Brickbat: Distracted Driver

A Los Angeles County sheriff's driver who struck and killed a man with his patrol car was texting at around the time of the accident. Deputy Andrew Wood struck and killed Milton Everett Olin Jr.  Witnesses said they did not see any brake lights before the collision.

Comments

[Live Free Or Diet]

Where I used to live, daily ticket and arrest quotas:

Former police officer exposes Chesterfield's ticket quota goals
http://wtvr.com/2014/07/14/che.....stigation/

[Rev-Match]

One time, I was pulled for speeding. I was only speeding because a silver impala was tailgating me and I wanted there to be sufficient distance between my car and theirs. It turns out that the tailgater was an unmarked cop.

[Gene]

Sounds about right, I find cops to be among the worst drivers out there.

[some guy]

This. Cops pretty much never use their signals. They always use rolling stops. They always go at least 5 over the limit. And they love to use their computers and radios while driving.

[The Last American Hero]

When my son's class toured the police station and were getting a look at the cruiser, I made a point to stick my head in the window and call out to my wife - Hey honey, you were right, they do have turn indicators.

[Live Free Or Diet]

They used to try that here. They would get so close you couldn't see anything forward of the windshield.

[some guy]

I drive a small car, so that's impossible. But my rule is, if I can't see your tires then you are way too close at any speed.

[JW]

"Sorry about stopping so quickly. A squirrel ran out in front of me."

[Rev-Match]

They would get so close you couldn't see anything forward of the windshield.

That's basically what happened. Then he came up to my door all uppity. He was miffed that I did not stop as soon as he turned on his lights. I was already on a ramp (after he tailgated me for 10 miles on the hwy) and preferred not to stop there during rush hour. Also, when I mentioned why I was speeding, he huffed and puffed and wrote me a ticket anyway. Didn't show me any respect through the whole interaction. Total douche.

[Greg F]

My solution to tail gaiters is to drop down a gear. Never been hit but it usually gets them to back off.

[some guy]

Oh yeah. I usually just let off the gas, though. Being rear-ended is more of a pain than it is worth.

[Hyperion]

This is what I do also, just slow down until they get the message and back off, or go around. Unless it's a big truck, then I do whatever I can to get some distance, speed up or change lanes. Driving in MD takes defensive driving to a whole new level. If there aren't many cars on the road, it gets especially dangerous because you have ass clowns doing 90+ and cutting across 5-6 lanes without any pause, while there are other people driving 45 in a 65 mph zone. It's much safer when there is lot of traffic.

[some guy]

Driving in MD ...

I am so, so sorry. Why would you ever do that?

[Drake]

I drift over to the side of the road where there is often pebbles and crap, particularly in the winter. The tail-gater gets a nice spray of rocks and grit on his/her front-end.

[Rev-Match]

My solution to tail gaiters is to drop down a gear.

I've started coasting until I see them get frustrated and start to get over. Then I drop a gear (or two, w/e it takes) and floor it.

[some guy]

Speeding up to stop a tailgater rarely works. They just speed up too. Tailgaters don't care what speed you're going. They care that you are "in their way". What I do is slow down until they are at a safe distance. Oh, you want to follow 5 feet behind me? Guess that means we are going 4 mph. They always either pass or back off real quick.

[Almanian! AKA pangolin mafia]

This.

[JW]

You're not driving in the left lane, right? RIGHT?

[Almanian! AKA pangolin mafia]

heh - good point!

[some guy]

Maybe. But if I am, I'm following the guy in front of me at a safe distance as we all pass the people in the right lanes. Don't worry I hate the people who use the left lane for anything other than passing as much as you do.

[sarcasmic]

I brake for tailgaters.

[Almanian! AKA pangolin mafia]

I brake for hallucinations.

Still my fave bumper sticker evah.

[sarcasmic]

My favorite bumper sticker evah:

DISCOURAGE INBREEDING - BAN COUNTRY MUSIC

[Rich]

Oldies, but goodies:

"Ban The Bomb.
SAVE THE WORLD
for conventional warfare."

"Speed on, Brother.
Hell ain't HALF full."

[Almanian! AKA pangolin mafia]

Yep - still remember three days after I bought my first car in 1980, a 1971 Camaro. Was cruising - went out of town and turned around at the old BK to come back into town. Car swoops in behind me, tailgates me all the way into town. Couldn't even see his headlights he was so close (it was at night, of course - much safer to tailgate at night).

I made a quick right turn onto a residential street to lose him....on go the lights.

Now, this could get me shot today, but I jumped out of the car, briskly walked back to his, and started reaming his ASS for speeding to catch up, then tailgating me, driving unsafely, I had done NOTHING wrong....cop was befuddled that an 18 yo kid was so pissed, I guess. "uh...you were 'rackin' off your pipes' back there!" "WTF are you talking about? I downshifted to turn around! That's a stock exhaust on that car! It's not loud! You're just harrassing me because it's a new car in town and I'm a teenager! You'd better back off!"

I just got in my car and drove away. AND NOTHING ELSE HAPPENED.

Don't try this today, kids! Not even in a two-bit farmtown in mid-Michigan!

But that just started me down the road to today's unmitigated hatred of cops that I have today. Thanks, officer Dickhead!

[The DerpRider]

Plymouth by any chance?

[Scarecrow Repair]

"a 1971 Camaro" by all chances.

[The Last American Hero]

Plymouth. That was my first reaction as well.

[The Last American Hero]

Plymouth. That was my first reaction as well.

[Mensan]

I had a similar incident except it was 4 am on the Howard Frankland Bridge, and the cop had no headlights on. So all I see in my review mirror is this shadow of a car with no headlights come flying up behind me very rapidly, and then ride my bumper. I speed up to get away from this jackass, and he kept speeding up and staying on my ass. As we got to the Pinellas side of the bridge where there was actually a shoulder to pull-over on, his blue lights came on. It was a marked FHP cruiser, but that had been nearly impossible to make out in the dark.

The ass then asks me why I kept speeding up when he pulled up behind me. I pointed out that he didn't have any headlights on and I had no way of knowing he was a cop. He looked back at his cruiser, which still didn't have the headlights on. He then walked back to the cruiser, got in, and drove away with me still pulled over.

[Marquis of Fantailler]

used to? i live there now.

[Karl Hungus]

So no word yet on whether or not the man's family has been ordered to pay for damages to the patrol car?

[Wasteland Wanderer]

What do you think this is, Red China? Don't forget the extra dough for the officer's emotional distress.

[Swiss Servator, spare a franc?]

+1 paid "suspension"

[some guy]

Nah, the taxpayers have that covered.

[Karl Hungus]

Nah, the taxpayers have that covered.

That's just sickening. This man trashes an officer's patrol car, injures the hero inside, then gets off scot-free by dying? I'm sorry, but anything short of suing this man's family into oblivion simply dishonors this her's sacrifices.

[Brian D]

Golly, the officer made it home safe, right?

[UnCivilServant]

While I can't speak to California, there is a twisted clause in New York State laws and regulations that says a police cruiser is not a "Motor Vehicle" and as such the rules for operating a motor vehicle do not apply.

[db]

It should legally be considered a "short bus."

[Wasteland Wanderer]

+1 Cake.

[Rhywun]

It's good to be king.

[Alice Bowie]

Andrew Wood is a lucky man.

He'll be put on paid leave for months if not years.
All of legal fees will be paid by the PBA
He'll have a nice vacation.

IF victim= BLACK or LATINO THEN
/* slam dunk for the piggie */
DA_CHARGES = FALSE
ELSE
DA_CHARGES = MAYBE_BUT_MOST_LIKELY_NOT
END IF
VERDICT = INNOCENT

[Idle Hands]

My 5th grade English teach would have decapitated me if wrote a poem like this. Where is the rhyme or metre? Come on, while I get the need for creativity, this may be a bridge to far.

[Bean Counter]

"A bridge to far"
Come on, folks. It doesn't cost extra to put in both o's. Unless you're talking about a structure that carries you over the river on your way to exotic "far, Michigan".

[Notorious G.K.C.]

The accident was last December and they're still considering whether to bring charges. Just like those cases where a careless civilian driver kills a bicycle patrolman, they wait for months to make sure there's a full investigation befire bringing charges.

[Hyperion]

Hey, can they arrest that dead guy? He was endangering officer safety by letting that cop car crash into him like that! And isn't it officer safety that's really the important issue here?

[fish]

It is! Maybe they could send someone to the deceased mans home to shoot his dog(s).

Only seems fair.

[Hyperion]

We should let the poor officer victim decide. Maybe a no knock raid on the guys orphaned familiy home? After shooting the dogs of course, that's a given.

[TonyT]

So yesterday, in Houston, a man hit a cop on the shoulder of the freeway because he dozed off. They ended up taking the dude directly to jail "to make sure that he wasn't intoxicated at the time of the event".

[jmomls]

Yay, more cop hate!

You do realize that CIVILIANS injure/kill more drivers/pedestrians than cops, right? I can't count the number of idiot CIVILIAN drivers I see with a phone plastered on their face. Assuredly, these phone calls are utterly unimportant. You know their just dialing up their mom/bestie to jabber about meaningless crap all the way home after work.

But I guess if you covered all those stories non-stop, there wouldn't be room for mindless, knee-jerk, reflexive cop hate.

[Agammamon]

Yeah! And all those idiot CIVILIANS who kill people means that cops murdering people is A-OK. Did your liquor store get robbed by the local cops? What are you complaining for, CIVILIANS do that all the time.

[Anon E. Mouse]

If I'm not mistaken (and I'm not), the point is that if a regular citizen (cops are "civilians" too)ran over a pedestrian while texting, they would be arrested and probably charged with a crime like vehicular manslaughter or negligent homicide. When a cop does it, he gets a paid vacation. There's one set of laws in this country, and they're supposed to apply equally to everyone.

[Free Society]

A Los Angeles County sheriff's driver who struck and killed a man with his patrol car was texting at around the time of the accident.

and everyone got home safe. The End.