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My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

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61–70 of 86 posts

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#61

Why does it seem like so many people in authority just hate Uber? Is it the "dirty hippie" effect? Everything new is threatening and scary? What is it?

Uber is skipping some necessary steps for doing business over there (like giving yearly donations to the police pension fund and making campaign contributions).

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#62
post #38

Here's a better headline: "My Uber gor pulled over by the Denver Police, and the officer mistakenly told us Uber is illegal." Maybe not so many clicks that way, though. I agree that this was a rather unfortunate and odd experience, but I don't see what the big deal is. The only thing that struck me as "really weird" about this is that the author called a Denver Post reporter to get live legal information while he was…

> Of course, in a perfect world, an officer would know everything about Colorado law. But that is clearly unrealistic. Citizens of Colorado are supposed to know and obey the law and apparently citizens of Washington state are expected to as well, if they are visiting. Why is it unrealistic to expect a Colorado police officer to know the law?

It seems in this case neither the passenger nor the cop was crystal clear about the law. Regardless.... Nothing actually happened. Nobody was wrongfully arrested. A cop said some stuff that seems legally questionable, but did not act on it. That's not "really weird" in my book.

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#63
post #22

Why does it seem like so many people in authority just hate Uber? Is it the "dirty hippie" effect? Everything new is threatening and scary? What is it?

"people in authority" get payoffs from organized crime, and Uber isn't playing along nicely. "Is it the "dirty hippie" effect?" sort of, read between the lines of the story, driver's second language is English, etc, there are two driving experiences in America, driving while white and driving while minority. The author seemed shocked to experience a fairly normal "driving while minority". I didn't find the story all…

Can you point to any evidence that any actions in this article were caused by, exacerbated by, or in any way modified by any participants' views on the race of any other participants?

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#64

Here's a better headline: "My Uber gor pulled over by the Denver Police, and the officer mistakenly told us Uber is illegal." Maybe not so many clicks that way, though. I agree that this was a rather unfortunate and odd experience, but I don't see what the big deal is. The only thing that struck me as "really weird" about this is that the author called a Denver Post reporter to get live legal information while he was…

[deleted]

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unless your train stations are out further than your airports with poorer transport connections into the city. So is life in china.

Ha, train stations, that's rich. So is life in the US.

Portland to Seattle via train is quite reasonable. The stations are both downtown.

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#66
post #62
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Of course, in a perfect world, an officer would know everything about Colorado law. But that is clearly unrealistic. Citizens of Colorado are supposed to know and obey the law and apparently citizens of Washington state are expected to as well, if they are visiting. Why is it unrealistic to expect a Colorado police officer to know the law?

It seems in this case neither the passenger nor the cop was crystal clear about the law. Regardless.... Nothing actually happened. Nobody was wrongfully arrested. A cop said some stuff that seems legally questionable, but did not act on it. That's not "really weird" in my book.

The police officer caused undue delay and distress to the passenger of the vehicle. That's most definitely harassment.

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#67
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Besides, the police shouldn't try to enforce particular laws until they are confident about their understanding of them.

Where in this article did the officer try to enforce whatever law it was he thought Uber was violating?

He started to, then he realised he'd really fucked up.

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#69
post #42
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I take it you've never been in a similar situation? If you've ever dealt with an officer of the law in an adversarial situation where you believe you've done nothing wrong, it can be an unnerving or even terrifying experience. The power imbalance is immediately and palpably felt (what I think the author was trying to convey by mentioning the clearly-visible gun). If the officer had wanted to arrest the citizen (who,…

>>> Not answering the questions, throwing the license back at the passenger At the end of the day, cops are people. They get tired, frustrated, etc. I don't expect them to act like my personal servants. >>> I take it you've never been in a similar situation? I have, more than once. Actually, in a very similar situation. I took a bus for the first time in that country, got the ticket, and didn't know that I need to ge…

But people were just doing their jobs and I didn't obstruct them.

No, but in the second instance they inconvinienced you. I wonder what you would have done had the outcome been different in either of these two instances?

Re: My Uber got pulled over by the Denver police – and then things got really weird

#70
post #64

Here's a better headline: "My Uber gor pulled over by the Denver Police, and the officer mistakenly told us Uber is illegal." Maybe not so many clicks that way, though. I agree that this was a rather unfortunate and odd experience, but I don't see what the big deal is. The only thing that struck me as "really weird" about this is that the author called a Denver Post reporter to get live legal information while he was…

[deleted]

It sounds like our disagreement is only about whether it is "really weird" for an officer to request a passenger's ID during a traffic stop. The City of Denver has this to say on the subject: "Depending on the circumstances, officers may request identification from passengers as well." http://www.denvergov.org/police/PoliceDepartment/TrafficEnfo...

And as you say, the officer probably found it odd that there was a passenger riding in the back of an apparently private vehicle.

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