Pulled Over For Driving Too Safely

[Music] welcome to audit the audit where we sort out the who and what and the right and wrong of police interactions this episode covers driving below the speed limit rental agreements and driving while intoxicated and is brought to us by greg kyme'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 would like to invite you all to check out the ata patreon page where you can find ad-free uncensored and exclusive content that you can't get anywhere else and right now we're offering a limited time one-year membership with two months completely free in a video uploaded on june 1st 2020 plano texas resident greg kyme was pulled over by canine deputy chelfy of the bernie county sheriff's office on highway 71 just outside of austin texas mr kyan was driving a rental car with california license plates after mr kim pulled over deputy chelsea exited his police vehicle and approached the passenger window of mr kim's rental car how are you doing i'm deputy sheriff's office are you okay yeah because you're it seems to be well you're driving 60 in a 70 zone and you keep breaking it's consistent i wanna i wanna keep the distance safe distance uh from the car if the car in front of me is there was no car in front of you when you were doing that at the time i'm keeping the distance yeah at one time there was a car in front of you but most of the time you're driving behind me i was i was following the line okay cars okay and i always like to keep the safe resistance i'm just making sure you're okay because someone someone doesn't go 60 miles per hour typically in a 70 zone and brake all the time i saw you behind me okay uh and i know that you're driving with that speed i thought maybe there is some sort of uh road repair or something like that so everybody is driving pretty much the same speed okay and that's why i was uh all right the normal pace well you're just gonna get a a warning do you have your driver's license insurance on you yeah okay can i see that please deputy trophy informs mr kaim that he will be given a warning for his driving behavior but does not specify what traffic offense mr khaim allegedly committed section 545.363 of the texas transportation code states that an operator may not drive so slowly as to impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic except when reduced speed is necessary for safe operation or in compliance with the law the statute also permits certain governmental authorities to declare a minimum speed limit on the highway when they determine from the results of an engineering and traffic investigation that slow speeds on a part of a highway consistently impede the normal and reasonable movement of traffic if appropriate signs are erected giving notice of a minimum speed an operator may not drive a vehicle more slowly than that limit except as necessary for safe operation or in compliance with the law the u.s supreme court concluded in the 1981 case of united states vs cortes that quote in determining what cause is sufficient to authorize police to stop a person the totality of the circumstances the whole picture must be taken into account based upon that whole picture the detaining officers must have a particularized and objective basis for suspecting the particular person stopped of criminal activity applying this totality of the circumstances approach the seventh district court of appeals of texas determined in the 2000 case of richardson versus state that the evidence did not show that an officer had a reasonable suspicion that a driver going 10 to 20 miles an hour under the speed limit was an impediment to the normal and reasonable movement of traffic when only one vehicle passed the driver and there were no other vehicles behind the driver waiting to pass him when deputy chelsea pulled mr kaim over there did not appear to be a posted minimum speed limit or any impediment to traffic created by mr kyme's driving therefore it is likely that a court would find that deputy chelsea's stop of mr kaim was not justified by a reasonable suspicion that mr khan was violating section 545.363 of the texas transportation code who are you headed to today spicewood spicewood actually uh bryant briarclear i had a car broken like my car the honda odyssey i left it at the car repair shop okay and because of that where do you live more money well i mean my your address elena and where plano texas what brings you this way as i said we were on vacation here and my car brought on the road so i left it at the car repair shop in uh marble falls okay colonial cargo version well so what brings you to this part of texas besides that your car broke down as you said we were vacationing for a couple well yeah i understand that but where are you okay all right okay that that's what i was trying to get to so this is a rental car you have the renault agreement it's in the email did you rent the vehicle under your name okay deputy trophy asked mr kaim about the vehicle's rental agreement which is a legal contract between a car rental company and a renter in the 2015 case of rodriguez versus united states the supreme court determined that when a police stop justified only by a police observed traffic violation exceeds the time needed to handle the matter for which the stop was made it becomes an unlawful seizure however the court identified several ordinary inquiries incident to a traffic stop such as checking the driver's license determining whether there are outstanding warrants against the driver and inspecting the automobile's registration and proof of insurance that can lawfully be conducted during a traffic stop without straying from the stop's mission while there is not extensive case law on the subject of rental agreements the courts that have considered the issue have generally determined that officers have the authority to inspect a rental agreement as part of a routine traffic stop for example in the 2019 case of united states versus leslie the united states district court in the northern district of oklahoma determined that inspecting the rental agreement for a vehicle is similar to the common inquiries noted in the rodriguez decision as the intent of the officer is to determine whether the driver is authorized to drive the vehicle similarly the third district court of appeals of ohio concluded in the 2011 case of state versus hollins that quote an officer while conducting a stop for a traffic violation may as part of his or her investigation review a rental agreement if one exists in addition to conducting background checks of the driver's license vehicle registration and license plate based on the reasoning in these decisions a court would likely find deputy chelsea's inquiries about mr kim's rental agreement to be reasonable yes is it 60 miles safer than 70 safer than 70 you're supposed to go to the speed limit most of the time okay below the maximum and also if that's what i was following the cars in front of me and was trying to get the same difference your driving behavior was consistent with someone that may be intoxicated which is why i stopped you deputy trophy informs mr kaim that his driving behavior was consistent with the driving behavior of an intoxicated individual which is why he was stopped as we discussed earlier in this episode a police officer must have a reasonable suspicion that a driver has violated the law for a traffic stop to be legal in the 2014 case of navarette vs california the supreme court held that quote reasonable suspicion depends on the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men not legal technicians act under that common sense approach we can appropriately recognize certain driving behaviors as sound indicia of drunk driving the navarete decision also identified weaving all over the roadway crossing over the center line on a highway driving all over the road and driving in the median as examples of the types of erratic driving behaviors that are strongly correlated with drunk driving in 2010 the national highway traffic safety administration researchers interviewed police officers from across the united states to develop a list of more than 100 driving behaviors that have been found to predict impaired driving the list was reduced to 24 cues during three field studies involving hundreds of officers and more than 12 000 enforcement stops driving at a quote-unquote slow speed of 10 miles per hour under the speed limit is included as one of the signs of intoxicated driving along with other speed and braking problems such as accelerating or decelerating for no apparent reason problems maintaining proper lane position swerving or drifting vigilance problems such as slow responses to traffic signals or officer signals and stopping for no apparent reason and judgment problems like following too closely or unsafe lane changes however even though driving at a slow speed may be an indicator of drunk driving it is typically not on its own sufficient to establish reasonable suspicion of drunk driving in the richardson case we discussed earlier in this episode the 7th district court of appeals of texas held that because the trooper admitted there might be other reasons why a person would be driving slowly and he cited no other reason why his suspicions were aroused driving 20 miles per hour under the speed limit in and of itself would not justify an investigatory stop for driving while intoxicated therefore it seems likely that a court would conclude that deputy chelsea's stop of mr kaim was not justified by a reasonable suspicion that mr kaim was impaired okay most texans don't go 60 they go 80. but i originally kind of like to keep a little bit extra safe distance behind the car because you have that back people would stop erratically you know okay all right like i said you're just going to get a warning what i'm going to have you do is hop out hop into my passenger seat while i type that out what's that warning a warning yeah for your driving behavior my driving behavior was absolutely perfect okay if that's what you believe that's fine you're just getting a warning i'm not giving you a ticket uh i don't understand what was the i have to document my stops okay and i'm giving you a warning i was making sure you're not intoxicated no i don't believe you're intoxicated at this time which is why i'm getting you a warning to get you out of here i have to document does it go on the record no okay all right so i'm gonna have you hop out hop into my passenger seat of the vehicle while i type out your warning so i can get it to you okay deputy chelsea ordered mr kaim to sit in the passenger seat of the police vehicle while he typed out the warning during the process deputy chelsea asked various questions about mr kaim's background residency employment and physical attributes once the warning was issued deputy trophy told mr khaim that he was free to leave mr kaim uploaded this video to his personal youtube channel along with the dash cam video of the incident but it is unclear whether he filed a complaint or will be pursuing legal action overall deputy chelsea gets a c-minus because although much of the deputy's conduct was debatably legal he exercised poor discretion displayed a misunderstanding of reasonable suspicion and ultimately issued mr kaim a warning for driving too safely in the video you can clearly hear deputy chelsea say that he is required to document every stop and he insinuates that the warning he is issuing will serve as that documentation however there are no legal requirements for officers to document every encounter with a citizen and he's likely referring to a departmental policy many departments have policies that require their officers to file incident reports whenever they make contact with citizens but these reports are generally for administrative purposes and do not serve any significant legal function although a warning will not reflect on mr kaim's driving record it could be used against him in court if he were ever issued a citation for a different traffic violation and the deputy's implication that a written warning was warranted for administrative purposes is inaccurate the deputy's decision to issue a warning was likely an attempt to meet the department's quota for traffic stops and contrary to the contention of most departments departmental quotas are a very real and well-documented matter of public concern several states have outlawed the practice of issuing officer quotas but even in those states it remains a prevalent issue for example police quotas have been outlawed in california since 2009 but as recently as 2013 the city of los angeles paid out a 6 million settlement to a group of police officers who accused their superiors of imposing a secret traffic ticket quota system the concept of ticket quotas does nothing more than erode public trust and generate unethical revenue streams for the municipality and while many states are actively working to combat the issue it will be extremely difficult to eradicate the use of quotas without significant oversight i have little doubt that mr kaim was a victim of quota enforcement and all departments who participate in such conduct are betraying the spirit of the american justice system by carrying out a practice that essentially amounts to roadside extortion mr kaim gets an a because although he could have exercised his right to silence he remained calm and compliant throughout the encounter challenged the legitimacy of the deputy's conduct and made a concerted effort to dispel the deputy's suspicions it is clear that mr khan was driving in a manner that was focused on road safety and the fact that he was issued a warning for being a safe driver is ridiculous deputy chelsea stated in the video that drivers typically drive at a high rate of speed on texas roadways so it would make sense for mr kim to take extra precautions on a highway that's known for dangerous drivers if the deputy's allegation of rampant speeding is accurate then it seems counterintuitive for him to waste time issuing warnings to citizens who are driving safely and instead perhaps he should focus his attention on the drivers who are actually presenting a legitimate threat to others mr kaim handled himself well during this encounter and i commend him for keeping his emotions in check but i would also encourage him to gain a deeper understanding of the right to silence and the citizen complaint process 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 the ata patreon page for more police interaction content you

Channel: Audit the Audit

Views: 1,039,648

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: ShB9BjPSKyw

Length: 14min 23sec (863 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 01 2021

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