Westfield PD Extreme Traffic Stop- Teens

[serpicostraight]

OP here. Thanks to all for great advice and similar stories shared.

Not sure if my wife and I will take any action. I'm sure there is a "protect their own" mentality in any police force.

What really bugs me is that when the kids drove back I went out and opened the car door and really tried to smell "something" or see if there was a musty stale smoky smell. Nothing. Nada. Neither kid smokes cigs either. (I'm an ex-smoker so I would smell that immediately) I know what pot smells like too. So it just irks me that the guy would spend that much effort and time. Like maybe there was a car going the other way that was spewing smoke.

The other parent that actually had a few words with the officer told me she just wanted to "get the heck out of there before the guy changed his mind about letting them go". I asked, "Or what? Arrest them? For what? Curfew violation?" "No", she said. "The officer was just kind of ticked off so I had the kids take off and I followed". So the LEO has a bad day or shift and the public has to walk on eggshells so to speak? What a jerk.

Anyway, I've always been kind of neutral about LEO's. Now 2 teens are surely leaning the other way after that inspiring experience.

End of rant.....I'm out

at least now you and the kids know what the cops are really about. knowledge is power. file a complaint and a lawsuit. maybe the taxpayers will get tired of paying for these bottom feeders and get rid of them.

 

[ZombieApocolypse]

Now my son is no angel, but last night he was. The girl said she was groped pretty well by the WPD as he patted her down for weapons and contraband. My son said the officer kept saying, "where is it? I know you have some pot here! I'll find it if it takes all night- up to you two as to when you go home, so you better tell me now!" And he kept getting more upset. My son said later that he though the guy was kind of unstable (?)

Pappy

Not sure if this has been mentioned, nor do i know how things work there, but here in Virginia, a female cop must be the person to search females, male cops cannot.

 

[serpicostraight]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, nor do i know how things work there, but here in Virginia, a female cop must be the person to search females, male cops cannot.

the law here says you cant resist illegal entry by the cops so hes probably good to go.

 

[Skywired]

There is a curfew? Age? I assume that only applies to kids without parents with them?

THANK YOU.... I was wondering if anybody was going to pick up on this....

 

[IndyDave1776]

Stories like this make me sick, and are why I ultimately cannot stand law enforcers. They're more of an inconvenience to us than the "criminals" are these days.

I would imagine that you have considered that unlike criminals, there is usually more money in harassing us and we generally do not threaten the officers plans to grow at least one day older following the incident. In short, we are easy pickings as opposed to criminals who generally are not. This works the same way as when you work in a prison for a while, you will find that when dealing with the truly dangerous (think Michigan City) the staff run around in gangs for mutual protection and let the inmates do what they want for the most part, where by contrast, at a minimum security facility with largely non-violent offenders, the staff act like they don't have a dog at home to kick, so they bring it to work. I would say that we just need to get to work to find legal means to make life plain miserable for them so that they will reevaluate their priorities.

 

[Liberty Sanders]

As a retired LEO command officer this doesn't pass the smell test with me, even for a cop from a podunk department on a power trip.

The most troubling aspect for me is the fact that he put his hands on the young lady...this is something that is done ONLY in an emergency.

I strongly encourage you to take some official action on this.

 

[ottoclicker]

To the OP:
As a previous poster stated, the stopping of teens at night seems to be common in the Carmel, Westfield and Fishers areas. I am a Father of 3 teen and early 20's drivers myself. I highly recommend telling your son what his rights are when stopped and how to ineract with the officer. From my expierence this will probably not be the last time he will be stopped if out late night.

I've heard a lot of stories since I moved here, both from Fishers neighbors and at work (news TV station.)

IMPD seems to be a large enough force that there isn't a uniform culture but rather some fantastic cops that I call friends and a handful of smug, little immature twerps that life will assuredly catch up with.

Fishers? Man, they've been great. I can't think of a bad thing to say.

Carmel & Westfield? Bad reputation - looking for any excuse to play a power trip. Whether it's insisting the suburban housewife who rolls a stop sign - stand outside her car, no jacket, 18F, 10am for 10 minutes all while running license. Oh... and calling over the PA to "keep her hands out of her pockets. I need to see 'em." Sometimes it *is* who you know. Some backlash from that one...

Further education is in order for the kids about consent-to-search and what-to-say. The parents too... this was after curfew. Who else? Westfield PD and that individual officer.

If I were the father of the boy, there would already be an appointment with the police chief and a pending one with an attorney. (Again, keep it focused on what happened. You DID enable them to go out after curfew.)

If I were the father of the girl... If she was truly groped and wasn't being dramatic?

That would have just become personal.

In response to the Fishers police being great, you must not have any teen drivers in Fishers or they have just been lucky. My kids have been stopped several times by Fishers police, all at least 10pm or after. The funny thing is none of them have ever received a traffic ticket, usually just a verbal warning. One child did get written warning once.

The usual stop goes something like this. The kid is pulled over for failure to stop at stop sign or for speeding. The officer approaches vehicle and gets Drivers License and registration from the driver, and usually asks everyone in the car for ID. Next a back-up arrives and sometimes the K-9 will show up. Now, everytime the K-9 shows up and does the walk around sniff, the dog ALWAYS alerts. Then officers remove all passengers from the vehicle and search it. Nothing has ever been found in my kids vehicles. So perhaps the dog needs more training, or the K-9 officer is perhaps making the dog false "alert".

Now, the one time my son received a written warning it was for going 75mph in a 65mph zone on I-69. My sons car has a GPS tracking unit installed(as all of them do) and I can tell you the GPS showed him going between 64mph and 66mph. So I really feel the Fishers police are targeting teen drivers and going on fishing expeditions. Also on some failure to stop acusations, the GPS trackers did not show the same results the officers observed.

Anyway, enough of my rant I just don't want peolple to believe that Fishers is not possibly profiling or young drivers.

 

[semperfi211]

There is a curfew? Age? I assume that only applies to kids without parents with them?

THANK YOU.... I was wondering if anybody was going to pick up on this....

Indiana Code 31-37-3

 

[Kutnupe14]

I have a friend, who happens to be black, who was stopped in Carmel a few weeks ago, "DWB", driving-while-black. So I guess now it's "DWT", driving-while-teen!

Seriously? Doubtful... that son and dance is getting really old.

 

[adam]

Seriously? Doubtful... that son and dance is getting really old.

I always thought it was DWP, or Driving While Poor, that got you pulled over in Carmel.

 

[long coat]

Read the IC & what time did this happen?? If 12:30am on Saturday, he was not breaking the law.

 

[88GT]

I am NOT condoning the behavior or the excuse for the LEO's actions. This is more of a clarification.

IF the officer actually had smelled the pot, wouldn't that have been PC for a search without consent? I saw a few posts about illegal search and assumed that the LEO was basing his search efforts off of the pot smell.

 

[IndyDave1776]

IF the officer actually had smelled the pot, wouldn't that have been PC for a search without consent? I saw a few posts about illegal search and assumed that the LEO was basing his search efforts off of the pot smell.

I don't know the answer to that one, but am concerned that it would open the door wide for officers who wanted to smell it, much as when the only tool you possess is a hammer everything starts looking like a nail.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I'd like to relate, that the OPs story appears to be second hand. Before he does anything, he better make pretty dang sure the story he heard is the actual story.

 

[Kutnupe14]

I am NOT condoning the behavior or the excuse for the LEO's actions. This is more of a clarification.

IF the officer actually had smelled the pot, wouldn't that have been PC for a search without consent? I saw a few posts about illegal search and assumed that the LEO was basing his search efforts off of the pot smell.

Yep, if you smell marijuana, the car is yours...
(no consent needed)

 

[KG1]

Yep, if you smell marijuana, the car is yours...
(no consent needed)

The key part of that is "IF"...Seems a bit suspect that the officer may have used that excuse to search a couple of young teenagers that might be just a bit niave and vulnerable.

The OP stated first hand that when his son got home he made a point of smelling his hair and clothing and the vehicle and he could'nt detect anything.

 

[mrjarrell]

The key part of that is "IF"...Seems a bit suspect that the officer may have used that excuse to search a couple of young teenagers that might be just a bit niave and vulnerable.

The OP stated first hand that when his son got home he made a point of smelling his hair and clothing and the vehicle and he could'nt detect anything.

That's because the OP doesn't have superpowers.

 

[long coat]

The OP needs to post why they were pulled over?

 

[Kutnupe14]

The OP needs to post why they were pulled over?

I think he's saying that they we're pulled over because an officer smelled marijuana as they were driving down the road. Honestly, that's quite a feat.

I've smell marijuana while driving down the road too, but have never been able to pin it on a particular vehicle to allow a traffic stop solely on that alone.

 

[Dogman]

Just a suggestion PappyD, you might contact WPD and speak with the Captain over the road officers, Dep. Chief, or Chief and request to review any and all in car/officer video/ audio regarding your son's stop. Then decide if you want to take any further action.
You'll find all three are very upstanding men and officers and will go out of their way to get to the truth.