A story on ABC’s Good Morning America caught my attention this morning. The segment was titled, “Cops Behaving Badly, Sheriff’s Deputy Chases Down Woman Trying to Reach Ailing Father.” When I saw this segment I was very dismayed to find that the staff of GMA was making this officer out to be the bad guy, which makes no sense. The opening statement to the segment was, “Deputy Sheriff Kevin Stabins said he clocked Melissa Langston going 63 miles per hour in a 35 mile per hour zone.”
From that right there we already know that Ms. Langston broke the law. But everyone’s whining about Ms. Langston’s father and how she was just trying to get to the hospital to see him. I know it’s not popular, but I have yet to see a state law on speeding that included a clause for extenuating circumstances. And when you’re exceeding the speed limit by 30 miles an hour, that qualifies you for a speeding ticket and a reckless driving ticket, period.
Everyone is looking at this from Ms. Langston’s point of view. But, as usual, no one wants to see this from the deputy’s point of view. And when someone tries to describe Deputy Stabins point of view most people honestly don’t get it. Why? Because they’ve never been there. They’ve never worked that job. They’ve never been in a job where the one thing they spend the bulk of their time doing is the very thing that is most likely to kill them.
After seeing GMA’s reporting on this I went to YouTube in hopes of finding a copy of the video. What I found was more disrespect for law enforcement officers. In addition, I found a clip from Bill O’Riely’s show where he even makes the deputy out to be evil.
Okay, enough of my ranting. Here’s how I see it. Ms. Langston broke the law and should be ticketed as I stated above, period. As a former police officer I understand officers discretion, but 30 m.p.h. over the limit is way out of line. Many municipalities have ordinances prohibiting first responders from going more than 15 or 20 over. Why? Because speed kills, and it doesn’t matter what type of uniform or vehicle you’re in.
As for Deputy Stabins, he needs to go back to school. After watching the video a couple times, it’s obvious he has no clue about officer safety. After getting Ms. Langston’s license and registration he turns his back on her vehicle and walks off. Then, after she fled and then stopped again, Deputy Stabins shows no tactical skill in his approach to the vehicle. He should not have opened the car door and tried to pull Ms. Langston out as he did. All he had to do was draw his Taser (if he had one, her window was down) or his firearm, order Ms. Langston to shut off her vehicle, get out of the vehicle and place her hands behind her back. At this point he could cuff her, complete the DL check and verify that she wasn’t running due to some outstanding warrants, etc. Then, when all the checks come back clean on Ms. Langston, at that point assist her in locating her father. Even with Ms. Langston fleeing the scene as she did, the whole process would have taken only a max of five or six minutes. Had Ms. Langston cooperated in the first place, the whole situation could have been handled within only a couple minutes.
In closing, both parties in this situation allowed their emotions to control them which caused them to disrespect one another which I find unacceptable. Deputy Stabins was rightly suspended. However, by dismissing all charges against Ms. Langston, the Sheriff has effectively told others that it’s okay to disrespect his law enforcement officers. This just proves, yet again, that most sheriff’s are politicians, not law enforcement officers.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3135140
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uczWUs3vTh4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lCXQiFGOAM
