Officer in uniform trashes civ's bike.

[Sandman]

Sometimes, we need to overlook what's legal and do what is right.

[Swoop]

In Britain it's different.  The rider has to be the one insured, not the vehicle.

[Qnm]

I'll answer sandman first.

Yes. I am starting to go amnesiac, but I think I said so earlier.
Yes, he talked to him, before , after, and after after.
He's found him a nice guy all three times, and didn't want to screw him over as it keeps being said, but only GET HIS 13,000$ BIKE BACK.

it's beyond me how you let someone wearing that uniform on your bike after asking him if he's serious and being told yes, and then have your bike wrecked, and then help the guy out of the ditch , and then have every solution close like a clam, each with their reason,

-insurance: you're paying us so we can cover you for what's not your fault. This is your fault -> 3yrs probation + rate hike.

-cop: toejam! I didn't mean to! I have children! I'm a fellow biker! have pity! (he did)

-other cops: we didn't see anything!

-sheriff's office: no comment!

-other bikers: dude you're in it deep!

-other cops: You cop-hater! burn in hell for wanting what my brethren took from you!

Anyway, I'm not the one who did it, he's my (bonehead and likewise decision or not) friend so I try to help him out when he needs it.

It's just as easy to put this in the popsicle category as it is to make this a cop VS non-cop question, as it is for me to say I agree with you that was a stupid thing to do for both of them etcetera, but that's no help. I want my friend to have his bike back. Who cares if the sheriff's office will owe him 13,000? not me. But I'm not the one deciding, so whether I do or not is irrelevant.
Who cares if the cop goes in debt and loses his job and pees his matress at night from now on? not me. My friend yes, he doesn't want that. Neither are relevant because that's not the way it's supposed to go. It's not an attack on the cop's integrity, it's a weighing of what's best option considering potential benefit and loss here and there.
Whatever happens I take it lightly because it's not me, I only want info to give as advice, not orders I would then also be responsible for.......................


I might as well edit the thread to nothing and forget about it. Keep your saliva to yourself, I'm a middleman, not the one making the decision; legal advice is what I meant to ask, not ethical analysis.

Meanwhile a famine in africa, rapes in new dehli, guerilla in south america. etc.

[Gunthr]

The cop is potentially in deep doo-doo. He probably violated several departmental procedures. Depending on his disciplinary record, he could be facing termination.

You are correct as to the individual liability of the officer and some degree of liability on the part of his employer.

I would think that the officer would jump at the chance to make good on the damage.

It shouldn't be necessary to ruin this knucklehead, unless, of course, your buddy and his lawyer want to try to go for the deep pockets. I would hate to see that happen. It might not even pan out, but rocketman would go down anyway.

What these lawyers do is send thier client into the police department to make a formal Internal Affairs complaint against the officer, then sit back and let the police department do all the investigating. When the investigation is done, they simply order up a copy under the public records law and bill thier client $$$. Of course, the client doens't realise that he doesn't need a lawyer for that.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Qnm I have to kinda agree with the above in the sense that by surrendering the bike to the other person (cop or no cop) he also took responsibility for the possible damage.

If he has insurance he should use it, that's what it's for.

Situation would be totally different if the police officer had used his power to force him to surrender the bike. That wasn't the question here was it?

If someone borrows your bike at voluntary basis and damages it, it's in his good will and concious to repay the damage. However the final responsibility goes to the owner who was foolish enough to surrender his expensive piece of hardware to the hands of a stranger.

[Sandman]

I have the solution...

[hawk220]

1:  wingnut:.. yes.. you are completely right.. there are blockhead cops out there.. it just pains me to think of one being this retarded.

2: qnm: if things happened that way, it seems it should be pretty easy ..you said there are witnesses..  a subpoena for them would compell them to say what they saw.

im assuming by your spelling of 'labour' that you are in canada or uk? so liability laws maybe different than the us.

[AKDejaVu]

What if it hadn't been a police officer that "borrowed" the bike?

I don't care if he's a cop or not.. if someone walked up to me and wanted to take mine for a spin... I'd suggest he look elsewhere.

Your friend made a serious mistake in granting permission to ride the bike.  That pretty much sums it up.

Why does this post remind me of TheWobble?

AKDejaVu

[funkedup]

What country did this happen in?  Don't you guys have insurance?
In the US (at least California) if he wrecked your vehicle his insurance would have to pay for it.  End of story.
Now if he wants to try to get his employer to pay for it, that's his problem.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

His employer is not responsible of his actions in any way unless he acted as a police authority and used his authority to get the bike. If not, they can only warn him of improper behaviour and give a ticket for reckless driving.

[Maverick]

Qnm,

Response from a retired Cop.

1. Your friend doesn't need advice from a Police Officer, he needs to see his attorney. You said he's doing that, fine.

2. Your friend was in his rights to allow another person to ride the bike. No problem there. A loss caused by the rider would likely be shared between both the rider and your friend. Percentage to be set by negotiation and or court.

3. If this started out on the roadway it likely constitutes a traffic accident by definition. If it started and finished on private property it may not depending on the local statutes. If it IS a traffic collision your friend should have filed an official Police report, then sent a copy to his insurance with a claim. The insurance Company can then go after who they feel is responsible for the loss, unless your friend wants to do that on his own.

4. Any Police Officer / Deputy / Constable (or whatever designation is valid) who is in uniform at the time of the incident IS still a representative of their department and their actions are still likely to be the departments responsibility. Working as a Police Officer off duty he is still working as a Police Officer with all the responsibilities that entails. This carries even if they are out of uniform and off duty at times in the case of negligence, criminal actions etc. depending on the circumstances. In the case of still being in uniform the department should WANT to know what the Officer did as he is representing them at the time. Your friend may have a claim against the Governmental entity that the Department "works" for as well as the department. See the lawyer.

5. The claim that your friend is calling into doubt the Officers integrity is true.  The Officer however, is tainting his integrity all on his own by not making the circumstances right for an action you say happened in the way you said it did. Please note I am not calling your claims into doubt but you are posting a situation that is unsubstantiated at this time and doing so "second hand". If the story is not as your friend, or you, have posted the results could be quite different. If the story is in fact true and the Officer has refused to make reparations your friend is certainly entitled to claim them by legal action. A uniform does not negate dumb actions nor does it shield the person from them. If this DOES have to go to court, with the circumstances you outlined, then the department / local government  (city, county, township, whatever) has an agency detailed to investigate and handle claims by their employees.

6. Now the true answer for all of this is to advise your friend to get competant legal counsel dealing with the laws and procedures of the appropriate jurisdiction instead of asking for non qualified opinions on a game BBS. Your post really serves no purpose in "assisting" your friend. It pretty much looks like a troll but I felt it might be worth taking the time to take it as a non troll question, hence my response.

[senna]

.

[scspook]

Just say NO!

[Qnm]

To clear something up, yes I agree what he did was stupid.
Yes I agree he is responsible enough that he cannot deny he is to blame.
Yes the best solution for his karma is to do this with a lawyer.

But the original question was to find which solution had the quickest and most effective way of restoring his bike, not which one I found most attractive myself; what my friend decides to do from here is up to him, not me, so back off the flames.

If he did something stupid that I disapprove of myself, then the most useful thing for me to do is give him advice. He is responsible for himself.

MrRipley, thank you. I agree with you, I wanted to sample people's opinion on this to hear maybe if any idea was better than the ones brought up so far. I will forward your post to him.

It's obvious he is not my friend, and I only read about the guy on another message board, and felt sorry for him and the lack of replies there. This then went out of proportions and made me want to edit the posts off rather than argue for something that wasn't worth it. Some are going a bit mad from seeing the supposedly inflamatory title etc, but it's to guarantee a response rather than to troll.  You can lapidate me on the AHBB town square for all I care.

Excuse me as english is not my first language.

[scspook]

To clear something else up....

-other cops: You cop-hater! burn in hell for wanting what my brethren took from you!

He took nothing. It was given to him.