Posted on 11/09/2009 4:17:53 AM PST by jwparkerjr
A traffic stop in Lake Wales for tinted windows turned into an angry confrontation between police, deputies, state troopers and as many as 100 bystanders.
Two officers and one of the two people arrested were treated for minor injuries. Police are looking for three others in the incident, which started around 2:45 p.m. Saturday, the Lake Wales Police Department said.
(Excerpt) Read more at 2.tbo.com ...
Tinted windows have become a problem for law enforcement. They make it difficult or impossible for an officer to know who's behind the window or what they're doing. I know the argument, it's the same thing with a van, but most vans at least have a window in the drive's door.
Tinted windows are pretty much a necessity here in Florida. They really help reduce the heat load with which the car's ECS must deal, especially in the Summer. But there are ways to tint the windows to avoid the sun but still let drivers see who's inside and what they're doing.
Personally I have a problem with those that are tinted to the extent that you can't see the driver. Tampa has a lot of traffic and some very outdated roads and intersections. I depend on seeing the driver of other vehicles to help me decide if the way is safe, or to let them know I will wait while they pull into traffic. That's not possible when their windows are tinted to the point of totally blocking a view of the driver.
For me it's just a pet peeve, for a police officer it could be the difference between life and death.
Didn't have to. Just from the excerpt I could tell it wasn't the Amish.
And I'm not racist or bigoted either, just a realist.
Ask and ye shall receive, you racist bigot.... :-] (odd request for a Monday morning.)
Heh, now I’m picturing horse-drawn buggies with dark tinted windows.
I guess we should all be required to live in glass houses (non-tinted, of course) so the police know who is in our house, and what we are doing there. For their safety, of course.
Hmm? Maybe my screen is tinted?
With the Amish, the dark tinted windows on the buggies don't bother me. It's those darn Amish kids on their tricked-out buggies blaring those hymns through their high-powered Victrolas at all hours of the day that bother me!
antiunion person, you should get some help for that stuttering problem.
Just kidding,
Where were you a cop and for how long?
Lake Wales is a poor crummy little whislte stop a little east of Tampa and Brandon on route 60.
Lots of despair and unemployment.
Poor blacks, farm workers and not a lot of hope, just like a lot of towns out there.
Only thing worth a crap there is Bok Tower.
I was once told that it was illegal to coat windows to prevent people from being able to see the inside of the vehicle. Maybe its just here in Michigan.........
I would have bet a paycheck this happened in a quiet, mostly white residential neighborhood. Am I shocked!
Yeah...I get so tired of the “I’m not a racist, but”....and then someone simply makes a factual observation i.e. the perps are all black. Relax folks...being called a racist won’t send you to hell. Making simply observations about race will not banish you to the netherworld. You would never hear a black person say “I’m not racist, but the guy who raped my wife and stole my car was white.” LMAO
They have to be Amish. You can tell by the dudes underwear.
Don't forget the oversized chrome spoked wheels and a "dew rag bandana" on the horse.........And the Amish driver wearing those "butt crack" work jeans with suspenders.....
Respect works both ways. One has to give it to receive it.

Uh-oh.
Looks like the break-out has begun.
Darkly tinted windows allow those inside to see out, but prevent those outside from seeing in. A cop could walk right at a shotgun pointed at him on the other side of a darkly tinted window' and be killed at point-blank range and never see it coming.
With a paneled van, you cannot see through the metal sides, only through the windows.
Side note: Needed the oil change so I can ride over to the Tea Party Express II in Orlando Thursday. Any other central FL Freepers plan on riding over on their bikes?

There is a solution.
Anyway, no GPS on Spook Hill, I guess we had a guide book last time - so at the cutoff I flipped a U turned into a "7-11" and the gals all went into a tizzy! "Don't stop! Don't Stop!" - While I get that all the time (;-) I agreed and we buzzed out of there ... the "patrons" all looked like they's just left state prison and every eye was on us ... we still looked around for it but failed and just went on home ... like you say - except for Bok Tower - not a pretty place. ;-)
Looks like a Wyeth. Smithsonian gallery, perhaps?
The story says that police are still seeking three of the perps and yet they already have mug shots. You don’t think the perps have ever had any previous arrests, do you?
I am a racist and I shall protect mine, as my late cousin should have done instead of giving the whatever you want to call him, too little money. My cousin was then shot at an intersection. In Florida.
That is the cops fault, just like slow drivers in the fast lane, over tinted windows are illegal in just about all the states, but the cops don't get enough points for the ticket, and the fine is really small. The cops are selective law enforcement.
Joe,
you said:”Lake Wales is a poor crummy little whislte stop a little east of Tampa and Brandon on route 60.
Lots of despair and unemployment.
Poor blacks, farm workers and not a lot of hope, just like a lot of towns out there.
Only thing worth a crap there is Bok Tower.”
In the Florida I remember, Lake Wales was a beautiful town. Slim chance of my getting downstate to see it again, so it will remain that way in my memory.
Sad to say, all that is left of beautiful Florida is memories - they paved paradise and put in a parking lot.
Kind regards,
TL
And Spook Hill! For those of you not familiar with Lake Wales, sounds racist, but it's not. Look it up!
***...so at the cutoff I flipped a U turned into a “7-11” and the gals all went into a tizzy! “Don’t stop! Don’t Stop!” - While I get that all the time (;-) I agreed and we buzzed out of there ... ***
That happened to us on I-40 in Tennessee. My mom and wife isnsisted on stopping in the middle of the night to use the restroom. I didn’t like the place even though it was very well lit but isolated. There were lots of cars in the parking area with too many people sitting in them doing nothing.
My wife amd mom made it half way to the door then made a u-turn and headed back to the truck. they decided to stop somewhere else.
As for me, I never got out of the truck. I had my hands around a fully loaded Browning Hi-Power and a Cz-75.
Just in case.
Thank you, sir. May I have some more?
I'm an old fart. I grew up in a day when truth was an absolute defense. If what you said was true, you were free from fear of being called racist, bigot, extremist, etc.
Discrimination was judged by intent, not outcome.
Those days are gone. Now, speech is measured by how it's heard by the listener. And the speaker is held responsible for how the talk is heard. We live in an upside down, topsy-turvy world.
re: just a realist
Sadly, in today's world, with the liberals at the helm, reality is a subjective term. And if reality turns out to be unfavorable to a protected class, and it pointed out, then it's no longer reality but the rantings of a right wing extremist who worships Sarah Palin, Glen Beck, et al.
Mebbe coming sooner than you think. :-)
I was in Lancaster Co., PA last July and some of the Amish teens had boomboxes hooked up to a car battery and were boogying down the road. (They carry a battery to operate the running lights at night - some terrible accidents have happened because of black buggies and 10 mph speeds on the roads. Some Amishman even came up with a device hooked to the axles to charge the battery.)
Ah so. My farts are probably as old as yours (remember 'duck and cover' in school?). I'll be glad to forward any new insults I get as soon as they come up with some creative new ones. These old ones are getting tiresome.
And now for something completely different:
Have you ever seen a DC-3 on floats?
Naughty Amish chicks - kinda cool....
I called 911, notified them of the assault on me, that I was CCW, led the deputies to my location, even while on my cell to 911 (8 minutes + recorded), I was knocked down by 4 plus deputies, tortured for 4+ minutes with both my arms held up to the breaking point, a knee drop into the center of my back - felt like broken ribs for months but the x-rays said "no" - was arrested for two Ag Assault charges - bailed out (lost) $2000.00, went through a year plus facing a single Ag Assault charge with a penalty of 3 years state prison, hard time, no time off for good behavior, no parole until I finally beat my attorney into filing a motion for dismissal based on Florida's Stand your Ground Law(1995).
The case was dismissed (12-31-08 right of "immunity from arrest" self-defense upheld - See Peterson v. St. of Florida - Established pre-trial procedures to dismiss charges when self-defense pleaded ... ;-)) but I'm out $12,000, a year of my life and I will now ALWAYS question LEO's accounts of any incident and now only carry in the "worst" circumstances. :-(
I know you didn't ask for this but I've been meaning to get going on this to keep others from suffering through what I went through. Licensed to carry, 911 had every opportunity to have me set aside my weapon to "discuss" the incident, they KNEW I was CCW and yet I was arrested "because the guy with the gun is the greater danger" while the ex-con felon who attacked me, one of whose convictions included lying to cops (felony obfuscation), who lied to the cops that night effectively had me beaten far more effectively than he could have managed - all without even a bruised knuckle. Sigh.
Oops - just FYI - The Peterson case is what we found to help in my defense - no relation to my case other than that. ;-)
I would LOVE to add a DC-3 rating to my lowly private pilot license. I could travel an hour or so over to Winter Haven and get a float plane rating for a couple of hundred dollars. I keep thinking I'll do that someday, but by the time I pay for my medical and my flight review I'm broke until the next round comes up.
I was over at the Sun ‘n Fun this weekend to photograph a scout event called Wings ‘n Things. Boy, they never had neat stuff like that when I was a scout.
We have Fantasy of Flight between here and Winter Haven. What a great place to visit. It's part of the world's largest privately held aircraft collection. They have a Bell 47 helicopter simulator. I was over there with my son one day and we watched as about a dozen people took a shot at getting off the ground and back on the ground without disaster. When my son got his chance it was readily apparent that he was an experience Bell 47 pilot. The guide who was running the simulator and getting everyone in and out said he had never seen it flown by a real pilot and had often wondered if it was even a real test of ability. Dwaine said it was pretty realistic. He now flies a JetRanger and an EC-135 and it's been almost 10 years since he sold his Bell 47, so he said he had really forgotten how different a piston driven machine flies! His instructor told him the first day it was like driving a Volkswagon bus with on third gear! You really have to think ahead and anticipate that next hill or valley. They all sorts of great aircraft on display, many of which you are welcome to enter and browse around. I would heartily recommend a stop there for anyone who likes aviation!
I’ve seen semi riots break out in Tampa a few times where they get crazy.
I can understand why every guy with a badge showed up.
I know exactly where you are talking about
Hello Tomato lover.
I moved to Tampa when I was 15. Use to love to go to Ruskin to get baskets of fresh Tomatos. Eat em like apples. Cold ones were even better in the hot Florida sun.
Anyway, there are still some fine areas of Lake Wales, BUT, there is a very poor, uneducated, unwashed, growing group of never wills.
There still are wonderful places, it just seems like this is one that prosperity left behind.
Where ya at now Tomato Lover?
You are right.
And there are other very fine things there, BUT.
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