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Alex · 03-26-2009, 02:34 PM

My understanding is that is pretty much standard procedure that no matter how nicely you do it, if when pulled over you get out of the car without being told to, you're going to get to see more of the gun.

Haven't seen the video. But if the driver was acting angry and irrational I'd say that is a very good argument for the cop to slow him down no matter what the cause. He's obviously not in an emotional place appropriate for driving.

As sucky as it is, having a dying relative in a hospital is not just reason (especially since it is probably true one time out of the 100 times a police officer hears it) for risking the deaths of other people driving erratically to get there.

I had a friend in high school who's dad was a patrolman. He once said to me that traffic stops were pretty much the scariest thing he did. Because the rest of the time when things went awry it was usually in a situation where you had some reason to expect it. Since 99.9% of traffic stops were hassle free, that 0.1% had a way of just completely sneaking up on you.

Ghoulish Delight · 03-26-2009, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex

Haven't seen the video. But if the driver was acting angry and irrational I'd say that is a very good argument for the cop to slow him down no matter what the cause. He's obviously not in an emotional place appropriate for driving.

Well, he didn't bother to stop and get out of the car until he'd reached the hospital parking lot, so it wasn't a matter of letting him get back in the car to drive more. It was just about finishing up the ticket-writing process and letting him into the building. So in that sense, once it was clear that, while he was agitated and upset but clearly not threatening, an argument COULD be made that the officer inappropriately delayed the ticket writing. However from what I see in the video, Moats did nothing to help himself by continuing to ignore instructions and argue.

03-26-2009, 02:34 PM	#1
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	My understanding is that is pretty much standard procedure that no matter how nicely you do it, if when pulled over you get out of the car without being told to, you're going to get to see more of the gun. Haven't seen the video. But if the driver was acting angry and irrational I'd say that is a very good argument for the cop to slow him down no matter what the cause. He's obviously not in an emotional place appropriate for driving. As sucky as it is, having a dying relative in a hospital is not just reason (especially since it is probably true one time out of the 100 times a police officer hears it) for risking the deaths of other people driving erratically to get there. I had a friend in high school who's dad was a patrolman. He once said to me that traffic stops were pretty much the scariest thing he did. Because the rest of the time when things went awry it was usually in a situation where you had some reason to expect it. Since 99.9% of traffic stops were hassle free, that 0.1% had a way of just completely sneaking up on you.
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