Police pull over biker to confiscate camera to use against others; makes up charge

[ai4px]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Sorry, the dash cam vid do not offer any context pertaining to the guy getting pulled over for HIS own actions.

See article here: http://www.wfaa.com/news/crime/Sheri...159941355.html

Isn't that convenient??

[csmith12]

Why yes..... yes it is.

[Klondike1020]

@ai4px

You hit the nail right on the head!
Police used to be part of the community, respected / assisted

Now they are alienated from the general public.

My biggest problem is when police think they are above the law!

People are drawing to many lines in the sand and picking to many sides.

If we made a list of what both people did wrong in the video it would go on and on.

[Stingray1000]

Originally Posted by Jiggles

[DEVILS ADVOCATE] All of these bikers are a bunch of ****ing assholes. They closed down highways and block traffic so they can stunt. Emergency vehicles could have been stuck in there. People on the way to hospitals could have died so these pricks could stunt on an open highway. They are dipshit assholes, every last one of them and they need to be tracked down and punished.[/DEVILS ADVODATE]

Cop was a moron

Agreed, Did anyone see the video on the other thread? They make us all look bad and make people want to swurve into good riders just because of assumed "ASSOCIATION" (for Justin and CZ LOL)

[LoD575]

As an LEO crap like this pisses me off.

The arrest is questionable and will probably be tossed out. The camera may contain evidence but there is a proper way to obtain it by use of a search warrant or voluntary consent.

Even with the dash cam it shows the bikers being @sshats with possible transfer of contraband, along with careless/reckless driving.

The cop and biker were both being dicks to each other which only aggravated the situation.

[alex.s]

[Jono]

^
This

[A Tomato]

The second officer's face looks annoying smirking...

[Goom]

Originally Posted by Alex

I hear what you're saying, but I think you're still missing the point, if the goal is to figure out how not to be that guy being dealt with harshly by a less than brilliant deputy.

A: Avoid riding in large groups when it's foreseeable that a good portion of them will be flaunting the law
B: If you do choose to do so, make sure your equipment is legal.

Running an illegal plate location, running illegal blinkers, and any of the other small but common mods to sportbikes are clear invitations to be pulled from the herd, and made to answer for the perceived larger offenses of others. Happens weekend after weekend here in northern california near the high-trafficked motorcycle hangouts. (I.E. - don't hang out at 4-corners mid-day on a Saturday or Sunday on a clearly illegal bike.)

For what it's worth, it's something that sometimes has to happen to you first before it sinks in, and I got the same ticket at that same high traffic area at the bottom of 9 when I had a moderately illegal plate mount on the ZX-10R. Not acting like a douche to the admittedly douchey cop kept it as a $25 fix-it ticket instead of an arrest, but the lesson stuck anyway. It's just easier to stay legal. (Or if you aren't going to, stay the heck out of the limelight. I.E. a biker event with thousands of bikes and dozens of law enforcement vehicles)

^this

[akima]

I didn't see the biker that was pulled over perform a single morally questionable action... not in his own footage or in the police dash cam footage (which didn't show him!). I think he could've more intelligently dealt with that doggy cop though.

If there was a bear in your camping spot eating your food, you wouldn't get in the bears face and shout "THIS IS BS MAN: WTF ARE YOU DOING IN MY AREA!" at the bear. It's a powerful animal which holds great potential to harm you.

Same thing with that cop: powerful animal which holds great potential to harm you.

[Vergil]

Originally Posted by akima

I didn't see the biker that was pulled over perform a single morally questionable action... not in his own footage or in the police dash cam footage (which didn't show him!). I think he could've more intelligently dealt with that doggy cop though.

If there was a bear in your camping spot eating your food, you wouldn't get in the bears face and shout "THIS IS BS MAN: WTF ARE YOU DOING IN MY AREA!" at the bear. It's a powerful animal which holds great potential to harm you.

Same thing with that cop: powerful animal which holds great potential to harm you.

I agree entirely

[drac]

I believe the officers may well have been within his rights to confiscate the camera if he had reason to believe it had recorded a crime. There is a procedure for doing this as stated earlier but the officer may temporarily circumvent these procedures due to "exigent" circumstances. (Cops love that word, exigent. It's in all there manuals) The fact that if the officer does not take possession of the evidence now it could too easily be erased/destroyed.

Had he taken the camera and just drove off the evidence would have been suppressed by any judge. But i am pretty sure he could take possession of the evidence and stay "on scene" with the camera owner while radioing in to get a warrant, which he would have gotten.

Do I think this is right? .... That's a tough call due to both parties acting like assholes.

[Stingray1000]

Originally Posted by drac

I believe the officers may well have been within his rights to confiscate the camera if he had reason to believe it had recorded a crime. There is a procedure for doing this as stated earlier but the officer may temporarily circumvent these procedures due to "exigent" circumstances. (Cops love that word, exigent. It's in all there manuals) The fact that if the officer does not take possession of the evidence now it could too easily be erased/destroyed.

Had he taken the camera and just drove off the evidence would have been suppressed by any judge. But i am pretty sure he could take possession of the evidence and stay "on scene" with the camera owner while radioing in to get a warrant, which he would have gotten.

Do I think this is right? .... That's a tough call due to both parties acting like assholes.

You're right he was not in his rights to take the camera without a warrant. Warrants aren't easy or quick things to get and they most likely would've been standing there all day till they got a judge to listen to the whole story wirte out and sign the warrant then truck the warrant out to give to the officer to show the biker.... So the quickest thing to do was to arrest him for a usually not arrestable offence so they could take possession of the camera and call it evidence aagainst both parties but technically you could be arrested for any offense even doing 1 mph over the speed limit. Would it be thrown out? Sure. Will this be thrown out? idk you have to throw the possibility of this police officer adding resisting arrest to the charge which would make everything harder to throw out, hopefully the judge got some TRIM the night before and is in a good mood and decides to help the defendant out which is not likely but possible....

[xMoises831]

i was just on youtube and found this video and i want to know what do you think about it?

Link to original page on YouTube.

[alex.s]

i think everyone in the video is an idiot.

wheres that merge button i always see Alex using...

[xMoises831]

Originally Posted by alex.s

i think everyone in the video is an idiot.

wheres that merge button i always see Alex using...

Don't you think what the cop did was wrong tho?

[Xoulrath]

Like I needed another reason to hate cops.

[xMoises831]

Originally Posted by Xoulrath

Like I needed another reason to hate cops.

well the way those bikers make the legit bikers look bad. Even if they were all breaking the law it doesn't mean he had the right to pull him over just because he had a camera. He then arrest him for the license plate and then changes his story about pulling him over for the plate and not just because he had the camera.

[alex.s]

this is not the full story. they have the camera man doing stupid **** earlier on dash cam

[xMoises831]

Originally Posted by alex.s

this is not the full story. they have the camera man doing stupid **** earlier on dash cam

That wasn't him it was another guy they used that clip to try to give the cop a reason to take his camera footage. They didn't stop him for another 15 minutes after the dash cam footage. He wasn't a part of the group ride, actually he was going below the speed limit.

[alex.s]

what exactly do you expect? if you ride with a bunch of idiots you get lumped in. dont ride with idiots and you wont get trouble

[aShifty]

WOOOOOOOOOOOW. arrested for a license plate.

Link to original page on YouTube.

the bikers were doing stupid **** though. but i didnt see chris the guy who got arrested doing stupid things.

[xMoises831]

right! haha

[Alex]

/merged

[Old Lemon]

"dont u have to have a warrant for that kind of evidence?" "..........."

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by alex.s

what exactly do you expect? if you ride with a bunch of idiots you get lumped in. dont ride with idiots and you wont get trouble

So, what you are saying is: "Don't ride anywhere in Dallas on Memorial Day."

As I've pointed out repeatedly, he was not "with" them. It was not a group. The entire city of bikers was off work and out for a ride that day as part of a yearly rally. This is why trying to justify this with videos of other bikers is only further infuriating. Of course someone, somewhere in the city was mis-behaving.

What you are saying is like saying "Don't go to Sturgis or Daytona Bike Week because there are a few idiots there and you might get arrested for their actions." It's ludicrous. Even if it were a smaller group: I guess you disapprove of the Ninjette Rally just because someone might do something the others and the police don't approve of and it would justify anything the police may want to do to anyone "stupid" enough to attend the rally.

[alex.s]

you are completely correct, jet. i think riding in large groups with people you don't know is pointless (outside of charity and memorial) and dangerous. if a bunch of bikers came up behind me being chased by cops, you are completely correct- i would GTFO the freeway and away from the OBVIOUS danger. if i knew there was going to be that much **** where i was going, i either wouldn't go there, or i wouldn't ride a bike there.

you can't tell me the guy didn't expect crazy **** to be happening.


its like being in a riot. "i wasn't with them! i was simply standing here minding my own business while everyone around me was looting and pillaging" ... OK!


this is kinda a problem that i have with most motorcyclists. they think they are a car. they think that they can be idle and mind their own business, and if they just follow the laws nothing will happen. that's not how motorcycles work. you need to be proactive in your own safety. dont be idle, either be defense (gtfo) or offensive (gtfo faster)

[lgk]

thats discriminatory,
if they don't have evidence of the individual wrongdoing, then they shouldn't be singling everyone out.

that version of logic is similar to a witch hunt...

[CZroe]

Originally Posted by alex.s

you are completely correct, jet. i think riding in large groups with people you don't know is pointless (outside of charity and memorial) and dangerous. if a bunch of bikers came up behind me being chased by cops, you are completely correct- i would GTFO the freeway and away from the OBVIOUS danger. if i knew there was going to be that much **** where i was going, i either wouldn't go there, or i wouldn't ride a bike there.

you can't tell me the guy didn't expect crazy **** to be happening.


its like being in a riot. "i wasn't with them! i was simply standing here minding my own business while everyone around me was looting and pillaging" ... OK!


this is kinda a problem that i have with most motorcyclists. they think they are a car. they think that they can be idle and mind their own business, and if they just follow the laws nothing will happen. that's not how motorcycles work. you need to be proactive in your own safety. dont be idle, either be defense (gtfo) or offensive (gtfo faster)

The reason they chose Memorial Day is because it was already a popular day for individual motorcyclists due to being off work with most places closed and warm weather. It wasn't a "riot" and bad things weren't "expected." Also, there were just as many bikes on the surface streets. You can't just pull off the freeway in Daytona or Sturgis during a bike event and expect to no longer be surrounded by bikes.

Thought process:
It's warm outside and I happen to be off of work with nothing else to do. It's a good day for a ride, which is an independent thought I had on my own. Also, most places are closed because it's a holiday, so there isn't much else to do. Which holiday is it? Oh yeah: Memorial Day. Well, forget that idea then! A couple years ago people noticed how popular riding was on this day of the year it kinda became an unofficial rally. There's nothing wrong with that, but last year some people misbehaved for the first time ever and this year the police will be cracking down on it. As a law abiding citizen, I should not be discouraged into sacrificing my holiday just because they are doing this. On the contrary: I should be encouraged because they are fixing the only problem I had with riding on this day. Unfortunately, as much as I want to legally enjoy my motorcycle on this particular day with these stronger-than-usual incentives, I can't because I might wrongly be associated with those people because of the number of wheels beneath me. Fair or not, I'm going to give up the only nice riding day I may have for a long time just because a few more people started riding in recent years.

Maybe I see it differently because I didn't have a car for four years, had to work every Memorial Day, and would have been pretty angry if I got caught up in this mess just because I had ride to work on two wheels.

Also, may I point out that the thing that happened to him was not "safety" related? This isn't about being safe, unsafe, or being proactive in safety. The problem is not that he thought he was like any other car on the road, but that he really was legally like any other car on the road and yet he was unfairly treated differently anyway.

[ai4px]

Originally Posted by CZroe

As a law abiding citizen, I should not be discouraged into sacrificing my holiday just because they are doing this. On the contrary: I should be encouraged because they are fixing the only problem I had with riding on this day. Unfortunately, as much as I want to legally enjoy my motorcycle on this particular day with these stronger-than-usual incentives, I can't because I might wrongly be associated with those people because of the number of wheels beneath me.

I watch the video the guy made and he was obviously not in the group... they were all piecemealing by him. He should be in no trouble for simply being out on the interstate as he was.

On the other hand, I learned years ago that, for example, nothing good goes on after 9pm and I know that I'm much more likely to get hit by a drunk at 2 or 3am, so I avoid going out during those hours. It may be your right to toole down the highway on memorial day, but it may not be prudent.

[lgk]

nm

[alex.s]

you guys make me laugh.

jet, i wasnt talking about avoiding the bikers. i was talking about avoiding the cops.