Indiana resident DelRea Good probably thought she was doing what police often recommend. When she saw the lights of Porter County Sheriff’s Department Patrolman William Marshall, she opted not to stop on a dark country road at night but drove to a lit area less than a mile away. For that decision, Marshall charged her with a felony of resisting arrest.
Good, 52, said it was 11 pm, she was a female alone, and that there have been past cases of people impersonating officers to get women to pull over. She felt unsafe. She also said that she slowed down, put on her blinkers, and waved to show that she was going to pull over down the road.
The Sheriff’s Office however is standing by Marshall and saying that she got what she deserved because Marshall was driving a marked police car: “The sheriff’s office supports our officer’s decision in this matter.”
Good may now lose her job as a nurse if convicted.
I fail to see how this is even remotely resisting arrest. It sounds more like a ticked off officer. The use of a felony charge is also remarkably excessive in my view. This may not be a perfect stop but this appears a case of when “perfect is the enemy of the good.”
A little late to the party here, but here’s an excerpt from a followup here: http://goo.gl/VMR7EX
“After a review of the circumstances surrounding Ms. Good’s arrest, the Porter County Sheriff’s Office supports Porter County Prosecutor Gensel’s decision to drop the charges,” according the the written statement.
“We would like to reiterate if you are ever being stopped by a vehicle that you do NOT believe is a police vehicle, then drive to a safe and well-lit area before you stop. The Officers of the Porter County Sheriff’s Office are dedicated to protect and serve our citizens.”
A speeding ticket remains in effect, Gensel said.”
This police force is now completely responsible for every woman that gets raped by a person impersonating a police officer. They have failed to allow reasonable accomodation and now have a huge liability issue. The woman’s lawyer should have called the insurance entity that the police force uses. I am sure that the insurance company would have huge problems with that policy.
There are polite and patient officers out there. They just don’t get media or blog attention. I am not sure what the probable cause was for the traffic stop. It could have been for an arrest-able offense and this was added on top of that charge (within the criminal complaint). Personally I think the charge is an overreaction by the officer.
This is terrible!! I fully support her decision & strength in what she did. In May last year I was working at a resort & my general manager was sexually harassing me. I filed a complaint through HR & after meeting with the accused & I they told me that his role as a general manager is more important than mine as a front desk agent & should put up with it or find a job elsewhere. Obviously I quit that day. The issue has been bothering me ever since & after reading your story I realized that female safety DOES matter & so much more needs to be done about it & awareness needs to be raised. Do you have any suggestions on what I could do or how I could raise awareness about my story? Thank you!!
Nick … you can be assured I have the requisite discipline. I have a scroll over list just like you suggested. Not because I won’t listen, just that I won’t read gibberish…or the usual exchange of pejoratives that go with it. Why yes, I am a “recruit” too 🙂
Ari, LOL! The person who complains about “recruits” is incapable of “recruiting” even one person. Take note of the attempt to incite this morning. There were no responses, and then the person disappears. It just takes the discipline to ignore.
Uh,oh Nick … you just labeled LSB as a “recruit!” 🙂
let say bob, Always appreciate a local perspective. Hope you stick around and comment on other posts. And, consider changing your name to What About Bob, one of my favorite flicks.
She needs to sue for false arrest — then sue police dept and county for potential libel/slander great emotional distress — stick it to ’em!!
She was initially pulled over for going 54mph in a 35. Pretty sure that is considered driving to endanger.. At least where I’m from.. Which is a criminal charge. Not a felony. But criminal none the less. No matter the amount of attitude this woman had, no officer should be man handling a 52 year old tiny woman. She had bruises in the form of his fingers on her arm from this incident. It’s despicable. Abuse of power needs to stop.
I grew up in porter county and I’m sad to say there are to many officers up there that think their crap don’t stink. I k nw it isn’t all of them. But many of them try to boast about anything to get their higher rank. Now we do not know the reasoning of why she got pulled over that truly could make a difference, but let’s say it was just speeding…if she left the hospital and went south it’s all corn fields…if my wife got pulled over I would hope she did the same thing and pull over to a safe area…there has been numerous stories from people on 30 being pulled over by fake cops and unfortunately in our world not all cops are good people….at the same time if you are afraid it is perfectly legal and ok to call 911 to verify it is truly a cop…I believe this particular jerk was just on a power trip
Its not about law and justice, it’s about the money….
i’m confused. She did something while driving that the police asked her to pull over. She then, quite smartly, persued a safe place to do so. Getting a ticket for whatever she was pulled over for is fine. An additional charge was evading police? Am I right?
I think we have a case of “if it happens in Indiana, splash it all over the front page”. As a Republican, I appreciate the comments in this thread about how the media goes after us. We have lived with this for decades.
Maybe she was gay. Or had purchased a pizza. Or had a “Pence for Governor” sticker on her car!
My only issue with this story is it implies only females should be worried about traffic stops despite the fact that males are the overwhelming victims of police brutality and murder and then the they have cases where female cops sexually abused male and female suspects so the real point is you shouldn’t trust ANYONE regardless of their gender(in fact the police officer should have fear of being false accused so it’s in his best interest to be in a lit public place also)
Mike@2:03
Excellent comment! Very factual.