Not saying anything will happen, but this may not be an isolated event. The other officers will know if this guy has issues with dealing with the general public.
Heck some of the police officers around here refuse to ride with other officers because they know they’re trouble.
If he has multiple complaints, this could show a pattern of misbehavior.
Kind of silly to approach a cop when he acting like a tool to begin with (at least according to the OP), just get the number on his car and move along and report him.
Your absolutely right…but…I know I am only reading this and was not there, but on paper it seems what he did was appropriate. Other factors would be was he alone? If he was alone, I think that he did not do anything out of line. If he wasnt, and there was other cops there then his actions may have been a bit harsh.
I DESPISE drivers who sit behind me without passing when there is clearly enough room.
I’d rather have them in FRONT of me… and gone, than sitting behind me, waiting to pass, holding up traffic and generally pissing everyone off. Then you get a stream of angry motorists blaming “that damn cyclist”, but it’s really just a bad driver to blame…
I agree with the Park Rangers assessment of the driver… but not his actions afterwards.
hmmm…seems like something is missing here. Im sure there is more to this story, I am sure whatever the motorist was doing was not safe, but then again maybe it was safe. I was not there.
But let me get this straight…all the cop did was tell the car to move along? And you felt it necessary to ride up to the motorist and tell them you would be a witness against the cop? A witness of what!? Big fuckin whoopdy do…so a cop told a car to move along!!!
As far as what he did to you…with the sound of your attitude Im sure you deserved it. You even said yourself you acted a bit (good one). Im a cop by the way…if someone walked up on me when I was on a car stop and gave me attitude, I can guarantee I would have done a lot worse to you. You probably would have been leaving in the back of my car and not your bike. Bottom line would be I dont know you, and would have no idea as to what you were doing.
I can guarantee you that nothing will come of this if you complain…you sound like an idiot who got involved when you shouldnt have. So the lesson you should get out of this is when a cop/park ranger/fireman or whatever is doing an enforcement type action stay out of it…granted some encounters call for intervention, but this one was clearly not one of them.
I said “what are your
grounds since I am not violating any laws?” then he pushed me over
–Funny thing. After reading the very first two sentences, I immediatly said to myself, “this guy is a cop”. Sure enough, a regular john wayne ladies and gents!
Bloomin’ heck. I knew there was a reason why the thought of going to the states scares the hell out of me! That sort of police attitude would have a public enquiry launched in the UK!
Yeah, that’s pretty much why I’m not passing judgment on the officer or the OP. Don’t have enough information.
However, I do despise police officers who think that they can get away with misbehavior because they have a badge. They should and need to be held to a higher standard than the public. Alright, off my soap box and wear your Kevlar.
Understand that your above the law, “I would do worse” attitude is disgusting to law abiding citizens. I hope you either learn to not be a thug or are fired so you can’t mistreat the citizens who write your paycheck.
Come on man, you swore an oath to protect and server, not to threaten and bully. Our taxes pay your salary. I realize cops have to deal with scum of the earth on a daily basis but keep your head in the game and don’t take it out on people trying to do whats right.
hmmm…seems like something is missing here. Im sure there is more to this story, I am sure whatever the motorist was doing was not safe, but then again maybe it was safe. I was not there.
But let me get this straight…all the cop did was tell the car to move along? And you felt it necessary to ride up to the motorist and tell them you would be a witness against the cop? A witness of what!? Big fuckin whoopdy do…so a cop told a car to move along!!!
As far as what he did to you…with the sound of your attitude Im sure you deserved it. You even said yourself you acted a bit (good one). Im a cop by the way…if someone walked up on me when I was on a car stop and gave me attitude, I can guarantee I would have done a lot worse to you. You probably would have been leaving in the back of my car and not your bike. Bottom line would be I dont know you, and would have no idea as to what you were doing.
I can guarantee you that nothing will come of this if you complain…you sound like an idiot who got involved when you shouldnt have. So the lesson you should get out of this is when a cop/park ranger/fireman or whatever is doing an enforcement type action stay out of it…granted some encounters call for intervention, but this one was clearly not one of them.
I said “what are your
grounds since I am not violating any laws?” then he pushed me over
Look up PC 148
That’s what dickhead cops do to justify their actions, “I feared for my safety”. BULLSHIT! “I feared for my safety from a spandex clad guy wearing funny shoes and shaved legs.” This officer was not fearing for his safety rather than asserting his authority. You state, “if a guy walked up on me”. Well nothing in the post suggests that he walked up behind the officer and confronted him. Get off your high horse and be a man about it and not hide behind “safety” BS. Your are exactly the type of “cop” that everyone talks about. I’m sure you’re very popular at your station with all your bravado. asshat
Your 100% right, we should be held to higher standards and are. That is why 90% of americans hate cops. I still get nervous when a cop pulls behind me whenever we show up something bad has or is happening its just the reality.
It doesn’t bother me that we aren’t liked. All I can do is try and treat people with the utmost respect when I work, while being safe at the same time. Like I said before my one and only goal of the day is to get home to my little girl, and however I have to do that I will.
I’ll break every law in the book if I see a cop wrongfully arresting/ticketing someone and have the ability to help them. I’ll do it prouldy. It is my duty as a moral human being.
Like I said before I cant say for certain what the motorist was doing was safe or not…but once the cop pulls the car over…it is now an ENTIRE DIFFERENT BALL GAME. The moment the OP walked up to the car and decided to give his .2 cents he is now in violation of PC 148. Basically he is interfering with the cop.
If I was alone (like the ranger was) and there was a pedestrain ( like the op) interfering with one of my traffic stops who I dont know, I would have put the guy on his face. Not only do I have to worry about the driver and any other passsengers of the car I stopped, now I have to worry about the idiot who decided to involve himself on my traffic stop.
He has no grounds to complain, and frankly is lucky he was not arrested. Better luck next time.
"Understand that your above the law, “I would do worse” attitude is disgusting to law abiding citizens. I hope you either learn to not be a thug or are fired so you can’t mistreat the citizens who write your paycheck.
Come on man, you swore an oath to protect and server, not to threaten and bully. Our taxes pay your salary. I realize cops have to deal with scum of the earth on a daily basis but keep your head in the game and don’t take it out on people trying to do whats right. "
I was stating that I would have done worse in this particular situation…and since the guy got away scott free (unless you count faking to fall off his bike a punishment), worse is not that bad. I mean come one…did you think I would shoot the guy or beat him up and violate his rights?? Would I have arrested him and given him a ticket, probably.
If I had a nickel for every time I have heard the taxes pay your salary line I would be a very rich man.
Yeah since nobody who wears spandex could be dangerous…I wish people could see our job from our point of view. Untill that day comes, Ill just let it be and let people have their own point of views.
Im sure this country would be much better off without cops…
Is there really an “internal affairs” dept. for Park Rangers!? I really don’t know. I would have never done that as I’m the utmost in politeness since I try to see the peace officer’s point of view/training. But, it does sound like this guy was being a prick.
It depends. Some areas have dedicated Park Rangers that are federal employees. Other areas are patrolled by the County Sheriff’s department.
I will not say who is right or wrong here, but there is something everyone needs to know about any such incident.
During a “traffic stop” when a car is pulled over by use of lights and siren, this legally constitutes an arrest. The driver and anyone else in the car, are legally under arrest until the officer either releases them with a ticket, a warning, or physical arrest.
As i said above I have no idea who is right or wrong but the cyclist was actually interferring with the officer in an arrest situation. He should have waited until the officer was finished and released the driver, then approached the driver after the fact.
So then he pulled the car over for waiting to pass us. So I stopped when he pulled the car over
and told the driver I would be a witness against the cop in court since I felt she was driving safely and appropriately. Cop got pissed and told me to go have a seat and he would “deal with me.” I said “what are your grounds since I am not violating any laws?”
PC 148. Interfering with a peace officer in the performance of his duties.
Im not saying your freind wasn’t right about the safety issue…
But people in general have to understand is that we want to go home to our families at the end of the day. So if we come off as harsh sometimes, I apologize. The main point I was trying to get across is …If someone/anyone walks up on me, or any cop for that matter, when I am contacting a citizen or am on a car stop I can guarantee that most of us will react the same. If I tell the citizen to leave and stop interfering, and they don’t thats when I would resort to “Hands on” I dont want to use harsh words since its offending some St’ers.
But you get the point.
The problem is that you have people who are trained as warriors working in direct contact with the general public. IMO, it’s the “code red” mentality of the training (valid for obvious reasons) that leads to MOST of the police brutality (invalid for obvious reasons). Police officers are fearful because it’s drummed in to them and most of them have far too little training in actual combat…so they overreact. They should get far more training in de-escalation techniques than in how to survive the potential attack.
This bike rider was about 99.99999% sure to be unarmed if that stupid park ranger would have considered that for a minute. But he got scared he might be on the receiving end of a beating so he got rough.
I know why the Ranger was ticked off. it was in part because he was WRONG in the traffic stop and he could have gotten away with it in traffic court (if he’d written a ticket) except that the witness would have embarrassed him.
I can see it both ways. My justice-meter is pegged by the thought of an unjust ticket and I’d want to offer to that person to be a witness. But if I even engage that witness in conversation (or even stop and watch for that matter) the officer will feel threatened and go off because he’s got unresolved personal issues…or he’s been drilled 20,000 times on how dangerous traffic stops are.
"The problem is that you have people who are trained as warriors working in direct contact with the general public. IMO, it’s the “code red” mentality of the training (valid for obvious reasons) that leads to MOST of the police brutality (invalid for obvious reasons). **Police officers are fearful because it’s drummed in to them and most of them have far too little training in actual combat…so they overreact. They should get far more training in de-escalation techniques than in how to survive the potential attack. **
This bike rider was about 99.99999% sure to be unarmed if that stupid park ranger would have considered that for a minute. But he got scared he might be on the receiving end of a beating so he got rough. "
That is a very simple minded comment sir…Ever been a cop? Do you have any idea how we/or this particular ranger was trained? Im guessing you have no idea. Until you do I suggest you refrain from comments such as this.
whenever we show up something bad has or is happening its just the reality.