Obviously speculation and at least so far there has been nothing from either the Department, the attorneys representing the officers or the officers themselves to back up my speculation I think there is the real possibility that what happened was attributable to mistaken identity. Keeping in mind that the officers were members of an elite unit one of the purposes of which was to fight gangs I wouldn't rule out the possibility that they thought that Nichols was a gang member. Even if that was case it still wouldn't justify their brutal treatment of him but it does provide an explanation of why they were so aggressive from the get go. From the very beginning they didn't act as if they were handling an ordinary traffic stop and it does seem rather odd that officers in an elite unit would even be concerned with routine traffic violations.
That kind of makes sense. They probably go in assuming the perp is armed and dangerous. The problem is if you go into conflict with highly charged emotions it is damn near impossible to rationally process the situation. It is hard for me to see why anybody would want to do that job.
This past fall i was working with a fueling company during hurricane relief efforts. The first few days I was with several crews stationed at Daytona Speedway. We initially didn’t have any hotels to sleep in, so the first few nights, those of us who lived close enough would drive home, preferring that over sleeping in our vehicles. The second night, while driving through Bunnell at about 2a, an SUV behind me about 30ft, and in the lane next to me, turns their headlights off, then on again. I looked in the rear views and realized it was a cop, who was now in the process of pulling behind me and lighting me up. Then this jerk cop approaches my passenger window, acting like I’m on the FBI Most Wanted List, and begins to tell me that my tag lights are functioning properly, but he couldn’t see that my tag was illuminated from 50ft away. All total bs. Then wants to know “why are you out so late tonight?”, “where are you coming from?”, “where are you headed to?”, and, of course, the ubiquitous “anything in the car i need to know about?”. Third night…….same bs coming through Bunnell. Different cop. Last year, I was fishing at a local park/preserve in Palm Coast that has a lake. About mid afternoon I walk back to my truck to drink some water, eat some snacks I’d brought, etc. I was actually distracted by reading GC on my phone when I perceived a vehicle that sounded like it was coming into the parking area, towards my truck, kinda fast. I look up to see a Flagler County Sheriff cruiser driving directly towards me (no one else was at the park), and then stopping abruptly to box me in. I was completely befuddled. The deputy gets out, walks over to the driver’s side door, and asks me “what’s going on, man?”. I just looked at him and said “excuse me?”. I’m literally sitting in my truck, with a bottle of water on my dash, with my tackle bag sitting on the hood of my truck, with my reel & rod laying next to it. They literally had to take a couple wider steps around the hood, because my rod was hanging over the edge so far in that direction. And then immediately start asking me “what’s going on”? Like it’s not obvious. Then starts with the same bs of “you local around here?” and “anything in the vehicle I need to know about?”. When I objected to the questioning and asked specifically why they were even here, the response was “just checking on you, man. Making sure you’re alright”. Many people in this area will tell you similar stories from these corrupt departments. They’re trained to produce revenue. Period. My rights, your rights, THE LAW…..all completely of no consequence to these ppl.
I'm so sorry what you have to go through. And yet we bend over backwards to try to have empathy for the other side
I think we need more female cops. Just hire more of them to serve as observers or something. You’re never going to find a group of female officers beating a man to death. And I think male officers would be more reluctant to do so in the presence of a female officer. Just an idea.
I've lived between Palm Coast and Flagler Beach off Colbert Lane for the last 8.5 years and never once had a bad experience with Flagler County LEOs. Guess I'm lucky .... just as I was lucky for the 19+ years I lived in Alachua County and never had a problem with ASO or GPD or UPD. In fact, in 6+ decades on this earth, I've never had a problem with LEOs, only good experiences.
They certainly have a difficult, very dangerous, and very stressful occupation. All of which they are not even remotely appropriately compensated for. I have high regard for law enforcement officers, as a general rule. As always, though, the more we learn, the more concerns we’re likely to have about policing techniques in this country. However, I’m not deserving of any empathy for my experiences with LE. I would bet the majority of citizens in this country could tell of similar encounters with bad policing. And I got to walk away from those encounters. Let’s, you and I, save our empathy for those who didn’t.
Things got worse after the SCOTUS decision in Whren. That decision overturned long standing case law that pretextual traffic stops were illegal and allowed them. Overnight narcotics detectives were pulling over cars for the most trivial offenses to see what else they might find. If you have ever reviewed Florida Statutes Chapter 316, our traffic laws chapter, you should rapidly come to the conclusion that it is near impossible to drive any real distance and not break one or more traffic laws. It got so bad, I had to purchase the same model window tint meter the cops were using to verify whether a client's tint was really illegal or not, because of what happened AFTER the stop. That court decision led to a dramatic increase in traffic stop encounters...and not with traffic cops and regular citizens who let the fronts of their cars go past the stop bar at a traffic light. Enforcement shifted to detectives and special squads pulling over suspected drug dealers and known criminals for a chicken **** civil infraction hoping to find drugs, guns or people with warrants. That made these stops a lot more prone to trouble.
Well, you seem to imply that women couldn’t be as corrupt. I generally agree with a lot of what you write. This idea, though, I definitely think to be naive.
I didn’t see any. It’s a good observation. A lot of studies show women on the force help with deescalation.
I had a run in with an off duty female narcotics officer. She, umm, sexually assaulted me. Well, if the genders were swapped, and I did what she did to a female, I think I could be charged with it. Probably. It's quite an interesting story. I'll share if anyone is interested..
I'll have to find the video, but I have a perfect example for this. I think the last time a female tried to intervene, she got chocked by the male seargent.
The female cop gets me respect. The lying officer who stomped on the back of the guys head then lies about the events that happened, does not. The guy who got stomped got a $650k settlement.
Yes. Human tendencies are just that. However, I must admit I HAVE stated to people that the world would be a better place if more women were running things. So, perhaps I have dueling stances on the question, in general. Within the context of policing, if challenged, i think it would be far more common for a female officer to go along with corroborating another male officers version of events, rather than be the lone voice of truth. All for the sake of acceptance and being seen as an equally respected peer.
