(C) BoingBoing
This story was originally published by BoingBoing and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Texas cop on leave after handcuffing man who tried to "argue the facts of the case" while receiving mistaken traffic ticket [1]
['Rob Beschizza']
Date: 2023-07-26
Officer Scott Harrell of Texas City police detained Christopher Shull for "disregarding a traffic control device" in April, but it was for manoevers in the privately-owned parking lot of a gas station. When Shull argued, correctly, that that was not how any of this works, Harrell arrested, handcuffed and detained him–and has now been placed on leave after Shull threatened a lawsuit. The video is, as one commenter describes, an example of the sunk cost fallacy, as the angry cop keeps doubling down on a mistake rather than fixing it–a mistake that could cost the city (and its taxpayers) dearly.
"You were very close! They had to slam on their brakes, I watched it happen … ok you came flying through the parking lot," Harrell said to Shull, while Shull sat handcuffed in the back of his police cruiser. But in the new surveillance video obtained by KPRC 2 News, the white truck appears to brake while exiting the gas pumps, then the brake lights appear to go off before completing a left turn and finally crossing paths with Shull."Everything he said was a lie and it really just boils down to, he wanted to use his police powers to bash me over the head," Shull said. … Shull has retained San Antonio-based civil rights attorney Brandon Grable, who told KPRC 2 Shull never should have been detained."An officer appeared to have a poor lapse of judgment and once he realized he was too far in to the stop, he felt like he had to go all the way," Grable said.
Here's the police chief's statement, apparently issued after weeks of ignoring Shull's lawyer.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://boingboing.net/2023/07/26/texas-cop-on-leave-after-handcuffing-man-who-tried-to-argue-the-facts-of-the-case-while-receiving-mistaken-traffic-ticket.html
Published and (C) by BoingBoing
Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/boingboing/
