First, I am pro law enforcement. But back in the mid
80’s I was stopped by the Highway Patrol very early
in the morning. It seems that when the left turn
arrow switched from red to green I didn’t turn fast
enough for the patrolmen behind me. They pulled me
over and decided that I needed a FST (field sobriety
test). They administered six different tests and
arrested me. On the arrest report they detailed only 3
tests. Had that stop been made these days (and later
or earlier timewise)someone might have been there to
video the event with a cell phone. They couldn’t use
three of the FSTs to convict because I passed them.
As it turned out there was not enough alcohol in my
system to register in the urinalysis and I was not
prosecuted. They still tried to get me on a light
signal infraction. I timed the turn signal at the
same time of day and discovered it stayed green for a
mere 6 seconds. Their report indicated I had waited
for 10 seconds before proceeding yet they did not
claim that I had run a red or yellow light. That
charge was also tossed.
Quite a while ago, I stopped for a 4-way stop sign, and then slowly proceeded. My wife and I were on our way to dropping off our baby at grandma’s house a couple blocks from there before proceeding to work. A parked police car persued us and when I pulled ip at grandma’s to park, two officers jumped out and began berating me for failing to stop at the stop sign and barreling through the intersection at high speed. All lies.
I had a nice 3-piece suit on, looking my best, and got in their face and dressed them down for being stupid rookies. And told them I was on my way to a high-profile meeting with police commanders and police captains at the dispatch communications center (which I was), and they would have to answer to them if I was late for the meeting. I then took my baby from the carseat and proceeded inside the house. The bewildered look on their faces was priceless, as they slithered back to their police car and left.
As others have said, don’t trust the cops. Some are bad, and do crappy things under color of authority to citizens. I came out okay because I was doing work for the police, and I was told they would fix any tickets should I get any. In this situation, I had done nothing wrong and they had targetted me - unfortunately for them.