Bad Encounter With DPD Officer Sunday Afternoon

Well in the last 3 months I've clocked almost 5K miles in Fcars. Not until today have I been pulled over by a Policeman. I must say it didn't go over so well, but there is a grater reason for me telling you all of this and I'll get to it in a minute...

I live downtown Dallas and if you remember my exhaust, you know it's incredibly loud. Downtown it's even worse because of the noise bouncing off the buildings...

Well there's a church downtown that I guess hires DPD officers to control traffic for them in between services. I turned a corner at a green light and when I was moving my foot off the brake to coast thru the turn it caught the gas (swear to god...just like what happened with my car wreck AND THE SAME FLIPPIN SHOES!). I wasn't even in gear so it wasn't like I was gunning it or nothing but it made a gawd awful growl to a potential pedestrian.

Now the look of shock alone should've been an indication I was as surprised as I was embarrassed this happened but I was doing a whole 5-10MPH around the turn and stopped WAY before I got to the church and then gradually approached the light.

There were 2 Dallas Officers giving me looks. One was right in front of the car about 15ft away or so and began walking to me with a nasty look saying "I can give you a ticket". I waved and said I was sorry and tried to explain the pedals are really close together and that was not intentional and he ran around the side of the car and started yelling at me saying "I DIDN'T ASKED FOR SOME SMARTAZZ ANSWER FROM SOME SPOILED RICH KID! I'M WRITING YOU A TICKET NOW!". Well I popped off which BTW; isn't the smartest thing to do with someone filled with the "POWER TO ENFORCE", and I gestured to him to right the F-ing ticket then! He then told me, he was going to arrest for disorderly conduct and demanded my license. *He had not demanded me to get out of the car or even shut off the engine and didn't say I was under arrest so I immediately handed him my license and a prepaid "Legal Shield" card and immediately dialed my attorney. Policeman asked me what the card was and to get off the phone and I set the phone down on speaker and told him if I was being detained or questioned I have the right to have my attorney present or monitoring the situation. He then went off to his car or somewhere I couldn't see to get his ticket book or something...

The other officer, a corporal, stepped up and was half-way decent to me after he vented a bit himself. Started off being a jerk saying stuff about how he's out there risking his life for guys like me that drive Ferrari's acting like they're better than everybody else and that just because I may have an extra couple zero's attached to my paycheck don't give me the right to lip off to a fellow officer. I listened and then said, look at the placement of these pedals, now look at my shoes, tried to state my case and explained how the other officer was to blame for my attitude and he said it was going to be up to the other officer wether or not to arrest me.

The other officer came back a couple minutes later and handed me my license and legal card back, and said he didn't have time to arrest me, he's off work now and it's a holiday, pointed ahead and told me to "Get outta here".



Anybody who knows me will tell you I may not always drive the speed limit, but I have nothing but respect for policemen. My best friend is an Oklahoma City Policeman and many of his fellow officers and me have become friends. When they lose a fellow officer, I send out letters of support or condolences. An officer lady was shot this past week in Oklahoma City and I began making calls. So I don't have any distain for cops and I think most of you guys know by now, I'm a likable guy. This isn't the kinda thing you'll ever see me associated with. I don't know what the cops deal was or whatever but, it wasn't a pleasing experience. HOWEVER, had it not been for Pre-Paid Legal I'm certain this whole thing would've been much more severe and I'm positive I would've been in jail right now.

This message is in no way to run down anybody who is a policeman or has family that is. I'm not dissing the DPD for their hard work keeping us safe, but as with any profession there are always the bad seeds and the hotheads. My message is to warn myself to just learn to smile and eat crow even when I'm not guilty of wrong doing just to make situations like this avoidable and second to make a genuine pitch for PrePaid legal. If your interest, I know who to put you in touch with!

 

I'm glad to say, I didn't need Jonathan Pecks Flatbed!

 

Good point, but as soon as he started saying he was going to arrest me, I didn't care what I looked like at all, so long as he understood he wasn't dealing with someone who wasn't connected to immediate legal aid.

Definitely could use Prepaid...ANYBODY CAN! As for MLM companies, I'm not interested in joining or recruiting anybody. I have a friend who isn't a founding partner but has been with them since their inception and is one of the highest ranking officials. He doesn't deal with the seminar/speech givers that do the "extra-income" sorta thing. He explained to me what all it does for you and your household (children...even if they are in college). It's good for personal and there's a business side of things to. All the free legal advice you need. They are connected to big law firms all over the country. I'm a client of Ross & Matthews. Well worth the few hundred bucks a year it costs. ...As a side note, they help protect you from any and all speeding/traffic violations.

In the officers defense, even if he's not always a jerk and I just rubbed him wrong, it is a very hot day and it's a holiday weekend which means they are dealing with a lot more riffraff than usual. It's not an easy job and I get that, however he was in the wrong no matter how much authority he did have. Authority isn't always right, they just a bit more power than lil o'le me. Had I have been arrested, this thread wouldn't have been quite so neutral...

 

Yah, in a nutshell with a very jaded and quirky way of saying it yes. So spinning what I said to make a joke of it, I'll restate the facts:

1)I respect the Police Department as a whole and understand that they deal with crap all day long.

2)As with any profession, there are bad seeds and hotheads

3)My actions were not illegal nor did I try to insight bad behavior from the cop

4)Once the cop illustrated to me exactly what kind of man he was, I spoke up against his attitude towards me and his threatening to write me up and told him to go right ahead. Not the best judgement on my behalf, but still well within my rights given the circumstances and not a chance he could've made it stick or believe me buddy, he wouldn't have let me go.

5)I am pleased with the outcome, not the circumstance. So saying I'm okay with the way I was handled because they didn't arrest me is ludicrous. Had I not have had that card and speed dialed my attorney, I would've been falsely arrested.

But if it makes you feel better saying I shouldn't do the obvious which was unintentional, then poke your fun...but don't spin my words or message.

 

There's no ticket to pay. I didn't get a ticket because I did nothing wrong. Once they realized I was protected and had an attorney on the phone, they ceded the fact it would have been a false arrest.

Not trying to take any further than it was taken otherwise I probably would've stayed and demanded a supervisor and filed a written complaint against the officers.

Just simply telling a story of what happened in some degree of amazement and attesting to the value of knowing your rights and being protected of those rights by PrePaid Legal.

Respect your opinion tho...

 

Hey Jim,

NO KIDDING! I didn't even realize until the pedal/policeman incident that it was the same shoes and thought to myself damnit that's gotta have a lot to do with why the wreck happened to begin with and not just a clumsy move.

I trashed them! So much for Prada being comfortable huh?

 

Yah I sorta understand what your saying. But being as I have friends that are cops in Oklahoma City I get that. When the uniform goes on they put on a whole new personality. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing though. I think it can be excessive with the wrong kind of person (such as the case with the officers I dealt with), but in all truth Policeman are on a battlefield if you will...

The only thing different about officers and soldiers are they are under far more scrutiny and the POTENTIAL enemies don't look any different than any of us till it presents itself in an ambush. The personality changes I think when they put that uniform on because they know the risks when they step out that door and reality sets in they may never come home again. My case in point: My lifetime best friend was on duty about 4 years ago and somebody they were looking for (stolen motorcycle) was spotted. My buddy and a fellow officer he was close to pulled out into pursuit and the fellow officer ended up in an accident and basically died in my friend's arms. Had he have pulled out and taken the lead, it would've been my friend. The officer's name was Jonathan Dragus of the Oklahoma City Police Department. An outstanding officer who left behind a baby daughter that will never know her father. It's a dangerous job and that's why I said what I did about getting that.

Think about it, most the time they are involved in an enforcement role of their duty, they are dealing with felons and scumbags and that I suppose can taint an officer over time. Still yet a loud car exhaust escalating into a cop strutting his authority supersedes all the above. It's definitely guys like that which can give an entire department a bad name.