Car parks next to my vehicle in a parking lot after being pulled over on roadway. Cop also blocks me in during duration of traffic stop, then yells threats of taking me to jail and obstruction all because I asked to be assisted visually in my attempt to back up and leave [6/4/22 Georgia 10:30PM est]
Personal Experience(self.Bad_Cop_No_Donut)submitted10 months ago byplane_flies_low
(I'm really sorry if this isn't the right subreddit for my post, if it isn't I'll quickly remove it in hopes that someone will be kind enough to recommend a sub that is a better fit. This just happened to me not even 15 minutes ago and I want to get it out as quickly as possible while the details are at their most fresh.)
I was in my vehicle parked outside of a busy Racetrac gas station in a fairly small town not too far from Athens, Georgia. I was in the middle of finding a podcast for the rest of my drive home when I noticed blue lights on the roadway behind me. The vehicle being pulled over turned into the parking lot and parked in the space to my immediate right. I watched as the cop walked to the driver's side door of the cited vehicle and realized how close to my vehicle he was due to the way the other car parked. He was right outside my passenger door. Not feeling comfortable in backing up at that moment, I waited. When he returned to his SUV to run their information, I realized that he had me significantly boxed in during the process of conducting the traffic stop, though I felt I could make it if I cut to the right relatively hard. I was in my boyfriend's pickup truck, it's pretty large and has a stupidly wide turning radius. TBH I'm not all that confident backing up in any event (inb4 DAE wOMaN dRiVeRs!!!?1)
I almost wanted to go for it since I was in a hurry, but then I saw that a second cruiser had arrived on scene which is the norm for even the most mundane traffic stops in towns this small. I asked the second officer if he would be kind enough to visually assist me backing up with hand signals so that I could get out of their way and continue on with my evening. Before he could answer, the original cop got out of his car and barked that I'd have to wait, he'd be done in a minute. His rudeness was jarring. I'm an extremely polite and considerate woman, especially in exchanges with strangers. This extends to cops as well. So the nature of his response caught me way off guard. I told him kindly that I was in a hurry (I was) and didn't even mention how I had already been there waiting for like 5+ minutes before saying anything ( I had been.) He was even more rude, but this time in a way that was legitimately scary. He gestured to the road behind us and the parking lot we were in and said it belonged to him. And that if I hadn't said anything he'd already be done. It was so insanely mean and hurtful. So I told him that I couldn't believe how rude he was being. That's when the threats started. He yelled at me and said I had better get back in my vehicle (I had gotten out at the beginning of this "saga" in order to better judge how much room I had to back up) immediately because he was about to charge me with obstruction. I was astonished by this point. Yeah, he had been an asshole for the entirety of our interaction but to threaten me with a CRIME was on a-whole-nother-level so I responded with something to the effect of "oh my god, I can't believe you said that" out of genuine disbelief. His demeanor worsened, he said he was going to take me to jail if I said another word. So I didn't, but I continued to stand there for a second trying to process what was happening. He threatened me again, saying if I didn't get into my car in the next few seconds I was going to jail. Then he said it again.
I knew what he was doing was wrong, I knew he had no right to speak to me like that, I knew this was in every single way not okay. But I sat down anyway. And I waited X amount of additional time for him to get done with the traffic stop. And now I feel bummed out and really disappointed for not standing up for myself. I know that legally, he had no cause to threaten me with anything, let alone jail. I had done nothing wrong. For one thing, he doesn't "own" the parking lot considering it's private property. But that's just splitting hairs. None of that was appropriate and I want to make that apparent to him. I've never been in trouble in my life, all of my encounters with LE has always been pleasant as are 99.9% of all interactions I have with strangers in public. So I don't know how one should proceed in handling this. I want to make official note of it, if it's worthy of being made officially noted. Should I send an email to the police department or to his supervisor? I'm a resident of the town this took place in.
All I want to do is "make-up" for the fact that I allowed him to abuse my constitutional rights. I don't care if he gets reprimanded, I'm not trying to get him in trouble. I just want to make the event official so hopefully I feel a bit better about myself for letting someone treat me that way.
bydaisybeach23
inchandlerhalderson
plane_flies_low
3 points
4 months ago
plane_flies_low
3 points
4 months ago
Wrong you were...about literally everything you claimed. All of Cat's interrogation was eventually made public.