Why would it have made it into something? It would have ended up with you both going through the procedure you apparently wanted in the first place.
And if he was being a “dick” it was because he believed you were doing something “dickish”. When he found out otherwise he quite being a dick now didnt he? And given your IMO somewhat dickish crusading the irony is just too funny.
Jesus H. Christ Goon Lady, I just posted about the matter on a freakin’ message board. Who needs to get a life? The person who had the experience themself and decided to post about it and get feedback OR the goon who has nothing better to do than to belittle and mock the person who made that choice? :rolleyes:
THERE IS NO BIG FUCKING DEAL. sorry for even mentioning it
fuck
We’ll accept your apology if you promise you really mean it.
And him now being angry and pissed off and just looking for any excuse to either write me a ticket or haul me off to jail. Now I don’t think there was anything ticket-worthy going on with my car (or inside my car), but why even go there?? And he could have just made up a reason to fuck me over at that point.
It sounds like you haven’t had much personal experience with cops.
Take a deep breath…right…NOW!
He was only being a dickhead because he was reasonably certain you were also a dickhead (wrongful usage of handicapped spot). After he understood the truth of situation, seems like he was perfectly nice.
So yeah, you’re wrong to resent him for it. And I have no previous issues with you.
Well all he had any business doing in order to “prove or disprove” my alleged dickheadedness was to check my ID/placard. Period.
What if the nature of my disability was a deeply personal, painful issue to me? One that I couldn’t/didn’t feel comfortable discussing with people with whom I wasn’t close, much less a perfect stranger like a police officer? Perhaps I had just recently become disabled and the emotional scars were still fresh and livid and to even mention such things aloud would cause me to simply break down become distraught and depressed.
My point is, the nature of a person’s disability is private information. Information that is unnecessary in determining the legality of a person’s parking status. That is determined solely through the possession of valid handicap parking placards, with identification information that matches the I.D. or drivers license information of the person to whom the placard is issued.
That’s how it looks from my vantage point.
I think it’s reasonable to expect cops not to ask personal questions when the information they want is available through other means. There is a huge power disparity between the average person and the average cop, and average people generally can’t afford not to answer the questions posed to them lest they become embroiled in a situation that escalates. If another average person approaches you and asks a question that you consider personal or nosy, you can blow them off. You can’t do that with a cop.
My late husband was disabled and eligible for a parking placard, though we chose not to get one (for reasons of laziness, for the most part). I can imagine feeling uncomfortable with a line of questioning from a cop about the nature of his disability. We don’t volunteer not to have privacy about our lives and bodies just by driving, or being disabled, or having a disabled parking placard.
I doubt the cop was trying to be a jerk, but situations like this make professionalism from those in positions of power and authority really important. There’s a Pit thread about a TSA agent about another such situation.
If parking illegally in handicapped parking spots is as prevalent and heinous as you’ve made it out to be, then the cop was right to question you. It’s a cop’s nature to be suspicious and while he perhaps could have been a tad more diplomatic about it, I see nothing in your OP that indicates “wrong.”
As you well know - people misuse HP placards, sometimes even steal them. This happened to a friend of mine in September actually, she was down in Jackson MI at Wal-Mart and forgot to lock her van, someone swiped her placard.
I don’t see what was wrong with what the cop did. He asked you to verify whether or not you were really disabled - most disabled folks don’t drive low-slung sports cars - and when you assured him you were, he said OK and left.
I also think it says something about your self-image as a potentially victimizable disabled person that the first thing you did was wave your placard at him when he hit the light bar. If I had a bug up my ass about being white, or a woman, or driving an import vehicle in SE Michigan, I could come up with all sorts of assumptions when being pulled over. And then right away asked him why he didn’t see your placard - that sounds somewhat combatative, not deferential and polite (which is the quickest way to diffuse a civilian-cop interaction and works really well, speaking from experience.)
Popsters whom say “you’re wrong” aren’t necessarily doing so because they don’t like you. But rather, because your posting history here shows you to be a combatative, chip-on-the-shoulder crip. Three of my good friends are crips with disabled placards or plates here in SE MI; to the best of my knowledge none has a repertoire of victim stories to tell like you do. Why is that, I wonder?
Come on, now- you’re the one that is all aghast that a cop would act like a dick. :rolleyes:
But he didnt do THAT now did he? He didnt run the plates to waste your time. He didn’t ask for ID and registration and insurance info. He didnt pretend something wasnt quite right with the paperwork. He didnt come up with an excuse to call in the drug dogs. He didn’t make up some story about how you threatened him or “acted suspicious” or something. And for that matter, if your windows are tinted so dark as to just be on just this side of legal, he sure as heck could have gotten away with writing a ticket for them being too dark and you’d have to be the one bothering to prove later they were legal (I doubt cops have some tintometer they can use in the field).
Yeah, there are asshole cops just looking to screw you over. I’ve run across them. But he wasn’t one of him. His actions once he discovered the truth PROVE he wasn’t.
Go ahead and complain to the authorities. You know what will likely happen? This cop will probably be less than enthusiatic about enforcing handicapped parking laws than he currently is.
IMO you do more harm than good for your cause.
Which is why the advice upthread to contact the PD and make a formal complaint about the cop being rude is spot-on. If Jamie truly feels the police officer wasn’t sensitive to his needs, or was indeed being abusive, then this is the correct course of action and let the chips fall where they may.
So we’re in agreement then? :dubious:
That does seem kind of odd doesn’t it? If someone isn’t doing anything wrong, they typically start out by saying “Is there a problem?” or “Can I help you?” or “Was I doing something wrong?” as opposed do telling them that you’re doing nothing wrong.
The other odd thing was the cop, upon challenging you (asking you about your handicap), let you reach into the backseat. Most cops wouldn’t be to happy about that. I was led to believe that when you make a move like that you’re supposed to let the cop know what you’re doing so they don’t think you’re about to draw a weapon. Since you didn’t mention him saying anything about that or asking you not to reach into the backseat or putting his hand on his gun while he waits to see what you do maybe you can assume that this cop just wasn’t well versed in proper cop protocol. Let it go and move on or report him to the department and see if anything happens.
This was precisely my point…
He didn’t DO that because I didn’t refuse to answer his question. :smack:
And I’ve already said, I’m not planning on complaining or making this an issue. I just wanted to discuss it here. If I do contact the police department, it will be for clarification on the exact laws as to what an officer can/can’t ask as to disability.
They do, but likely the department only has one (if they have one) which means he’d have to wait there until the cop who has it can make his way over to the scene. In the mean time they’d be sitting in the parking lot with the lights on.
http://www.promotorcarproducts.com/tint-meter (first link I found, I have no idea if it’s anything like the ones the cops use).
I don’t necessarily think he was being a dick. Normally, I take people’s word for that- it’s not a stretch. But something tells me that you gave an attitude first and after that, you were just reaping what you sowed.
Uh, tough shit?