widewing, i think you handle that situation properly, that guy was a dweeb. hope he gets what he deserves.
there's just one thing that bugs me. why bring up your brother to the officer? he doesnt have anything to do with the situation.
semp
Like it or not, it changes your status from John Q. Citizen to "family of an officer". It should not effect how the facts are handled, but it does induce a level of professional courtesy. It also provides for a nearly instant character witness. Now, if you've robbed a store, having a brother on the department won't make any difference. However, that brother will get a call and informed of the issue
I agree with Widewing 100% in this department. Having a father as a police officer and at least a half dozen other family members does make a difference with other officers in cases where it is your word vs another party, believe me. It's just an extension of the "blue wall", it may not be "fair", but it just makes you a known quantity. My pops was president of my country's police association, and we have an uncommon name, so I often am asked by police from all over if I'm related, and have never had to bring it up, it just comes up on its own.
One thing I will say is that as smart of a thing the whole "gopro/GPS" trick was, why not actually just BUY an in car video. Widewing, your obviously a tech savvy person, I'm amazed you don't already use one. I've been using the Blackvue cams for about a year now, and myself was late to the party, but it's already saved me once in a case similar to yours, without the confrontation part. It's less than 100$, pretty much runs itself, and is HD and has a very wide angle lens, and catches pretty much everything except a rear end, which it'll get more or less anyhow, even though without the actual vehicle in the frame, it'll still be obvious on playback. In this case you had 2 understanding officers, sometimes you'll get that 10% guy who shouldn't be in the job and doesn't care, and is just PO over being called away from coffee to an accident of any kind. Having video is end of story if you're in the right, no matter who you end up dealing with.
Even for tickets you don't deserve, they are fantastic, in my case, I had an officer pull me over saying he saw me roll a stop sign, when in reality I had already stopped, twice in fact, because of an indecisive driver at my 9 oclock, but the officer missed that part, which can happen. Instead of it turning into an ugly argument, or an unfair ticket, I explained to him I had video running, and if he would let me play it back on the spot, if he felt I wasn't stopped from it I would shut up and take my ticket, as I could have been mistaken too (I was positive I wasn't). I pulled out my Ipad, and put the video up on it from the camera, which clearly showed me stopped for about 5 seconds prior to playing chug a lug stop and go with the guy who I in fact had right of way on, but yielded too because I was worried he was going to plow me. The cop actually laughed, and explained how from his viewpoint he made the mistake, and then we talked about other stuff for about half an hour.
Anyhow, I'm glad it turned out well, and you kept your cool with an obviously unstable hot head. Now go buy yourself an in car camera, or a couple of them. I run one on my bikes as well, and won't drive without it now.
