A website has posted an extraordinary video (below) showing not only the abusive treatment of a citizen by border and local police, but highly compelling evidence of a false police report by a driver to cover up his own illegal turn that caused an accident in New York City. The driver, Ted, had installed a Timetec Roadhawk Dashcam out of fear of unlawful traffic stops. It was a fortuitous decision because it would capture what he says was a false charge and abusive treatment by law enforcement officers — following by a false police report. By the way, the postings report this as a Border Police vehicle but it appears a van from the Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The video clearly shows Ted driving with a green light through the intersection. It also later shows (from the opposite direction) a sign clearly prohibiting a left turn from opposing traffic. A federal van makes an illegal turn against the light and slams into Ted’s car. What follows is unbelievable. The video shows not only Ted crossing with a green light but the irate behavior of the federal officer who runs to his car and starts screaming “Didn’t you see the light? Did you not see the light?” Ted appears a bit dazed. The local police then arrive and reportedly take the side of the federal officer and accuse Ted of running a red light. All of the passengers in the van — presumably all federal officers — confirmed that false account. An allegedly uniform collection of false accounts from law enforcement officers.
Ted went home and discovered that his dash cam clearly captured the true story, though there is a difference of opinion over what it shows. The police report (shown on Dashspin) following the accident clearly appears to blame him with the accident: “van was westbound on Rockaway making a left turn southbound onto Farmers Blvd states thought all Eastbound traffic stopped for vehicle’s turret lights and red light at intersection.” (emphasis added) First of all, this account ignores the sign prohibiting a left turn, though as discussed below there is an alternative account. Second, the officer appears to take the federal officers’ accounts as gospel and implicates the private citizen.
The videotape shows the importance of such devices in combating police abuse. We have been following the continuing abuse of citizens who are detained or arrested for filming police in public. (For prior columns, click here and here). Despite consistent rulings upholding the right of citizens to film police in public, these abuses continue. The video contradiction of the police account is all too familiar on this blog. Of course, in Dallas, Dallas Police Chief David Brown revealed a new policy that would require officers involved in a shooting to wait 72 hours before making a statement. The policy came after a scandal where a surveillance video showed one of Brown’s officers shooting a mentally ill suspect for no apparent reason. The video contradicted the officer’s testimony and undermined the charge against the victim. Brown’s solution was not greater disciplining and monitoring of officers but to impose a delay to allow officers to craft their statements.
Update: our own Darren Smith, who has experience in this area, has offered an alternative view that the van was in fact using a siren and the officer’s reference about the light could have been to the van emergency strobe light. As a federal van, it could have been turning left in an emergency run. The local officer obviously did not see the accident in making the report. Here is what Darren added to the debate:
The van is a federal law enforcement vehicle as authorized by federal regulations. Federal regulations pre-empt state laws with regard to this. The statute authorizing emergency vehicles in NY is applicable only to state, county, or local law enforcement vehicles. It does not have jurisdiction over federal vehicles.
While others have pointed out that blue lights are not considered in NY to be authorized emergency vehicle lighting, the van was utilizing a siren. Additionally, though it might seem petty, the following does comply with NY law on the van. The blue and green lights in the actual statute apply to volunteer EMS personnel and yes those are considered non-emergency vehicles.
The law providess that Red and White lights are indicative of an authorized emergency vehilce. Here is another video capture of the van just prior to the stop. Note the arrow shows a flashing white “sweep light” that is used to provide additional visibility at 45 degree angles to the lightbar.
I found another image of the crashed van, it has been hooked up by a tow vehicle to pull it back to its wheels. Note the arrow on this image. This points to a mounted red grill light that has been disloged and is still operating. The angle of the van just prior to the crash in the video obscures this light due to the angle of the van. Here is the image
Darren makes some very interesting points in the comments. I still have my reservations about the accusation of the federal officers, but here is the video for you to judge for yourself.
For reference my dash cam currently has a 16Gb class 10 micro SD. Continuously records the last 4+ hours of my travels in 1080p and 30fps.
Dash Cam 101 Correction:
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a proposed rule requiring all new light vehicles — including cars, SUVs, trucks and vans — to have “rear-view visibility systems,” in effect, requiring backup cameras.
The rule — which would be final in 60 days — would start phasing in on May 1, 2016 models and be at 100% May 1, 2018.
Wish list…Add front dash cam (kill 2 birds with 1 stone)
Dash Cam 101… Note: Rear Cam will be mandatory for SUV’s soon
Night Vision, Motion Detection, Memory Management (What To Look For)
Good dash cams have a few key features that make them easy enough to use every day, ideally without interrupting your driving routine. You can circumvent the daily process of connecting the cam into your car’s 12-volt plug by hard-wiring your dash cam to your car. This costs $30 and a trip to a Best Buy with an auto center or your local indie car stereo shop. If you do this, the dash cam will fire up with the car and start recording automatically. That’s the idea—to have a dash cam that you can ignore until you need the footage.
When it comes to storing footage, most cams record to SD cards, which have storage up to the 32 GB range—most models don’t come with a card, so you’ll need to buy one separately. Two minutes of high definition video will take up about 100 MB of memory, so you don’t have to worry about lack of storage.
As with any camera, to be worth using at all, a dash cam must be able to record quality video. For most drivers, that means high definition or better. That means 720p or 1080p video quality, both of which will let you read license plates and street signs clearly.
Unfortunately, the batteries that come in most dash cams aren’t enough to power it through extended parking bouts. The models that have batteries are meant to be used sparingly, like if there’s an accident and you want to take out the camera to record a walk-around. Most won’t last past a half-hour of recording.
Thank god (or allah, or spaghetti monster) for video to expose the lies of our public servants.
terpsucka,
Some “dash cams” are not on the dash. Some attach to your rear view mirror, and simply look like a sightly oversize mirror. That could be helpful if you are involved in an incident and someone checks to see if you have a dash cam. Keep it from being taken away from you. There are many different ones with a variety of features.
This reviewer is in the UK, and has a bit of problem adjusting it for his right side drive vehicle, because the lens swivels to accommodate a left side driver. Nevertheless, you get the idea.
I know that all cops are not bad (although that may be getting harder to prove by the experiences posted here). But what are the odds of getting hit by an van FULL of lying law enforcement personnel? Not one came forward to tell the truth? Or at least question, or doubt, the version of events being offered by others? That, to me, is very disturbing.
I love the idea of the dash cam, but how on Earth do you keep that from being a thief-magnet? Seems a bit more cumbersome to remove and install with each trip than a basic GPS unit.
terpsucka, Good units can be had for $50 and blend in fairly well. There are also remote units that can be hidden, ( camera is a sugar cube wired to the remote DVR.
Simms, it was that damn rock music playing in his car.
Steve, The cop did not “cost me” $123 actually. I was speeding. We need speed limits and I violated it. What I was most grateful for was there was NO LECTURE. He was my kinda guy, few words, a little humor. I’m not a hater. Sorry, but there are plenty of haters here and in the world. I’m a lover! I love you Steven Fleischer and hope you choose to leave the darkness and enter the sunlight. Angry is not a good lifestyle choice.
When you sue them for violating your civil rights, sue the supervisors, all the liars in the cop vehicle and of course ask for a jury trial. Bring the video. Take the deposition of the cop driver’s Fourth Grade teacher and ask if he was a liar back then and whether he had a reputation for lying. I bet he did.
Nick Spinelli
Your comments are further evidence of Stockholm Syndrome.
You are so grateful for the cop’s professionalism that you almost roll on your back and wag your tail in joy.
Remember that the cop behaved as he should have, no more, no less.
He also cost you a couple hundred dollars (at least) and reminded you who is the servant and who is the master.
Of course the police (or anyone that thinks they are ‘almost police’) think that they should be given the road no matter WHAT they are doing – legal or illegal – that is what is at the root of this – ATTITUDE – we see it every day on the road !
This is why the police are not regarded very highly by most drivers ! They can behave like total a**h*les !!
This guy was obviously not paying attention or would have seen the van turning left illegally and been able to stop. That is a failing, but the van should not have been there at all !!
Good analysis, Wilhelm.
Something mentioned by the actual driver, and clear in the video, but omitted above, is that the van in question had its emergency lights on and they were at least sufficiently visible for the traffic in lanes 1 and 2 to come to a stop to allow the van to proceed. Laws in that jurisdiction may require drivers to yield the right of way to an emergency vehicle with its lights on, and such vehicles may be entitled to break traffic laws under the right circumstances.
In the video you can clearly see not only the green light, but traffic in lanes 1 and 2 are coming to a stop despite the green light. For me that would have been reason enough to slow down or at least cover the brake.
And if, rather than a CBP van, a pedestrian with a white cane had stepped out in front of the driver and had been hit, we wouldn’t be having a conversation about fault, because it would be obvious. Using caution when other lanes of traffic ahead of you are braking for no reason you can currently see is something straight out of driver’s ed.
This doesn’t excuse anything the federal agents or local police did or how they behaved… police feel entitled to run roughshod over civilians all the time, and they clearly lied on their report about the light being red… but in this particular case, it is not obvious to me that fault lies entirely with the driver of the CBP van regardless of post accident behavior.
The officers in the van clearly lied in the police report and should be prosecuted as well as disciplined. However, Ted could use a course in defensive driving. The cars in the left two lanes saw the van and were able to stop. Ted began to speed up just before the light even though he should have seen the other cars stopping. If I see other cars stopping, I wonder why. If Ted was paying attention, he should have been able to stop. He still would have had his video showing the van running the light and making an illegal turn.
Groups of cops are worse than single cops. “Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Blue and white flashing lights are not emergency vehicles in NY and must obey the traffic laws at all times. It is amazing no one was hurt as the impact knocked the van on to it’s side.Hope they don’t pull the ” officer’s memory is more reliable than video” ploy. https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140405/17142626817/indiana-supreme-court-declares-officers-testimony-is-more-reliable-than-video-evidence.shtml
I did have a pleasant encounter w/ a Nebraska State Trooper on Tuesday. He got me driving 90 in a 75mph. He was courteous and did not lecture, posture, etc. He wrote me the ticket and w/ a wry smile said, “Nick, this ticket gives you permission to slow down.” I LMAO and gave him a thanks. He tapped on my rooftop and said, “have a safe trip home.”
You’re probably correct, nothing will happen to these lying sacks o’ shit.
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