This. I have had a few asshole cop encounters. Didnt affect me in the least practically speaking besides the fact they were raging assholes from the get go with no good reason to be so. And even got WORSE as the encounter proceeded DESPITE the fact I was nothing but respectful/whatever from the start on forward. If I ever find out I have a terminal disease, I’ll do my best to secretly cancel their insurance and burn their houses down before I die.
On the flip side, I have had a couple of cop encounters where I deservedly got tickets or warnings and these guys were so professionial, if not actually nice, that I came away from the interaction almost happy and tempted to write a nice letter to their supervisor.
I havent had that many cop encounters, but a disturbingly high fraction of those have been of the raging asshole variety. Which is even MORE troubling given the rather benign nature of the encounters in the first place.
I used to be very pro cop. Life experience and statistics is changing that and not for the better.
It doesn’t matter what he thinks; his job is to enforce statutes, not his personal code of morals. And, if the o.p.'s story is taken at face value, he stepped way across that line. I do find the story somewhat unlikely, or at least, hyperbolic, but then, I’ve seen stranger.
I still think that instead of whining on a message board he should call up the duty watch commander and take issue with his treatment, and it can even be phrased in the manner of a question (“Did I do something wrong here?”) rather than an accusation if the o.p. doesn’t want to be confrontational about it. Maybe I’ve just lived a very privileged life, but every municipal police organization I’ve been acquainted with would take such a complaint with at least superficial sincerity. I’m not saying that individual cops can’t be vindictive bastards, but as a whole police organizations are sensitive to the public appearance of bullying and overenthusiastic and arbitrary enforcement of laws.
I often find that if I’m just absolutely blunt about my violation they don’t even bother writing a ticket. I figure it is such a novel pleasure for them to pull over someone who isn’t trying to float some patently false excuse that they don’t bother writing up the citation, at least with the CHiPs.
This is quite true. I can attest to this from personal experience. I wasn’t harassing anyone or talking loudly or dancing on the tables. I was sitting at the bar discussing the game on TV. A couple of cops strolled in, plopped down beside me and asked me to step outside. After refusing (knowing it was to generate a public intox charge - I know friends this happened to) they handcuffed me right there and arrested me for being drunk.
A head’s up to travelers, avoid Forney, Texas.
Fuck you you backward thinking hick talking mother fuckers.
1> Note Officer’s name, badge number and department.
2> Call 911 and report that Officer Blowhard is at such-and-such location and has threatened you with arrest for the crime of drinking a beer in an establishment that actually has the temerity to sell beer to the public.
3> Walk over to the counter, ask for the manager. Report that Officer Blowhard is threatening to arrest his patrons for drinking A SINGLE BEER on the premises.
4> Take a longer than normal lunch and wait the fucker out.
And oh yes, DRINK THE FUCKING BEER.
Hell, call other people in the neighborhood and invite them to come over for a beer.
If you actually get arrested for drinking ONE BEER;
1> Call every single local media outlet to report it.
2> Call every single city council member and the mayor to complain about it.
3> If this was a corporate owned restaurant, write to the company about it.
PlainJain- Just curious as to when that was and if you were just passing through. I was born and raised on the border of Forney and Mesquite and I’ve never been treated that way. I’m sorry you had that experience, we aren’t all like that. Hickish, yes. Assholes, no.
But when dealing with a rape victim, or the family of a missing juvenile, or a senior citizen filing an elder abuse report, or a tourist asking directions, or a jumper, or walking through a holiday crowd… it requires something different. I think you have a good point about cops required to be assholes… sometimes. But sometimes they have to be something else entirely. I think being able to quickly (and naturally) read a situation and present the appropriate side of your personality is the hallmark of a good cop (and probably a good person in any job). The guys that give cops a bad name don’t do this very well… even though, I must emphasize, they are still good in certain situations (typically, as you noted, chaotic ones).
BTW: Nothing in my post has anything to do with the OP, which I find completely baffling.
Sorry, there are too many holes in this story to begin with. IS the OP from Texas? Seems like everyone’s got a redwood stiffie as long as this drama was enacted there. Second, the OP never answered my question: was anyone else drinking in the restaurant and if so why did the cop have a hard on for him? Especially as it was established that this took place in the afternoon and undoubtedly the cop knew it was a drinking establishment, this story is as muddled as a watered down dirty Ketel martini.
Getting drunk and driving is bad. Drinking and driving is not. The vast majority of people will not find their driving impaired by having one beer with food.
Taco Cabana appears to have a few locations in Georgia and Oklahoma, but is mostly Texas based. From the menu, it appears (could be wrong) to be more of a Chipotle type place, i.e., one that has beer available but is hardly a drinking establishment.
I agree with almost everyone that the officer’s attitude is darn near inexplicable, and I hope that there is more to the story. Had the story as told happened to me, I would have reported him to the department.
As far as anybody else drinking; I don’t know, I didn’t take a survey of the entire restaurant. If it helps, Taco Cabana isn’t typically a place where people go to drink. It’s basically a fast food taco joint that happens to serve beer.
honestly, i would have popped that bad boy open in front of the cop, chugged it, asked the waiter for a phone book and 2 more beers, then called a cab (or if no cab a friend or relative). politely told the manager the situation, and that my car would be there for a couple hours because of officer asshole, and gotten a friend to drive me back to get my car later in the afternoon.
course if the cop was that much of a cock, hed probably try to hit me for public intox between the door and the cab.
Shakes is a long time poster and it’s not in his nature or posting style make absurd shit up. I’d bet it happened as he relayed. The mystery to me is not the detals, but what the officer was thinking. Per some poster’s assertions that they would not have stood for that behavior, it’s easy to be bold after the fact, but getting into a real life scrum with an aggressive policeman without witnesses as to your side of the story rarely has positive outcomes. I’d probably toss the beer too vs daring him to arrest me.
I live in a rural area, equidistant between three small towns. I choose to live here because, overall, I like the environment. Do you really mean to imply that I have less right to expect not to be harassed by cops because of my choice of who I pay my taxes to?:dubious:
Although I have seen reports involving cops in big cities tasing/shooting/beating people that did no wrong. The ones that get caught get punished. Great.
This. Things have changed in the past few decades. When my kids were toddlers, I taught them that the police were who they should approach if they had a problem. By the time they were in grade school, I had changed my advice quite a bit. By high school age, I went over the ACLU’s bust card with them.
It is sad when you have to make sure your kids know that, “I want a lawyer” is the only thing they should say to a cop.