as a restraining order to prohibit the offender from contacting the victim.

A reasonable person would consider the statements made by the police through their union to be a threat. Here are some of the posts that they made, each of them included videos, photos, and links to the guy who posted the video of the cops:

Never post anything on the internet you don’t want to see on the news… or the internet.

If you are going to ghost ride your car, like Hamon Brown, make sure the doors aren’t locked when you climb on top.

Remember Hamon Brown? The hater that went on the news to run his mouth about police cars in the snow (in a parking lot)? #DontBeAHater #ComingDine #GotEeem

Tag local auto glass repair companies. We’re looking for someone who can help Hamon Brown get his broken windshield repaired. He didn’t get any Crime Stoppers money for s̷n̷i̷t̷c̷h̷i̷n̷g̷ tattling, so we need a good sponsor that can hook him up.

The police union also posted screen shots of the man’s criminal record.

Comments made by police officers to those posts include statements like:

  • I bet there is no weed smell coming from Hamon Brown’s vehicle
  • Throw stones at cops, expect cops to look at your glass house

In my book, that makes the police union (in this instance) a criminal conspiracy. To threaten a member of the public who reported criminal behavior, simply because it was a member of your organization, is no better than the mafia or the South American drug gangs. I hope this man gets a lawyer, and I hope he sues the police union, who by the way do NOT have qualified immunity. The loss in this lawsuit WILL come out of the police officer’s pockets.

By Divemedic, ago

Karma is Beautiful, But Sometimes Slow

In 2009, I posted about an Oklahoma cop who pulled over an ambulance that had a cardiac patient in the back because the cop believed that the driver of the ambulance had flipped him the bird. The paramedic in charge of the crew told the trooper that they had a patient in the back, asked the trooper to follow them to the hospital and told him they could handle the situation there. It was at this point that the trooper let his oversized ego take over, and instead of doing the sensible thing that would have best served the public that both the cop and paramedic are sworn to serve, decided to arrest and choke out the paramedic.

The reason why the cops were so hell bent on arresting this medic? The trooper was on the way to a call because another cop had been in an accident that was his fault. The trooper was rushing to the scene so he could do a blood draw on the driver that had been hit, hoping that it could be proven that the driver was drunk and thereby make it his fault, and not the cop’s. It seems that the police have some real corruption issues here.

In reviewing the case, the local prosecutor agreed that the cop was in the wrong and had likely committed an unlawful assault against the paramedic, but also stated that pursuing charges would not be in the best interest of the law and decided to give the cop a free pass. All he wound up receiving for punishment was a five day suspension.

I bring this case up because I really missed the ball on the conclusion of this case. Here is how the rest of the story went down.

The paramedic filed a lawsuit in the case, and the cops (as always) hid behind qualified immunity and wanted the case dismissed. While all of this was going on, the paramedic was arrested again by a small town Oklahoma cop as the medic was on the way to the courthouse to testify against another cop in an unrelated case.

The court refused to dismiss the medic’s lawsuit, setting the case for trial, and the cop appealed that ruling. The appeals court sided with the paramedic and the case moved forward. The paramedic wound up getting half a million dollars.

The trooper wound up being investigated again, this time for sexual allegations involving photos with accusations that the photos were of minors.

This is where karma finally decided to show up. The trooper had a heart attack in 2018 and needed an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He was sent to a rehab facility for treatment, where he had a second heart attack, got a second ambulance ride, and finally died. I am not above celebrating the death of someone who deserves it, and it seems that his death was the only way that he was ever going to pay for being a dictatorial asshole, so I am going to gloat over this one. The only way this could have turned out better is for the paramedic who he roughed up to be the one who took him to the hospital.

I will treat people to the best of my ability, no matter how badly they have treated me, because I swore an oath to do so, and my word is my bond. However, I never swore that I wouldn’t be happy that someone got what was coming to them. Karma, after all, is a bitch.

By Divemedic, ago

Pardons Don’t Mean Shit

President Donald Trump ordered that the defendants from January 6 be pardoned. As the chief executive, the power to issue pardons is absolute. That doesn’t mean shit to the leftist enforcers. Although Olivia Pollock and Joseph Hutchinson III have been pardoned for their actions on January 6, the Feds still would not drop the counts of failure to appear in court from 2023. Why didn’t they appear in court?

After reading stories about the abuse suffered at the hands of police that are detaining J6 defendants for trial, knowing how cops will abuse and torture prisoners, and how they are transferring them to Supermax prisons, many J6 defendants began simply skipping out on their trials and sentencing hearings:

So Pollock and Hutchinson did what many would have done- they simply removed their ankle monitors and skipped town. Because of that, the Feds decided that Trump’s pardon didn’t excuse them from criminal charges.

The good news is that a Federal judge ordered that the charges be dismissed. The Federal employees are refusing to obey orders. This is being replayed all over the government- there are employees and former military members who still are loyal to the commies that are trying to overthrow our government. They need to be rooted out- every last one of them.

.

By Divemedic, ago

Safety, My Ass

Florida does not require a concealed weapons permit. They also tell you that, if you comply with a police officer’s demands, you won’t get shot. The traffic stop that involved Jason Arrington proved that to be a lie. I tried to find a copy of the bodycam video that I could embed, but that was a no-go. Here are two links to the video:

When you watch this video, note that the man was completely compliant in every way. He answered every question, and complied with every request and order. He was pulled over in a traffic stop and the cop asked him if he had “anything crazy in the car.”

Mr Arrington replied that he did have a gun on his person. The cop then made some small talk and asked if he had a concealed weapons permit, and the man replied that he did not. (That isn’t required under state law.) The cop then asked Arrington if he was a convicted felon, to which he replied that he was not.

Then the cop said that they would have Arrington step out of the car and would disarm him, for the safety of both Mr Arrington and the police. That turned out to be a lie. The statement from the Sheriff’s office tells the rest of the story:

The firearm was secured in a holster and Officer Cardwell [a female backup deputy] had difficulty removing it. When [she] was finally able to remove the firearm from the holster, she unintentionally placed multiple fingers inside the trigger guard of the firearm, causing the firearm to discharge.

The bullet from this negligent discharge struck Arrington in the leg. I don’t blame the female deputy for this. She was placed into this situation without the proper training, and one would assume that the JSO takes guns from people during traffic stops as a matter of course. This wasn’t her fault. The real fault lies in a department policy of unnecessarily seizing firearms, and in not training deputies in how to safely handle unfamiliar firearms.

Unnecessary gun handling increases the odds of a negligent or accidental discharge from near zero to some other, higher chance. A gun that is in a proper holster has a near zero chance of discharging unexpectedly. Additionally, a person who has been pulled over for a nonviolent, noncriminal traffic violation and is otherwise compliant has a near zero chance of attempting to use that firearm to illegally injure or threaten police officers.

This unintentional discharge was the direct result of:

  • Police who are paranoid in believing that everyone who has a gun is a threat to their safety. They are not.
  • Police attempting to handle firearms with which they are unfamiliar is a hazard to everyone around them. Contrary to popular belief, police training in firearms and firearm safety is poor. If official policy of a department requires cops to disarm people, then the department has a responsibility to train officers to handle firearms in a much safer manner than what was displayed here.

For those reasons, the man is suing the Sheriff’s office. As a result of this incident, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office sent a memo to the entire department, notifying deputies that a person who is in possession of a firearm but not otherwise demonstrating that they are a threat to officers who are present, is not subject to having his firearms seized.

As it should have been all along.

This is also why I don’t inform cops that I am carrying. Florida doesn’t require me to, and I don’t. Asking me “Do you have anything crazy in the car?” isn’t asking me if I am armed, and I will respond in the negative.

By Divemedic, ago

What if the entire Barrel is Bad Apples?

Check this arrest of February 2023 out:

The guy was arrested for making an obscene hand gesture and 2 counts of obstruction for refusing to provide ID as a result of the unlawful stop. It’s a violation of the man’s Constitutional rights to initiate a traffic stop because you don’t like his hand gestures. The fact that the cop even admits this as a reason for the stop makes this case a slam dunk, IMO. The officer even put this in writing in his arrest report, claiming that giving the middle finger isn’t allowed, as it is a hand gesture that is not being used to signal a turn. You can read the arrest report here.

He was held in jail for four days on a cash only bail. The charge for hand gestures was dropped, and one of the obstruction charges was dropped. I expect the second one will go away as well, since the entire pretext for the stop is unconstitutional and a violation of Mr. Lambert’s rights. There is a lawsuit pending.

This is the same police department that paid a $3.5 million settlement when they stopped a pedestrian for not walking on the sidewalk. They shot the man 22 times, and even though he had been armed with a knife, it was after he was incapacitated, not moving, and was lying on top of the knife, thus he was no longer a threat to the officers.

Of course, the cops tried to hide behind qualified immunity. Sorry, but that legal concept has to go. Force cops to buy malpractice insurance. It’s one area where I disagree with Trump. Cops don’t deserve more immunity, because this will only get worse.

There are some who are trying to make this about race, but I don’t think that police abuse of power is about anything other than power corrupting those who wield it. It’s time that cops lost a bit of that plenipotentiary power.

By Divemedic, ago