FL cops caught on tape fabricating report in DUI case

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1161683.html

Assholes like this who think they're above the law really sicken me. If this case is at all what it looks like, these cops need to be locked up for abusing their authority.

At the bare minimum, the cop that was driving, not the city, should be personally responsible for the damage to the girl's car. I hope she sues his fucking brains out!

I. am. so. surprised.



I wish we were face to face so you could see the surprise on my face.

They are going down.

The charges against the girl have been dropped and of course she is going to be suing.

There is another person whose been suspended as well. A civilian in the department.

Also various cases from these officers are being looked into by the State Attorney.

The really stupid part of it is had they just told the truth the officer would have not gotten into trouble or at worst just a slap on the wrist and the girl would still be charged with DUI. The DUI charges were most likely legit but because of the video she got lucky and got away with it.

Five careers down the drain and possible jail time for something stupid.

Kalifornia! [/McClain]

They were willing to put someone else in jail for up to 3 years to cover their asses. They need to go to jail for a minimum of 6 years, twice what they were willing to throw at that girl.

Fuck them, cops like that are the reason I don't trust any cop.

Ummm....not to defend the cops but...she WAS DUI right? if so why should the charges against her not stand up just because the cop hit her? bust his ass for the lies...bust his ass for hitting here...Sure.

But if she was DUI why does she get a get-out-of-jail free card just because he's a fuck up?

It's called bad press. Think about it. Sure she may have actually been DUI but are you as an ELECTED OFFICIAL going to bring charges against her when there is a video of police officers conspiring to cover up the actions of one of their own?

Hell no you're not.

Not to mention that as the DA if you were crazy enough to take this to court any semi-decent defense attorney would simply say the police not only covered up their actions on the night of the arrest but they altered the evidence as well. Even if she was guilty of DUI no jury would convict after seeing that video.

Because if they're willing to doctor the report, then there's no telling what they might have done to the equipment used to check her BAC. It introduces serious doubt along the entire chain of evidence.

Even if they decided to prosecute, reasonable doubt wouldn't be a tough sell.

Negative. Stand-alone units like that at the station are calibrated by a manufacturer certified independent lab every six months on-site and they add serial numbered and stamped anti-tamper seals on every part of the machine.

If I remove the portion of the case that gives me access to the calibration controls, I'll break no less than two seals. After that, any evidence generated by that device is inadmissible.

As for the hand-held units, well... I've seen those beaten with my own eyes. We got our hands on one, got sloshed at a place where we could crash overnight, and tested ourselves. All in the name of science and proper police work, mind you.

I drank an entire fifth of whiskey in about an hour and a half. We waited until the two hour mark and tested ourselves. I only blew a 0.06 and I was staggeringly drunk. After testing myself, I fell out of my chair onto the grass. I fell out of my chair.

That's why an Alabama State Trooper will test you with a hand-held device, administer roadside tests, and then, if you fit the bill, take you to a stand-alone unit.

As for the matter at hand:

Yeah, at best they all need to be terminated. This is why, in Alabama, if there's a wreck involving an emergency vehicle, the agency involved can not work the wreck. We, by law, are required to step aside, do nothing, and allow the Alabama State Troopers to conduct an independent investigation.

In a perfect world. Unless of course the State Labs are just signing off on the certification, which happened in WA and got all breathalizer evidence thrown out of court.

http://blog.seattle-duiattorney.com/archives/83

That's why we use ^^^

Well, that and that there are only two "state" labs and the backlog on a fuckin' autopsy is six weeks. Fingerprints are at a year. We'd never get anything from them if we had to wait on them for calibration.

I'm still trying to figure out if there is a hollywood FL?

There is

I sell a lot of used engines into that area!

It's the only pace in Florida I've ever actually been to. My grandmother used to live there.

I live in Hollywood, this is not the press our law enforcement needs. Last year I think south florida had one of the highest murder rate for police officers. Police officers caught on tape trying to fuck someone over aint going to help that statistic.

It's basically right by Ft. Lauderdale, and shares the name with the airport. Check it out:

FLL Diagram

Hollywood has a horse racetrack that I've lost plenty of money on betting simulcast.

Not to mention Hollywood police have had recent troubles in the past with several being brought up on corruption charges in 2007. Hollywood police don't have a good rep right now.

Oh, and I'll add that they need to be fired for being stupid.

The absolute worst thing that could happen to me if I rear-ended someone with no injuries. That's a maximum of one day off without pay and that's not even likely unless I'm just a dick about it or something.

But, now these guys have lost their retirements and their careers. I say that because once you get fired in law enforcement, you're through. When that new agency calls your old and HR tells them that you're not eligible for rehire, the new agency is going to immediately put your paperwork in File 13.

It's just not worth losing my retirement over something like this.

If the cops fabricated the case then they could easily get some other drunk to blow into the device and then claim it was her. Why would a jury think any part of thier evidence was credible after seeing video evidence of their illegal activities?

The room our unit is in is under 24-hour per day CCTV/audio monitoring. The actual recording devices are locked in a purpose built room in the Chief's Office. Only two keys to that office exist. The Chief has one and the City Manager has one.

Still, there is plenty of reasonable doubt with this one given the conspiracy. Many defense lawyers would love to take this case for nothing just for the publicity. A prosecutor would be wise to bury this one quietly or lose in a media circus.

I know that. What I'm showing you is what lengths we go to to make sure stuff like this doesn't happen.

Well, that is all good that they do that to keep everything honest. Lost of honest cops out there and then a few that are not so honest that make it bad for all.
Hard to tell one from the other some times.

Corrupt cops, and a drunken ditz cruising around with a live animal in her lap.


Fucking execute everyone.

They still would have needed probable cause to pull her over. Them hitting her does not create that probable cause. Basically she never should have been stopped in the first place and the whole thing gets thrown out. It's a technicality of course but after the shit they tried to pull the DA would be best just to let it go.

No, they don't. You can see I'm not defending the cops, but we've been over this at least a dozen times on this board. One was just a month ago.

Can you site a case, not that I doubt you, but I'd like to read up on that a little more.

Frankly, I DO doubt Elwood, no offense to the man.

The only thing I know of is the Terry Stop, which requires "reasonable suspicion", and most courts have treated traffic stops as a sort of Terry Stop.

There's also Delaware vs. Prouse (1979) in which SCOTUS decided that cops can NOT stop someone just to check for license and registration.

If there is a more recent case that loosens the rules I do not know if it.

EDIT: "Reasonable Suspicion" means "that a person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity based on specific and articulable facts and inferences."

EDIT 2: When Elwood says "The Supreme Court of the United States has determined that the police can pull you over at any time for any reason", he is most likely quite wrong.