Posted on 06/14/2014 4:49:16 AM PDT by moonshinner_09
A police officer lost his take-home car for 10 days after not activating equipment that would have showed whether he was speeding, according to newly released Internal Affairs records.
A Coral Springs resident filed a complaint saying he saw Officer Justin Miller, 38, speeding in his Plantation police cruiser east on the Sawgrass Expressway between Coral Ridge Drive in Coral Springs and a Florida's Turnpike toll on Nov. 12.
The resident said he followed the police car and caught Miller going 85 mph and 65 mph through the toll plaza. The speed limits are 65 mph and 25 mph, respectively. The resident posted a video of the speeding on YouTube. Miller's actions "constitute a reckless and arrogant disregard for the law," he wrote in his complaint.
Police officials said Miller, a Plantation officer since 2006, was off duty at the time and headed to a mandatory deposition. He received two hours of overtime pay for the courthouse assignment.
Miller also received a written reprimand for failing to notify the department once he started his drive and for not turning on the equipment inside his car intended to catch speeding cops. Investigators were unable to prove Miller was speeding.
(Excerpt) Read more at sun-sentinel.com ...
After the second complaint, investigators found 46 incidents over a 30-day period when Miller drove at least 15 mph over the posted limit.
Only 15 of those were found to be justified, according to records. The highest speeds were 82 mph in a 25 mph zone and 97 mph in a 45 mph zone. They also said he went 84 mph on Interstate 595, according to records.) This will teach him no car for 10 days..
this Coral Springs resident hopefully remained anonymous...and if not things will mysteriously start to go wrong
He was probably just running slightly faster than traffic. There is little worse on the highway than a cop doing the speed limit in an area where traffic routinely runs 15-25 mph faster. The 1/4 mile slug of close-packed traffic that quickly accrues is a real danger.
85 on the Ronald Reagan Turnpike? Hope he wasn’t hanging out in the passing lane slowing up traffic.
Agreed. Although if he was indeed going through a toll booth at 65 mph, I’d have to say that’s a bit much.
But yes, IMO going considerably slower than the flow of traffic, even if the flow of traffic is going 15-25 mph faster than the posted speed limit, is often more dangerous than the speeder – tailgating and aggressive driving, i.e. frequent lane changes, driving too fast for the weather conditions, in heavily congested traffic, being a whole other matter.
I’ve seen more accidents and near accidents caused by drivers going slower than the traffic flow and even going below the posted limit, especially in the fast or passing lane.
Just the other week I was on the long, straight, flat stretch of US 30 between York PA and the Susquehanna River where there is only one exit but that exit has a very long merge lane. The posted limit is 55 mph but most drivers including tractor trailers are typically going 65 – 75 mph (I’ve been known to do about 80 ;) ). But I came upon one driver the other week who was poking along at about 50 mph and to make matters worse, was occasionally applying his brakes for no apparent reason and slowing down to 45. Cars and trucks were suddenly breaking as they came up on him and then trying to get over to the left lane to get around him, and once in the left lane, had to quickly accelerate as to not get rear ended by those already in the left lane.
That guy was more dangerous IMO than most of the rest of us who were doing more than the posted limit.
What the hell? Everyone knows there are three undeniable benefits to LEO:
free donuts
no speed limits
access to citizens sacrificial dogs
So what? 20 over on the freeway is nothing. I routinely get passed by MD troopers when I’m rolling at 80 with the flow. And these guys are lout in force.
Seems like the do gooder needs something g else to do.
That depends on the “toll booth.” Often there are a pair of Fast Pass lanes to the far left, then a few normal toll booths, automated and/or attended. Here is nothing unsafe about going through a Fast Pass lane at 65.
That guy you describe should stay off modern high speed limited access highways.
Is that the same thing as an EZ Pass lane? I think that if you go to fast through one of those, it can’t read the transponder but I could be wrong. But OTOH, the whole idea of EZ Pass is to keep traffic moving. I had one when I lived in MD when I was commuting regularly to Annapolis and DC, going through the Fort McHenry or Harbor Tunnels and it was great not having to come to a full stop. And it really came in handy for toll roads when I’d go to NJ to visit my brother and vay-cay on LBI. I took my then 11 year old nephew with me and every time we went through the EZ pass, he’d put up his hands up in the air like we were on a roller coaster ride. : ),
That guy you describe should stay off modern high speed limited access highways.
Yes. And one might think that it was some elderly guy or gal or someone driving an old clunker car that couldn’t go any faster, or a Mennonite, but no. I’ve come across this same driver on my commute before. He’s not elderly, he’s a long haired bearded guy, probably in his 40’s and is driving a late model dark green Camry – I recognized his car.
I don’t know what his deal is, (environmentalist or just plain crazy?). I was behind him going through an intersection in York and evidently he thought I was too close to him (and no, I don’t tailgate) but he suddenly braked and slowed down to a crawl, slowing down to about 5 mpg as we were going through the intersection. As we got to the next red light, he stopped about 3 car lengths behind the car in front of him. And then I stopped behind him, a good ½ car length behind him. But that was evidently too close as he started giving me the finger and waving his hands making a hand motion that indicated he thought I was too close to him. Then he put his car in reverse and started backing up toward me while giving me the one finger salute and from what I could tell, was cursing up a storm at me.
When we got to Rt. 30 he was only going about 30 mpg in a 55 mpg zone and when I moved to the left lane to pass him, he swerved in front of me, was driving between the two lanes and did this several times to keep me and other drivers from passing him.
I pulled out my cell phone and turned on the video recording and started filming his antics and captured his license plate number in case he hit me. With that (he saw me filming him) and with other drivers flashing their lights and blowing their horns at him, he finally gave up and let me and others pass him. I’ve come across him a few times since and he’s always driving far below the posted limit and is a real danger – a slow driver combined with a propensity for road rage.
Good God. Tell the citizen to go home and find something useful to do.
“Who Cares”
“Good God. Tell the citizen to go home and find something useful to do.
“Who Cares””
Cops routinely get arrogant in their assumptions that the laws don’t apply to them. His behavior DOES matter, because it shows his attitudes. It is even worse when an entire department gets in on it, everyone flagrantly ignoring laws. What it leads to is a back scratching mentality that says “screw the public.” It leads to cops doing drunk driving and other crap because they know Team Blue will cover for them.
“Miller going 85 mph and 65 mph through the toll plaza. The speed limits are 65 mph and 25 mph”
20mph over in a 65 isn’t exactly appropriate for ANYONE. And 40 over in a 25 is inexcusable. Excessively ignoring traffic laws is NOT a perk of being a cop.
Big corruption starts with SMALL corruption.
“That guy was more dangerous IMO than most of the rest of us who were doing more than the posted limit. “
Sorry, but those other drivers were creating their own danger by choosing to excessively speed. If they were not speeding, there would be no hazard.
The REAL story here is that NO ONE is taking umbrage at the town being named Plantation.
Wouldn’t that come under the RACIST file????
Sure thing granny
There is speeding; there is excessive speeding; there is speeding while driving aggressively, i.e. tailgating and or aggressively changing lanes or going too fast for the conditions; and obviously driving under the influence or driving while texting; and then there is keeping pace with the normal flow of traffic, which on most major highways is doing more than the posted speed limit, often a good 20 mph above the posted limit.
Today’s roads, the major interstate highways at least and those mostly in non-urban heavily congested areas, were actually designed for high speed (70-75 mpg or even greater) and most cars today have no problem and are actually optimally designed for going at that speed. Today’s cars are safer too with the advent of crumple zones, collapsible steering columns, three point seat restraints, air bags, etc. and better overall handling and traction.
Speed limits on interstate highways were reduced to 55 mph by an act of congress in 1974 (and also thanks to Tricky Dick who wanted it reduced to 50 mph) because of the oil crisis and in hopes that the lower speeds would reduce fuel consumption – it didn’t reduce fuel consumption nearly to the extent as it was thought that it would. And it originally had nothing to do with safety – that was just something they tried to use as a “selling point” for the lower speed limits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Maximum_Speed_Law
But the driver I described was not only not keeping up with the flow of traffic or even doing the speed limit; he was going below it and even more importantly, he was not maintaining a consistent speed and was slowing down to 45 for no apparent reason other than to pi$$ off other drivers behind him. I still maintain that he is more of a hazard than drivers who are driving even 25 mpg over the posted limit. YMMV. : ),
Except for on some roads; for instance on windy roads with many hidden entrances, in residential areas, in school zones, in heavily congested areas with a lot of exits and entrances with short ramps and frequent red lights; most posted speed limits are IMO way too low and they are made artificially low, not for safety mind you, but for nothing more than “revenue enhancement”.
I drive the same stretch of Rt. 30 every day and on most days it is not congested and on the long flat strait away with exits far and few between, the average speed in the left lane is going about 75 – 80 with no problem. And I have no problem going at that speed. But if you are in the left lane poking along at 50 or even worse, you are in the right lane going at 45, you’d better get out of my way and move right or better yet, stay off the damned highway because if you can’t even do the posted speed limit, you have no business being on a highway in the first place.
And yes, like Sammy, “I can’t drive 55”
“Son, if you drive 55 miles an hour in Texas you’ll never get anywhere!”
When we got to Rt. 30 he was only going about 30 mpg in a 55 mpg zone...
I'v never heard of an mpg zone. Is that some sort of new environmental thing?
So I’m granny if I believe driving at responsible speeds (anything more than 10 over is irresponsible driving in my book.) and that cops who ignore the same laws are corrupt?
What do you think that says about you? It says you believe in reckless driving and corrupt behavior among cops. Here is a tip. Cops getting too free with ignoring traffic laws leads to more than just speeding.
My dad knew a cop who thought it was cool because he could drink and then flash a badge to avoid trouble. And that does happen.
If I was you I’d take this up with the president......
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