To all the LEO's

BrianKesler

BrianKesler

Registered
Tonight i had to make a choice...i stopped a car for 68/45. As im following behind calling in the stop, i notice the guy drifting back and forth in the lane. I pull his d/l and find he has a prior DUI, so im thinkin for sure hes drunk. He stops, gets out and does field sobriety and fails miserably. Before i started field sobriety, he shows me his badge :banghead: He's a retired veteran from Chicago PD, retired as a Sargeant.

I did what i thought was right, and took him in. He blew a .202, the legal limit here in Florida is .08.

The guy was real good about it, said i had a job to do, and he understood. He also said he understood that he screwed up, and for me not to feel bad. I kinda wish he was a jerk about it, would have been a lot easier for me.

So the question for the LEO's, what would u guys have done? I know its easy to say you would make the arrest, but man its hard.
 
i'm no LEO, but wrong is wrong.
i know you want to respect your buddies that have served, but he of all people should know the rules. It is a job and it must be done even if it puts you in a REALLY tough situation.
What if it was one of your family members? Thats a tuffie.
 
Don't feel bad. If it were you what would you want the other LEO to do? Compromise his integrity? You didn't sell yours, and to his credit, he didn't ask you to. :thumbsup:
 
You stopped an offender from possibly taking innocent lives. In my opinion, regardless of his service/history/background, you did the right thing.

It was every one of us you, at that time, protected...

Thank you for making the right choice.

:bowdown:
 
you did the right thing, never think other wise, a drunk is a drunk. and will kill randomly.

He has a serious alcohol problem. He may get some help now.

Remember the statistics relating to BAC over .15 and fatality/serious injury crashes.

Remember this, at minimum you saved his life,,,,, who knows who's father, mother,sister, brother, friend you saved. Innocent people are now going to live the rest of their lives with one less funeral or debilitating traffic collision related injury.
This is the thankless part of the job. You altered peoples lives and there is no way to know it.

Thank you for your service brother.
 
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You saved a life. Imagine if he had killed someone after you let him go on his way.
 
Boy a lot of non-LEO's doing the responding. He asked for fellow officer's you nutballs.. :super: Unless you guys aren't telling me something ???? "SCAR".... :oldcool:
 
Spudley said:
Boy a lot of non-LEO's doing the responding. He asked for fellow officer's you nutballs.. :super: Unless you guys aren't telling me something ???? "SCAR".... :oldcool:
Click to expand...

:whistle:

:moon:

Not me, brother...though I support their efforts completely!
 
That just depends on how you define LEO. My kids sure think I am. Here in Iraq I enforce the Law of War. My BFT (Big ____ Truck) enforces the Law of Tonnage. :laugh:
 
You don't have to be a LEO to understand the good he did by taking in the other LEO.

It's one thing to respect a person's position or title. The title of Police Officer is worthy of respect. Unfortunately, sometimes, those who bear those titles do not deserve the same respect.

The man broke the contract. You did the right thing.

--Wag--
 
I was put in a similar situation when I was still finishing my FTO program. Very similar in fact, the guy was a retired Sgt from Chicago PD as well. Your guys conviction wasn't from IL was it? ??? Luckily I didn't have to make that choice that night as the call was put out as a one veh crash and my FTO and I got there at the same time a trooper did. Trooper said he would handle it then we find out about the retired status. The trooper did the same thing and took the guy to jail. Considering he was so intoxicated he put his truck in the ditch, I would have done the same thing had I been the one forced to make a decision.

At the end of the day here's how I see it. We have a job to do and that job is to protect the public. When a person gets behind the wheel after drinking they know, every single one of them, that if stopped by a cop they are going to jail, especially if they are at a level of intoxication greater than .200 When I have someone that intoxicated they go to jail no question about it. They knew without a doubt they were too intoxicated to be driving. Now the hard question is when someone is borderline. The law allows for a certain amount of impairment before taking one to jail, hence the legal limit of .08 or whatever it is in FL. Where it gets tough is when that person, LEO or not, is at .081. and the stop was because of a lighting issue or something unrelated to their driving.

At the end of the day, you did what you had to do. Our decisions are not always easy ones and you made one that kept your integrity intact. Don't feel bad about that as you were not the one that made the decision to drive. If I were that officer I would not hold that against you in any way as I know that my badge does not grant me permission to do stupid things such as drive with a level of intoxication such as his.
 
.20 is no amatuer. Retired or active, he should know better. As Busa159 stated, no doubt at that BAC he was a fatality waiting to happen. Good job on the use of discretion. A badge is not a license to break the law. It should be more of a commitment to abide by it.

I had a 3 car MVA over Labor Day. Drunk 1 hits Drunk 2 from rear and pushes him into oncoming traffic and head on with a family of 5. 7 PI, 2 were kids <7 years old. I did them a favor by cuffing them and taking them away from the father of the kids...
 
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PDBusa said:
.20 is no amatuer. Retired or active, he should know better. As Busa159 stated, no doubt at that BAC he was a fatality waiting to happen. Good job on the use of discretion. A badge is not a license to break the law. It should be more of a commitment to abide by it.
Click to expand...

:clap: :thumbsup:

Very little in life is more hypocritical than the "I wont ticket other cops" BS.
 
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You did what you had to do, and you did what was right!! BUT THEN , ask yourself a question and be honest , would you have given him a ticket for Speeding or would policeman courtesy played a roll ? where does the line get drawn? Who draws it? My family is Full of Leos , & I know how the system works. but You did do right in my opinion.:bowdown:
 
DC TONY said:
You did a good job because most LEO'S are dirty. You are 1 out of 500!!!!!!
Click to expand...

??? what is this statement based upon? But then again looking at your location I understand your opinion. It's not like that everywhere so in my mind it is unfair to say most LEOs are dirty. I can show you plenty who are not.
 
I could understand letting the speeding or something else minor go. But with a prior DUI & a .202, sorry bud, even if it was my best friend...you gotta learn not to drink & drive. Another innocent life is just not worth it. Imagine if you would have let him go and a few weeks later you get a call and he had t-boned a family of 4 with no survivors but him, how would you feel then?


P
 
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