Local motorcyclist has an exciting traffic stop

[MillCreek]

http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/08/29/25380651/motorcyclist-captures-video-of-king-county-sheriffs-detective-pulling-gun-during-traffic-stop

The local Sheriff is not pleased with his detective, supposedly.

[BobR]

That detective needs a time out.....a very long time out without pay IMO.

I know of a motorcyclist in that part of the state that had the exact same thing happen to him, he bought two new motorcycles with the tax payer money that was given to him. Too bad it had to be tax payer money. It should have come out of the cop's savings for being stupid. :(

bob

[zxcvbob]

A non-uniformed cop draws his gun on someone without identifying himself first?  Why is this not assault with a deadly weapon? 

And why is he stopping someone for a non-emergency in the first place, rather than radio to have someone in a uniform and marked car do it?

(just watched part of the video and it's worse than I thought.  Looks like an armed robbery)

[Firethorn]

(just watched part of the video and it's worse than I thought.  Looks like an armed robbery)

I'd have assumed armed robbery as well.  

Cop knows he's doing something wrong, why else hold the gun in that way to hide it?

I'd have been going 'just take the bike!'

My other thought was "oh *expletive deleted*ck oh *expletive deleted*ck oh *expletive deleted*ck"

Officer looks a bit older, didn't recognize the helmet camera?

[Fly320s]

That detective needs a time out.....a very long time out without pay IMO.

He deserves jail time.

A non-uniformed cop draws his gun on someone without identifying himself first?  Why is this not assault with a deadly weapon? 

I have the same questions.

Cop knows he's doing something wrong, why else hold the gun in that way to hide it?

I don't think the cop is trying to hide the gun.  He is holding it in a retention position to prevent the biker from grabbing it easily (not that the biker would grab it).

[Hawkmoon]

A non-uniformed cop draws his gun on someone without identifying himself first?  Why is this not assault with a deadly weapon? 

And why is he stopping someone for a non-emergency in the first place, rather than radio to have someone in a uniform and marked car do it?

(just watched part of the video and it's worse than I thought.  Looks like an armed robbery)

IMHO the detective is lucky the biker wasn't armed, because the biker would have been FULLY justified in shooting him.

[MillCreek]

http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/video-surfaces-of-king-county-sheriffs-detective-pulling-gun-on-motorcyclist-hes-been-placed-on-leave/

Another article about the event.

[230RN]

It was indeed worse than I thought, too.

I agree that was a tactical hold, not necessarily a hiding of the gun.  But no badge showing?  Only visible ID as a cop was the lighting in his car, and anybody can put lights in a car.

And I didn't see it as reckless driving at all, though I'm always cautious about passing a string of cars like that. Experience talking.

Also, I guess his actual speed could be calculated from the video.  Don't know if that's a good idea, from the 'cyclist's point of view. :)

FYI, after a bunch of false ID-ing-as-a-cop robberies and so forth, about five(?) years ago, Colorado made impersonating a police officer in any way shape or form, a felony.

One of the very few cases where elevating a violation to felony status was OK with me.

Terry

[zxcvbob]

Would he have been justified in beating the alleged officer with his helmet as he took it off?   Looks like the deputy let his guard down at that point.  It was not obvious to me yet that it was not an armed robbery.  He had taken the wallet at gunpoint.

[AmbulanceDriver]

The cop should be sitting in jail facing a laundry list of charges.  Not on a paid vacation.

[Firethorn]

The cop should be sitting in jail facing a laundry list of charges.  Not on a paid vacation.

It's paid leave, he still has to show up to be interviewed and questioned at IA's discretion, so not really vacation, until the investigation is done at least enough for the Sheriff/Chief to at least make a decision as to his continued employment per the terms of the contract and police union agreements.

Something like this?  1-2 days.  I allow generous periods for due process even for open and shut cases like this because I want due process and justice for everybody.

So 1-2 days to decide on employment and write up the paperwork for that.  Another day to decide on charges in coordination with the prosecutor's office.

[zxcvbob]

Due process is fine.  He should be on paid administrative leave (using up his accrued vacation) in jail while his wife tries to come up with the bail money.

[Firethorn]

Also, I guess his actual speed could be calculated from the video.  Don't know if that's a good idea, from the 'cyclist's point of view. :)

The video is high definition enough that I know he was going 40mph by his speedometer at the start of the video.

You actually have to be careful trying to measure distance/time with video because sometimes it can be sped up/slowed down during playback.

IE recorded at 60hz, played back at 59.5 hz.  And yes, even with digital video.

[KD5NRH]

It's paid leave, he still has to show up to be interviewed and questioned at IA's discretion, so not really vacation, until the investigation is done at least enough for the Sheriff/Chief to at least make a decision as to his continued employment per the terms of the contract and police union agreements.

Something like this?  1-2 days.  I allow generous periods for due process even for open and shut cases like this because I want due process and justice for everybody.

If it's 1-2 days then there's no reason not to make it unpaid; you always have the option of retroactively reinstating pay, while it's near impossible to take it away after the fact.  I'm not aware of any employers with >3-4 employees that don't delay pay at least a week after the end of the period, so even if it's his equivalent of Wed-Fri without pay, the initial decision will be made before the check was even due.

[bedlamite]

The video is high definition enough that I know he was going 40mph by his speedometer at the start of the video.

You actually have to be careful trying to measure distance/time with video because sometimes it can be sped up/slowed down during playback.

IE recorded at 60hz, played back at 59.5 hz.  And yes, even with digital video.

For some stupid reason, a lot of bike speedos read ~10% high. When mine says 40, actual speed is 36 on the gps and radar. I've talked to a lot of riders that have the same problem. It's bad enough there is a market for this.

[BobR]

10% is a good guess. I dropped a new tune into my ECU and fixed that discrepancy a long time ago. I now match to GPS speed at all parts of my speedo and more importantly when trying to set the high score on the roadside speed monitors that the police set out for education and awareness. :)

bob

[MillCreek]

The speedo on my 2012 Suzuki DL650 is 10% high.

[Firethorn]

10% is a good guess. I dropped a new tune into my ECU and fixed that discrepancy a long time ago. I now match to GPS speed at all parts of my speedo and more importantly when trying to set the high score on the roadside speed monitors that the police set out for education and awareness. :)

bob

The 10% is pretty much due to federal law.  It says that the speedo must absolutely NOT read a lower speed than you are actually going, but does allow it to overstate quite severely.

My truck speedo is about 20% fast.  Because I could put bigger tires on it.

[Triphammer]

Your truck speedo is low with bigger tires.
 One revolution travels further on a large circumference.

[Firethorn]

Your truck speedo is low with bigger tires.
 One revolution travels further on a large circumference.

My speedo reads 55mph when I'm doing 50.  Oops, now that I've rested, that's 10%.

I put bigger tires on it, it might read 55mph when I'm doing 52mph, as the axles are rotating at the same speed.

They set the speedo to read fast, so that it won't be slow even with bigger tires.

[Jocassee]

The hole on the shooty end of the gun is a lot bigger when you're in front of it.

[MechAg94]

My speedo reads 55mph when I'm doing 50.  Oops, now that I've rested, that's 10%.

I put bigger tires on it, it might read 55mph when I'm doing 52mph, as the axles are rotating at the same speed.

They set the speedo to read fast, so that it won't be slow even with bigger tires.

Just get bigger tires until it reads the same. 

[Sideways_8]

Just get bigger tires until it reads the same. 

I would have to had tiny tires on my first truck for that to work. It was a bit low. At 70 mph, the speedometer would be at 58 mph.

[230RN]

The 10% is pretty much due to federal law.  It says that the speedo must absolutely NOT read a lower speed than you are actually going, but does allow it to overstate quite severely.

My truck speedo is about 20% fast.  Because I could put bigger tires on it.

They had to put slightly smaller tires on my car since they were out of stock on the correct size.  My speedo now reads 31-32 when the radar devices say exactly 30.

[wmenorr67]

So many wrongs by that officer in that video.