League City: Bogus cop and another mope

[seamusTX]

In League City Tuesday around 7 p.m. a man driving a black Chevrolet Silverado pickup in the 1100 block of League City Parkway pulled over a motorist and cursed him for a traffic faux pas. The pickup truck had flashing red and blue lights.

The driver was described as "a heavyset Hispanic male."

The motorist got the license number of the pickup truck. A police spokesman said the vehicle was registered to an oil and gas company. The driver had not be identified or traced at press time of the newspaper.

[League City Police Sgt. Bryan] Campbell asked drivers to call police to report incidents involving something other than a police patrol car making a traffic stop.

“Always err on the side of caution,” Campbell said. “Don’t hesitate to call police, and we’ll be able to respond to figure out what’s going on.”

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/307830" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Please remind your wives, girlfriends, children who drive, relatives, etc., about this kind of thing. Many people are so flustered by a traffic stop that they will comply with anything a bogus cop tells them to do.

In unrelated news, though only a short distance away, a man became annoyed with a neighbor who was playing loud music at 2 a.m. in the 1700 block of League City Parkway. The two parties had words. Then the offended man allegedly went home, retrieved a handgun, confronted the noisy neighbor, and fired shots into the air.

He was charged with class B disorderly conduct by discharging a firearm.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/307834" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This mope is real lucky they didn't hit him with deadly conduct.

That said, loud music, barking dogs, and other constant noise are extremely annoying. I can sympathize with the desire to knock on the door and toss a fragmentation grenade inside. Fortunately they don't sell those at Toys R Us.


- Jim

[seamusTX]

This is interesting.

League City police now say that the man who was reported as "cussing out" the driver was a deputy U.S. marshal, and the vehicle was registered to the U.S. Marshals Service (not an oil and gas company as stated yesterday).

A spokesman for the U.S. Marshals Service said the "errant driver caused the on-duty deputy to wreck," and the marshal stopped to check on the welfare of the other driver.

The spokesman said the marshal did not use profane language or treat the other driver rudely.

No charges were filed, and League City police consider the case closed.

http://galvestondailynews.com/story/308110" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

My first question would be, where is the damage report? Most native speakers of English define the word wreck to meaning the vehicle is damaged, undriveable, and requires significant repairs.

Well, no harm, no foul.

- Jim

[seamusTX]

On Saturday the newspaper printed a correction, saying that the U.S. marshal did not have a wreck.

The words not and no have caused any amount of grief by being left out or put in my accident.

- Jim

[KingofChaos]

I hate when things like this happen and the LEO isn't punished. It makes all the officers look bad. It also makes the good officers who are their supervisors look just as responsible for not doing anything about it. The idea of PDs and agencies "protecting their own" bothers me. Selectively enforcing the rules on themselves isn't one of the benefits of their jobs, northeirtheirt

[seamusTX]

If I look at this incident objectively, the driver who complained says the marshal cussed him. The marshal says he was checking the other driver's well-being. There is no evidence either way.

Nobody got hurt. There was no false arrest, search, property damage, or anything like that.

Speaking as the devil's advocate, the one thing that strikes me as out-of-line is a plain-clothes federal officer making a traffic stop. They have no authority to enforce state laws unless they see a felony in progress.

Also making a traffic stop is dangerous enough for local police who have already called in the stop to their dispatcher. The marshal put his life in danger for a rather specious reason.

Marshals do have nationwide authority to arrest suspects or fugitives who are wanted on federal charges. That is not the case here. They also have a few other duties such as protecting federal judges and witnesses. There is no suggestion that he was performing an official function here.

- Jim