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How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

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Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#601

Post by dobbsbob »

gameshot911 wrote: post #354
herbig wrote: post #240

Back in November, I was arrested in Brooklyn for running a red light on my bike while on my way to work in Manhattan. Normally you're given a ticket and let go, but in this instance, the officers took issue with the fact that I was not carrying ID. Both officers told me that I "could be arrested for not having ID." For clarification, I asked if it was a city, state, or national law, and the officers adamantly maintai…

I actually see a silver lining in this story. The worst thing an officer of the was able to do was inconvenience you for a day. Compare that to pretty much another other time in recorded history, and indeed still many places today, and you could have been locked up for far longer for pissing off someone in an authority position. Now obviously this is a ridiculous situation and the officer was on a powertrip, but you…

It's a common police tactic to arrest somebody Friday night on bogus charges so they have to sit in prison all weekend to see a judge on Monday. Cops here would round up anybody unsightly like the homeless, protesters or people they thought would protest before some big weekend or Friday night event, just to keep them off the streets until it was over. They did this until false arrest laws came in where you could sue the police but before that there were dragnets every weekend.

Now cops just hand out tickets for every petty violation they can to the homeless since they know they can't pay, and ticket protesters for jaywalking or some other BS, and when a major media covered event comes through they now have a legit reason to round them all up.

Cops can also detain you longer, like this guy who was kept 24hrs in a psych eval, even though he had already spent hours in jail.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#602

Post by jabr »

williamcotton wrote: post #79

> Don’t call 911. Obviously, there are exceptions, but the sad lesson is, there are fewer than you’d think. Are you fucking kidding me? Do NOT listen to this advice. If you see someone injured, CALL 911! Do NOT move the person if there is suspicion of spinal or head injury. Wait for the HIGHLY TRAINED emergency response team to show up. > Call Lyft to take you to the hospital. (Worked well when I broke my elbow.) Are…

Have you ever lived in that neighborhood of San Francisco?

99.9% of my interactions with the police have been entirely professional and exactly what I would expect.

The 0.1% occurred in the Tenderloin, Mission, and SOMA (neighborhoods of SF). A SFPD beat cop, at night, in one of those areas... Yeah, no.

I've had more pleasant and rational interactions while being mugged in the Mission than I ever had with cops on the Mission beat.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#603

Post by dannypgh »

kevinskii wrote: post #349
gizmo686 wrote: post #324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A bit more clarification. Miranda isn't ever required , however anything you say to them before having been read you rights cannot be used against you in court, nor can evidence acquired as a result of what you said (with exceptions for both cases).

A bit more clarification still: Anything you say to them while in custody cannot be used unless you have been Mirandized.

This is not my understanding. If you volunteer information not in response to a question, the lack of Miranda is not important. All the more reason to not say anything.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#604

Post by m_mueller »

crystaln wrote: post #588
FD3SA wrote: post #309

This is a perfect example of the disconnect between "hackers" and the real world. I consider myself part of the HN community because I hope for a society shaped by its ideals, but the real world is so far removed that time spent here becomes more of a therapeutic escape than anything else. I strongly recommend people study history, and understand human nature at both scientific and societal levels. There is too much…

There is another disconnect. Calling the US a "totalitarian police state" without so much as a hedge is incredibly ignorant. While the US has the potential to become a totalitarian police state, it is far from one. You can go ahead and list all the violations of civil rights you want - the fact that you can do that, and that victims in those circumstances have a high chance of prevailing with the right representation…

Reading your law enforcement stories, combined with mostly broken checks and balances due to an arcane election system, judging it from the outside and comparing it with what we have in my home country, I'd say you're not close but you're about half way there.

If there was a more sane way to introduce new law into your system, I'd suggest something like 'make it illegal to make their performance reviews depend on the number of arrests'. But how would you even start a movement like this? It is still possible to shoot down laws pending in congress (as demonstrated with SOPA), but actively steering into a new direction? I guess if you have a few hundred millions to get get yourself elected it would be possible - the problem is, having this sort of money is not a good filter criteria to get a balanced congress. So how to even start?

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#605

Post by qwerta »

downandout wrote: post #600
growupkids wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm terribly sorry this happened to you. For what it's worth you can sue, and you can get money for your trouble and maybe even cause the police department to change it's policies. I did it back in 2000 with the MPD, it took almost 8 years in the courts but eventually I got justice. If you roll over, the bad cops will just keep doing what they do. You'd be surprised at all the law firms that will take your case for f…

In my experience there aren't many cases against government entities that attorneys will take on contingency. A friend of mine was held for nearly 2 years without bail because he was deemed a flight risk (the white collar charges he faced were eventually dropped). He spent most of that time experiencing violent and painful vomiting attacks. He was told he had an ulcer and was given ulcer medication that had no effect…

That is horrible! It sounds like story from Kazachstan or Africa. I hope your friend is better now.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#606

Post by spiritplumber »

I'd still like to know what the proper procedure is after a police officer declares their intention to handcuff you, and you end up handcuffing them instead. I mean, is he under arrest then? Should I take him home and keep him in the spare bedroom for a couple of days?

Serious question, I have seen it happen. Personally as far as hostile encounters with polices go I'm batting 2/1/1 which is not really anything to brag about, and none are fun stories.

Anyway, if you end up in an emergency situation, and the cops do show up, offer help in a clear slow voice and then follow instructions. The worst that ever happened was being asked to give a hand with moving some heavy branches, which is what I was doing when they showed up anyway.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#607

Post by spiritplumber »

ryguytilidie wrote: post #358
BlackDeath3 wrote: post #315

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not necessarily talking about the current top comment in this particular thread. Christ, man. Why do so many people attempt a proof-by-example and then act surprised when it fails to convince?

Um, so your two arguments so far have been: "The person I'm responding to LITERALLY said he wanted all police to die" "Well, he didn't literally say that, in fact, he didn't say anything close to that". "fuck the police shouldn't be the top comment" evidence is presented to the contrary "Dude, its not like I meant THIS top comment". There's no chance you're anything but a troll or stupid, so either way, I'm wasting m…

Fuck the police? Wrong, wrong wrong.

Exactly the opposite. Do not fuck the police.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#608

Post by jabr »

shurcooL wrote: post #91

How does this happen? I'd love to know the motivations and perspectives of people involved. Did they make a mistake? Were they confused? If so, what was their line of thought? Did they try to intentionally cause harm to innocent people? If so, what was the reason. Also, is this a rare unusual occurrence, or does this happen 75%+ of the time you call 911? It just seems like a situation that should not have happened th…

The police overreacted. And it sounds like one cop in particular overreacted and then triggered a cascade of nonsense.

This kind of thing is not rare, but it's not common, either. It happens nightly, but it's unlikely to happen to you.

A good rule of thumb is to not be anywhere near a scene that has an inbound emergency response. There will be police, and if they have nothing else to do, they might harass you for fake reasons.

But it all depends on where you are going. In most places, this is not a common problem. In certain areas of larger cities, the police can be a bit over zealous.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#609

Post by jabr »

balls187 wrote: post #583

Wow. At the point where the person was bluntly told to leave immediately, why did they not?

He wasn't told bluntly. They said they no longer needed him. He said he would like to stay, and then he was tackled, cuffed, and sent off for a bit of solitary.

Re: How I Ended Up In Solitary After Calling 911 For Help

#610

Post by EGreg »

ivanplenty wrote: post #330
specialp wrote: post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In NY it is a "violation" of the law for most traffic offenses. Technically you can be arrested for any traffic infraction but in practice they give you a ticket. Upon conviction you can be imprisoned for up to 15 days. With violations the officer has 100% discretion about what to do. They can decide not to write a ticket/arrest someone for any reason. This officer was obviously a bad officer that is on a power trip…

I've always wondered about this with traffic tickets: How can officers have discretion on how to prosecute and still satisfy "equal protection under the law"? Or does equal protection only apply to federal statutes? [Edit: Thank you to OP for sharing, and my heart goes out for your exp]

Can an officer simply drive by and make up a story like you were running a red light, and give you a ticket?

Or maybe just make up a story that you swung at them and then kick the crap out of you?

This would solve a lot of problems for both police and civilians: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/wearable-video-ca...

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