Couple faces charges for busting a speeding cop
Let's set the scene here. You're a homeowner on a street with a chronic speeding problem. Short of "accidentally" dropping a box of roofing nails in the street, there's not much recourse. You could pester the local constabulary to park one of their radar trailers in your neighborhood to remind folks they're speeding; or better yet, station one of their servants there on a regular basis to write tickets. That won't be much help if one of the egregious speeders is part of the thin blue line that separates order from chaos.
A Georgia couple trying to keep speeds down for the safety of their son opted to set up their own speeding sting. Lee and Teresa Sipple mounted a radar unit and three video cameras outside their home in hopes of reminding neighbors to drive carefully. They managed to nab local officer Richard Perrone doing nearly 20 MPH over the limit. Possibly suffering from injured pride, a guilty conscience or a sense of self-righteous indignation, Perrone went whining to the local authorities when he was one-upped at his own game. The Sipples, in turn, received a visit from the police alerting them that Perrone intended to press charges for stalking and had filed a warrant application for their arrest. Whiner.
This is like a home invader suing you for shooting his larcenous ass. Where's the sense of accountability? Perrone got what he deserved for flouting the very statutes he's entrusted with enforcing. Before we get too indignant, Perrone has had a change of heart and withdrawn his complaint. We wonder if he's had a change of heart, or if more subtle harrassment tactics than arrest warrants will be more satisfying?
[Source: Daily Tribune News via Digg]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
paul34 6:22PM (2/17/2007)
>> This is like a home invader suing you for shooting his larcenous ass
In places like much of Europe, and also in California, this is the mentality of most lawmakers, shockingly enough.
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Christine 6:27PM (2/17/2007)
They have a right to put those radar traps up, since it is THEIR Property. I don't see that cop paying for their taxes. Loser.
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Rastus 6:34PM (2/17/2007)
Officer Richard Perronne...yes, you are...you are a loser.
Perhaps you should take up porn with a last name like that.
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NoNameDenton 6:39PM (2/17/2007)
I should do something like this, I have the same problems they do where I live
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Dave 6:58PM (2/17/2007)
I used to live in a housing development with a narrow windy road that ran the length of it. Admittedly, those of us who lived at the far end of the place were guilty of some occasional speeding. But really, it was the ones near the close end of it that were the problem.
One of the families that lived near the close end had several small children. These children liked the play in their yard; which was fine as we would slow down for them. However, the parents thought that anything over 5mph (the speed limit there was 20) was simply too fast to be driving in front of their house. At first they only yelled (at everyone driving by), but eventually they would rush out into the street with arms waving and making a big display. Well, their little children followed their example. (Mind you, these kids are between 3 and 7 years old) Those kids began rushing in front of cars, just to see if the car would lock up its wheels. Others of them would ride down the middle of the road on their bikes (training wheels and all) and wouldn't pull to the side despite all your light flashing and horn honking. Yeah; problematic.
Remember: Roads are for cars. Bike lanes for bikes. Sidewalks for pedestrians. Yards for playing children. When those get mixed up, bad things happen.
We lived there for less than a year of it before moving to another state (for unrelated reasons). Having seen that approach to speed control; this radar and camera thing seems far preferable.
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Tim UF 7:00PM (2/17/2007)
is it really stalking if you take a picture of a guy speeding past your house?
Seems to me like they were out to get whomever speeds past... it could just as easily been some Jane Doe from 123 Fake Street. It just happened to be a guy that thought he was entitled by his badge. What a loser.
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naggs 7:31PM (2/17/2007)
i hope that kracka ass po po gets shit put in his food. what a hipocritical dousher
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James 7:33PM (2/17/2007)
Thats why Europe and California suck, they have idiotic laws.
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Jim G 7:43PM (2/17/2007)
Here in Charlotte, I have seen, on a number of occaissions, police officers watch a car run a red light and do nothing about it.
I was behind a Char-Meck police officer one time for a couple of miles. He drove through (not just rolled) several stop signs and did not use his turn signals once.
It seems that some police officers think they are above the law and sympathize with other drivers who think they are, too.
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GotThatVibe 8:24PM (2/17/2007)
Pressed charges for stalking? What?! Shouldn't cops at least know a LITTLE about the law? If a person causes you any sort of problem on only one occasion, it cannot possibly be considered stalking. Stalking requires more than one interaction. I see no logic in pressing that charge... probably why he dropped it. What a punk. I don't know how these cops can sleep at night, being such ludicrous hypocrites. I guess that's how they get their jollies.
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shimman 8:09PM (2/17/2007)
being a police officer can be a blessed job doing great good to people; however, it can be a curse when you don't do your job right as the accumulation of bad karma will find you sooner or later.
being said that; when i faced some tricky & technically gray traffic law violations, i found that all but one officer was being honest when it comes to the testimony. i know there are more than few cops & even district judges are habitually violating traffic laws, and they are the ones who burst most of "minor" violations like going over 3 to 4 miles/hour than the limit
maybe, we should put radar speed detectors & video cam on cars to burst bad cops
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Armen 8:17PM (2/17/2007)
If cops aren't held to the same standards we are, what is the point of the law anyway?
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paul34 8:19PM (2/17/2007)
#8: Couldn't agree more!
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GotThatVibe 8:53PM (2/17/2007)
Ohhh, so Autoblog just left out the part about the emails from the couple to the officer. Depending on their nature, that could possibly give him a basis for stalking. Hard to say without more info. But that's not what's important here anyway...
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Punisher Bass 8:41PM (2/17/2007)
#5 I have the same kind of problem where I live. There is this old fart who lives on the street who likes to play traffic cop. Anytime he is outside and I drive by he waves his arms up and down like he's a bird about to take off and yelling at me to slow down. The limit is 25 and I drive 25, but he's convinced I'm doing closer to 45.
He had the gaul once to walk to my house and try to chew me out while I was out washing my car. It's not just me he's done this to, but my sister and other people on the street.
So now anytime I drive by slowly till I get to his house then gun the engine so it sounds like I'm speeding past. The next time he's out there doing his arm flapping routine I'm going to stop and confront him about it.
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epp_b 9:02PM (2/17/2007)
Stalking? How stupid and incompetent is this moron of cop? The definition of stocking doesn't describe this activity, not even vaguely or derivatively!
And, please...a "change of heart"? More like realization of incompetence.
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ADR 9:49PM (2/17/2007)
11. If cops aren't held to the same standards we are, what is the point of the law anyway?
Exactly, around here the cops speed like nobody's business, run red lights, and turn on thier lights and sirens to go around a few cars stopped at a light. If I do any of that I'll get a citation. I was going through a green light and almost got t-boned by a cop running a red light with no siren or lights. If he hit me I'm sure they would have made it out to be my fault.
I'm about ready to call for all squad cars to be disbanded. Police stations will work like fire stations. The cars will be kept in the garage until an emergency. That way the cops can actually go out to help people rather than waste gas all day trolling for traffic violations.
If anyone thinks I'm being harsh or a cop hater, come to North East Ohio and drive around. You'll want to call your congressman afterwards. My favorite story was in our local newspaper. There was mention of an accident where a deer struck a police car while the car was travelling on the road. I really don't think it was a typo. It was the deer's fault.
My dads freind's son was killed by a cop car chasing a suspect at 80mph through a residential neighborhood in Cleveland Heights. Let the crook go and catch him later, its not worth the tradgedy.
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Howard Kerr 10:36PM (2/17/2007)
We have some of THE worst drivers here in the tri-state area of Ark., Miss., and Tenn., and after having followed several patrol cars I understand why...our local cops don't know what bad driving is. This afternoon I was passed by a patrol car doing at least 60 in a 45 zone (it was a residential area) and I could just imagine the driver doing all he could to keep from plowing into/driving over the cars stopped in front of him at the next intersection/stop sign. Like others here, my local cops also roll through stop signs and use their lights just to cross an intersection on the red. What burns me up is their stupid blanket stops for illegal/out of date license plates. They do this every few months a few miles from my apartment, but only stop southbound traffic. And there refusal to stop cars that run red lights, unless it's the patrol car they nearly hit. If John Q. Public is almost flattened right in front of a cop's eyes...they could care less.
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sam 11:00PM (2/17/2007)
As a former member of Johnny Law I remember being told by a captain, if you're not moving fast-you're not seeing anything-thus you're wasting taxpayers $$$$.
So we were instructed to run the lights and speed - if it was safe. I never cracked up the car, so I guess I was, but I laugh when I hear about cops speeding and running lights, because you all seem to know exactly what the cops are doing at that time.
It's funny a friend down in FL got sued because he allegedly hit a dog while speeding. During the trial the recorder in his car indicated he never got near the speed limit in that area during the whole tour.
Yeah, he got in trouble, because the leadership decided he must have stayed off the main roads because he was lazy. The dog owner got laughed out of court however.
Here's the bottom of the WSBTV version of the story.
"According to the warrant affidavit filed by Officer Perrone, he says the Sipples did harass him by sending his employer multiple e-mails in an effort to get him in trouble. "
Until we know what the emails said, we can't say he wasn't being harrassed.
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Steph 12:06AM (2/18/2007)
*sighs* Unfortunantly this is all too common. One of my best friends was just complaning about people speeding and the lack of the police doing anything. And she pointed out (as I am doing now), that last year (Nov 2006) after a homecoming football victory there was a crash and a student and recent graduate killed because of speeding. It doesn't help that it's a 45mph speed zone that's completely straight and has almost no police patroling.
This is really is becoming way too common. Horrible.
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