Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Citizen's Arrest!

A video of this story was on the link with the "son shot by father, mistook for turkey" but I couldn't figure out how to single out that video to post here. It's just the cop's boss issuing the standard "but cops are special and he did nothing wrong when he violated the law, you wouldn't want the cops to spend an inordinate amount of time searching for a legal parking space would you?" And for the "I hate cop bashers" here. It's not about what the cop did, as it's fairly benign. It's about the attitude that comes with it and the standard rhetoric that follows trying to excuse everything cops do. Some PR professionals should try to get to cops like this and explain how to act when caught with your hand in the cookie jar, but that would require cops that actually thought they could make a mistake or do something wrong. Gotta wonder how the young attorney will pay in the furture for his troubles.


Turning the Tables
Citizen Issues Parking Ticket to Cop
BY MATT DAVIS

A CITIZEN who watched a cop illegally park, then walk into a Chinese restaurant to wait for his food, has issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated parking violations.

Eric Bryant says he was sitting in the SanSai Japanese Grill on NW 21st and Hoyt on March 7 when he witnessed Officer Chad Stensgaard pull up and park his patrol car illegally, next to a "No Parking" sign.

Stensgaard walked into the restaurant wearing his police uniform, but did not make any arrests or citations. Instead, he turned his attention to the basketball game on television, according to Bryant. When Bryant asked Stensgaard about his vehicle, Stensgaard allegedly acknowledged being in a no-parking zone but asked Bryant, "If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be able to park in front of your house or have to park three blocks away and walk there?"

Bryant returned to his seat, and says shortly afterward he watched a restaurant employee hand the officer a plastic bag before he left. Unfortunately for Officer Stensgaard, Bryant had recently passed the Oregon bar exam, and decided to pursue the matter further.

"If he had acknowledged and corrected his error, we could have avoided this whole thing," says Bryant. "But instead, he kept watching basketball and told me he wasn't doing anything wrong."

Now, using ORS 153.058, Bryant�as a private citizen�has initiated violation proceedings against Officer Stensgaard. Bryant alleges Stensgaard was in violation of state statutes on illegal parking, illegal stopping, obeying parking restrictions on state highways, and illegal operation of an emergency vehicle or ambulance�the violations carry fines totaling $540.

Officer Stensgaard has received a Multnomah County summons to appear in traffic court on May 23. Meanwhile Bryant denies he is just stirring up trouble.

"Citizens should be concerned that he used his status as an officer of the law as justification for breaking the law," he says.

Stensgaard declined comment through the cops' office of public information.

I think Mr. Bryant has a point. The cops have all the same responsibilities as a citizen and those imposed by being a cop.
If ya want special privilidges become an elected official.
Jim

I'm thinking Mr. Bryant just might win one of them there Pyrric victories. I believe that is what it is called when you win but lose so much it ain't hardly worth it.

BCR

Well, all you have to do is think about it this way. Attorney Bryant, on his way to court and in a hurry to get lunch before court, parks in the no parking zone...then upon being approached by the cop, informs the cop how important and special he is, how he needs to be quick, and that though it's a no parking zone, he's doing nothing wrong by parking in it due to his special status. You don't have to be real smart to figure how that plays out.

Have to wonder how it will play out in court. Will the judge follow the law, or keep the cops on his side? At any rate, I suspect he'll be "known" from now on by the local PD. He'd better mind his P's and Q's on the roadways.

Kind of what I meant. If he "wins" he ain't going to be able to break wind in that town without being hassled for something. Environmental pollution if nothing else.

BCR

The LAW is the LAW,I agree officer should have moved squad car,if he starts getting harassed,that's another law being broken.To Protect and Serve.

At the supermarket I shop at, the police and firemen do not park in the parking spaces. They park in the no parking zones right up against the curb. I think it's dangerous because it blocks the view walking off the curb. My Aunt got hit walking off the grocery curb a couple years ago and I think it's dangerous to the shoppers for anyone to park there.

As long as cops wear those big shiny reflective sunglasses, and tailored shirts, it ain't gonna change.

One of my favorite bumper stickers was of a cop talking to a kid, and saying "I'm gonna kick your ass boy, and get away with it :)"

Regardless of what one thinks about this, only a jerk would push for someone to be charged with all these citations for being parked illegally. Something called discretion.

No, that kind of flaunting the law, and holier than thou attitude is EXACTLY the type scenario that would get a cop to really pile on a citizen.

And that is the whole point.

Of course, the "bad" cops are the ones who get the publicity, and the good ones are just taken as a matter of course. So I want to reassure all the LEOs here that I DO think you're good guys, and I DON'T think that you would ever do this.

The easiest way around this would have been for him to say, "I screwed up, and I'm sorry and won't do it again." But pride is a powerful force, and often manifests itself in our lives in very negative and destructive ways.

Penny

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That's true, i've transported drunken Judges who were behind the wheel home, instead of jail. Let speeding ADA's go with no citation, both cases when i worked in patrol. These things happen everyday across America. You've got to know what battles to pick and the ones to walk away from, when your working for and around elected officials.

In the cases i described it's known as job retention, your own job. This is due to the personnal friendship between my boss, an elected official and the Judge and the District Attorney General, all of which are elected. All that it takes is a word spoken or a phone call, that someone needs to explain to that deputy, how things work. It's like working for the mob, your either in or your out.

It's not written in policy, it's just a known fact, they're hands off. It's an unwritten perk of the elected office. If you break that rule as an LEO, you'll pay professionally, you'll either be fired or screwed with so much, that you'll quit just to get away from the harassment. It'll follow you to the next agency, if you ever get hired again anywhere, most times you'll be blackballed.

If you check around in your community you'll find former LEO's, who were going to do the right thing. Take care of business no matter who they were. They're probably not working in LE now, due to either being canned or quitting due to the BS, and have been blackballed, by word of mouth from working at other agencies.

A Chicago cop, questioned about his parking manners, would have kicked snot out of the lawyer. ''Hey, you got a problem with dis?''

It's amazing how many people think that in whatever way they are "special" means that it's okay to break the law or do what everyone else is not supposed to do. This especially plays itself out when parking is involved.

Several times (when I have been driving around trying to find a free parking space so I can get to class), I have caught a student pulling into what should have been my space in the faculty/staff parking log. When I say to the student, "You probably don't realize this, but this is faculty parking only," the student responds, "Well, I just have to run inside for a minute (to turn this paper in, to talk to my advisor, to pick up a book, etc.)." It really makes me angry. So I call Public Safety and ask them to come over and ticket... but whether they do or not is another story.

I also remember once when I was at the grocery store parking lot, and saw a woman from my church getting out of her car parked in a handicapped space. I asked her what had happened to her, that she was now parking there (I really thought she had had some sort of accident, etc.) She said that she didn't have a handicapped permit, but, "I deserve to park there because I'm old!" Come on... she wasn't so old that she couldn't walk like the rest of us!

That same grocery store has two of its closest parking spaces marked with a sign, "For expectant and new mothers ONLY." You can't imagine how many times I've seen men get out of vehicles there, and also women old enough to be grandmothers (but with no children). I always want to point out to them that they shouldn't be parking there, but in the end, they'll probably just curse at me and go on inside. It's not worth it.

So I applaud this young lawyer for what he did... but like someone else said, I hope he doesn't pay a price for it.

Penny

It'll be interesting how it all plays out. It may or maynot even get on the court docket. A couple of phone calls here and there and it'll be taken care of. I am suprised that the Magistrate/Judicial Commissioner, even wrote the summons. Most cases involving LEO's and violation of laws in this state anyway, have to be run by the DAG first. The DAG's Office will present the case if the laws been broken.

Whenever I hear "citizens arrest" it reminds me of the episode wherein Gomer Pyle did same to Barney Fife.

Can't help but grin over it.

[quote=Mannlicher]As long as cops wear those big shiny reflective sunglasses, and tailored shirts, it ain't gonna change.

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So that's the reason!!! shirts and sunglasses. I was always wondering what the cause of LE problems were. I was always told it was due to other factors, such as selection issues, training issues & management issues. Sorta like businessmen in Italian suits or other examples of "hey look" i've got money.

This is just a question, and i would like to hear your opinion. So what do you recommend that LEO's wear, that would fit the public's perception of "officer friendly" ?

I have no doubt abuses do occur but I always assumed emergency personnel/vehicles are allowed to park in normally restricted parking areas because of the possibility of having to respond to an emergency call in a hurry.

Italian suits work for me!!!! LOL