Watch Your Cops - Part I
I was coming home from work last night and was crossing from the train station to the parking lot across the street from it to wait to be picked up. It was after dark and the area isn't particularly well lit. I had made it about 2/5ths of the way across the street in a crosswalk (which is clearly marked as a crosswalk, both to pedestrians and to traffic on the road) and a University Park Police Department SUV tore around towards me from a dark section of the road.
This public servant was easily doing 50 in a 30 and didn't even slow down through the crosswalk, even though I was still in it (you are supposed to come to a full stop in both directions if someone is in the crosswalk, no matter where in the crosswalk they are located). The officer continued tearing down the road until arriving at the intersection of this road with Mockingbird Lane.
The officer then proceeded to finally flash his or her lights, but only to rush the drivers waiting at the light for oncoming traffic to allow for safe right-hand turns onto Mockingbird into moving out of his or her way. As soon as the officer made the right turn, the lights went out. The officer then hit the gas and disappeared from view very quickly.
Mr. Officer - if you needed to get somewhere quickly, your lights should have been on. There are laws which state this. To turn this another way - if I were going down that same stretch of road and tore through an occupied crosswalk at 20+ mph over the speed limit and you saw me doing that, what would YOU do? Nothing? Or pull me over immediately and write a ticket? Why should it be any different for you then?
And regarding that blipping - what's up with that? Your blip shoved law-abiding drivers into a potentially dangerous traffic situation. This is unforgiveable. What's even more unforgiveable is a cop (or in this next case, two cars of cops) using a light blip to justify an illegal act. Recently, in Ft. Worth, two cops apparently wanted to take a right turn to go to a restaurant. However, a right turn was illegal in this stretch of the road - there was even a sign saying "No Right Turn" right next to where the cops had pulled up.
However, they both turned on their lights, made the illegal right turn into the restaurant, then immediately turned their lights off, parked, turned off their vehicles and got out and went in. They obviously weren't on important police business - they had merely used their lights, most likely under the barest requirement of the law, to justify their illegal action and provide themselves the police blanket of immunity to not have to be put out, like everybody else, by traffic rules and restrictions.
And don't get me started on how many officers in downtown Dallas drive their cars obviously above the speed limit at all times in general, along with DART police, etc.
I'll say again to the police - what would you do to me, a normal citizen, if I did what you apparently feel you have a right to do, even though you don't have that right?
Hypocrites.