Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 08-18-2008, 10:41 AM
 
Location: SoCal
2,261 posts, read 7,208,516 times
Reputation: 960

Advertisements

Also, now knowing about this story, if I have to get to the hospital in a hurry for some reason (either for me, my family, or my dog), I probably won't pull over if a cop is after me for speeding.

I'd rather have a ticket and/or jail than the death of someone I loved.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 08-18-2008, 11:09 AM
 
Location: Dallas, Texas
485 posts, read 1,954,003 times
Reputation: 135
I read a comment on one of the local news websites by someone (ok, this is hearsay, but the officer's behavior on video backs it up in my mind) that says he knows the officer and the guy's an egotistical jerk.

I wish that police were able to be more reasonable and have discretion - like in the 50's when a teen did something wrong, maybe graffitti, and instead of booking the kid, the police would deliver him home to his parents holding him by the ear. Now, we lead 5 year olds from school in handcuffs for drawing "dangerous" pictures.

It's unfortunate that the police must assume everyone is a dangerous person with a weapon (thank you drug trade, organized crime, and gangs). Still, this guy acted like an insensitive jerk when the driver was obviously distraught. I wondered what the officer would have said if the driver said he was speeding to drive his choking BABY to the hospital...."oh, it's just a baby, you can have another one." ???

Of course, I probably would have slowed a bit and kept driving to get to the hospital...consequences be damned. There was a story a year or two ago about a woman speeding to the hospital to get to her dying father. Police stopped her as she was pulling into the hospital parking lot, didn't believe her story, hauled her off to jail where she sat while her father died...another insensitive jerky officer. They were in the stinking parking lot and he didn't bother to check her story. There was video from that too.

You never know if you're going to get stopped by a jerk or an officer who knows how to balance public safety and his job with humanity, so based on that, if I'm ever driving in an emergency situation, I'm not stopping.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 11:20 AM
 
Location: Houston, Texas
10,447 posts, read 49,527,050 times
Reputation: 10614
How can anyone even refer to that waste of human flesh as an officer? He can only wish some one offers him some respect if one of his loved ones are in medical trouble. Oops sorry, cops have no friends except the counter girl in Dunkin Donuts and other coppers.

Like some one said, the doggies daddy should have continued on without stopping to the Vet and may the consequenses be damned. At least he would have had his family member to hug tonight.

Reminds me of a story about 18 years ago when I rushed my then wife to the hospital in the middle of the night because of an emergency. I rolled a red light after carefully looking both ways and an oink oink had his donut break ruined by me. So he gave chase but the hospital was only 2 miles up that road. I continued on, not racing but doing well over the artifically low speed limit. I pulled right up to the emergency door and ignored all his silly commands as I carried her inside. All I did was treat that copper like they all treat us peons. Like an insignificant nothing devoid of all value.

He didn't like it but he will live to shake down and rough up the next poor sap who is unfortunate enough to cross paths with a member of the worlds largest street gang of thugs.

She was ok and I got no extortion ticket.

I hope the doggies daddy sues. After he is awarded a million dollars I would make this deal: All the money goes to animal shelters and that useless waste of human flesh gets fired and never again is allowed to wear the badge of the largest street gang in America.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 11:23 AM
 
Location: Up in a cedar tree.
1,618 posts, read 6,597,398 times
Reputation: 563
For the one's that says, "I'm not stopping in an EMERGENCY situation".

It is your call, but consider it a high speed chase, then crossing over a road and T-bone a family van carrying a family of five, killing them and the irresponsible driver and person whom you’re trying to get to a hospital!

Call 911 for any emergency, your not god and your not right to make gamble situation and NOT pay the consequences.

Oh since no vet offers 911 ---- people are complaing about a JOB. Create one, I am sure it would be good business since it seems to be lots of serious doggy lovers here in ATX.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 11:29 AM
 
Location: Dallas, Texas
485 posts, read 1,954,003 times
Reputation: 135
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike78613 View Post
For the one's that says, "I'm not stopping in an EMERGENCY situation".

It is your call, but consider it a high speed chase, then crossing over a road and T-bone a family van carrying a family of five, killing them and the irresponsible driver and person whom you’re trying to get to a hospital!

Call 911 for any emergency, your not god and your not right to make gamble situation and NOT pay the consequences.

Oh since no vet offers 911 ---- people are complaing about a JOB. Create one, I am sure it would be good business since it seems to be lots of serious doggy lovers here in ATX.
Well, the driver was on the interstate in the middle of the night. There were no roads to cross over and t-bone anyone...and in my situation, I would never ignore stop signs/lights...I'm not an idiot and wouldn't want to kill myself or anyone else in the process, but if I'm on the freeway in an emergency and I've got a clear road, 90 mph isn't that fast and I'd keep going.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 11:56 AM
AGA
 
Location: Knoxville, TN
729 posts, read 2,698,220 times
Reputation: 215
Where was that officer the other day when two cars were chasing each other down mopac at about 90?

They are never there when you really need them.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 12:13 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, TX
368 posts, read 1,779,900 times
Reputation: 165
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike78613 View Post
your not god and your not right to make gamble situation and NOT pay the consequences.
And unless you are present, you don't have complete information about the situation...

i.e., you're not "God".

We aren't asking the person who was pulled over to NOT pay the 'consequences'. Escort the guy to the vet, write him the mother of all speeding tickets, reckless driving tickets, being on the phone tickets, and be on your way, police officer. It's really quite simple.

The last thing I'm going to do is stand by and do nothing, in what I perceive to be an emergency situation. Contrary to what you've suggested with your comments, nobody here is advocating doing anything intentionally malicious or harmful to others.

Wait, no, the absolute last thing I am going to do is think, "y'know, that guy on the Austin city-data forum said I should never gamble with a situation...", then proceed to do nothing.

Yes, an ambulance is the optimum solution for 98% of human injuries. I'm sure someone could make a business out of a 'critter' ambulance, however, based on my overall knowledge of vehicular law, it'd be near-impossible to get 'authorization' for a business such as this to in any way legally exceed speed limits/not sit at empty intersections at a stop light...at least not without an escort of some sort, which pretty much defeats the purpose.

In the case I posted, above, I drove my GF, now wife, to the hospital because I knew I could get her there in about 4 minutes...the time it would take to make the call and get the ambulance out of the fire station, which was less than a mile away, BTW.

Now, we weren't blowing through active school zones, with children frolicking, at 80 MPH, either. This was going maybe 45 in 30 MPH areas, and slowing way down, but not stopping, for stop signs where there was nobody else present. Oh, I did turn right on red without stopping 100%, too! Someone call Irving PD!

As a bonus, five-year-old Corvette, a regular one, at 1/3 throttle, was near-infinitely quicker than the old Benz I was driving @ 110% of it's abilities. 65 HP + 3300 lbs. = faster than walking...usually.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 12:21 PM
 
Location: Austin, TX
2,357 posts, read 7,872,924 times
Reputation: 1013
There's a general lack of empathy and compassion in our culture that is ruining our ability to interact properly.

No one is arguing that the officer wasn't in the right to pull the driver over for excessive speeding. The issue is with his in-human lack of sensitivity to the situation. The correct thing is to give the couple a safe escort to the Vet clinic, and then issue a violation when the situation ramps down. Being a police officer is so much more than just strict interpretation of the law. Most often it is the handling of people's emotions in crucial, often dangerous situations. Unfortunately, many of the folks attracted to the career are just bullies who want to carry guns.

"It's a dog, you can get another one"...Are you f*cking serious? That guy should be fired for that kind of comment.

I would hate for this guy to try and talk someone off of a building roof.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 12:28 PM
 
Location: Dallas, Texas
485 posts, read 1,954,003 times
Reputation: 135
Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
No one is arguing that the officer was in the right to pull the driver over for excessive speeding. The issue is with his in-human lack of sensitivity to the situation. The correct thing is to give the couple a safe escort to the Vet clinic, and then issue a violation when the situation ramps down.
Unfortunately, the police chief's only issue was with the comment. He said that it was the correct thing to do to pull them over and keep them there as they were in no condition to drive. He specifically said that they wouldn't allow the girlfriend to continue driving even though there was no reason to hold her (other than her supposed "hysteria") and the police wouldn't escort the couple to the vet...thus back to my original comment, that I would just keep going and take care of my emergency if this is the kind of support (that would be NO support) I was going to get.

Quote:
Originally Posted by twange View Post
I would hate for this guy to try and talk someone off of a building roof.
I can just imagine what this moron would say...
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 08-18-2008, 12:39 PM
 
Location: Fort Worth, TX
368 posts, read 1,779,900 times
Reputation: 165
Quote:
Originally Posted by MJinAustin View Post
I can just imagine what this moron would say...

Easy.

"Go ahead, jump. Someone will pay the clean-up bill..."
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Texas > Austin
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top