Cuff 'N Stuff
The Internal Newsletter of the Wise County Sheriff's
Department
07-13-01
|
Cuff 'N Stuff 07-13-01 |
|
What Goes Around Runs You Down We were minding our own business in a local community storefront, when an elderly gent came in to report a person down. He directed us to a location about two blocks away, and knowing we could be the first to arrive to assist, my partner and I hopped in the patrol car and went toward the scene. As we left, we notified the dispatcher and she promptly notified the Fire Department and Highway Patrol. We pulled up at the scene and the Fire Department had already arrived, apparently they had gotten the call earlier. They were assisting a male who was laying face down on the pavement moaning. They proceeded to help him as my partner and I started collecting evidence for the Highway Patrol. We talked with the other half of the incident, a male driver of a Monte Carlo, and found the injured man had been riding a bicycle on the shoulder. The bicyclist had suddenly turned left, trying to cross over four lanes of traffic to go down a side street. The driver of the car immediately braked and swerved into the other lane to avoid a collision. The bicyclist kept going, matching the car's change of direction. The two impacted and the rear wheel of the bicycle was crushed. The bicyclist was thrown from the bike and fell to the pavement. As we were talking to the driver of the car, a young male approached us, out of breath and panting. He said the bike was his, between gasps. I asked if he knew the bicyclist and if he had loaned this friend the bike. He went on to explain that he had been applying for a job a few blocks away when his bike was stolen. He had been running down the street trying to find it, figuring it wasn't that far away. To add insult to injury, the Highway Patrol used a hand held alcohol screening device to check the bicyclist. He blew a .24 BAC, three times the limit for driving a car, and the patrol officer said he didn't even give a full breath. Let's see, unsafe turning movement, resulting in an injury collision, theft of a bicycle, possession of stolen property, and driving drunk on a bike... Not bad for 10 minutes...... Just more proof that what goes around, runs you down..... Copyright ©2000 Dumb Crooks
Cops in Concert Helps Build Memorial
"Cops" in Concert originated in Riverside, California, when two Riverside Police Officers, Scott Olsen and Jerry Carroll, came together to perform a musical act for their fellow officers at a police awards banquet. Scott provided the lead vocals, and Jerry the comedy relief. The act was so popular they expanded the group and performed a series of concerts in the Riverside area to raise money for a police memorial honoring officers killed in the line of duty. They raised ten thousand dollars and a memorial statue was commissioned. “Safe in his Arms” now stands in front of the Riverside Police Department. “Knocking on Heaven’s Door” was recorded by the group as a musical memorial for all police officers. More information is available about the group at http://www.geocities.com/crs_productions/index.html
Legal Issues - Search and Seizure SPEEDING AND ERRATIC DRIVING JUSTIFY TRAFFIC STOP AND DWI ARREST. A police officer saw the defendant driving his car toward an intersection at about one o’clock in the morning. As the officer watched, the defendant approached the intersection at such a high rate of speed that she stopped her own car even though she had a green light and the defendant’s light was red. Just after speeding across a set of railroad tracks, the defendant braked hard and skidded to a stop at an intersection. While the officer followed the defendant’s car, she saw him bump into the curb twice. The officer signaled for the man to stop, but he did not do so immediately. Only after she activated her siren did the defendant stop, but as he did so he crossed a traffic barrier into the oncoming traffic lane. When the officer approached the defendant, she noticed his eyes were bloodshot his speech was slurred; and he smelled of alcohol. The man failed a field sobriety test, and the officer arrested him for DWI. The defendant moved to suppress all evidence obtained after the stop, alleging that the officer did not have probable cause to arrest him for the offense. The trial court denied the suppression motion, and the defendant pleaded guilty, but appealed. HOLDING: An officer may make an investigative stop based on reasonable suspicion if she has “specific articulable facts which, premised upon her experience and personal knowledge, when coupled with the logical inferences from those facts, would warrant intruding upon the detained citizen’s freedom.” The officer in this case stopped the defendant because he was speeding and failed to control the speed of his vehicle, which are traffic offenses for which an officer may stop and detain a driver. Because the officer’s observations produced “the articulable fact of his traffic violations,” she had reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant. Following the stop the officer was required to have “additional facts constituting probable cause to arrest the defendant for driving while intoxicated.” In this case the officer saw the defendant run into the curb twice after she had signaled him to stop. As he was attempting to stop, he ran over a traffic barrier and parked in the oncoming lane of traffic. The defendant’s eyes were bloodshot; he smelled of alcohol; his speech was slurred; and he admitted he had been drinking. The defendant then failed a field sobriety test, swaying on his feet as he took the test. Based on the officer’s observations after she decided to stop the defendant for a traffic offense, she possessed sufficient information to constitute probable cause to believe the defendant was driving while intoxicated. The trial court was correct in denying the motion to suppress. Chapnick v. State, 25 S.W.3d 875 (Tex. App.-Houston 2000).
From the Chaplain - Marilyn Featherstone SECURITY! In ancient China, the people wanted security from their enemies. So they built the Great Wall of China. It was too high to climb over, too thick to break down, and too long to go around. They had achieved SECURITY! The only problem was that during the first hundred years of the wall’s existence, China was invaded three times. Was the wall a failure? Not really—for not once did the enemy climb over the wall, break it down, or go around it. How then, did they get into China? The answer lies in human nature. They simply bribed a gatekeeper and then marched right in through a gate. The fatal flaw in the Chinese defense was placing too much reliance on a wall and not putting enough effort into building character into the gatekeeper. That’s why your character is so important to those you work with and for. We are gatekeepers, and only people with integrity can be successful in keeping the enemy away.
|
|
Crime Does Not Have To Be A Fact Of Life |
