Officer Detains His Superior and Gets Him Investigated

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what's in the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers officer speeding off-duty authority and pace clocking and is brought to us by wptv's channel be sure to check out the description below and give them the credit that they deserve before we dive into the interaction i want to give a big thanks to the sponsor of this episode policy genius feeling productive after submitting your taxes why not ride that wave and get life insurance done too with policy genius it's quick and easy in just minutes you can work out how much life insurance coverage you need and compare personalized quotes to find the price that fits your budget policy geniuses team of licensed experts work for you not the insurance company and they are always available to help guide you through every step of the shopping and buying process policy genius makes it easy to compare quotes from over a dozen top insurers all in one place you can save fifty percent or more on life insurance by comparing quotes with policy genius and you could save thirteen hundred dollars or more per year on life insurance by using policy genius to compare policies there's no better feeling than knowing that your loved ones will be covered no matter what happens so head on over to policygenius.com audit the audit to get started now thanks again to policy genius for sponsoring this episode on september 17th 2017 officer mark sonne of the boynton beach police department pulled over major michael johnson for allegedly driving an unmarked police vehicle 97 miles per hour in a 65 mile per hour zone while off duty in boynton beach florida major johnson pulled over to the side of the road and activated the vehicle's emergency lights as officer sand approached seriously i'm sorry sir seriously well you were speeding what's that all right i'm trying to do my job let's take where that's [Music] officer son informs major johnson that he was speeding but exercises his discretion not to issue major johnson a citation under section 316.072 of the florida statutes the drivers of government-owned vehicles must follow the state's traffic laws unless there is a specific legal exception in the case of police vehicles which are defined as authorized emergency vehicles by section 316.003 of the florida statutes officers who are responding to an emergency call in the pursuit of an actual or suspected violator of the law or responding to a fire alarm are permitted to quote park or stand irrespective of the provisions of this chapter proceed past a red or stop signal or stop sign but only after slowing down as may be necessary for safe operation exceed the maximum speed limits so long as the driver does not endanger life or property disregard regulations governing direction or movement or turning in specified directions so long as the driver does not endanger life or property florida law does not require officers to turn their lights or sirens on to speed or otherwise disregard traffic laws as permitted but as traffic laws are established on the state level some states do impose this obligation for example section 56-5-760 of the south carolina code of law states that quote the exemptions granted to an authorized emergency vehicle apply only when the vehicle is making use of an audible signal and visual signals except that an authorized emergency vehicle operated as a police vehicle need not use an audible signal nor display a visual signal when the vehicle is being used to obtain evidence of a speeding violation respond to a suspected crime in progress when use of an audible or visual signal or both could reasonably result in the destruction of evidence or escape of a suspect or surveil another vehicle or its occupants who are suspected of involvement in a crime although major johnson was driving in a government-owned police vehicle he would not have been authorized to speed in this situation as he was off-duty and not responding to any emergency situations or pursuing a violator of the law but you know you were speeding so [Applause] and you also failed to make your left turn my left turn when you made your left turn off i-95 on the overpass you didn't have your signal on are you seriously serious about this first of all i didn't know you who you were i got that what was that 97 miles an hour behind you 97 what was my speed mark 97 what was my speed 97 not a chance okay about one minute after officer sawn returned to his vehicle after completing the traffic stop major johnson pulled over officer son by activating the lights on his unmarked vehicle and alleged that officer san failed to signal when changing lanes and making a left turn while there is generally no legal prohibition against an off-duty police officer effectuating a traffic stop some police departments have written policies and procedures regarding when off-duty officers may conduct traffic stops for example the cincinnati police department's policy regarding the emergency operation of police vehicles and pursuit driving states that quote officers will not attempt to stop vehicles while off duty unless it is a life-threatening situation which if permitted to continue could cause serious physical harm to innocent victims similarly the vancouver police department's policy on off-duty law enforcement actions explains the quote initiating law enforcement action while off duty is generally discouraged officers should not attempt to initiate enforcement action when witnessing minor crimes such as suspected intoxicated drivers reckless driving or minor property crimes such incidents should be promptly reported to the appropriate law enforcement agency although the boynton beach police department's policies are not publicly available courts usually do not take department policies into consideration when determining the legal validity of a traffic stop it is also evident from this interaction that major johnson's primary motive for pulling over officer son was to retaliate against him and major johnson later admits that he pulled him over because he just wanted to quote unquote talk to him in the 1996 case of ren vs united states a unanimous supreme court ruling concluded that the constitutional reasonableness of a traffic stop does not depend on the actual motivations of the individual officers involved this decision signed off on the common police practice of pretextual stops where officers pull over an individual for a minor traffic violation when their actual motivation is to investigate the individual for a more serious offense or take some other action in this situation although major johnson's stop of officer son was clearly pretextual if officer son did actually fail to signal a court would likely find that the detention was reasonable not a chance i've never hit 100 in this car in my life okay but you also agreed you were speeding right your body camera it is on please make sure it is on it is on it was on before i agreed that i was speeding you want to write me a ticket no i didn't write your attention like that sir you stuck your hands out the window going seriously no i put my hands out the window so you didn't do something silly no sir okay mark when have i done something silly i didn't say you are doing something silly i said so you don't do something silly what would i do though apparently okay mark it's fine it's not a big deal listen all i'm saying is the traffic laws apply to me just like they do to you and i admit i'm speeding and i'm doing it on your body camera but i was not going 97 miles an hour i was behind you at 97 miles an hour very good but i wasn't going 97 okay so how fast were you going then i have no idea okay but i know i wasn't doing 97 because i've never done 97 in this in my life even while i'm working officer san argues that major johnson was driving at 97 miles per hour because he was driving 97 miles per hour behind him which implies that he was measuring major johnson's speed using a method called pace clocking as the fifth district court of appeals of florida explained in the 2006 case of department of highway safety versus roberts quote when an officer pace clocks a motorist the officer follows the motorist for a sufficient distance at the same speed and using the speedometer on the police vehicle judges the speed of the motorist although pacing is an inexact speed estimation technique courts have generally approved of it as both a valid method of establishing reasonable suspicion to conduct a traffic stop and a legally sufficient method of proving that an individual was speeding however due to the imprecise nature of pacing as a method of clocking speed speeding tickets based on pace speeds can be successfully challenged in court for an officer to accurately determine a driver's speed through pacing they must keep an equal distance between the front bumper of the police vehicle and the rear bumper of the suspect's vehicle for the entire duration of the pace otherwise the officer's speed won't match that of the car they are pacing if the officer starts pacing while far away from the vehicle and closes the gap the calculated pacing speed will really be the officer's catch-up speed which will be higher than the suspect's actual speed pace clocking is the most accurate when the officer drives closely behind the suspect for a reasonable distance and keeps the distance between the vehicle's bumpers the same throughout the pacing while it is not evident from the video how well officer saan followed pace clocking best practices a court would almost certainly affirm his calculation of major johnson's speed as a reasonable basis for pulling him over but this is ridiculous seriously and then you sit there and i'm i'm willing to give you my driver's license i'm allowed to do discretion am i not going to say if you were in 2006 when you stopped me in yes officer adams and i we stopped you because your vehicle matched the description of a 41 vehicle from west palm beach i was involved in a shooting you shoved your hands out the window did the same thing and said seriously you said seriously i'm like we looked at each other like are you kidding we didn't know you were in in cat then we didn't know if there was an undercover operation and then you start arguing with let's say you weren't speeding listen i'm not here to give anyone a citation that's not even my that's not half the time i don't plan on giving citations when i get out of my vehicle so that so that that's not it i give less citations i get more breaks than i do citations okay i'm not here to argue with you but i will you don't have to notify chief i'm not going to tell anyone i have no choice but to buy a policy so i will let them know that i was stopped for speeding by you tonight and that's just the way it is but even so all right we're good i'm good all right after this altercation a 13-month investigation into major johnson was conducted based on claims of unbecoming conduct and unsatisfactory performance while he initially received a written reprimand for both claims city manager lori laveriere later rejected the unbecoming conduct allegation because major johnson did not actually receive a citation for speeding despite the fact that the internal affairs report stated that speeding is a type of behavior that would violate the city's unbecoming conduct rule and officers do not have to receive a citation to violate the policy overall major johnson gets an f for speeding in an unmarked patrol vehicle maintaining a hostile demeanor while admitting to committing the violation and for conducting what appeared to be a pretextual and retaliatory stop it is clear from the video that these officers had a previous encounter that added to the inflammatory nature of this one and much of the exchange between the officers registered as the product of workplace drama every workplace shares its fair share of drama but problems arise when that workplace is interlaced with the authority to detain and arrest individuals and make life or death decisions although this minor dispute did not result in any real damage to anyone there have been instances in the past where disputes within a department resulted in dangerous and deadly outcomes by no means am i suggesting that major johnson or officer son presented any danger to one another but there is clearly some unresolved tension between the two that may warrant professional intervention mental health within the workplace is certainly an issue that every industry must take seriously and many police departments could likely benefit from more proactive intervention and resolution of these issues if major johnson truly felt that officer sand was maliciously stopping him for speeding then he should have followed the appropriate channel of complaint rather than conducting an impromptu off-duty stop officer son gets an a-minus for conducting a legitimate traffic stop on major johnson engaging in a civil dialogue with the major and for remaining calm and professional throughout the encounter there is no denying that major johnson's conduct was unreasonable and the fact that he was the subject of a year-long investigation that resulted in a short-lived reprimand is a testament to that one of officer son's biggest mistakes was not issuing the major a citation when he had the chance not only did this offer the major an opportunity to have his reprimand reversed later on but it also sent a clear message that even a workplace grudge will not tarnish the discretionary leniency that is often afforded to fellow officers the fact that the boynton city manager elected to unilaterally reject the allegation after maj johnson clearly admitted to speeding on camera multiple times and was found to be guilty of violating policy after an internal investigation perfectly demonstrates the bottlenecking effect of local politics on the process of officer accountability local elections are extremely important to the ecosystem of policing and electing officials that represent the police force you want to see in your city or town is one of the most impactful ways to make a difference ultimately i commend officer sand for having the courage to confront his superior officer about his driving habits and i hope that his actions inspire other officers to hold one another accountable for their behavior let us know if there is an interaction or legal topic you would like us to discuss in the comments below thank you for watching and don't forget to check out my second channel for more police interaction content [Music] you

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 1,376,681

Keywords: amagansett press, first amendment audit, 1st amendment audit, auditing america, news now california, sgv news first, high desert community watch, anselmo morales, photography is not a crime, san joaquin valley transparency, first amendment audit fail, walk of shame, news now houston, police fail, 1st amendment audit fail, public photography, auditor arrested, police brutality, highdesert community watch, pinac news, cops triggered, news now patrick, east hampton

Id: No2g4zdUwyI

Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Mon May 10 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Milehigher]

Pretty infuriating exercising officer discretion going that fast.

[u/Teresa_Count]

Aww poor wittle baby doesn't like the taste of his own medicine. Where's the world's smallest violin when you need it.

SUCH an entitled whiny immature prick. It blows my mind that there are legions of (supposedly) grown men just like him.