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 ...
Which part of this story do you think puts us in 3rd world status? Hard to tell these days.
“The world use to laugh with us.The world is now laughing at us.”
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Every morning when I open FreeRepublic, I wonder what horror I will see. It never ceases to amaze me....and to think, some think that I am a stupid jerk for not being there to enjoy it.
The War on Men continues...
When you start to pick and choose which laws you want to enforce, you’re a banana republic.
One officer claimed he accessed her DL records out of concern for a fellow officer when he heard rumors that she was being harassed. Riiiiiight!
Just exactly how does her DL information help you protect her?
Pigs they get what pigs deserve. Pigs are no better than the rest of us and if an officer wants to put a pig in handcuffs, he should be placed in handcuffs.
This isn’t a war on men issue. This is a war against pigs issue. They chose the blue line therefore they should all hang by it. String em up, stretch their necks, then we will see how much they love their precious blue line.
This childish and stupid frat boy mentality is destructive and not reserved just for pigs. Doctors engage in the same behavior, covering up and not speaking out against their fellows. It’s a serious issue in the medical community just as it is with law enforcement. Corruption must be fought from within if we wish to fight it at all.
The badge does not give the right to disobey the law when off duty. At that speed the cop should have been fired.
I agree there was no need to handcuff him. But I resent the attitude “We can do anything we want to because we are the police!”
So the cop driving illegally at 120 mph should just be ignored?
The thug blue line...
Wonder what he was drinking at 120?
Absolutely, She had every right to pull him over for his excessive dangerous speed that could have killed somebody.
Since when does a badge give someone the right to break the law. She is being harassed and she has every right to sue.
Worse, driving in a reckless manner like that and operating a department vehicle, he put the entire city on liability watch had he run into anyone. 120mph, wow.
Well, obviously you post officers outside her house, and phone her at her home number at all hours to make sure she’s safe. You know, that sort of thing.
then you’re aware we’ve been a banana republic for many moons
The officer heard that there was a dog that needed to be shot....He was in a hurry to get there first.
Precisely correct.
We need a group here called “Copwatch” that pings you for these kinds of articles.
Obvious we have some police, and ex-police, on FR.
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