This just makes me mad. In another article I read about this incident (can’t find it right now) it said the officer was doing 30-50 MPH in a 25 MPH zone. No speeding ticket even…? I have had speeding tickets in both Hudson and North Hudson, no preferential treatment for people like me, oh no, and I hadn’t even been drinking.
This is a disgrace to the police force of my town. 
This is what really gets me:
Not only was he speeding while under the influence of alcohol, he was talking on his cell phone at the time!
:smack:
That article said he was doing 45 to 50 in a 25. That’s an assload of latitude.
Plus… 2:44 am? He drank through last call, closed the bar down and then sped in a decent sized pick-up. That’s pretty fucked up and so is the wrist slap.
I thought I learned in Police Quest I that officers can’t break traffic laws unless they are in Code 3 mode: sirens on. Is this not so?
“Hudson Police Chief Richard Trende said Aichele did not receive special treatment.”
I believe we have a finalist for the Deadpan Bullshit award.
So if someone driving around North Hudson gets caught at 2:30am over the legal BAC limit and is 20-25mph over the speed limit, can they sue the police department for not receiving “fair treatment” like Mr. Police Chief got?
So what happens if you commit murder in sleepy North Hudson, a $50 fine?
Well if I ever am busted for anything I’ll just utter…
And then me and the officer will enjoy a hearty chuckle, as I call home.
After a review by the Hudson city attorney, the officer did receive a cite for speeding.
If it were any other person, it would be a night in the county jail, a DWI, a rise in insurance rates, and a notice in the weekly paper telling everyone in the town that you were stupid enough to drive while drunk. At least for this officer the last statement is true - everyone in town knows and is talking. There is a lot of outrage, but no justice. For years it was a known fact that you simply don’t drink and drive in Hudson. It is a small town (less than 10,000 people) but the close proximity to MN and later bar closing time (2:30 AM as opposed to 1 AM) means a lot of people cross over from MN into WI for last call. On any given weekend night you can count on seeing 5-6 different police cars cruising around downtown Hudson to nab people coming out of the bars.
The Good Ol’ Boy network is alive and well in Hudson WI.
Damn, I hate it when shit like this happens. It makes us all look bad.
It makes me mad, too.
Okay, driving drunk is inexcusible. But you can’t tell me you’ve never badged yourself out of a speeding ticket.
I refer to it as the Ari Fleischer Award for Straight-Faced Bullshit. I think we should make it a weekly feature here in the Pit. That’s definitely a finalist.
This is bullshit. I don’t really have a problem when a cop pulls some strings to get out of the occasional speeding ticket, so long as it doesn’t happen more that once or twice. DWI is another matter entirely.
Cops should held to the same set of laws as the rest of us, if not more so. Speeding while on a call is one thing. Speeding to get home to Mrs. Cop is another. And driving drunk is totally inexcusable. Those who aspire to enforce the law should be held to a higher standard. Those who are chosen to Serve and Protect ought to be models for the rest of us. This citizen feels let down by this outrage.
Oh, God. I must of done it about 8 or 9 times. But I’ve been on the job both full time and part-time for almost 20 years.
you really have to understand what’s in play. An attitude of aristocracy sets in sometimes. Very few cops will write up another for simple violations.
If it makes you feel better I’ll tell you this story:
Myself and 3 other officers were in an unmarked squad. We were traveling from Milwaukee to Green Bay to go to a training seminar.
We were all in full uniform. A State Trooper pulled us over (yes, he pulled over an on duty unmarked squad) and gave the on duty, in full uniform officer who was driving a ticket for going 82 in a 65.
You probably think we were all laughing hysterically at the cop who got that ticket, right? Nope! We wanted to get out and beat the hell out of that trooper. You don’t shit in your own back yard.
'Course, we weren’t drunk either. Driving drunk is an entirely different thing.
And they are. But a traffic officer has discretion on some things.
Like it or not, cops badge their way out of tickets all the time. It’s a relatively minor offense anyway.
The real problems arise when some cop thinks he can badge his way out of more serious things. I’ve gone to numorus DV complaints where the guy is beating the shit out of his wife or girlfriend, then when we go in to take him he starts waving a shield around. Crap like that just doesn’t fly.
About 10 years ago when we switched from carrying cs/cn tear gas spray to o.c.(pepper) spray, some officer went out and sprayed a cow just to see what it would do. Every officer who wittnessed it was quick to bust his ass. He ended up getting fired.
There is a huge difference between these serious violations a smaller ones. I’ve yet to see an officer get away with a serious infraction.
Minor? Speak for yourself. If I’d had a badge to flash on a few occasions, I’d be paying half as much for car insurance.
Would you car to give us a list of other crimes police officers are allowed to commit? Does it include raping immigrants with night sticks? Or beating up women whilst on video?
Share with us!
One assumes that does not include the New York cop who drunkenly drove into an entire family killing most of them. he was on his way to his shift.
afterwards, IIRC, it was discovered that was regular thing for him (to be at an off limits club drinking before going on duty).
Tapioca Dextrin, what are you jibbering about?
Speeding isn’t a crime. Did you read my post about how cops aren’t getting away with real crimes?(at least not around here they’re not). They’re getting fired and even jailed. I don’t know how cops in cities like New York are getting away with some of the shit they pull. It wouldn’t fly here!
I never said it was proper that professional coutesy exists, I just said it does. don’t get all shitty with me. I didn’t invent it!
I left the job full time some some years ago, but I picked up a part-time gig to hold on to a badge and my L.E. certification.
I’m pretty lenient on speeders in the first place. Why would I be harsher to someone who may save my ass one day? It doesn’t really happen very often anyway.
Maybe I was jibbering about this
You wanted to assault a state trooper who pulled you over for speeding?
Or this
Let’s start with corruption for a start, that’s a crime. You might think it’s no big deal, but it’s just the sort of attitude that gives good cops a bad reputation.
Like I said before, please list all the crimes (or misdemeanors) from which you are personally exempt, just so the rest of us know.
Maltodextrin, aren’t you taking it a bit far now? Corruption? Puhleasssssseee…
I’m not friend of the police, anyone who’s seen my numerous threads on abuse can attest to that, however-If it’s corruption for a cop to get out of a silly traffic ticket, what is it when a girl cries and blubbers her way out, or flashes her breasts, or when a guy, who’s obviously having a bad day gets out of a ticket because the officer feels for him?
Sam
P.S.- I believe he “wanted to beat the shit” out of the trooper because he didn’t fall for the blue wall bit. And I think it was mostly meant tongue-in-cheek. Christ, go take a pill already.