Waller County: 'Illegal' Lane Change leads to Death

Ya. Cops need to be more cool headed when it comes to people these days. Everyone is on edge. I can see why she is frustrated (she moved over since he started speeding up)...but I expect her to be an idiot more than a cop to start yelling because she didn't put out her cig.

It's basic customer service skills. Keep your cool!

Cop: Unprofessional...expected better
Lady: Idiotic behavior to escalate the situation. Could have easily gotten off with a warning if she had been nice and explained why forgot to signal. Guess she figured it's better to create a situation for the court instead. #Fail.

 

She actually failed to use a turn signal twice in front of the cop, the first time at 1:16 the second time at 1:55. You commit 2 traffic violations in front of a cop in less than a minute, you are just begging them to pull you over.

 

The cop gave her many chances and was patient with her. This woman was begging for trouble.

 

I do admit that the easily may be stretching it since the system is biased for the cops, but what did she do to warrant having to exit her vehicle? The cop makes no mention of any charges or suspicion other than declaring it's his right. A lot of the articles also mentioned the cop violating procedures, so even his superiors think he did something wrong.

 

I didn't say the officer handled the situation well or even followed protocol. However she was hostile and a jury is not likely to give their tax money to reward her for being a hostile *******.

Whether or not he failed protocol is an entirely seperate issue and one for his superiors to address. Likewise when they punish him, I doubt what she called him or said to him is going to really figure in. Two wrong don't make a right and there is nothing in that video that is likely to result in a large settlement under different circumstances.

She wanted a fight and the foolish officer gave it to her and they both lost... One is dead and the other has quite possibly seen his life destroyed.

 

Are you kidding this officer was in the wrong he had no reason to get her out of the car he created this issue behind her smoking she has the right to smoke if she wants to all he had to do was give her the ticket or warning not get upset that she didn't want to put out her smoke.

 

Where she went wrong was by refusing to comply with a lawful order or direction of a police officer. When a cop tells you to put your cigarette out and get out of the vehicle, you have to do it.

 

They both were wrong...

When an officer tells you to put your cigarette out and exit the vehicle you do it.

She clearly wanted trouble... He was writing her a warning and she wanted someone to unload on and he fell for the bait and now he is facing losing his job and possibly more.

 

Cop can lawfully order you to put your cig out during a traffic violation stop?

 

Quannel X? Is that you?

 

Takes two to tango. One is trained and is more responsible for the unnecessary escalation imo.

 

Also unless the law has changed, there are Supreme Court case law that says if an officer orders you to get out of your vehicle you have to get out of your vehicle... I want to say it was Penn v. Mimms or a case similar to that.

 

Yeah, they can, but she would have been fine not doing so if she had followed the next lawful order asking her to step out of the vehicle. When she was overly combative with the officer, which was suspicious, he decided to conduct a more thorough investigation which would have required her to get out of the vehicle. Cops can do all sort of things to stretch out a stop if you mess with them or give them reason to think you are acting strange.

What's crazy about this is that the cop was being really cool, he didn't even give a ticket to the previous person he stopped who was speeding and wasn't going to give this woman a ticket either. She was just being an ass for no reason.

 

It doesn't always take two to tango, but I agree in this case both handled the situation poorly... However the depiction given by the media right after the event occurred is not consistent with the video.

Shame on her for purposely escalating the situation and shame on him for failing his training and engaging her. He should have waited for more officers. I suppose he would argue her odd behavior made her unpredictable but the situation calmed down once the female officer arrived.

 

Nay, we know his emotion got the better of him. But I'm not yet questioning the order to exit. I'm honestly curious if ordering someone in their car to put out a cig is a lawful order that must be follow. I don't think so.

 

It is a command.... The courts have held that an officer has the right in a traffic stop to command someone to get out of their vehicle and if they fail to do so it is an offense. It varies state to state and I am not as familiar with Texas as some others.... but the general answer is if they command you to exit the vehicle you have to exit the vehicle.

 

I have to disagree with you on the part of her having to put out her cigarette and exit the car he had no reason to ask her to do so she had no warrents and was not wanted her smoking in her car was no reason to have her get out he asked her why she was upset he didn't like her answer but he did ask and she told him.

 

You have to exit if ordered. He had no reason to order her to do that other than to be a prick. He will never and should never wear a badge again. He is not someone we need on the streets.

 

Ok i get that it was a order but he had no legal reason to ask her to leave the car.He is a officer who is trained to deal with these types of issues.

 

The law in general is that when an officer commands you to exit your vehicle you have to exit your vehicle. You can not like it, but that is the general law. I seriously doubt that the law has changed on that point in last 7-8 years.

The odd thing is she did do the one thing she didn't have to do legally, she answered him when he asked what was wrong...

Regardless there are some people that seem to think this is a game... I don't have to answer this, or you requested but didn't command me.... Etc. It is short sighted. When I am pulled over I want to avoid any issues and any reasonable requests or commands I will follow.