Posted on 02/11/2014 6:44:15 AM PST by moonshinner_09
A Highway Patrol trooper who caught another officer speeding to an off-duty job at 120mph is suing for more than $500,000 - saying his allies harassed her after he was fired. Florida's Donna Jane Watts made national headlines after handcuffing Miami Police Department officer Fausto Lopez, while he was in full uniform and driving a police car. Since the incident in 2011 she claims she has had threatening calls on her cell phone, police cars idling outside her house and fellow officers accessing her private driver's license information. Ms Watts - who is suing more than 25 police agencies - said she is even afraid to open her mailbox. Other calls included prank calls and orders for pizza, she claimed. In a lawsuit she said law enforcement officers had long been known to band together and protect each other, but her case took things too far. According to her lawyer, she suspected her private driver's license information was being accessed by fellow officers, so she made a public records request with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. It allegedly showed at least 88 law enforcement officers from 25 different agencies accessed Watts' driver's license information more than 200 times - in just three months. Ms Watts is suing those police agencies and the individual officers under the federal Driver Privacy Protection Act, a 1994 law that provides for a penalty of $2,500 for each violation if the information was improperly accessed. Watts' attorney, Mirta Desir, said it was clear most of the officers had no legitimate reason to look up her data. If all the searches were found illegal, Watts could receive more than $500,000.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
I got a BS ticket from a cop. I went to court and beat the ticket.
I still had to pay “court costs”
WTF?
Jabba, you are so wrong.
She did what she should have done, and what would have happened to anybody else who was driving like that.
The cop was off-duty and on his way to a private security job. He not only was speeding, but he attempted to evade when she tried to pull him over.
A review indicated he had a habit of often driving over 100 mph, with no need to do so.
If routinely disobeying the laws he is sworn to enforce makes up part of “ the unwritten rules of a male group,” count me in for the War on Men.
I m sorry, but I have to disagree with you. I would not arrest a man who was stealing a loaf of bread because he was down and out and wanted to feed his family. I would arrest someone who was stealing a loaf of bread who had plenty of money in their pocket and was doing it for the thrill.
The world is not so black and white. Many times citizens have been let go with a warning for violating traffic laws. I think in this case it would be hard to justify, though.
What *can* happen when cops don’t observe the rules:
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2009/03/31/633189/officer-in-fatal-crash-driving.html#.UvpAwLSK20o
And from my past experience, they appear to be the good guys!
No one watches the watchers and those who try get punished...
“I got a BS ticket from a cop. I went to court and beat the ticket.
I still had to pay “court costs””
My sister who still lives at home with my mom, she has memory issues with numbers and physical imparments as a result of birth defects. As a result she can’t keep job and frequently misplaces things and gets lost. However, she loves to vote and received a Jury summons. Being who she is she misread the summons thinking it said the 8th when it said the 3rd. She showed up on the 8th and they informed her of her error. She apologized and accepted responsability. They told her she would have to wait for the court to contact her further.
3 months later she received a summons to appear before the judge. She did and apologized and accepted responsability and explained what happend. The judge said he understood and fined her $25. She makes $100 or so per month house sitting etc. So no big deal. Until she went to pay and they said with court costs she had to pay $410!
They wouldn’t let her leave without paying it and she didn’t have the money so she eventually called me in tears and I paid the fine for her.
I get the $25 but $375 in courts!!! What a scam!
When an officer drives 120mph to a second job he SHOULD be arrested.
He should also be fired.
I wondered how long it would be before someone would blame one of the few honest cops.
She is definitely a candidate for appointment by President Hitlery in 2017 to a top level post in the Justice Department.
“So the cop driving illegally at 120 mph should just be ignored?”
No, he should be given a medal. He’s a hero don’t cha know.
. Most are.
Maybe-you-should-move-to-Florida ping...
So it is ok to steal if you’re poor? Then there is no law.
My opinion, politicians and officers should be held to a HIGHER standard.Mine too.
Not guilty.
Would anyone who is *not* a law-enforcement officer be able to avoid the handcuffs in similar circumstances? This was an arrest that was certain to draw scrutiny from all direction, so Officer Watts was smart to follow the rules.
I'd say the responses from Miami PD Officer Lopez's associates is more an indication of a 6th-Grade maturity level in the ranks, than it is a reaction to "chickafication".
“So, she turns to Father State (Vaterstaat in the original German) to make things right and protect her.”
Right, she should just let cops engage in organized harassment against her for doing her job. /s
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