MojoMan Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 (edited) I was driving on Connecticut Avenue which is a major artery in Washington, DC and extends north to the Maryland suburbs. In the stretch I was driving, there are three lanes of travel in each direction and the speed limit is 35 or 40 MPH. It is divided with a concrete median. The blocks are long in this stretch, maybe 0.1 to 0.2 miles between. I had been driving southbound for about 1 mile at the time of the incident. Shortly after leaving a red light, I see red and blue lights and a police car is coming straight at me at a high rate of speed (in my lane, going the wrong way). I must add that traffic was moderate; it was moving in both directions. We both braked and I was able to get to the right to let him by (I was in my left lane...his "right" lane). Of course, since he was going against traffic, I'm pretty sure he would have come to a complete stop pretty soon (I had been the first off the stoplight so I was the start of the "pack"). I think this was extremely dangerous and I cannot conceive of a circumstance that justified that kind of driving. As I said, I had been driving southbound on CT for at least a mile...there were no incidents in either direction. In addition, the northbound side was moving...if there had been a major accident and he couldn't get there for the backup of cars, I could kinda see this. For those of you who have knowledge in this area, was this Kosher? Edited May 16, 2009 by MojoMan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuke'em ttg Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 That's T_bones Hood....he prolly ran outta Rum which led ta a 911 call and a civil servant doin his job ta save his life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
irish Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 It seems as though everything is permissible. I've seen some pretty crazy driving as well, along with them taking the liberty to park anywhere they please just to shoot the breeze. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Choppy Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 That's T_bones Hood....he prolly ran outta Rum which led ta a 911 call and a civil servant doin his job ta save his life That made me laugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 That most certainly is not permissible. Police are allowed certain latitude when pursuing a suspect/criminal or when responding to certain types of incidents, but not so much that they endager the public. Good luck in proving anything against a LEO that has gone beyond that rather indistinct line though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clubfoothead Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 I'm pretty sure each department has it's own rules. Lights were on so I try and give the cop the benefit of the doubt. Now when they are doing 60 in a 35 with no lights on that's BS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbimm Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 In my neighborhood the district station is right next to a school. First shift ends the same time that school lets out. Rather than sit in traffic trying to get off of work the cops regularly come blazing through with lights and sirens at full tilt. Mind you that this is a congested 2 lane(one in each direction) city street. No shoulder to take advantage of at all. They send cars scrambling in every direction for blocks only to pull into the station house parking lot and start transferring their belongings into their personal cars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tbimm Posted May 16, 2009 Share Posted May 16, 2009 Oh yeah..... Don't even get me started on how these morans on 3rd shift drive in their personal cars after they get off at 7am on the weekends. I have personally witnessed several full on drag races down what is usually a very quiet street at 7am on a sat or sun morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HowboutthemCowboys Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Nobody likes the cops until you need one. I give them the benefit of the doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swampnuts Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 Only time you're supposed to go against traffic is when the traffic in your direction is stopped or you didn't have immediate access to your lane of travel from where you were. ( Say you were in a parking lot on a divided street and had to respond to an emergency, but you couldn't turn left into your lane of travel. At that point you can go against traffic. ) It is never permissible to use emergency lights just to cut through traffic for personal reasons. Any officer that caused an accident doing this would be in some deep shiat. Many states don't have laws that protect police / fire / EMS from driving emergency traffic. Drivers are supposed to yield to emergency vehicles, but emergency drivers are supposed to take care and caution in their driving. If you plow through an intersection with lights / siren and take out a soccer mom because you didn't stop to check for clearance, your days of public service are probably done with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
detlef Posted May 17, 2009 Share Posted May 17, 2009 I'm pretty sure each department has it's own rules. Lights were on so I try and give the cop the benefit of the doubt. Now when they are doing 60 in a 35 with no lights on that's BS. That irks me as well. None the less, I cut them a lot of slack around here. Durham cops are notoriously underpaid and have a tough job to do. I suppose unless he's getting in a wreck driving that way, it's no harm, no foul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MojoMan Posted May 17, 2009 Author Share Posted May 17, 2009 Should the PD be responsible for cleaning the brown material on my underwear when I had to unexpectedly dodge the cruiser? The closing speed was at least 75 mpg when I first saw him. I'm an alert driver; if I were speeding and yakking on my cell phone or texting, etc. what coulda happened? I know that cops have a crappy job; I cut them slack with their general bullying attitudes. I just saw no justification for this. Can anyone see a situation where this could have been justified? As I said, the northbound lanes were moving about as well as the southbound (my direction of travel). I saw no incident in the few previous blocks to the north of me. If there were an incident on my side of the road, I thought proper procedure is for him to drive on the correct side of the street, lights and siren, people letting him by, he makes a U-ey, and gets to the incident. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_bone65 Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 That's T_bones Hood....he prolly ran outta Rum which led ta a 911 call and a civil servant doin his job ta save his life Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godtomsatan Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I think this was extremely dangerous and I cannot conceive of a circumstance that justified that kind of driving. The circumstance was the red and blue lights on his roof and the badge in his wallet. If you got any more to say about it, he has the end of the stick he carries on his belt he can show the bridge of your nose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Retrograde assault Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 I try to never get between a cop and a doughnut shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8tank Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 The circumstance was the red and blue lights on his roof and the badge in his wallet. If you got any more to say about it, he has the end of the stick he carries on his belt he can show the bridge of your nose. Many cops are like school teachers, especially the special ed ones, tard in, tard out. I love and respect law enforcement, unfortunately I am in a position to see both sides dramatically. The good side? What we see on tv. The bad? real life everyday... save a few. I know both with intimate knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.