New Orleans encounter in a commercial vehicle

[Mountain man]

I met two cops in New Orleans. I was rearended while making a left turn in a dump truck. Black woman driving the car, she jumps out takes pictures gets back in the car and calls 911, said she needed ambulance, she can't walk. Street lined with Black people. I thought "I'm screwed" White cop shows up, first words out of his mouth to me, "it's your fault" I tried to explain I was just making a left with blinkers still going, He told me to sjut up, he wasn't investigating just there to see if there were injuries, then he left. Black cop shows up. I figure now I am really screwed. I notify that I have a permit and gun, he courtiously explains he must take control of the gun, he unloads it, empties out the clip and hands empty clip and bullets back and explains he will need to run the serial number. His Black sargent shows up, I figure the handcuffs are comming out soon. The other driver leaves on a stretcher in ambulance. They investigate and talk with witnesses, in other words, they did their job, in the end, witnesses tell what the other driver did after the crash, they also come forward and say they saw her texting and driving just before impact. I am cleared of any wrong, courtiously given my gun and knife with license and gun permit and I am on my way. Just shows that you can't tell a book by it's cover

 

[Thead]

The rear driver in a rear-end collision is always assumed to be the negligent party.

 

[NavyLCDR]

and explains he will need to run the serial number.

And exactly what reason required "need to" run the serial number? Did they take your cell phone to run the serial number of that too?

 

[cc2xist]

What type of weapon were u carrying that had a "clip"? Aren't they called a "magazine"?! :haha: glad things turned out ok!

 

[NavyLCDR]

he courtiously explains he must take control of the gun, he unloads it, empties out the clip and hands empty clip and bullets back and explains he will need to run the serial number. courtiously given my gun and knife with license and gun permit and I am on my way.

What type of weapon were u carrying that had a "clip"? Aren't they called a "magazine"?! :haha: glad things turned out ok!

Let me make sure I understand this. A law abiding citizen, under no suspicion at all of having committed any crime, much less a violent crime, is treated like a criminal, has his personal property temporarily seized, has a search performed on their possessions which has no bearing on an automobile accident...and everything turned out OK because the police were courteous while violating the law abiding citizen's rights?

 

[Mountain man]

And exactly what reason required "need to" run the serial number? Did they take your cell phone to run the serial number of that too?

It's a New Orleans thing, disarm and check the gun against stolen firearms data base and or use in a crime. Am I ok with that? NO! Do I think it violates my rights YES!! Being from NC my worst concern was getting the gun back, and after the first cop was ready to blame me without knowing anything, and having heard many of the horror stories about New Orleans and possibly not getting my gun back at all? Yeah I wasn't happy, but this cop was treating me decent and I wasn't going to jail to protest. I would rather if need be, go to court to sue the N.O. P.D. at a time of my choosing then appear before a judge explaing my resisting arrest and after being their guest. My point in my post was that at least this cop was doing his job in as inoffensive/courtious and proffesional a manner as he could. I have heard of people that have had to go to the station to jump through hoops to get their gun back after 24 hours after sitting in the back of the cruiser in cuffs, presumed guilty untill proven innocent. I still believe it was an illegal search and seizure, I complied with a good cop doing a difficult job at, knowing that the time to fight it wasn't at that time. I prefer when possible, choosing my battles for the time and place where I have the best advantage, this wasn't the time or place. And as I knew he would, he found me and my gun to be clean and legal, and gave my gun back without any hassle at all. Being disarmed was uncomforatable, but with two armed cops there I figured if something started I would take cover and let them deal with it, which is no different then what I would do if I had retained my gun, and my reload after he left was easy, as I had a loaded spare clip in the truck. There are many places where a LEO encounter results in being disarmed, and if the first cop there had been the one I had to deal with, it could have been much worse, but for New Orleans, this turned out quite well. Also replying to the post by THEAD there are billboards all over in the New Orleans area along I-10 for ambulance chasers....ahh.. Lawyers offering to sue if you have been involved in an accident with a commercial vehicle. The attitude is that as trained proffesionals if there has been an accident we weren't doing our job and are at fault. Unfortunately some(ALOT) of big rig drivers give credence to that argument

 

[Mountain man]

What type of weapon were u carrying that had a "clip"? Aren't they called a "magazine"?! :haha: glad things turned out ok!

Weellllll technically yeah I know a "clip" is what was used to hold usually 5 or so rounds for speedy reload into the internal magazine of a WWII military and older era rifles, and modern weapons have a removable magizine, so I often misname the magazine. It comes from growing up where my father and grandfather hunted with WWII militery rifles and carried spare "clips" They in essence do the same thing.:redface: But as for New Orleans, yeah it turned out OK

 

[NavyLCDR]

Mountain Man.... I was not intending to indicate or infer that you did anything wrong at the scene.

 

[Mountain man]

"Mountain Man.... I was not intending to indicate or infer that you did anything wrong at the scene. "


No, I didn't take it as any accusation, but I did want to address the points you raised. I felt that under the circumstances I did what I had to maintain my freedom and innocence, and took the oportunity you gave me to relate my thought process as I was going through these circumstances. The first cop on the scene left without being aware that I was carrying, and I feel it safe to say that if he had given me the opportunity to notify, his attitude and behaviour would and did make me question wether or not I was going to say anything anyway, and once informed, I don't beleive he would not have been as pleasant to deal with. It was his actions that caused me to remove my gun and holster at the first chance and hide them in my truck while scoping out the potential for more hostility from the cops. That any state or local PD feels they can search and remove from your person or vehicle without probable cause your personal property, gun or not, is a cause for serious concern IMHO. You raising the issue gave me further opportunity to explain how I dealt with it. I was fortunate that he left because he could and probably would have taken me at least to the rear seat of his cruiser for not notifying when approached. What was good in the encounter was the cop who was proffesional and courtious. How someone else would deal with this situation is up to them. But just FYI a D.O.T. trained cop has the right to search a commercial motor vehicle without any probable cause under the interstate commerce act. Though I can't quote the regulations chapter and verse, so putting the gun in the truck was a calculated risk based on the fact that it was a city cop and not a D.O.T. cop. The point, well taken, is that our Constitutional rights are constantly under attack and we often take the easy way out, rather than make a stand. My concern is that the longer we let it slide, the stronger the stand would have be or lose all.

 

[Nightmare45]

You have to remember these are the most likely same cops that confiscated arms from law abiding citizens during Katrina. It did end up costing LA a few bucks. As far as the clip police are concerned, us old guys know the difference we just forget, still know the difference between my weapon and my gun though.

 

[~OtisM~]

What does the black and white Crap you described have to do with anything. Silly.

 

[Panheadzz]

Otis, I don't know if you have noticed lately but it is a racist world out there starting with YOUR president. Oh, and also just for your information, a fish goes bad from the head. Welcome to YOUR world.

 

[the dark]

Otis, I don't know if you have noticed lately but it is a racist world out there starting with YOUR president. Oh, and also just for your information, a fish goes bad from the head. Welcome to YOUR world.

More cute BS...I assume GWB was responsible for any lynchings and draggings of black folks while he was president or governor. In fact, I suspect that Rick Scott shot Trayvon and may have beat up Zimmerman in Florida, too.

So tired of dumbsh*t. Pull your head out of it.

 

[TlWheatley]

Nice to hear a good encounter.....

 

[NavyLCDR]

Nice to hear a good encounter.....

I must ask, how is the police temporarily seizing a citizen's personal and lawfully possessed property, unnecessarily handling a firearm placing bystanders in danger, and a warrantless search for evidence of a stolen gun for which there is no reasonable suspicion that gun was stolen a good encounter?

Was it good because the New Orleans police did not execute anybody this time like on the Danziger bridge? Is any encounter with police that a citizen walks away from unharmed a good encounter?

 

[S&W645]

I must ask, how is the police temporarily seizing a citizen's personal and lawfully possessed property, unnecessarily handling a firearm placing bystanders in danger, and a warrantless search for evidence of a stolen gun for which there is no reasonable suspicion that gun was stolen a good encounter?

Was it good because the New Orleans police did not execute anybody this time like on the Danziger bridge? Is any encounter with police that a citizen walks away from unharmed a good encounter?

You do realize that the police in many states do have the legal right to secure the weapon and or run its number. I might not agree with it but it is on the books.

 

[Mountain man]

What does the black and white Crap you described have to do with anything. Silly.

What it has to do with anything if you bother to read my posts, is this, just because I am white and the first cop was white, doesn't mean any special or sympathetic treatment, and just because I am white and the other two cops and many of the witnesses were Black didn't mean they were going to gang up on me, yet racism does exist on both sides of the isle, reality check, racism does exist, but you can't tell a racist by his/her skin color. You can't tell good from bad from appearences. Does everything have to be explained to you or do you think you might figure it out on your own?

 

[NavyLCDR]

You do realize that the police in many states do have the legal right to secure the weapon and or run its number. I might not agree with it but it is on the books.

However, the US Supreme Court has ruled that the 4th Amendment limits police searches that are not consensual to those for which warrants are obtained limited in scope to search for evidence for which there exists reasonable suspicion of a crime committed. So tell me, what reasonable suspicion was there that the firearm was stolen? And don't try to pass the plain sight rule as an excuse..... the firearm was seized for the specific and limited purpose of "officer safety". Running the serial number which ONLY came into view AFTER the firearm was seized for "officer safety" and no other reason, in order to search for evidence of the firearm being stolen, clearly is an abuse of the plain sight rule. In order to seize the firearm to search for evidence that it was stolen, there would have to be reasonable suspicion that it was stolen.

 

[K7lvo]

More cute BS...I assume GWB was responsible for any lynchings and draggings of black folks while he was president or governor. In fact, I suspect that Rick Scott shot Trayvon and may have beat up Zimmerman in Florida, too.

So tired of dumbsh*t. Pull your head out of it.

Zero has done everything in his power to divide this country - class, race, you name it. Pull your own head out.

 

[maine04619]

99.999 Percent of all people think the truck is always to blame. I feel your pain been there done that.