Off duty Cop road rage

[Widewing]

I guess more people are falling into that ill advised behavior defined as "road rage".

I thought I'd share this with you guys, because aside from being rather amusing, it does reflect the increasing lack of civility we experience almost daily. And you know, I even see this playing Aces High. Anyway, to the story.

Driving home from the office tonight, I pull up to a stop sign as I entered my neighborhood. I yield to a white Chevy Impala, who arrived first. Behind me is a black Pontiac Grand Prix, who had been tailgating me for about a mile. As I select first gear, the Grand Prix gives me a little bump. Not hard, more like a push, but perhaps enough to leave a rub mark on the rear valance. I drive thru the intersection and pull over to the side, signaling to the Pontiac driver to do likewise. Instead, he pulls around me (nearly running head-on into a Toyota) and floors it.

"Ah hell", I think and take off in pursuit to at least get a plate number. This guy (mid 20s) blows through several stop signs, but I follow until he is forced to stop by traffic. I pulled up on his left, ran down the passenger window and said, "It's a bad idea to run away from a road accident, pal."

"Whadda ya talkin' about" is his reply.

"You ran into the back of my car back there, just in case you're completely clueless."

"Bullsheet, I never hit you!"

"No, then why did you run?"

"I wasn't running, a--hole!"

"Ah", I said, "doing 75 in a 30 zone is normal driving for you, huh?"

"F--- off!"

"Uh huh, well then, pull over to the shoulder. I want to see your license and insurance card."

"Sure, if that'll make you happy, fine.

So, I pull ahead and over to the curb. Once I stop, he takes off again. I dial 911 on my cell phone and begin to explain the situation to the operator.

As before, I follow until he makes a wrong turn into a cul-de-sac. As he tries to turn around, I pull my car across his nose, pinning his Pontiac between it and the curb.

"Move your F---in' car s--thead", he yells.

"I don't think so" I said as I climbed out to check for damage. "I want to see some ID and your insurance card and don't make me ask again."

'Yeah, or what?" He jumps out of the Grand Prix.

"Or (showing him my cell phone with the 911 operator already listening) you can explain it to the Judge at your arraignment in the morning."

Meanwhile, I can't hear the 911 operator who was apparently telling me to get back in the car because they guy could be armed.

I put the phone to my mouth and give the operator the street address.

A look of horror runs across the face of the other driver.

He blurts out, "I'm a city cop!" (actually, NY Transit Police).

"Oh really, well you better produce a badge and ID or your life is gonna be a hellava lot more complicated than it was 10 seconds ago."

Out comes a black leather badge wallet, with badge and ID.

That's when I lost it with him. I have four cops in my immediate family. A brother, a nephew, my brother-in-law, and a cousin. All of them are members of the county Police and Sheriff's departments.

"Of all people, a gaddamned cop should stop when he hits another car! Jesus, are you stupid?!

"I didn't hit your f---in' car! Go ahead, get a car (police) here!

Like hell you didn't, don't lie to me!

By now several homeowners have come out to see what the commotion is about.

Once again, I talk to the 911 operator. "Please send over a sector car, I believe Officer Peter Levino is on duty tonight." Pete graduated the academy with my brother and they are close friends. Pete has had the 4 to midnight shift for several years. I'm hoping this isn't one of his days off. The operator calls the sector car, tells Pete who is involved and he asks the operator to tell me he's coming.

"Okay officer loudmouth, he'll be here as fast as he can. Where's your insurance card?"

Still swearing a blue streak, he pulls the card from the glovebox. He hands it to me as I look for damage to the bumper. Just a very small rub mark is visible.

LOLOL the card expired in August!

"This is worthless. Do you have a current card?"

"S--t... it's at home....."

"You are one walking clusterf--k of a Police Officer, aren't you?"

He breaks into another episode of cursing and name calling.

I realize that I'm not angry anymore, in fact, I'm beginning to enjoy this.

My response to his ranting was two words.

"Bite me".

"Only for money a--hole!"

"Well, you look like you work cheap." I take out a couple of one- dollar bills I have in my pants pocket. "This includes the tip."

He loses it now. Attempting to slap the money from my hand, he lunges at me. I side step him easily enough. He shoves his badge towards my face yelling "you see this, you see this you f---in' Bast-rd!!!". Just as he blurts this out, in front of several people no less, sector car 609 turns into the cul-de-sac and stops, lights a-turnin'.

Pete literally leaps from the Crown Victoria and shoves the city cop back against his Pontiac. "Are you out of your mind?!", he screams at the guy. Pete takes the badge and ID telling the guy to "get in your damn car and don't even move a muscle". The guy begins to talk and Pete cuts him off. "You get in your car or you'll be getting in the back of mine" Wisely, he complies, completely baffled as to why he isn't getting the special treament cops always give other cops.

Pete takes me aside and asks what happened. I told him. He looked quite unhappy at the quandry this situation placed him in.

"How do I settle this without further trouble? If you push a complaint, he'll probably get suspended. That could completely screw up his career."

"I didn't know there were career morons on the job. He should have thought about that before he took off, and before he decided to be a total jerk".  

"Yeah, well he's thinkin' about it now."

I look at the young guy, he's visibly upset.

"I'm not going to sign a complaint, there's no damage. But, he's not getting off that easy. His behavior was unacceptable, not only for a cop for crissake, but for anyone. You know, he came mighty close to throwing a punch. If he had, you know what would have happened."

"I know, I know. But, it didn't come to that did it?"

"Alright, let me talk to him."

So, we walk over and Pete tells the guy to step out of the car.

"It's your play" says Pete and he steps back, but within arms reach.

I give the guy a long look and say, "since there's nothing more than a smudge on the bumper, there's no harm done. I can compound that out easy enough."

He starts to reply, but I talk right over him. "you will have your chance to speak when I'm done, but for now you WILL keep your mouth shut." He turns beet red again, but he holds his tongue.

"I want you to know that I'm very disappointed in what you did to avoid your responsibility. I also want to remind you that as a cop, you are never off duty and cursing and name calling are not acceptable, especially when you were in the wrong from the start. At the very least you should apologize to me and thank this guy for going to bat for you". He's glaring at me with utter contempt.

"Now it's your turn."

He vents a bit, but his langauge is now largely devoid of vulgarities. Having disposed of the semi-incoherent invectives, he decides to try blaming me. "You followed me for miles, suppose I thought you were a risk to me? You could have been arrested or maybe hurt. Did you think of that when you blocked me in?"

This guy figures he's intimidating in appearance... Not a chance. "I think it was pretty obvious that I wasn't much impressed".

He blurts, "how would you know if I had a gun or tire iron or something else?"

"I really wouldn't care if you had a bazooka."

"You're an idiot, you're an old man! You could get the crap beat out of ya doin that stupid s--t."

"Old man?!!" Still trying to push buttons, I see. "Listen junior, any time you feel like taking a beating from an old man, just swing by the PAL gym and we'll put on the gloves and headgear."

Pete interjects with an odd question: "You still training your nephew?"

"Er, not lately, he says he's too busy since he transferred to Yaphank (headquarters)."

A glimmer of recognition dawns on the Transit cop's face. "Your nephew's a police officer?"

"That's right, and my brother is a Deputy Sheriff. Pete here graduated the academy with him."

"My brother-in-law Phil is in the 5th precinct. There's another family member on the job here too. Oh, and my next-door neighbor is NYPD. I have cops coming out of my prettythang, so you'll have to excuse me if I'm not impressed with your transit cop tin.

Pete chuckles.

He still claimed that he didn't bump my car, but that black rub mark wasn't there 15 minutes before and something surely pushed my car partially into the intersection and it wasn't THAT windy. He sure was determined not to admit his error, because that would establish that he willfully and knowingly left the scene.

Pete left on another call and we stood there and talked for a few more minutes. It was civil, but there was still plenty of tension. Clearly, this guy didn't care for me at all. Equally clear was the fact that I didn't give one hoot.

He admitted to having a bad day.

I didn't have a bad day. I don't need an excuse to be obnoxious.

My brother called me a little while ago, having been called by Pete. He wanted to know if I wanted him to have a conversation with the guy's watch commander. I said no, let it go. My opinion was that if he hasn't figured it out by now, it's just a matter of time before someone else beefs him. He had his reality check.

But, knowing my brother, he will track this guy down anyway.

Perhaps he really doesn't think he bumped my car. But if that's the case, how far out in space was he?

My regards,

Widewing

[Shane]

heh, good read.

[anonymous]

widewing you speak like a "btdt". gotta say you erred not reporting him to his superior. you need to remember that ninety nine out of a hundred people arent like you with police and would not know how to handle this pos and let him walk all over them. he didnt keep the faith and he needs to pay. dobies are expected to live by different code than sheep. do you think he has the temperment to carry a weapon?

[rpm]

You should not have let him skate. Guys like that have no business in law enforcement. If he was that reckless just because you were obeying the law, what do you think he's going to do to the average citizen he encounters? He needs a suspension.

[Widewing]

Originally posted by rpm371
You should not have let him skate. Guys like that have no business in law enforcement. If he was that reckless just because you were obeying the law, what do you think he's going to do to the average citizen he encounters? He needs a suspension.

I had to edit the text because it exceeded 10,000 characters, so part of the story is missing.

When the cop admitted to having a bad day, he wasn't understating. The gist of it seems to be that either his wife or live-in girlfriend walked out on him. He came home earlier in the week to find his apartment almost empty of furniture and a letter taped to the front door. He said he was out driving trying to gather his thoughts, which explains why he wasn't paying attention and why he vented his anger the way he did.

Clearly, he went over the top here. But I really didn't think it was worth adding to his misery by putting the only stable thing in life in possible jeapardy.

I've been around cops all my life. My uncle retired after 35 years as Chief of Detectives of the South Orange, NJ PD. My cousin Rick retired after 20 years with the Nassau County PD. One of my closest friends will retire in 2007 after 30 years in the NYPD. Cops are no different that anyone else, except they have a very stressful job and usually that is reflected in stress related behavior and broken relationships. Despite this, they really do have to mind themselves more tha you or I do. They can be disciplined for virtually any misbehavior, stuff your boss could care less about. I know their limits as do they. I know that when they are off duty you can push them a lot harder than they can push back. They can't over-react without consequences, even when off the job.

Nonetheless, they can have very bad days and lose their tempers just like everyone else. Do I think this cop is a bad cop? Hell no. He made a few minor errors in judgement and his anger and grief clouded that judgement.

As I stated, I'm quite certain that my brother will have a heart to heart with this guy's supervisor in the near future. And my brother is a helluva lot less tolerant than I am. This keeps the problem at the lowest level, where it can best be worked out without trashing a guy's future by filing an official complaint. Cops are people and poeple make stupid mistakes from time to time.

Last year my brother's wife was stopped by a cop in a neighboring county. She dutifully presented her licence and PBA card, as all Police wifes are taught to do. This guy decided to write her a ticket for a blown brake light bulb, and he refused to return the PBA card. My brother went nuts, and took the issue to the union. My understanding is that the cop was assigned to modified duty for 90 days (desk duty) and had to apologize in person. Two weeks later a Union memo was issued warning all member officers that they WILL honor the PBA cards issued to family members and absolutely will return the card to that family member.

So, the cops can and will police themselves when the need arises.

My regards,

Widewing

[deSelys]

I still think that you shouldn't have let it go. He may be still young, full of hormones and the rest, but he obviously need to be reminded that:

- this kind of language is totally unappropriated for a police officer (on or off duty).

- lack of insurance is not tolerable.

Chasing and blocking him was not the thing to do OTOH. If he had caused an accident, you may have been held partly responsible. or he could have felt threatened and have a violent response.


Thanks for this interesting story.

[Maverick]

I have to agree witht he others here. You erred in nott pushing the complaint against this guy. The non criminal one through the department. This guy could have gotten some needed assistance through the departmental behavoural section for his home problem. While it was very "nice" for you not to hack his "career" with the complaint you may have done himn a disservice by not making his superiors aware of how distraught this guy was. If his story was straight he needs help and certainly close supervision until he gets his head straight.

This guy may be ok for the moment but this situation will not just disappear for him overnight. He'll be reminded of it EVERY time he goes home or looks around his house. He needs help in getting over the pain of the seperation and loss of his marriage. If on the other hand he was spinning a story to get the sympathy angle he needs to be looking for other types of work.

Unfotunately as long as law enforcement has to hire people for this job there will be times when that individual is not fit for duty such as a time like what he told you. That is when a good department takes him off the street into a job where the stress is less of a factor and he can get himself together.

Divorce rate is about 95% for those in this field. It's a common story and the departments, good ones anyhow, understand this is temporary and an otherwise good officer can be salvaged if they help him get his act together again.

As an asside you went way overboard in chasing him. You should have just gotten his plate and filed the report when he refused to stop. You placed yourself in danger and compounded it by endangering every one on the same roads with you by chasing him. Poor choice on your part.

[Jackal1]

You think that is disrepecting the badge? Come live in my county for a while. This county has been corrupt for at least 25 to 30 years that I know of and is getting progressivly worse with time. A young law officer that comes here looking to do the right thing and make a career is quickly chewed up and spit out if he don`t "conform" in short order.
  We had a narcotics officer that worked for the city of the county seat in narcotics. He retired from the city and then went to work as head of narcotics for the county. This guy ran a drug sell operation on a pretty large scale until his retirement from the county. It was well known and not too much was done to conceal the fact. The county is ran on a system quite I refer to as "The good ole boy" system. Quite frankly it is legalized , organized crime. The Feds either won`t or can`t touch them. It`s hard to do when around 80 % of the county governing system is corrupt. I mean all the way from the judges, lawyers, law enforcement to the janitor at the court house.
  I watched a young guy from the small town I was raised in decide on a career in law enforcement. He did his schooling and put in his initial time for my hometown. He then went to work for the county. Watching the transition and disapointment he went through has been amazing.

[WilldCrd]

I have to agree with the others. You shoulda informed his watch commander. So they could have a little "come to jesus" meetting. Doesnt have to be "official" and can stay out of his jacket but, he needs a little talking to.


BTW nothing personal but that was damn stupid blocking him in like u did. You should have just got his plate number and called it in. Let the police deal with the rest. Thats our job.

[Creamo]

Guys that got beat up in high school, and suck at everything else, become  COPS, to be salamanders, because they finally can.

Fact.

Why else would you choose to make half of most peoples salaries?

I'd a let him off too, wtg Wide.  His life is ass, why make it worse.

Whats more funny, is Maverick can't do **** to anyone anymore.

Retired, and pissed off.

[Dago]

Well I think it is clear why his girl dumped his ass.  He is an acchole.

I think having him ticketed and reporting his behavior to his superior would be in the long term the best thing for him, maybe keep him from getting in worse trouble in the future.  Now, he has had the thought reinforced that the badge will get him out of any trouble.

Too many cops develop the opinion that they are immune to consequences as a result of illegal behavior.  My wifes cousin developed that attitude when she became a state trooper.  She amazed me at family gatherings with her cockiness and attitude regarding this issue.  It dissapeared when she injured a woman driving drunk in her personal car, and proceeded to jump out and while flashing her badge, ordered all witness to leave.   It made big news in the local press, and after the dust settled cost her her dream job.

They need to learn that the law applies to them too, and teaching it to them in a minor case would be a favor that might save their job in the long run.

dago

[slimm50]

WW... to your brother and all the other cops in your family for all they do.

Your story reminds me of my own association with cops. So as not to hijack this thread I'm starting a seperate thread to explain.

[capt. apathy]

Originally posted by Widewing
Nonetheless, they can have very bad days and lose their tempers just like everyone else. Do I think this cop is a bad cop? Hell no. He made a few minor errors in judgement and his anger and grief clouded that judgement.


Widewing

the difference being that when everyone else has that kind of day and acts the way he did, we go to jail.

[Gman]

There's some vintage "Creamo" for you.




That was a great way to start the morning Wide, you should consider writing short stories (seriously).

Most of my family, and many of my co-workers have tinsel in their pockets, but I'll be damned if I've ever heard of any of them acting like this Transit cop.  I however HAVE heard of it happening to other officers, the ones who have issues of some kind and finally just snap and pull this kind of crap.

I'd say you handled it very well, even though I would have probably done what Anon advised.  It could have and could still go either way for this guy, maybe today he'll be considering himself to be very lucky,  and maybe your gesture of ...understanding will come around and somebody will help you out of a self made jam sometime.  That's how I'd look at it.

[anonymous]

widewing to be clear im not a cop never have been and know i could never be one. great respect for them they see the worst in humanity and nobody appreciates them unless "the world is ending" and that i can relate to from personal experience in my job. my reasoning is maybe this guy shouldnt be a cop. to me theres a difference between a great guy whos being overwhelmed and will be a great asset again and a guy who just isnt cut out for the business at hand. seventy five and ignoring stop signs in housing area to much in my inexperienced opinion. it shows he lost it to the point of not paying attention to consequence of action. from the way you speak of other cops you know id bet you are certain that your nephew would never lose it to that degree even if he came home and found the mall security triple teaming his wife.