Javid posted:

quote:

Prosecutor's report paints portrait of Palisades Interstate Parkway Police as rogue unit

The Palisades Interstate Parkway Police chased people needlessly or without permission, misused police tactics and gave awards, like a $200 meal allowance, to officers who wrote the most tickets or made the most arrests, according to a report released Thursday by the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

The damning report paints the picture of a reckless police force that was bound by few rules as it worked its narrow territory along Bergen County's eastern edge.

Chief Michael Coppola, the department leader, will take the brunt of the blame. He will be suspended for three months, starting Monday.

...

The county’s eight-month review, which began in November, found parkway police routinely broke Attorney General guidelines dictating when and how officers should conduct a high-speed chase. It also found the department often ignored state rules on how to properly investigate officers against whom allegations of misconduct had been filed.

“The BCPO review of PIPPD vehicle pursuits revealed numerous and flagrant violations of the Attorney General’s Pursuit Guidelines,” the report read. “There were no (internal affairs) investigations of any of these violations and no discipline of officers for any of the violations.”
...

Based in Alpine, the department patrols an 11-mile stretch of the Palisades Interstate Parkway in New Jersey. The highway runs from the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee to the Bear Mountain Bridge in New York State, but the officers' jurisdiction ends at the state line. The officers also guard the Palisades Interstate Park, a shard of cliffs and forests that runs along the Hudson for 12 miles between the New York State line and Fort Lee.

...

The review was spurred in part by the May 2017 death of Marlon Quiros, a 33-year-old East Harlem man who crashed his 2010 Yamaha motorcycle while trying to elude parkway police. The report said the pursuing officer hit speeds of more than 130 miles per hour as he chased Quiros and his alleged riding partner, Sheldon Lee.

As the Prosecutor’s Office investigated the deadly wreck, it found parkway police repeatedly violated a strict state guideline barring officers from engaging in high-speed pursuits unless the suspect committed certain criminal offenses, or posed an immediate danger to police or the public.

Parkway police broke that policy in 36 of the department’s 41 high-speed chases since January 2014, the report said. In 23 instances, officers reached or exceeded 100 miles per hour. And officers exceeded 120 miles per hour 13 times, the report said.

The report also said parkway police often misused police tactics by:

Wrongly using a roadblock three times;
Wrongly hitting a fleeing suspect’s car twice;
Inappropriately using police cruisers to box in a suspect’s car twice;
Pursued suspects into oncoming traffic four times;
Wrongly pursued suspects on a parallel road 10 times;
And used more than two police cars to pursue a suspect seven times without a supervisor’s approval.
On one occasion, 11 police cars were involved in a single pursuit, which reached speeds of more than 120 mph.

The report also detailed one instance of an officer hurtling through red lights at more than 100 miles per hour in pursuit of a fleeing suspect, who then lost control of their car and struck two parked vehicles. The speed limit on the road was 25 miles per hour, the report said.

That was one of eight times parkway police broke a policy declaring they should slow down and move cautiously through intersections, the report said.

The report also found parkway police routinely used the Internet to lure small-time drug dealers onto Palisades Interstate Park property to arrest them. One such operation led to the death of Denian Melo, a 21-year-old Bronx man who fell to his death as he fled police in July 2017.

Melo had ran into the woods during a nighttime drug stop in Fort Lee Historic Park. But he tumbled down the Palisades cliffs in the darkness, and a parkway police officer found his body at dawn the next day near Henry Hudson Drive.

The Prosecutor’s Office has since ordered an end to the drug operations.

Rock My Socks! posted:

Mein Kampf Enthusiast posted:

Speaking of New Jersey!

These are the cops you share a highway with

Mein Kampf Enthusiast posted:

Speaking of New Jersey!

These are the cops you share a highway with

NJ.com posted:

The prosecutor's office determined that actions of the officers did not warrant criminal action and that the department should conduct its own review for "possible administrative action."

NJ.com posted:

The report also stated that police never conducted a formal review following any of the pursuits, another violation of the pursuit policy.
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In one case, during one of the department's operations, a man died when he fell off a cliff while he was running from officers following a motor vehicle stop that was part of a drug investigation. The incident was not reported to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office as required, the report states.
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"There were no (internal affairs) investigations of any of these violations and no discipline of officers for any of the violations," the report states.

The Locator posted:

So the terrible punishment is that one guy gets a 3 month suspension.... Ok. Maybe those rules need a few more teeth on the enforcement side.

MrLogan posted:

I'm going to assume the suspension is with pay.

PT6A posted:

Isn't 0.4 basically an "you are likely to die" level of intoxication? How do you even operate a car at that point?

MisterOblivious posted:

There's also Naltrexone which makes alcohol less pleasurable. People can enjoy a drink for flavor or company but it keeps the alcohol from tickling that part of the brain that says "This feels good! Drinking more would feel even better!"

nm posted:

Please don't mix alcohol, weed, and driving. Alcohol and THC mix terribly for driving. You can have someone with a 0.05 and a low delta-9 THC level, and have them driving like they are 0.20.

Javid posted:

Parked at a national park; I feel the van get bumped, look out to see a Kia has backed into me. As I get out the car pulls away so I snap a photo of it/plate, but the dude pulls into a space 30 feet away. He wasn't running, he was completely unaware he hit anyone. So I'm watching this shuffling 900 year old dude get out of his micro-car and strap on a camera and such, and he's taking forever so I'm also looking over the van. His 1500 pound plastic car at 1 mph didn't even hurt anything except maybe a scratch that I can't say wasn't there before, so I decide it's not worth trying to communicate with this dude over. But Jesus Christ. Not a new sentiment in this thread but we need to start retesting old fucks, or have an ERPO type system for drivers licenses, or something.

NoWake posted:

Hope he was wearing some good gear. If he's on a Ducati I'm sure he could spare the change.

I'm a new rider on a starter bike, got maybe 1,500 miles under my belt and haven't sprung for an actual riding jacket yet. I went down at 5 or 10mph after grabbing my brakes too hard, skidding the front tire. My fault for falling, should have practiced panic stops until its muscle memory. Fell to my left, rolled once, ended up with my ankles crossed and my bike laying on top of them. I was pinned down until a dude came and helped me out.

My takeaway; not gonna get back on the bike until I get a proper riding jacket. Full-face helmet wouldn't hurt too, the 1/2 shell I picked up when I got my bike isn't cutting it. My bones and joints are OK, but my forearm and knee have some scabbage and it's super painful. I can't imagine how it would feel if it were half of my arm and leg.

You can ride as safe and alert as you want, but someday there's gonna be a pretty princess teenager yanking a left into the starbucks directly in front of you and "I'm so sorry!" isn't going to make you heal up any quicker.

BOOTY-ADE posted:

In all honesty, the best solution would be to test everyone every 8 years - driving and written - but make the driving part a closed course deal where you have to demonstrate basic control and awareness. Too many places literally do a 5 minute "drive around the block" and you're done, it needs to be more thorough and go through parking, navigating obstacles, stuff like that. Deal with failures on a 3 strike basis where the final strike is a suspended license for 1 year and vouchers or discounts for using public transit (Lyft, Uber, taxi, buses, etc), plus during that year having to schedule and take a professional drivers ed course to prove you're actively trying to be a better driver.

Proud Christian Mom posted:

we absolutely should be periodic mandatory testing since a 9/11's worth of Americans die each month in almost entirely preventable accidents but woe betide anyone's political career that suggests it isn't a God Given Right for Americans to drive like stupid assholes

xzzy posted:

Chicago drivers will also gleefully jam a full size sedan into a four foot gap in front of a semi in stop and go traffic.

They're entitled assholes without any desire to preserve life if it gets them one foot further down the road.

The Door Frame posted:

Old people vote. They want to keep their cars, even if they can't drive in a straight line

Colostomy Bag posted:

As always, careful for which you wish for.

BOOTY-ADE posted:

A world where people can keep up pace instead of dealing with olds that do 20 under the limit? Where old people don't confuse pedals & barrel into people or buildings? Where grandma & her cataract-ridden eyes, barely functioning joints, lack of reflexes & non-existent hearing aren't allowed to (or aren't around to) drive a 1,500 machine around other people?

Sign me the gently caress up NOW

Colostomy Bag posted:

Oh, I agree with you on those points.

But then you fail the test because you didn't come to an "exact" stop at the stop sign.

BOOTY-ADE posted:

A world where people can keep up pace instead of dealing with olds that do 20 under the limit? Where old people don't confuse pedals & barrel into people or buildings? Where grandma & her cataract-ridden eyes, barely functioning joints, lack of reflexes & non-existent hearing aren't allowed to (or aren't around to) drive a 1,500kg machine around other people?

Sign me the gently caress up NOW

BOOTY-ADE posted:

A world where people can keep up pace instead of dealing with people texting that do 20 under the limit? Where people texting don't confuse pedals & barrel into people or buildings? Where people texting and can't pay attention to the road, have at least one hand dedicated to the phone, and are blasting music so loud that they can't hear, aren't allowed to (or aren't around to) drive a 1,500kg machine around other people?

Sign me the gently caress up NOW

BOOTY-ADE posted:

A world where people can keep up pace instead of dealing with drunk people that can't stay in their lanes? Where drunk people don't confuse pedals & barrel into people or buildings? Where drunks and their blurry vision, diminished coordination, lack of reflexes & non-existent hearing aren't allowed to (or aren't around to) drive a 1,500kg machine around other people?

Sign me the gently caress up NOW

BOOTY-ADE posted:

A world where people can keep up pace instead of dealing with hooners that do 40 over the limit? Where assholes don't floor it & barrel into people or buildings? Etcetera etcetera etcetera

The Door Frame posted:

I get that removing ancient people from the driver's seat is one of the most simple ways to make roads safer and just requires licensing requirements that make logical sense, but removing them is a bandaid

Submarine Sandpaper posted:

citations for a lack of lane discipline would make my day

xzzy posted:

If we're kicking olds off the roads for having a negative stereotype, we gotta boot mustang owners for being unable to leave a parking lot without skidding into a ditch or every single owner of an Italian exotic due to fire hazard.

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

Abolish all driving laws and go full mad max on the roads.

Keep the gas tax, though.

Happy Noodle Boy posted:

Abolish all driving laws and go full mad max on the roads.

Keep the gas tax, though.

ProjektorBoy posted:

This is an extremely hot take, but I could reasonably extrapolate that the automatic ignition advance lowered the cognitive threshold for driving and thus made driving as a whole far more dangerous.