AZ DPS / Bad trip home

The BBQ Pit
1

This is an open letter to the Maricopa (AZ) Sherriff’s dept. and the DPS officers that passed us by… not once, twice, three times, but FOUR when we were stranded at the side of the road at mile marker 231 outside of Rye, AZ.

Thank you so fucking much for “tipping your hat to us”… thank you so fucking much for stopping to see if we needed help !
Maybe you thought my fanatical hand waving was a gesture of “love”…NOT !!!

We broke down: we being one man, one woman and one three year old child… we pushed our car for 5 miles… (and a sub-note to Qwest - I’ve already discontinued service with you - we were 35 miles from home - within our “service range” (according to your sweet little booklet) but unable to call for help. )

Thank you Sherriff Arpiao for your community service: unfortunately we weren’t breaking any laws: no need to question us regarding our “loitering” along the highway.

We drove uphill at 25 mph, and downhill reaching speeds of 95 +… YES WE DID! We were speeding!!! Wee haw!.. for 1/2 hour of the 8 we were attempting to wave one of Maricopa County / State of AZ;s finest for help!

Fuck You All, Maricopa’s “Finest”… Fuck You All, DPS, AZ!

Next time you sit in my chair and ask for a “flat top”, I
will send you on your way with my blessings, and a slip o the clipper…next time your little “telemarketer-teens” call my home pleading for my donation to your “coffee fund” you can kiss my ass…

I HATE YOU! I hate you for chasing “speeders” in lieu of stopping to give aid to an obviously “broken-down-in-need-of help” family.

My dehydrated, hot, miserable, beatiful baby girl hates you too!

Fuck you Sheriff Joe - Fuck you AZ DPS!

For the first time in my life, as a 2nd gen AZ’n - I must say this state sucks… go away from Arizona as fast as you can! By no means should your tax dollars compensate the “fluffy-love-Joe-no-one-else-matters” bullshit we have going for us now…
besides, it’s too damned hot!

I put this in the “pit” because I AM ONE PISSED OFF TAX-PAYING MORE IMPORTANTLY:: MOTHER… and you law-abiding wann-be-uphoders-o’truth a bunch of “faux–cop-wanna-bes”… there’s more to being a “cop” than “shootemups”.

MY VOTE COUNTS!!

2

You are planning to write a letter to the head honcho at the sheriffs dept., right? And if you get no response, then you plan to write the newspaper, right?

3

Forgive my skepticism, but I don’t know if I would want law enforcement stopping to help or not. Would they trust that you were genuinely stranded? There’s too many criminals that try to pull fraudulent things by getting kind people to stop by the road for help – maybe their policy is to not stop for stranded motorists?

By the way, is Rye in Gila County, or is that still just barely Maricopa County??

Well, at least you’re now home safe and sound, right?

4

I DID write a letter to the East Valley Tribune…wouldn’t waste my time writing to the “Head Honcho at the Sherriff’s Dept” (that would be Sherriff Joe … need I say more?) Rye is not in Maricopa County… not sure WHAT county it’s in… irrellevant (sp) at this point - I’m just “pissed”. I must say “thank you” to Mr. Missourri (he offered a "gas treatment " [stp], coming down the "hill… God bless our “seniors”.

Thanks for letting me VENT…

5

I hope that was a joke. If there are criminals trying to get people to stop and help them while they are on the side of the road just so they can rob, rape, beat, fill in whatever else you want, then shouldn’t cops be the ones checking in on such things rather than some unsuspecting good Samaritan?

Maybe I have been whooshed. I’m not quite sure.

6

That’s the dumbest thing I’ve read in ages, especially on the SDMB.

One of the primary functions of police officers on patrol on the roads is keeping the roads safe. Motorists on the side of the road, motorists pushing their cars, motorists standing on the berm? None of that is safe, not for them, not for the drivers who are passing them. Having cars sitting on the side of the world, in this era of bombings and scams, is not safe.

Law enforcement has an affirmative duty to keep the road and the berm clear, if that means calling a tow truck, if that means setting up a safe roadblock with flares and directing traffic, if that means shutting down the roadway, that’s an integral part of their job. Especially for traffic patrol.

One night, I broke down alongside I-70 in Pennsylvania, between Breezewood and the state line. Those familiar with this road know that it is dark, rural, heavily trafficked by 18-wheelers (especially late at night) and not a happy place to be stranded. I was alone, had no cell phone, and I as the clock ticked from 11:30 to just past midnight, my number one fear was that someone would pull over ostensibly to offer help and instead would try to do me some harm.

Fortunately, a PA trooper pulled in, ascertained my trouble, radioed for some help and waited with me. After the tow truck arrived and took my car away, the trooper gave me a ride to a nearby hotel. When I thanked him vociferously, his calm reply was “Just doing my job, ma’am.”

Serve and protect. Not “drive by you because you might be a criminal” (which doesn’t track one tiny bit) not “ignore stranded motorists on the side of the road” not “keep your head down and don’t get involved.” That’s why we pay them, and it’s amazing that four different patrols could pass and no action was taken. It makes no sense.

7

It makes perfect sense to me – a person in uniform would be an especially prime target, as they would have the opportunity to do damage to someone trying to pull a “stranded by the side of the road” scam. While obviously someone in uniform is much more capable of dealing with such a situation than an unprepared person, it’s still not a good situation for a uniformed patrolman to be in alone when the nearest police backup was probably a good 20-40 miles away.

That having been said, yes, the first one that passed by should have radioed for backup and not made them wait.