• Welcome to the Two Wheeled Texans community! Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to register so that you can join the community and use the numerous features on the site. After registering, don't forget to post up an introduction!

question for police/MD Police video confiscation (merged)

Status
Not open for further replies.
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

Even IF that was how it was, fleeing is not a shooting offense. He stopped once, most of my LEO friends would consider that a good move and an indication he was not going to run.

Ever seen DPS end a chase? :lol2::eek2:

As for the video....it only shows him stopping after the first officer (ill advisedly in my opinion) curbs him.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

Yeah....right. You and I need to try an experiment sometime...with paintball guns of course..I'll point a gun at you...you try to draw your gun from wherever you have concealed it and get a round off before you get lit up. There's a little thing called the OODA loop which pretty much dictates that I win this little encounter.

I'm aware of all that. I went through essentially the same basic tactical training you did. We even practiced against a person 10 feet away with a drawn knife. Against a holstered pistol, the knifer won every time.

But depending on which place on the bike I'm storing my pistol (and I have three different positions), I could possibly utilize surprise to a degree.

BIKE-JACKER: "Get off the bike! Get off the bike!"

ME: Okay, okay! Here's the key, man! Here's the key!"

As I reach for the key:

travelposition.jpg
 
Last edited:
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

By the way, I purposely over-exposed the previous photo. The tint of the screen is actually very dark:

newsindscreen03.jpg
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

Me thinkest the Police are just pissed that Graber gave them a black eye. Charging him with videoing LEO without consent is rediculous. What did they think was on top of his helmet, a can of Spam?
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

Your assuming the only option open to rider is to draw a weapon,, He had another weapon at his disposal.. The bike,,,

Ummm, no I'm not. Tim's post referred to a gun fight if he was armed. Soooooo...... I'm referring to Tim trying to throw down against someone that is already pointing a firearm at him.

Not my fantasy... this was all Tim.:rofl:
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

Me thinkest the Police are just pissed that Graber gave them a black eye. Charging him with videoing LEO without consent is rediculous. What did they think was on top of his helmet, a can of Spam?

Perzackly. The jurisdiction in question, embarrassed by the wheels-off actions of one of their own after it all gets published to the Internet, may very well be attempting to send a message of intimidation: Make us look like tools and we'll do everything within our power to ruin your life.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

The plain clothes cop was clearly having a bad day, I'll cut him some slack, we all know that a policeman's lot is not a happy one.

But to arrest the rider after the video appears on Youtube and accuse him of make a 'surreptitious' video with a helmet camera is beyond the pale. Whatever supervisor made that call is the one who should be fired.

That was in Maryland, a sinkhole of state with an out-of-control government.

Here in Texas, I wonder what the policy of most of our law enforcement agencies regarding traffic stops by officers in civilian clothes driving unmarked cars.

This would seem to my untrained eye to be a highly dangerous practice. If the rider had a legal concealed weapon then I doubt if I would have voted convict the rider had he gone to trial after shooting the officer based on fear for his own life. And of course, even had our hypothetical CCW rider been convicted, the plain clothes officer would still have been injured or dead.

Certainly the Maryland car jackers have some inspiration from this unfortunate incident.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

If the rider had a legal concealed weapon then I doubt if I would have voted convict the rider had he gone to trial after shooting the officer based on fear for his own life. And of course, even had our hypothetical CCW rider been convicted, the plain clothes officer would still have been injured or dead.

Well, my overly optimistic venting about the shootout scenario aside, Scott B. is actually very right in his assertion that the biker would've most likely been the one hurt or killed in a firefight. And actually, that would be just as bad an outcome (if not worse) as a rider or motorist accidently killing some full-throttle, over-zealous supercop out of confusion. This is one of the reasons most of us are so sensitive about badge-heavy cops. Nobody looks good and society as whole loses any time one of these guys' wheels fly off. They either make bad decisions leading to disaster, or cause citizens to make bad decisions with similar results.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

if you have a helmet cam running, and get pulled over, are you allowed to record it? for that matter, could you start the recorder on an iphone etc and record the stop?


Without all the side conversations about whose junk is bigger and who the REAL Wyatt Earp is...

Yes, you can legally record the stop in Texas. Only one party needs to know a conversation is being recorded. It changes a little depending on the location and whether or not it's a "public place".

On the other side --- as a police officer, if I see you recording me and any type of offense is alleged, I can seize your recording equipment as evidence.

Bottom line, don't be a tool and try to create some type of controversy and there won't be any.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

The long version is kind of interesting, even if without sound. Yes he's bursts past the bus, but for most of the rest of the video, he's paced by a Bondo'd Honda Civic! He's not running 100 through traffic all the time.

About 2 minutes later he exits the freeway at a normal speed, and stops buy himself in traffic. Then a "unmarked car" which really appears to be a civilian ride as there are no lights going just crowds him as he's already stopped.

This version is also interesting because you can see the "officier's" face, he is clearly surprised and concerned with the marked car pulls up, and hides his weapon behind his back, moves behind the bike from the uniformed officer and quickly holsters the weapon, all without ever showing a badge.

The seizure smells badly of harrassment, especially coming five days later.

 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

That was in Maryland, a sinkhole of state with an out-of-control government.

Here in Texas, I wonder what the policy of most of our law enforcement agencies regarding traffic stops by officers in civilian clothes driving unmarked cars.

Speaking of Maryland, and how it compares to Texas... earlier this week, I had a call from one of our company facilities in MD about an abandoned vehicle. Seems this car broke down and the driver managed to coast off the road and into the very narrow driveway of one of our buildings. This particular building has a parking lot around the back for half a dozen vehicles, and the abandoned car was preventing my people from getting any company vehicles in or out of the facility.

So the manager there called the local police, who came out and looked at the car, but said they couldn't do anything because it was on private property.

At this point, the manager called me, since I've got connections with tow vendors we use to retrieve pooped-out company vehicles. Well, I've got to get it ok'd by the local fleet manager, because these tow companies bill against his budget, and he won't approve it.
A. Our invoicing system has no provisions for non-company vehicles.
B. We have a towing contract, but no sort of impound/storage contract.

Anyway, blah blah blah, back to the MD vs TX comparison. Would police in Texas arrange to tow/impound a vehicle abandoned on private property?
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

In Texas, we have brush guards.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

The long version is kind of interesting, even if without sound. Yes he's bursts past the bus, but for most of the rest of the video, he's paced by a Bondo'd Honda Civic! He's not running 100 through traffic all the time.

About 2 minutes later he exits the freeway at a normal speed, and stops buy himself in traffic. Then a "unmarked car" which really appears to be a civilian ride as there are no lights going just crowds him as he's already stopped.

This version is also interesting because you can see the "officier's" face, he is clearly surprised and concerned with the marked car pulls up, and hides his weapon behind his back, moves behind the bike from the uniformed officer and quickly holsters the weapon, all without ever showing a badge.

The seizure smells badly of harrassment, especially coming five days later.


I don't know... here's a guy who doesn't turn his head very far for lane changes, but at the 3 minute mark, he turns all the way around to look behind him while rolling down an off ramp. I'm kind of wondering what drew his attention.

Rather than the officer looking "surprised" it looks more like his focus has been on the rider, and he takes a second to verify that the approaching car is in fact the marked vehicle he was expecting it to be. His gun has been in the hand farthest from approaching traffic the whole time because it's also the hand farthest from the biker. If anything, I've got to give him credit for not actually pointing the gun at him, but just having it out and ready. After he reholsters it, he doesn't make any effort to conceal the gun either.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

I noticed when the car crowded him he started backing up. I've had cars crowd me and I always try and get to where I can move around them. I've also had drivers roll down their window and yell at me, so it not unreasonable to think it was an angry vigalanty motoris. Then the driver jumps out and pulls a gun? Not sure what I would have done but, "get the heck outa here" would have crossed my mind
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

I noticed when the car crowded him he started backing up. I've had cars crowd me and I always try and get to where I can move around them. I've also had drivers roll down their window and yell at me, so it not unreasonable to think it was an angry vigalanty motoris. Then the driver jumps out and pulls a gun? Not sure what I would have done but, "get the heck outa here" would have crossed my mind

+1

The cop's combination of pulling the weapon and filing the charge of wiretapping points to a man on a power trip

Please, pulling a gun when approaching a vehicle where you can't see who is inside and where their hands are is one thing, pullling one on a motorcyclist simply for speeding means your "cop heartbeat" is outpacing your brain.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

Me thinkest the Police are just pissed that Graber gave them a black eye. Charging him with videoing LEO without consent is rediculous. What did they think was on top of his helmet, a can of Spam?

The DA's office is who filed the case and got the warrant. The police may hasve brought the issue to the attention of the DA but the DA is the one who makes the final call on whether to file the case or not.

Here in Texas, I wonder what the policy of most of our law enforcement agencies regarding traffic stops by officers in civilian clothes driving unmarked cars.

.

We don't do it. However in this case I beleive there was a marked squad already behind the MC rider when the UC pulled in front of the MC.

Anyway, blah blah blah, back to the MD vs TX comparison. Would police in Texas arrange to tow/impound a vehicle abandoned on private property?

At my PD we have a form (affidavit really) that you fill out attesting that the car is not your's and has been on your property for 48 hours or longer. Once you sign it we then tow it to the pound.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

Here in Texas, I wonder what the policy of most of our law enforcement agencies regarding traffic stops by officers in civilian clothes driving unmarked cars.

Traffic stops, not sure... but search and someone should be able to find something where two guys got hassled by the Sheriff's dept when they filmed part of a drug raid across the street.

Here we go...
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5439170.html

hmm some similar cases...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09225/990637-455.stm?cmpid=latest.xml
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

The DA's office is who filed the case and got the warrant. The police may hasve brought the issue to the attention of the DA but the DA is the one who makes the final call on whether to file the case or not.



We don't do it. However in this case I beleive there was a marked squad already behind the MC rider when the UC pulled in front of the MC.



At my PD we have a form (affidavit really) that you fill out attesting that the car is not your's and has been on your property for 48 hours or longer. Once you sign it we then tow it to the pound.

Jeez Scott. If you keep posting reasonable responses we'll never get this flame war started. :giveup:
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

We don't do it. However in this case I beleive there was a marked squad already behind the MC rider when the UC pulled in front of the MC.

I don't know. There's no indication of how long the marked LEO was there, other than the biker had been stopped long enough to be crowded, back up some, get yelled at, turn off the bike, take off his gloves and get off the bike. At that point he looks back and the marked LEO is just getting out of his car. Unless he was back there lolly-gagging or whatever, he had just gotten there.

also when the biker looks back while riding, there's no sign of a marked LEO with lights on, but I may have just missed it.

I'm not supporting a full on LEO bash, but he certainly could have used more wisdom, charging at the dude and pulling a gun was not wise IMO. Nothing about him (his clothes: jeans and under armor sweater) and his car says LEO. For all the bike knew, he could have been bike jacking him
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

The DA's office is who filed the case and got the warrant. The police may hasve brought the issue to the attention of the DA but the DA is the one who makes the final call on whether to file the case or not.

I meant POLICE in the "they" sense.

There is a LOT to be gleaned from this case. What disturbs me the most (besides the shortness of the shorts the 65ish-year old female crossing gaurd at Jamy's school decides to wear on warm days) is that "they" decided to file charges on the cycleist in the first place. Why are they so angry? Was it because he posted the video, or because he commited such a heinous offense?
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

I believe TX is one of those states where only one party has to be aware of video/audio recording. In other words, you couldn't voyeuristically record a conversation between two people unbeknown to either of them. But you could record a conversation between you and someone, else even if the other person didn't know you were doing it. That varies from state to state, though.


My neoghbor...who is a State District Judge told me that that is Federal. You can record anything...or video anything as long as ONE of you knows about it...and since you are the one doing it...you are covered. I saw the video also and I will post the link...

http://carlosmiller.com/2010/04/16/...-wiretapping-charge-for-filming-cop-with-gun/


The cop should get the BEATING of his life...then be fired and his cop credentials removed forever...or better yet...shot...then this would never happen again. On second thought, maybe not shot...just parked in jail for a while. Bubba needs a boyfriend.
 
Re: question for police regarding video/sound recording

My neoghbor...who is a State District Judge told me that that is Federal. You can record anything...or video anything as long as ONE of you knows about it...and since you are the one doing it...you are covered. I saw the video also and I will post the link...

http://carlosmiller.com/2010/04/16/...-wiretapping-charge-for-filming-cop-with-gun/


The cop should get the BEATING of his life...then be fired and his cop credentials removed forever...or better yet...shot...then this would never happen again. On second thought, maybe not shot...just parked in jail for a while. Bubba needs a boyfriend.

Since I can't get the link to open I am assuming you are still talking about the original video...or has this thread begun to degenerate into a random cop bashing thread?

Anyways...making the dangerous assumption that we are staying on topic:

Interesting....yet another person who is judging someone based on five seconds of video.

Do you judge yourself by the same standard?

If I were to look at your life do you suppose I could find five seconds that I could use to say you need the "BEATING of your life" or be shot?

Some of you might want to take a long look in the mirror before making posts such as these.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top