evan price
November 14, 2011, 04:05
http://watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2009234.pdf
With a nod to the story about the Miami cop pulled over for 120MPH in a marked car for personal business, here's a local story for me that happened 2 years ago.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
FILE ID NO. 2009234
On June 28, 2009, two off-duty law enforcement officers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Trooper Jason Highsmith and Officer Christopher Thomas of the Gahanna Division of Police, were riding their motorcycles on Interstate 70 near Buckeye Lake.
Traveling at speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour, the two were pulled over after being observed by an air speed check. The two troopers who stopped the speeding motorcyclists chose not to issue citations to their fellow officers.
Unfortunately, a decision to cite the two officers was not made immediately. Instead, for several days, Highway Patrol administrators at various management levels discussed the issue and the possibility of union contract ramifications for ordering citations to be issued. Consequently, Trooper Highsmith was not served a ticket until July 2, 2009, which was four days after the incident occurred. Officer Thomas’ citation was served on July 6, 2009, eight days after the violation occurred.
Because of the speeds involved, the incident became news shortly after the tickets were filed in Licking County Municipal Court. When the media reported that the tickets were filed days after the traffic stop, the general public became suspicious and raised a cry about unequal treatment of the officers and the motoring public. Claims of a potential cover-up were made by a number of sources.
In light of the great public interest generated by the media stories, the Governor’s Office requested that the Office of the Inspector General conduct an investigation into the reasons behind the delayed issuance of the traffic citations. Specifically, the Inspector General’s Office was asked to determine whether the Highway Patrol engaged in an attempt to cover up the actions of all of its personnel involved in the incident and to determine whether the tickets finally received by Trooper Highsmith and Officer Thomas were only issued after the media made the story public.
Surprisingly (duh) the state investigation showed there was nothing wrong with waiting 4 and 8 days after the event to issue a simple speeding ticket.
Were that you or I or anyone else, there would be handcuffs, a towed and impounded bike, or else, a big ticket written on the spot.
With a nod to the story about the Miami cop pulled over for 120MPH in a marked car for personal business, here's a local story for me that happened 2 years ago.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
FILE ID NO. 2009234
On June 28, 2009, two off-duty law enforcement officers, the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Trooper Jason Highsmith and Officer Christopher Thomas of the Gahanna Division of Police, were riding their motorcycles on Interstate 70 near Buckeye Lake.
Traveling at speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour, the two were pulled over after being observed by an air speed check. The two troopers who stopped the speeding motorcyclists chose not to issue citations to their fellow officers.
Unfortunately, a decision to cite the two officers was not made immediately. Instead, for several days, Highway Patrol administrators at various management levels discussed the issue and the possibility of union contract ramifications for ordering citations to be issued. Consequently, Trooper Highsmith was not served a ticket until July 2, 2009, which was four days after the incident occurred. Officer Thomas’ citation was served on July 6, 2009, eight days after the violation occurred.
Because of the speeds involved, the incident became news shortly after the tickets were filed in Licking County Municipal Court. When the media reported that the tickets were filed days after the traffic stop, the general public became suspicious and raised a cry about unequal treatment of the officers and the motoring public. Claims of a potential cover-up were made by a number of sources.
In light of the great public interest generated by the media stories, the Governor’s Office requested that the Office of the Inspector General conduct an investigation into the reasons behind the delayed issuance of the traffic citations. Specifically, the Inspector General’s Office was asked to determine whether the Highway Patrol engaged in an attempt to cover up the actions of all of its personnel involved in the incident and to determine whether the tickets finally received by Trooper Highsmith and Officer Thomas were only issued after the media made the story public.
Surprisingly (duh) the state investigation showed there was nothing wrong with waiting 4 and 8 days after the event to issue a simple speeding ticket.
Were that you or I or anyone else, there would be handcuffs, a towed and impounded bike, or else, a big ticket written on the spot.