Don't honk at the cops.....

[The Straight Story]

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)

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.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/24/police.honking.ap/index.html

[TimeChaser]

1. Nope, never question the behavior of those with power

:eyes:

[ThomCat]

12. Of course not.

The cops are always right, and benevolent. They never abuse their privileges and authority. Never.

It is only right that a Judge should have a knee-jerk response supporting cops. After all, civilization would fall down if Judges held cops accountable.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Yes, Son, just bow on down and

worship that cop.

Kid may as well learn that lesson now.

[Skidmore]

3. And cops and judges want to know why people lose respect for

figures in authority. That goes for legislators too.

[phusion]

4. We have a cop that lives across the street from us

I've been behind him before coming home and I've seen him play with his lights -- turning them on and off for no reason.

Also, on New Years, we suspect that he fired off a weapon of some kind into the air from his backyard. Really responsible of him considering the fact that every year in the city one or two bullets come raining down through houses. Last year an errant bullet rained down on a toddler, going through her legs, etc. She survived...But it's only a matter of time before someone dies because of these jackasses.

[valerief]

5. Sounds like the courts and militia are working just as *co wants

[YOY]

6. Officer Matthew Puglise any relation to Officer Eric Cartman?

RESPECT MY ATHORATAH!!!

[tatertop]

9. That was hilarious

[LiberalVoice]

7. Dont police follow the same laws we do?

"it's that you were trying to correct the police and they didn't need correcting" Are cops allowed to run red lights for no reason? Serious question. Who knows, maybe they are.

[Mythsaje]

10. Oh, don't be silly...

Cops are only obligated to follow the laws they like.

[Kingshakabobo]

15. If I had a dollar for every time I've seen a cop do it in Chicago...

I'd be a republican.

[Mythsaje]

8. My ex-wife actually got a cop reprimanded for doing this

very thing a number of times in front of witnesses.

Of course, filing a complaint can be a pain, now can't it?

[ThomCat]

14. IF they let you file a complaint

I wish I had a link, but there was recent story about reporters investigating how difficult it was just to get a complaint for and how much abuse they took from desk officers who lied about how to file complaints.

[Mythsaje]

16. I know...

that's what I referring to as being a pain.

[Orrex]

11. Question about the flashing lights

Is it actually wrong for police or ambulances to flash their lights for the purpose of getting through an intersection, if they wouldn't otherwise have had to flash them?

Might there be acceptable reasons, for example? If the officer is on a scheduled patrol route or has received instructions to check on something that doesn't require the lights but which might require urgency? Something like a downed tree, or an overturned mailbox, or whatever?

I'm asking because I honestly don't know. I've seen this flash-through-the-intersection trick a zillion times, but it never bothered me.


Also, I'd have to say that if Palmer had no compelling reason to honk his horn, then the citation was justified. Annoyance at someone else driving through a red light is probably not a compelling reason unless it puts others at peril, but the article gives no indication that anyone was endangered.

But I'm glad he got off with a warning, all the same.

[KitchenWitch]

20. I think it depends upon the jurisdiction

but I do believe flashing the strobe to just get a light to change for the cops convenience is certainly unethical, if not illegal.

[The Straight Story]

22. Silent Approaches

If a cop is heading somewhere on a silent approach run and don't want to attract too much notice they will speed without lights on but when getting close to an intersection will flip them on to get through. This is obviously for non-emergencies.

Another example is someone calls to file a report in a non-emergency issue (discovered their bike was missing, etc) and it seems to make sense to get there in a reasonable time but not in an all out lights and sirens way. This enables them to move about the precinct more quickly and get more work done during shift.

I don't think it is encouraged or a written rule, just some observations from my time back in the 80's when I served on a dept.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

13. the police don't need correcting.

In chicago, Jon Burge is accused of beating the crap out of hundreds of suspects and getting forced confessions to crimes they did not commit. Even today, 15 yrs after his "retirement" litigation continues against the city.
Or what of the police and FBI in Boston who were moles for the Mob?
Or the Task Force detectives in Chicago that were also on the Mob payroll?
Or the Milwaukee cops found stealing coke and smack from the evidence locker so they could sell it to their favorite gangs?
Or - never mind.

Then again, it is Tennessee. It took them, what, 60 years to correct the anti-Darwin statute after the Scopes trial?

[Brewman_Jax]

17. I was taught this MANY years ago

never argue with the man with a badge and gun, esp. when you're his favorite target. :scared:

[quispquake]

18. Don't flash them your high beams either...

I live in Maine & drive on back roads a lot...a couple of weeks back, a car was coming at me with hi beams on...I flashed them, they didn't dim them, and flashed them again. Nothing. WHen they came close, I turned my high beams on...I then saw it was a cop :(

Luckily, I didn't get a ticket, but he was none too pleased (I think more because of me calling him on not dimming his lights than anything else)...

pp23

[zbdent]

19. So, the cop turned on the flashers, ran the red light, then turned off

the flashers and stopped to give the honker a ticket?

What then was the "emergency" that caused the cop to turn on the flashers? I wonder how this held up in court . . . the policeman was using his authority to get over an annoyance . . .

Bet Judge Russell Bean's nickname is "Roy" . . .

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. And, don't play pool with a guy named "Doc".

Or, flip off Hell's Angels. Or, expect justice from the authorities.

[gratuitous]

23. Yes, some people DO own the whole damn road

Should cops turn on their rollers and cruise through an intersection just because they don't feel like stopping? No. Do they? Yes. Is it irritating to see that? Yes.

But . . .

Being a cop is a tough job. They're out on the streets for hours and hours at a time, and the call can come through at any moment summoning them to a situation that could turn out very badly. I think of all the problems we should address in the nation, we'd be in really, really good shape on the day when this rises to the top of the worry list.

Until then, I'm content to let cops drive as if they own the road (they're out there enough), occasionally running an intersection when they don't feel like stopping. I'd say move on from this, and remember, rolling through the intersection might just place the cop in a position to get to you a little faster should you have need of his services.

[MadHound]

24. I hope that Mr. Palmer doesn't take the judges words to heart

The police are public servants, we pay their salary, we are their ultimate boss. But sadly, as the years have gone by, more and more police are buying into the notion that they are above the law, and are not answerable to the people. Now sadly, this judge is furthering that illegal and immoral position. Another checkpoint on the road to fascism.