There has been a lot of anti-law enforcement sentiment throughout the country in the past year. Justified or not, it’s there. It festers in online communities where misinformation about laws and legal procedure is distributed and shared with reckless abandon. Mixed in with false information about incidents involving police, there are certain nuggets of wisdom like “you don’t have to roll down your window to interact with an officer”.
Perhaps, in handful of states, there might be a loophole in the law that will allow someone in a particular situation to avoid rolling down the window for an officer, but that is certainly not the norm. And the dissemination of this type of false information to uneducated people is more and more frequently leading to tense and unnecessary confrontations with law enforcement.
The latest example involving this new breed of ‘ YouTube legal scholars’ comes out of South Florida, where Herbert Lindsey was pulled over for speeding and thought he could refuse to roll down his window for the FHP and refused to give troopers his ID. Thinking he was in the right, he gave the troopers his name, but not his license, and had his wife record the incident.
What transpired was predictable, after a continued refusal to roll down his window or give the trooper his ID, the trooper carefully broke the window, removed Mr. Lindsey from the vehicle and placed him under arrest for Resisting an Officer, Driving with a Suspended or Revoked License, and Failure to Obey. In addition to the charges, Lindsey’s three children were in the back of the vehicle and had to go through the ordeal according to ABC 25. Perhaps this will serve as a lesson to YouTube scholars and cop-blockers, but probably not.
Then follow the law criminal….. So now you think you can disobey law enforcement so you can record it and file your ghetto lawsuit….The should have charged them both with endangerment of their children also
What is unfortunate is Lindsey’ criminal disregard of the law by driving with a Suspended license. What is unfortunate is Lindsey’ lack of respect and failure to obey a lawful command. What is unfortunate is Lindsey acting a fool in front of his children and having to be arrested in front of his children. What is unfortunate is the woman claiming glass went everywhere, when the Rescue tool utilized to break the window eliminates that danger. What is not unfortunate is the fact that Lindsey got himself arrested by his own doing.
Had Lindsey immediately complied, he could have asked to speak with the trooper, outside of his children’s earshot, and perhaps only receive a ticket and directive to have a licensed driver come to the scene and drive them ALL away in their vehicle. Not every driver caught driving on a suspended license goes to jail; almost everyone who fails to comply, does.
The purpose for requiring a driver licence is also to be certain WHO the officer is dealing with. Had the trooper written a ticket using the verbal information Lindsey was going to give, AND if Lindsey were to give some other persons information, a warrant would issue in this other persons name. How would you like to get arrested for an offense you did not commit, because some criminal falsely gave your name and the officer did not verify it?
Obey the law. Comply with law enforcement when you don’t and you will survive the encounter unscathed.