Tag: vehicle stop

Ayala Vehicle Stop a Huge “Nothing Burger”

According to the news reports, on June 19th (nearly a month ago), two Florida cops performed a vehicle stop on a car occupied by Florida’s State’s Attorney Aramis Ayala.  The reason for the stop, as stated by the officers in the video, and confirmed by their department, is that they had run the license plates on her car through DMV on their computer and there was no record for the plates in the DMV computer system.  The officers, at least in all the versions of the video that I have seen, are polite and friendly to Ms. Ayala, who coincidentally is obviously perturbed and asked for the officer’s information.

The video of this stop was released a few days ago and since it was released, certain people’s heads are exploding.  The allegations that the stop was racially motivated are being thrown around like crazy.  Some people, namely those who have not the slightest clue about cop work, are straight freaking out over this.

Let’s watch the stop in its entirety.

https://youtu.be/WnhIEWtdK7Y

So, let’s compare that traffic stop above to another one from a quite a number of years ago.  A CHP officer runs the plate on a mint green 1995 Ford Thunderbird, one that looks like it has seen better days, and has dark tinted windows.  The plate comes back not on file.  The CHP officer initiates a vehicle stop and the driver, me, a pale white guy, is contacted.  The CHP officer was polite and friendly, as was I, and once the CHP officer confirmed that the vehicle and license plates were not stolen and there was a legitimate reason the plates did not show up in DMV’s computer (it was an undercover cop car), we parted ways, and that was the end of it.  Which is exactly what should have happened in this case, but sadly that is not what is happening.

Folks, the media is playing you.  Just look at the incendiary headlines regarding this nothing of an incident.

  • Policeman pulls over black woman and quickly discovers she is the state attorney (Independent.co.uk)
  • Florida state attorney pulled over in traffic stop that goes nowhere fast (CNN)
  • Black Florida State Attorney Pulled Over in Traffic Stop, Prompting Criticism (NBC)
  • BLACK WHILE DRIVING: FLORIDA STATE ATTORNEY STOPPED BY POLICE IN VIRAL VIDEO (Newswek)
  • VIDEO: Orlando police officers struggle to explain why they pulled over State Attorney Aramis Ayala (Orlando Weekly)
  • Florida Cops Goof In Pulling Over Black Female State Attorney For Garbage Reasons (HipHopWired)
  • VIDEO: State Attorney Aramis Ayala Racially Profiled By Orlando Police? (Florida National News)

This vehicle stop is a HUGE NOTHING!  Absolutely nothing about this traffic stop is remotely newsworthy, nothing.  And despite many of the articles, no one was scrambling to explain why they stopped her.  They very clearly stated the reason, a very legit reason.

For those of you who have no idea what we do, cops run license plates all day long.  We run them while we are driving to calls, we run them while we are driving to dinner, and sometimes we run them while we are heading to the station near the end of shift, but not as often then.   It is how we find stolen cars, wanted persons, verify registrations are current and valid, and many other things.  Not only is it legal to do that, it is actually part of our job and we are expected to do it.

In the case of Ms. Ayala’s stop, these cops ran her plate and it came back not on file.  There are many reasons why a license plate might not be in the DMV computer system, and only one of them is legal (the situation encountered in both previously mentioned vehicle stops).  Other reasons (the illegal ones) would be that the plates are counterfeit, of which there are many ways to fake this, or they could be very old plates that are no longer in the system and do not belong on the car.

In cop work, when a plate comes back not on file, we call that a clue, which usually prompts us to investigate why the license plate is not in DMV’s records, which is exactly what the cops in both of the vehicle stops previously mentioned did.  A stop was conducted, the driver was contacted, the vehicle and license plates were confirmed to be legit, and the drivers were released.  Everything occurred exactly as it should.  The only difference was one of the drivers (not me) got upset about being stopped and asked for the officer’s names and other information (insinuating that she is going to file a complaint).

Some people are insinuating she was stopped because she was black.  Was I stopped because I was white?  If she was stopped for being black (which she wasn’t), why were the cops so polite to her?

Come on folks, not everything is racist!  Stop looking for racism where there is none.  You are not fixing things, you are making them worse!

Ex-NFL Player “Nearly Dies” When Stopped By Cop

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** Overwhelming Stupidity & Expletive Laced Rant Alert **

I just read what was the “Top Story” and I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around the overwhelming stupidity discussed in the article.  Let me sum it up for you.

So, a cop does vehicle stop on a car. As many cops do, he puts his hand on his gun as he approaches the car. Nothing more happens, driver gets cited for an admitted violation and goes on his merry way.

Driver, Roddy White, who is a pro football player currently without a team, takes to Twitter to complain about how he “could’ve died” because of the cops actions while simultaneously accusing the cop of making the “world a very ugly place.”

Seriously MF’er? Exaggerate much? Blame shift much?

Guess what, you “could’ve died” just driving down the street, and in fact you are far more likely to be killed in a car crash (35,092 in 2015) than you are to be shot by a cop (986 in 2015). You know what else could have killed you, that swimming pool you likely have, because far more people drown every year (3,536 avg per year) than get shot by a cop. Guess what, that doctor you go see when you don’t feel good or get injured while playing, they unintentionally kill far more people (250k per year) than cops do every year, on the order of about 250 to 1.  Life is full of uncertainties.  Living is a dangerous thing, and every single day, each one of us “could’ve died” many times throughout the day.

The difference between those potentially dangerous actions we all take every day is that what the cop was doing is far more dangerous.  The cop was approaching a vehicle he just stopped, an action that is well know to be one of the most potentially dangerous actions for a cop, and he was prepared to deal with a possible threat, yet when he contacted you and you were found to not be a threat, nothing bad happened.  What kind could have happened to the cop?  Something like this (video below), which happens several times a year across the country.

Again, let me reiterate, nothing bad happened to you during your stop, yet you took to social media and accused the cop of making the world an uglier place? MF’er, you best look in the God dammed mirror! The only person in that equation spreading ugliness and hate is YOU!

If you are going to post stupid crap about how you almost died, why not post ALL of the things that “almost killed” you. If you are going to post dumb shit accusing others of making the world an ugly place, make sure you aren’t doing exactly that, but on a scale far greater. Freaking asshole moron celebrity athlete!
-Matt