Florida Highway Patrolman fabricated a charge

orlandov10

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I just got back home from being harassed by some kid FHP officer who decided to have a power trip on me. I was driving in traffic, there was a fender bender up ahead, several cars were in the median along with several people including an FHP officer, I was in the left hand lane, there was a turning lane to my left and the median to the left of the turning lane, I must have been 12 - 16 feet from the people, as I drove by we were slowing down for the accident, I was downshifting and tapped my throttle as I went by... Well the next thing I know the cop on the scene decides to chase me down the street, he pulls me over, puts his hand on his gun.. orders me out of my Viper, has me spread out on my hood while he's patting me down, tells me he's going to arrest me for criminal wreckless driving as he was "In fear for his life." I tell him ********, I just tapped my throttle, I never did anything wreckless... he said well its my word against yours and I was in fear of my life. I responded, well I'm going back to the accident scene to gather names of people, they are witnesses to all of this and I'm sure they will make statements backing up my story as you're making this BS up, he responds to me that I will be arrested if I drive to his accident scene.. I couldn't believe this guy! Anyway the cop goes to his car, comes back, says to me "ok, I see you have a clean record.. I'm letting you off easy with careless driving." then goes on to tell me that if I show up in court he will tell the judge he was in fear for his life and things will be much worse than a $115.00 ticket.

After all of this I drove to the FHP headquarters where I met with the Trooers boss (SGT), at first the SGT was being an [******] but upon hearing my story he changed his demenor and was more helpful, the SGT called the trooper on the phone, he told the trooper to get everyones phone number at the crash scene as he wants to question them tomorrow on my incident, I was told the officer will get a letter of counseling if he finds the officer mishandled the situation.. but I'm stuck with the ticket until I go to court. After leaving the FHP office I drove back to the accident scene, bought a disposable camera and took pictures of everything, 2 of the wrecked cars were still there at the scene, you can clearly see I was 15 feet or more from the median, plus you can see the median was so high it would have wiped out the front end of my Viper had I hit it, this was total BS. I hate cops that lie.
 

Vic

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That'll teach you to flagrantly, beligerently, and obnoxiously blip your throttle in defiance at the authority of law! Heh heh, just kidding...

Sounds like that kid wears the badge like it was a manhole cover, its too heavy for him. Betcha when his boss gets a hold of him, he calls him a lightweight!
 

RX VIPER

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Makes you want to have a video camera running in YOUR vehicle all the time. I sympathize with you as I've gone thru the same, and not even in my Viper. Guys like that give the good cops out there (and yes there are plenty) a very bad rep indeed.
 
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orlandov10

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man I dunno, I am looking forward to going to court on this one. The only thing is, if he lies to the judge and says I blew past him speeding then I'll probably be found guilty as there is little defense for that. Another thing that ***** is I have a long rap sheet for speeding offenses, etc... I don't know why he said I had a clean record, granted I haven't had a ticket for 3 years but prior to that I was bad. I know the judge will look at that as well, as I've gone to court before and they had every ticket on my record since I was 16 years old in court.
 

RX VIPER

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if he lies to the judge and says I blew past him speeding then I'll probably be found guilty

I would assume this had traffic screwed up and there were car right in front and in back of you..?? There goes that theory..
 
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orlandov10

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Yea it was slowing traffic down, but he could say anything.. I can't trust what this guy might say.
 

RichieSRT10

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The cards are normally stacked against you but in your favor you will have access to the witnesses statement and there names as this is public record. If any of there stories match yours I feel you would have a decent chance of winning. My last ticket I deserved and actually the FHP officer was pretty cool and gave me a big break. But then theres a [******] in every crowd. Except in here of course... HaHa
 

Bobpantax

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Didn't you say that he was the officer at the accident writing it up? If so, wasn't he in violation of FHP operating procedures when he left the scene of the accident to pursue you? If you hire an attorney to defend the ticket (I assume you have "Ticket Clinic" type operations at your location), see if your attorney can do any type of discovery request regarding the trooper's personnel file. ( I do not know whether the County Court procedures allow for this in this context but you should find out.) My guess would be that unless he is right out of training, he probably has other marks against him in his file for similar conduct. If so, your attorney can try to use them to attack the trooper's credibility and as corroboration for your version of the facts. On the other hand, if your record has been clean for three years, I would argue that offenses that old are not relevant. This argument could be bolstered if your insurance company has eliminated any surcharge(s) put on due to the past speeding behavior. Last, as you know, because of a number of troopers being hit in recent years in the breakdown lane off of I95, the issue of being too close to troopers or allegedly scaring them is very timely and sensitive. Be careful.Good luck.
 
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orlandov10

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haha yea Tony, I'll give you a ring.. we'll check out the corner for action, I'm running my car at the Funday Sunday event.. racing a guy by the name of Jesus, he has a 10.4 @ 143 MPH Supra.

Yes the officer left the accident scene to chase me down, good points Bob I'll look into it.

Richie, I'm not sure the witnesses have made any statements other than the accident report and I doubt my Viper will be mentioned in there, they will be talking to the SGT tomorrow on the phone however I don't think there will be any record of that to take to court.
 

plumcrazy

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ya have to fight this BS cop in court. bring a good lawyer and let him go at it. its gonna cost ya either way but you really should do it to make a point and try to screw the BS cop.

i hate cops period.
 

Gerald

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go to court bro... I had the EXACT same thing happen to me. only there were about 5 cop cars at an intersection investigating an accident. Being that it was about 1,000,000 degrees outside and late August, my rear tires chirped as I accelerated and turned left at the same time... OH NO! MY TIRES ACCIDENTALLY CHIRPED. [******] pigs ( THREE OR FOUR) chased me down 2 miles, pulled me over and gave me the same ticked and lectured me about controlling my car. I told them "have your tires ever squeeled when you turning in the food parking lots"?. They didn't like that..

Went to court, buried their asses. I took photos of the intersection, my car, the tires, there were no skid marks, etc...

Have I said I hate cops latley.. ?
 

V10SpeedLuvr

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Cops seem to either cut Viper owners some slack or try to make examples out of us. Sounds like you got a young guy who wanted to see a Viper upclose, make a name for himself (for catching a Viper) and help his quota. Hopefully his boss will tear him alive and have the ticket taken care of and save you a day in court and any attorney/additional fees
 

snampro

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cops ****, if you don't believe me buy a motorcycle...

make sure you update us on what happens, your court trip will be an interesting tale.
 
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orlandov10

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Nice story Gerald, hope mine has the same ending.

Tom, I know... this guy was a complete [******], I wonder how far he will go to lie in court. The funday Sunday event is at Orlando Speedworld tomorrow morning att he 1/4 mile drag strip, gates open at 9:00 AM, here is a video of the 10.4 @ 143MPH Supra I'm racing, right click and save as.

http://www.srvidz.com/Jesus104.wmv

snampro: I'll keep you informed, I should hear from the SGT in charge today.
 

LETHAL GTS

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Didn't you say that he was the officer at the accident writing it up? If so, wasn't he in violation of FHP operating procedures when he left the scene of the accident to pursue you? If you hire an attorney to defend the ticket (I assume you have "Ticket Clinic" type operations at your location), see if your attorney can do any type of discovery request regarding the trooper's personnel file. ( I do not know whether the County Court procedures allow for this in this context but you should find out.) My guess would be that unless he is right out of training, he probably has other marks against him in his file for similar conduct. If so, your attorney can try to use them to attack the trooper's credibility and as corroboration for your version of the facts. On the other hand, if your record has been clean for three years, I would argue that offenses that old are not relevant. This argument could be bolstered if your insurance company has eliminated any surcharge(s) put on due to the past speeding behavior. Last, as you know, because of a number of troopers being hit in recent years in the breakdown lane off of I95, the issue of being too close to troopers or allegedly scaring them is very timely and sensitive. Be careful.Good luck.

Sounds like the best advice so far.
 

Viperchad

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I feel your pain man. I just had to pay $150 on a bulls*$% charge last week for not having a front license plate on my car!! The cop was a total *%($....after we went back and forth for a while....the real truth came out why I got stopped. He said, "you should have considered that when you bought a car like this." They're just jealous man :)
 

Shelby3

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Nice story Gerald, hope mine has the same ending.

Tom, I know... this guy was a complete [******], I wonder how far he will go to lie in court. The funday Sunday event is at Orlando Speedworld tomorrow morning att he 1/4 mile drag strip, gates open at 9:00 AM, here is a video of the 10.4 @ 143MPH Supra I'm racing, right click and save as.

http://www.srvidz.com/Jesus104.wmv

snampro: I'll keep you informed, I should hear from the SGT in charge today.

Good luck trying to beat Jesus, if the devil couldn't do it what chance do you think you have? At the risk of being struck by lightning, that Supra sounds like a dying patient on a respirator. It's the only reason I could never go turbos, they sound like ass.
 

Anaconda

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Exactly why did you "blip" the throttle in your full exhaust, supercharged Viper?
 
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orlandov10

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Nice story Gerald, hope mine has the same ending.

Tom, I know... this guy was a complete [******], I wonder how far he will go to lie in court. The funday Sunday event is at Orlando Speedworld tomorrow morning att he 1/4 mile drag strip, gates open at 9:00 AM, here is a video of the 10.4 @ 143MPH Supra I'm racing, right click and save as.

http://www.srvidz.com/Jesus104.wmv

snampro: I'll keep you informed, I should hear from the SGT in charge today.

Good luck trying to beat Jesus, if the devil couldn't do it what chance do you think you have? At the risk of being struck by lightning, that Supra sounds like a dying patient on a respirator. It's the only reason I could never go turbos, they sound like ass.

:2tu:

hahahaha.. oh you know about Jesus and his car touched by god I take it?


As for why I blipped the throttle, I have a check engine light on and my car stalls at idle, so when I was slowing down for the accident I had the clutch in and when the car was about to stall I touched the throttle to keep it from stalling... oh and I'll have a receipt from a shop showing I had this problem fixed. :D
 

98viperGTS

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Well if you don't win the case, just kick the cop in the balls. Yeah you might get in trouble but you will feel a lot better. :)
 

Valhalla

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Remember,

At the end of the day he is just a f***ing civil servant and you are a Viper owner. Who really gets the LAST laugh? Anyone smell bacon? I think driving records clear after 3 years, so you do have a "clean" record ;)

Don't sweat it. You have probably been through worse. Not worth getting your blood pressure up!
 

Tom Welch

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Go to the performance results page of my website. There you will find not one but TWO video taped spankings of the famous Supra owned by Angel, who whipped Jesus. These videos are from 2001 when my car was much slower than it is now but just as drivable.

JEDI
 
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venms96

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orlandov10,

Wreckless is spelled Reckless......
Go to court, fight the ticket, fill us in on the final disposition.
Cop sounds a bit high strung, but you had to do "something" to pizz him off, although none of it sounds ticket-worthy. Can't say I believe he came after you simply because you gunned it a little as you drove by, but if that's the case, then it sounds like an easy win for you.
Not doubting your story, but always two sides to every story, we never hear the other.....

1996 GTS - Stock
 
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orlandov10

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I wouldn't be so ********** if I did something else, thankfully there were 8 witnesses who can verify I'm telling the truth, the FHP is looking into this matter.

Mr. Gambuzza:

Your email is being forwarded to Major Cyrus R. Brown, our Troop Commander for this area, with a request that an inquiry be conducted regarding your concerns. Major Brown or his designee will be contacting you in the near future.



Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.



Sincerely,



Lieutenant Colonel Rick S. Gregory

Deputy Director

Florida Highway Patrol
 

Gerald

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Man, I never have run in with cops good or bad.

Maybe I should start peddling drugs?
oh stop it will you?

just for that I'm not going to ask you to drive one of my vipers for me to Bradenton.. :2tu:
 
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