The video below shows a curious police chase. Minnesota State Patrol Sgt. Carrie Rindal says that she was forced to ram the van of a man attempted to flee in his van and then succeeded in arresting him. The only problem is that Sam Salter was only suspected of an unlawful lane change and his flight was for only one mile at a slow speed. Salter had his children in the van and says that he was trying to find a safe place to pull over when Rindal rammed his van and came at him with his gun drawn.
Salter ended up in jail for two days while his kids had to be picked up at the jail. Rindal did $1500 damage to his 2001 Toyota Sienna van, and endangered his three children, ages 2, 3 and 6, who were in the van. Yet, after reviewing the tape, the prosecutors admitted that they saw no evidence to support Rindal’s claim that he was fleeing an officer. There is of course no reason to do so since he had not committed any crime and he had no alcohol in his bloodstream.
The exchange between the two reveals the mindless approach of Rindal:
Salter: … I really didn’t expect you to hit my car. … I just thought it was extremely unreasonable….
Rindal: OK. What we do is called the P.I.T. maneuver.
Salter: It was fairly obvious.
Rindal: No, it wasn’t fairly obvious. That’s why I did the P.I.T. maneuver.
Salter: So you thought I was going to slow down and then take off because I was obviously slowing down and pulling over? You hit me when I was next to the curb so I don’t know where you thought I was going.
Rindal: Well, you kept driving. …
Salter: I drove from the corner to here.
Rindal: You drove all the way from 94 and Earl to here.
Salter: Right, which is the safest spot to stop between where I saw your lights.
Rindal: Well, that’s why we are in this spot that we’re in, Samuel. When you see red lights and sirens, you don’t keep on driving and driving and driving [so] you decide where you are going to stop. We decide that.
Salter: I understand that, but I feel that I [didn't] have a safe place to stop between where I saw your lights and here.
Rindal: OK, well that’s why we’re at where we’re at, OK? Next time, maybe you’ll realize that we decide where the safe spot is.
Salter: I’m not a criminal. I’m not trying to evade you. I was not trying to run away.
Rindal: OK. I don’t know that. All I know is that I’m behind a vehicle that’s not stopping when my red lights and siren are going.
Salter: … I slowed down and I pulled to the side and I was looking for a safe place to stop. That corner on 61 seemed to me hidden from the rear as you went around it. It’s slippery. I didn’t want to stop on a dime. I was really trying to be safe.
Paul Gustafson, a spokesman for Ramsey County attorney’s office simply announced: “It was our belief there was insufficient evidence to prove that the suspect was knowingly fleeing police, and that is what he had been arrested for.” Yet, they mailed Salter a ticket for an illegal lane change.
Of course, the department has taken no action against Rindal who rams the car of a citizen, brandishes her weapon without apparent cause, terrorizes children, and then files a baseless charge. As in the recent Chattanooga case, the lack of action taken against the officer raises a troubling question of a double standard for officers and citizens engaged in wrongdoing. While Rindal should not be criminally charged, her actions raises serious questions over her fitness to serve as an officer.
The only way to get the Minnesota Patrol to seriously police its own ranks may be a civil lawsuit in this case. The video below shows that the use of a PIT was unwarranted and that the arrest was bogus.
For the video and full story, click here.
PITing a van full of kids for a lane change violation? That woman’s crazy. She shouldn’t have a badge or gun. You wonder why many think patrol officers are as bad as criminals and have zero respect for them? It couldn’t be garbage behavior by officers like this going unpunished, could it? But that’s what you get when you train POLICE instead of training PEACE OFFICERS. Police are useless – jackbooted thugs used to intimidate based on a military model. Peace officers have high utility. The only reason law enforcement organizations don’t just collapse pall mall is that DESPITE the training, many of them DO understand the distinction and ACT LIKE PEACE OFFICERS – as I suspect our good friend and man of conscience FFLEO did while on the job. They act like peace officers, doughnuts or not, because they are 1) sane and 2) get “it”. Unfortunately, most of them leave the street and end up as detectives when some of that talent IS needed on the street. But it’s morons like this one that give you ALL bad names. She shouldn’t be a cop. She should work for someone like Blackwater where unconstrained aggression is not only approved, but encouraged. Yeah, let’s attack first and think later! And then, when busted, let’s act like douche bags! Genius. You want to fix this Chattanooga? FIRE HER. PAY FOR THE VAN. BEG FORGIVENESS. And I do mean beg. As in grovel. Problem solved.
And a lot of the bad behavior? I contribute directly to the influence of former head of the L.A.P.D., Darryl Gates and his militarization of the L.A.P.D. being adopted as a correct model.
“Rindal: OK, well that’s why we’re at where we’re at, OK? Next time, maybe you’ll realize that we decide where the safe spot is.”
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Apparently that would be in a jurisdiction far from Peace Officer Rindal. I hate bullies, especially uniformed and badged ones.
Sue. Strip the officer of her privilege then you can get her on torts.
Mespo & Buddha,
I agree with everything you’ve said. What I would add to it is that I think the training (amen to the Gates allusion)emphasizes the officer’s potential for encountering dangers and by doing that makes them overly alert for signs of it. In truth police work, even in the big cities is much less dangerous than they or TV would have you imagine. Added to this is the group acculturation that a new officer undergoes, usually from those most cynical about the public. Those good officers, that are peace officers, are more likely to be laconic about their careers since they are people trying to absorb and learn from their experiences.
If you add the above, to the guns, rifles, shotguns, tasers and batons that most police are equipped with, the individual officer is easily seduced into a feeling of superiority and alienation from the public. With that mindset comes incidents like this in which the officer clearly reacted so badly that her job should be at stake.
BIL,
You hit the mark.
“But that’s what you get when you train POLICE instead of training PEACE OFFICERS.”
Officer Rindal conducted herself the way she was trained to respond. It’s New Years eve, she doesn’t know if Mr. Salter is intoxicated, and thats why he can’t just pull over.
It’s a huge training opportunity. Police are conditioned into an “us vs them” mentality. Until the education and preparation of police officers shifts to peace officers this is the response we’ll continue to get.
Balancing “We serve and Protect” with cops getting to finish their shift and go home to their families is the equilibrium were both looking for. A friend in the Public Defenders office here in Chicago says there are 50-60 felony arrests every day. That’s a lot of people who can’t manage their energy in a mature way.
AAhh
Mike Spindell said it better than I ever could!
Wow, I’ve led officers over half a mile looking for somewhere to pull over. I’m glad they didn’t freak out like this.
Profiling gone wrong. This is a hockey mom car.
Whollieb…
Ha.
This is truly an unfortunate situation. I will state right off that the officer in question should be reprimanded, possibly fired, or at the very least stripped of rank and taken off of the street ( AKA desk job) AND not allowed to carry a weapon. She exercised such incredibly poor judgment that her actions are inexcusable. After she found that the van was not being driven by a gang banger on a drug run, she should have lightened up and had some concern for the children. Just because she had a badge did not give her the right to treat this family so incredibly bad. If I were doing the investigation of the incident I would go back over every complaint ever lodged against her over the years and look at each situation in a new light. Given the same situation regarding the time of night, the traffic level, the speed of traffic, and the location, I would have done just as the gentleman did to keep his children safe. The police got a law passed to make everyone move over, it’s a good law, but drunks and people messing with cell phones and such, still rear end them at high speed. Let’s say he did pull over on the highway… and a drunk rear ended the patrol car, driving it into the van and killing the children… would Ms. Rindal be happier because her authority was absolute and obey he must?
What a crock. He should sue her for assault with a deadly weapon.
Her claim that he wouldn’t pull over is so transparent, the CHASE! lasted all of one minute – at all times slowing and signaling while pulling out of harms way. The Minnesota State Police are a group of dedicated, hard working, and brave, men and women that do a wonderful job for the people of our state. Trooper Rindal has proven unworthy of the uniform… and should resign.
Flash:
“The Minnesota State Police are a group of dedicated, hard working, and brave, men and women that do a wonderful job for the people of our state. Trooper Rindal has proven unworthy of the uniform… and should resign.”
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My sentiments exactly. For every crazy lain-brain stop like this, thousands are executed without incident every day. Most of the cops are fine people, out doing a job. The problem are the insecure and the zealots who must prove who is in control all the time. I think this officer needs retraining, and if she refuses, she should resign.
Tell them what you think — look up the phone numbers or email addresses here for Carrie Rindall, Minnesota State Patrol Chief Mark Dunaski, Assistant Public Safety Commissioner Tim Leslie, etc:
http://www.mail.state.mn.us/phonebook/
Find other superiors here:
http://www.dps.state.mn.us/OrgChart/DPS_Org_Chart_Jan_2009.pdf:
Thanks, Minnesotan. Consider them told.
Let’s look at this situation logically. You are in MN on new year’s eve and it’s obvious there is snow on the highways and roads. The MN tropper says that someone needs to stop immediately which is impossible by nature. Traveling 50+ mph would have meant the trooper’s car would have ended up in the backseat of the van if you want to take the law literally. This man did the right thing by looking out for the safety of his family. Not only that, but it’s obvious that this man was pulling over because of the VERY slow speed at which he was coming to a stop, while using his turn signal. This lady abused her position and put the family members in jeopardy of injury such as whiplash. I would hope that, at the least, this lady would be reassigned to a desk job and not allowed to interact with the public unless she receives some training or somehow proves she can make better decisions.
“This lady abused her position and put the family members in jeopardy of injury such as whiplash.”
‘This lady…’????? Rindall was a WOMAN???????????????????? Rindall looks like my old Uncle Bernie after years of living on beer and bologna sandwiches. Geeeesh. Take her badge away and get that menace off the streets of MN.
When I see lights asking me to stop, I slow down, put on my turn signal to notify the officer that I am aware that they are pulling me over, and find a safe place to pull over. Sometimes I’ve driven for a bit until I find a place that is safe. Not once have I either been rammed or had the officer verbally chastising me for not pulling over immediately. Not only that, but people are encouraged to find a safe, lighted place for their own safety since people have posed as police officers in order to commit a crime. This officer was completely out of control.
Bad cop…bad cop.
All previous comments on this thread sum up my own thoughts exacty, so I will just add that Youtube has hundreds of videos of state troopers who pull people over at night and then get hit by passing traffic. Sam Salter was trying to do Trooper Rindal a favor and in return got a gun in his face and a ride downtown. Imagine the trauma inflicted on his kids by her actions.
Not all state troopers are like this, however. I lived in Texas and was stopped dozens of times by Texas State Troopers, and every single one of them was a gentleman and a professional.
I think this trooper should submit to a drug test. She obviously was not in a reasonable and rational state of mind. I also question the reaction of the back up officers that showed up and were giggling with her about the whole deal. A pit maneuver on a vehicle going 5 mph and coming to a stop is never justified.
I’ve always been taught, and I still feel that if you don’t feel safe drive the extra length at a reasonable pace until you do.
In some cases that may be a police station. In this case, it was 1 mile down the road.
If it was myself, my wife or my kids in that car, I would have been furious. Rediculous.
I don’t hate our public servents. I hate anyone that would abuse their power as such. Giggling and laughing? It seems sad to me that our officers would be this way.
I really hope that they take some sort of disciplinary action. Something like this should not be tolerated.
I have worked with the police when I was running a neighborhood watch program in Maryland. I was sent to a ten week training program (known as the Citizen’s Academy) at our county police academy.
My perceptions of the police really changed for the better after having the pleasure of working with such intelligent and wonderful people. Together, we addressed and resolved some very serious issues in our community.
One of the many things they taught us about police work was that no reasonable officer would have any problem with you proceding to stop at a safe place as long as you didn’t try to evade them and signal to let them know you are going to stop. They said that in the event of an unmarked car, proceding to the local police station was quite acceptable.
As I was in Minneapolis at a two week telecom seminar three years ago, I could have been the recipient of Officer Rindal’s complete lack of good judgement.
I’m not one that believes that every dispute should be taken to the courts, but in this case Professor Salter should find the meanest, winniest attorney available and sue the State Police Police for every cent he can get out of them. This is the only way they are going to be forced to address this situation. From my perception, they seem to be doing nothing about this.
If this officer’s actions were indeed within MSP policy, the policy is seriously flawed.
I ask everyone to keep Professor Salter’s family in prayer (especially the children after having to witness the traumatic event of their father having a gun put to his head. I wonder how this is going to affect those children’s attitude towards Law Enforcement as they become adults?). As the Bible says we should pray for everyone, I’d ask that you pray that Officer Rindal comes to realize how seriously she has erred.
And we should also pray for the fine police officers that protect us. Their reputations have been dirtied by Officer Rindal’s irresponsible actions.
Sgt. Rindal was just formally reprimanded, and at least one news story said that the videotape of the “pursuit” and arrest will be used in future patrol training.
Sam Salter has accepted a settlement of $9,500 from the State Patrol to compensate for his actual expenses and a small amount for aggravation.
He was quoted in the St. Paul Pioneer Press as saying, “I don’t want to put any more negative energy into it. It’s been a traumatic event for my family.”
When traveling 60 MPH – one mile comes up in about 1 minute. So from the time he makes the ‘illegal lane change’, realizes the HP is after him, signals shifts from the far left lane (avoiding other vehicles), sees he is coming to a stop at a freeway interchange, and looks for a safe place it takes a whopping 60 seconds. Then as he comes to a stop she PIT’s him and pulls a gun on him as if it was some kind of high speed pursuit of a wanted suspect. That all took 1 minute. Ridiculous.
Seriously she should be put on unpaid leave, required extra training and have a desk job for a month. Salter should have been awarded twice that much with a public apology from the police dept.
Song For My Son / Children / Weapons
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Mickey