Earlier, I'm cruising down 50 east (Fairfax BLVD I guess?) and comming up on the shirley gate light. I am trying to make a right onto shirley gate to get to 29. As I approach the light, I see a truck accelerating in the right lane because he had been braking but the light was now green. Then I see a grey eclipse run the red light, and a cop who had just begun accelerating through the intersection in the left lane bust a 90 degree rightwards turn (almost like he was going for a double play, it was lighting fast), CUT OVER INTO THE RIGHT LANE TO CHASE THE "RED LIGHT RUNNER". The truck slammed on it's brakes and came I'm guessing about 3-4 feet from hitting the cops rear quarter panel/bumper. It was scary to watch.

It reminded me of the time that we were going to Best Buy in Springfield and just had gotten out of our car. As we walked towards the lot, we heard yelling and saw 4-5 cops/store security officers running out after a hispanic male. They tackled him, handcuffed him, and began to search him. About a minute later, we hear tires squealing and we see a cop flying into the parking lot. As a rough estimate, he was probobly going about 50 mph. We see his lights come on half way through the lot and his sirens chirp once. 3 seconds later he takes a turn going about 20-25 mph and some random woman who was pulling out minding her own business tbones the police officer. The cop gets out and yells for the woman to get out of the car and is about to arrest her too. Then, another officer comes over and diffuses the situation. THe woman is in complete disbelief. The police car was fine, only a bit of damage but the entire front end of the woman's SUV was trashed. Then, the police officer (the driver mind you) had the GALL to try to charge her w/ an accident and some other outrageous charge (like hindering a police investigation). When I went and told one of the cops (there were 15 there by this time) that the woman was slowly pulling out, he basically told me to fuck off.

I'm not sure what happened to the woman, but after shopping we asked one of the employees on smoke break outside what had happened. They replied that the guy had tried to steal a couple of DVD's.

Tell me that's not outrageous.

no gratuitous use of the new Taser 2?

you know what the fairfax county police motto is? I learned this from a county cop the other day:

"at least we're not prince george's county police"

that's like saying:

"I raped her, but I didn't KILL her!"

oh, and gotta protect those dvd's!!!! They're purrrrrrrrrecious

I know it's pretty unpopular to defend cops on this board, but, here goes.

Generally, when a suspect runs from cops, cops don't know if it's because he stole a couple of DVDs (something that would probably get him a summons, and he'd be released ), or if he's got warrents. Imagine if the guy got away, and it turned out that he murdered someone. The public (including you guys!) would be complaining about those stupid, lazy cops who let a murderer get away.

As far as the cop who caused the accident, I totally agree that he was in the wrong. There was no reason for him to be driving the way that you describe if the suspect was already in custody. If the guy was still running, then the cop should have had his lights & sirens going, to warn other drivers.


Just my 2 cents.

I think they get off on the rush. They love the power trip, it's probably the best perk of the job knowing you can pretty much do whatever you want.

on the subject, let me ask you this: why is it that everytime there is a minor fender bender we need 4 cop cars, two ambulances and a firetruck? can we waste more money?

While it's not outside of the realm of likely that your scenario can be true, it should hardly be considered the norm. Nonetheless, it really depends on the situation.

In this current litigous society, everybody wants to sue everybody else for minor crap. If any of the victims involved complain of injuries, to include soreness, call out the ambulance. This covers asses for the parties involved and the local government. Police will need to make an accident report if you expect to talk to your insurance company about it -- they will all ask for a police case number.

Bump another car from behind and the next thing you know somebody will say that their brain cancer was induced because you hit their car, so it's your fault and sue you for damages.

Without an accident report, you got your word against his. Also, if he refuses treatment at the accident scene, you have a better chance of telling him to pound sand when he brings his medical bills to you.

It may seem excessive in a fender bender, but they are there to help you.

The Drake Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> on the subject, let me ask you this: why is it
> that everytime there is a minor fender bender we
> need 4 cop cars, two ambulances and a firetruck?
> can we waste more money?

All it takes is one phone call from anyone who drives by the wreck to escalate the event from a minor fender bender to an accident with injury. All the caller has to say is someone looks hurt. If someone at the scene says they hurt a finger or toe, the cops are required to call for an ambulance which means the fire department sends at least 2 to 3 units. This is pretty much due to the nature of people to sue over anything they can, even if it's for an injured toe. Can't forget about their emotional distress over hurting their favorite toe.

While we're on the subject, what the hell is wrong with drivers up here that they have to stop and stare at a cop pulling someone over? I am in backups nearly every day on 66 and all because a cop has someone pulled over. Just drive all ready. Damn.

If the cops wouldn't pull people over then there wouldn't be a distraction. Why are you blaming everyone else?!

All kidding aside, with the exception of a few stretches there isn't a lot of room for an officer to move around when they have pulled someone over. People should be going slower through there anywhere for officer safety. That's the primary reason why people are rarely pulled over for HOV violations (except for rstidman, evidently) on I-66 outside the beltway to route 50.

I drive from Rt 50 to Nutley street every day, and there are tons of people pulled over for HOV violations. The cops sit right at the bottom of the HOV on-ramp at the Monument Drive overpass. But maybe you meant westbound.

CERT wonder why you call me idiot?