Question for Police Officers

[ws6guy]

I had to call 911 once before on a drunk or really bad driver in the middle of nowhere on hwy 70. It was about 2am and he was driving bad enough I was scared to pass him. A couple of miles before I made the call we passed a state cop sitting in the median. So when I called I gave the dispatch my mile marker location and said I recently passed a trooper in the median. A few minutes later the trooper came flying up and got in between myself and the offending driver. The troop turned the lights on as soon as he got there without following him to observe his driving.

I have one question though. When the guy was pulled over I just kept on going and didn't stop. Should have I stopped and talked to the cop?

 

[GlockRock]

I had to call 911 once before on a drunk or really bad driver in the middle of nowhere on hwy 70. It was about 2am and he was driving bad enough I was scared to pass him. A couple of miles before I made the call we passed a state cop sitting in the median. So when I called I gave the dispatch my mile marker location and said I recently passed a trooper in the median. A few minutes later the trooper came flying up and got in between myself and the offending driver. The troop turned the lights on as soon as he got there without following him to observe his driving.

I have one question though. When the guy was pulled over I just kept on going and didn't stop. Should have I stopped and talked to the cop?

As long as the dispatcher has all of the callers information, specifically the phone number, I dont mind if they keep going. I can always call afterwards and get a stament from them if I make an arrest plus the initial call to 911 is recorded. It is always burnt to a CD and submitted as evidence with my case report.
If you want to pull off down the roadway a little and wait until afterwards, your more than welcome.

 

[jsharmon7]

This has already been answered, but yes they are common. I also seem to get calls of other "bad driving" in addition to possible drunks. Speeding semis, tailgaters, swerving around lanes, etc. It just depends on where the offending vehicle is compared to where I'm at when I get the call. Sometimes I find them, sometimes they've already gone through my area before I get there. Good job on calling it in!

 

[Benny]

Sorry, by "they" i meant the prosecution. The prosecution will subpoena you into court to testify for the state. As far as being a witness goes there's a sliding scale to the likeliness that you'll get called into court. If you witnessed the guy driving is one thing, but if you witnessed the guy leave a bar, drive, then wreck killing a bus full of nuns is another. You CAN get subpoenaed for either, you're just more likely for the latter.

What i was trying to say was that the defense will try to suppress the stop. On a similar case, a person witnessed a drunk driving down the road and called it in. There was a cop close by who located the driver. The driver made an "unsafe lane movement" and was stopped by the cop. The man failed all fields and blew .2ish on a certified test. The 911 caller didn't get subpoenaed into court.

The stop was suppressed and everything after thrown out as even though the officer witnessed the unsafe lane movement he couldn't prove it was unsafe as there was no other civilian witnesses to be unsafe around. The judge essential said if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? So if a driver does something unsafe and no one is in peril, is it really unsafe? The officer stated that he was on the road as well, but the judge essentially said that he doesn't count. The prosecutor for that court will now subpoena all 911 callers.

Biggest load of crap that I've heard in awhile.

I really just don't see how there should be any way out of charges when you get pulled over and you are drunk.

We receive these most nights of the week with a very high number on Fridays and Saturdays for obvious reasons. The word of the caller is enough for an investigation into seeing if someone is drunk. I can stop based purely on that. However, in order to make the charges stick, it is likely that the citizen will then be requested for court. The defense may be just as likely as the prosecution to subpeona the witness in order to attempt to get the stop thrown out.

I have yet to stop a vehicle based only on someone else's observations. They don't get paid to go to court like I do. If I make it more of a hassle than is necessary, people will stop calling vehicles in like this and we can only be so many places at one time.

So I guess it's on a city-to-city basis?