Pulled over ... while walking

[CompVest]

I especially like the part that they didn't wait until you had picked up your belongings and and made your personal defense gun useable. What was their reasoning there? They had decided you were who you said you were. Doing what you said you were. In what they said was a high crime area and then they LEFT you vulnerable! WOW

And people wonder why we don't want to leave our personal safety in the hands of the police!

[Elvis]

Generally bad Police work. As an LEO I am sorry to hear you were treated in this manner and hopefully the Officers involved will get some remedial training before they end up costing the city alot of money...

[The Annoyed Man]

And what's with the "threw your wallet on the ground" thing? That's just unnecessarily rude. I would be sure to include that little tidbit in your complaint.

[srothstein]

As another LEO, let me agree with Kevin and Elvis. This sounds like very bad police work. There is no need for probable cause to make an investigative stop, but, as Kevin pointed out, it does require specific and articulable suspicion that a crime is being committed (or about to be).

On the other hand, the line about it being a high drug or crime area may be just a line aand they did not want to tell you you matched the description of someone else that they were looking for. This means the stop may have been fully legal (I doubt it, but I wanted to point out the possibility).

But I can come up with no excuse for his just dropping your wallet when you handed it to him. That is just rudeness and a lack of professionalism.

[bdickens]

I would have asked for the jerk's supervisor, filed a complaint with the department, written to the city council, mayor, state representative, state senator, governor's office, and hired a lawyer with the help of the ACLU!

[seamusTX]

Pay a lawyer how much to do what? There are no money damages in this case. As a civil right violation, it seems pretty minor. Still wrong, but minor.

I would be surprised if you could get anything more than an oral apology in this case.

- Jim

[SCone]

I carry a wallet card with my attorney's name & 24 hour number along with the statement, "If it is your intention to detain, question or arrest me, I request to speak with my attorney before answering any questions."

You don't have to wait for the police to envoke your maranda rights. It also helps when your attorney is on speed-dial.

[flb_78]

I never would have went in the cuffs. No way, no how.

[seamusTX]

What would you have done when the LEO said, "Put your hands behind your back"?

- Jim

[NcongruNt]

What part of town was this? The reason I ask is that I've encountered this kind of cop in Austin on more than one occasion, but only in a couple of specific areas, and they were far from the "bad parts" of town.

My experiences were mainly around the 2222/Burnet area, as well as once near 183 and 620.

The ones near Burnet/2222 were ordinary traffic stops with very aggressive and confrontational cops, very much "parent" mode type of interactions - loud voices (bordering on yelling), lecturing, condescending tones.

The one up north very much flabbergasted me. I had lived in that area for a couple of years at that point, and never been pulled over there. We (my roommate and I) picked up a friend from the airport and proceeded home. We stopped at a gas station near our house to get something to drink and immediately have a cop car pull in behind us. No PC, nothing wrong with the car, they just decided to stop and start questioning us - requested ID, asking what we were doing, where we're going, why I carry a "boo-ya knife" (Those were his exact words. It was a regular Gerber folder clipped in my front right pocket, for the record.), etc. The gas station owner came out and started yelling at the cops to stop harassing his customers, and they skedaddled. I was confused as to why this even occurred, until the friend (from the west coast) pointed out something - he's black. I was skeptical at first, but really, his presence was the only variable from what we ordinarily did in our own neighborhood.

[flintknapper]

What part of town was this? The reason I ask is that I've encountered this kind of cop in Austin on more than one occasion, but only in a couple of specific areas, and they were far from the "bad parts" of town.

Sorry to hear some things have not changed. My one and only "bad cop" experience was also in Austin, not far from Burnet Rd. and 2222. My family lived in North West Hills and I had just come from my Girlfriends house in Tarrytown (hardly bad parts of town).

This was 1971 and I was 17 yrs. old...just going home on a Sunday evening about 8:00 pm. I guess I'll have to tell the story here sometime, but suffice it to say...it was the most bizarre display of ego and authority...I have ever experienced. To this day (37 yrs. later), it still makes my blood boil and has forever left a bad taste in my mouth for a "certain type" of cop.

[flb_78]

What would you have done when the LEO said, "Put your hands behind your back"?

- Jim

Huh uh, ain't happening, I would not have complied, they'd need the whole dang force. They can put one on me and put the other on the car or a fence or a pole, but not both hands together.

[KRM45]

What would you have done when the LEO said, "Put your hands behind your back"?

- Jim

Huh uh, ain't happening, I would not have complied, they'd need the whole dang force. They can put one on me and put the other on the car or a fence or a pole, but not both hands together.

You would have gone to jail...

Sec. 38.03. RESISTING ARREST, SEARCH, OR TRANSPORTATION. (a) A person commits an offense if he intentionally prevents or obstructs a person he knows is a peace officer or a person acting in a peace officer's presence and at his direction from effecting an arrest, search, or transportation of the actor or another by using force against the peace officer or another.
(b) It is no defense to prosecution under this section that the arrest or search was unlawful.
(c) Except as provided in Subsection (d), an offense under this section is a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) An offense under this section is a felony of the third degree if the actor uses a deadly weapon to resist the arrest or search.

[KRM45]

Before I pass judgement on the stop I would need to know where you were walking, whether it was on the street or the sidewalk, if it was on the street what side was it? facing toward traffic or away? I have stopped many pedestrians for simple violations. It's a good way to identify people and catch people that are breaking other laws. Just like a suspicious vehicle, police will typically follow them until they comit a traffic violation.

I have never written a pedestrian a citation. If you don't like the way the law is written, don't blame the cop, blame the legislator.

As far as the wallet goes, the way you describe the incident it does not appear the officer asked for your wallet, or even your id before you reached for it and handed it to him... perhaps this was something he didn't like? I would not stand there holding a "suspects" wallet while conducting an investigation either.

As far as the handcuffing goes, if it was 2 officers and one "suspect" and there was not a clear crime, I am surprised they cuffed you. I would have had you sit on the curb while I ran your information, but I wouldn't cuff someone unless I knew they were going to jail, or if I was by myself and felt I needed more control over the situation.

[seamusTX]

You would have gone to jail...

If not the morgue.

Sorry, flb_78, but resisting arrest usually gets you tazed or "lit up" these days. If that does not produce the level of compliance that the cops want, it will be clubs or pistols.

I am going to hope that you were trying to be humorous.

The place to fight the cops is in court, not on the street. If you win in court, you might take home a nice big check. If you lose on the street, you might take a nice cold dirt nap.

Do the math.

- Jim