Question of perception

"Hypothetical" question:

Young white guy is driving through a small city. Goes through a yellow light that turns red while he is going through it. The law states that if the light turns yellow you should stop unless you're so close to the intersection that it is not safe to do so.

A police officer pulls out from another intersection and pulls him over and issues a citation for failing to stop at a traffic signal. He is hispanic (the driver is white) and after seeing his license the officer makes the comment, "The laws are the same here [small urban city with large minority population] as they are in [mid-sized suburb, 95% white, very upper middle class]."

2 questions:

By the letter of the law (http://law.justia.com/connecticut/co...sec14-299.html) should the driver have been issued a ticket?

Do you believe the remark by the police officer was prejudicial in regards to race and/or social status?

A police officer with a douchebag attitude? You don't say.

His remark was arbitrary, the only thing that matters is where the white and youngish man was when the light was yellow.

Originally Posted by ArteEtLabore14

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Do you believe the remark by the police officer was prejudicial in regards to race and/or social status?


What kind of people sit around and come up with asinine questions like this? Geez. Find a better way to contribute to society, please.

Originally Posted by celery

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A police officer with a douchebag attitude? You don't say.

His remark was arbitrary, the only thing that matters is where the white and youngish man was when the light was yellow.

Close enough that the stop could not be made "in safety." This is subjective, as the law does not supply what distance is or is not close enough, and the cop was looking at the event from an angle quite different to that of the driver.

Originally Posted by fredfred

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What kind of people sit around and come up with asinine questions like this? Geez. Find a better way to contribute to society, please.

Unhelpful post is unhelpful. Please constructively contribute to the thread or stay out, thanks.

Perhaps the driver was from the mid-sized suburb referenced.
In that case it makes sense.

Originally Posted by Sartorial1

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Perhaps the driver was from the mid-sized suburb referenced. In that case it makes sense.
Correct. Sorry if I did not make that clear.

Originally Posted by ArteEtLabore14

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"Hypothetical" question: officer makes the comment, "The laws are the same here [small urban city with large minority population] (where "infraction" was committed) as they are in [mid-sized suburb, 95% white, very upper middle class](where driver of "infraction" is from, as listed on driver's license)."

Originally Posted by ArteEtLabore14

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By the letter of the law (http://law.justia.com/connecticut/co...sec14-299.html) should the driver have been issued a ticket?

That is an irrelevant question. The question is whether or not you are guilty of the offense. That means you have to go in front of a Judge or Jury, and in that case you should not be convicted. It may be a "subjective" question as to whether or not you ran the red light, but a subjective question should always be resolved in favour of the Defendant. The state must prove your guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt". If it is a subjective question, then that standard of proof has not been met.

Do you believe the remark by the police officer was prejudicial in regards to race and/or social status?

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Probably not "prejudicial". The Officer pulled you over based on his observation of a motor vehicle violation, not your skin colour. That he chose to issue you a ticket, instead of a warning, may have been based on his dislike of whitey, but the initial stop was not, therefore the remark was not "prejudicial".

Originally Posted by ArteEtLabore14

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Unhelpful post is unhelpful. Please constructively contribute to the thread or stay out, thanks.

On the contrary, my post is probably the most helpful of all posted. If this is a true story and you were issued a ticket, fight the ticket based on the yellow light and move on. Debating/whining about whitey/hispanic/black issues at this level is detrimental to society. Ergo, my post is the most helpful.

Has nothing to do with race.

Nothing to do with race.

Fight the ticket on principal; You made a judgment call, so stick with your choices.

White boy should be glad he was not part of an "officer involved shooting" and/or "resisting arrest."

I don't see a racial component. Perhaps there's an SES component if there's a significant socioeconomic disparity between the two cities. However, my bet is on the cop being a douche, as cops are wont to do, and taking the chance to make a snide remark.

I was once pulled over for what one of my cop friends calls being WITH, and it didn't go anything like what you're describing.

You were stopped because the officer believed you to be running the light. He issued you a ticket because of it.

Originally Posted by CouttsClient

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You were stopped because the officer believed you to be running the light. He issued you a ticket because of it.

Or he was stopped because he was close enough to running the yellow/red light that the officer felt he could get away with writing the ticket. With quotas and expectations, you write every ticket you can some times. Even when someone "runs" a yellow light.

I had this happen to a taxi I was in. The driver got screwed... it was yellow and that's when he went through it. The lesbian dykes with the shields (this was in San francisco) wanted to beat the crap out of me when I said, very calmly, 'it obivously doesn't matter to me - but the light was yellow, not red". One of them threateningly approached me, got in my face and warned me that I risked a ticket for obstruction or some such. Total abuse of power and they were totally in the wrong about the ticket.

The taxi driver was screwed. I gave him my address and said I'd write up something if he contested it, but I never heard from him.