Posted on 08/09/2006 5:00:14 PM PDT by JennysCool
ALBUQUERQUE -- Right in the middle of today’s deadly carjacker pursuit, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department arrested two members of Albuquerque’s famous Unser racing family. Both Al Unser Sr. and Bobby Unser Sr. were booked into the Metro Detention Center this afternoon charged with failure to obey a police officer and resisting arrest.
Both walked out of the jail about 3:30 p.m.
The brothers, who have a combined seven checkered flags at the Indianapolis 500 and are huge names in the racing world, apparently thought their celebrity status meant they were above the law.
The police pursuit of a stolen car, complete with reported shotgun fire aimed at pursuing officers, ended about 11 a.m. when the suspect crashed into another car and then accidentally or deliberately shot himself to death with the sawed-off shotgun. That dramatic conclusion happened at an intersection close to some Unser family property.
While the incident was still unfolding, Bernalillo County sheriff's investigators allege Al Unser started going through a roadblock in an attempt to get to his property. Despite six or seven warnings to leave the area, he still refused to leave, saying it was his property--he owned it.
When the deputy told him he would be arrested, Unser allegedly said, “You can't take me to jail,” and began cussing at the officer.
Officers report he then jerked away and said, “Don't you know who I am? I'm Al Unser.”
A short time after he was arrested, Bobby Unser showed up. Deputies said he, too, refused to leave and resisted arrest.
Both were transported to holding cells at the Valley substation before being taken to jail.
“They simply told them numerous times to leave the area, and they simply refused to do so,” Erin Kinnard of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department said. “Were not talking about a situation where we're trying to catch a shoplifter.
“This was a serious and dangerous situation.”
KRQE News 13 was told Al Unser threatened the arresting officer, telling him he would get back at him some day.
People on the scene also said the deputies didn’t recognize Al Unser and didn’t care who he was, they just wanted the men to leave since shots were being fired in the area.
Contacted later, Al Unser Jr. declined a request for an interview. KRQE News 13 was unable to reach Bobby Unser.
I have no beef with your scepticism of the media but I fail to see how that leads to the presumption that the Unsers' property rights were violated. I'm just having a tough time imagining a cop who has nothing better to do than prevent someone walking past a dead man in a car on the street.
But, did they blame the jews?
Awwww, they were busted because they wouldn't leave. I thought they were chased down. Don't you know the cop that caught Al and Bobby Unser in a car chase would have bragging rights for the rest of his life?
I've even been known to have a guy dragged out of a burning building who was going back in to rescue his cat. Yes, we rescued the cat, and no we didn't have to do CPR on it.
Maybe just maybe he was leaving a strip club and drinking.
http://www.mugshots.net/al_unser_jr/
The police do have authority to keep you off your own property under certain situations just as fire men do as described in number 65.
While the incident was still unfolding, Bernalillo County sheriff's investigators allege Al Unser started going through a roadblock in an attempt to get to his property. [emphasis added]
Not this one.
What other rights go by the wayside when law enforcement needs to "defuse" something? I thought that's what the Constitution was for, to set limits on those sorts of things.
How did you know the Unsers were trying to get to the beer cooler?
Public road. Near but not on the Unser's property. The cops were doing their job and the Unsers, in their self-absorbed arrogance, were endangering themselves, the police and the public. Hey, maybe the Unsers are "libertarians" too?
I hope you never have to find out the hard way.
Now you've done it. I have the mental image of libertarians blasting their way through roadblocks all over the United States.
Where in the world were anybody's property rights violated here? It was stated that the incident was near Unser property and that the Unsers attempted to blow a roadblock because they are special.
With all due respect, this is just about the dumbest thing I have ever read on FR. Really and truly. You fail to see that a man with a shotgun was in a standoff with police, apparently.
I hope the Ungers sue them out of existence.
On what basis? That the cops kept these two hot dogs from getting their heads blown off?
The Unsers will be lucky to get off with a slap on the wrist and a public apology for making asses of themselves.
We may never know.
Just a guess.
I thought that's what the Constitution was for, to set limits on those sorts of things.
The police are charged with protecting the citizenry. One of the ways they do that is prevent hot-heads from walking into a standoff with a suicidal creep.
What part of the Constitution is that in?
Why don't you go interfere with a crime scene, get yourself arrested, and run your case all the way to the Supreme Court? Then you'll know.
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