Cop Ticketed by Citizen

PORTLAND, Ore. (Map, News) - An attorney who watched a police officer park illegally in front of a restaurant, then wait around while his meal was prepared, issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated violations.

Eric Bryant said he was sitting at the restaurant March 7 when Officer Chad Stensgaard parked his patrol car next to a no-parking sign and walked inside to wait for his food, the Portland Mercury reported Thursday.

Bryant told the weekly paper that when he asked Stensgaard about his car, the officer asked Bryant, "If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be able to park in front of your house or have to park three blocks away and walk there?"

Bryant filed a complaint as a private citizen alleging several violations, including illegal parking and illegal operation of an emergency vehicle.

Stensgaard was issued a summons to appear in traffic court in May. The fines could total $540.

"Citizens should be concerned that he used his status as an officer of the law as justification for breaking the law," Bryant said.

Cathe Kent, a spokeswoman for the Portland Police Bureau, said Stensgaard would fight the complaint in court, "as he rightfully should."

Parking is limited on city streets, especially with many construction projects downtown, she said, and officers remain on duty even when they are picking up food.

"We are emergency responders and need to be ready to take an emergency call," Kent said Saturday.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

SOURCE (http://www.examiner.com/a-1349966~Oregon_attorney_slaps_cop_with_illegal_par king_complaint.html?cid=rss-Oregon_Headlines)

There's also a story on this on the CNN Video thing, but it won't let me embed it. Personally, I agree with the cop. He needs to be able to get out if there's an emergency.

I agree with the cop too. When I go to a restaurant and there's an ambulance crew eating there, I don't mind that they park their ambulance in the fire lane, because if they have to leave I don't want them to have to run a couple blocks before even leaving.

Citizen's Arrest....Citizen's Arrest....Citizen's Arrest....Citizen's Arrest

Sounds like someone wanted to be a cop but couldn't for whatever reason.....Now they are Jealous big-time

OK well I am not sure where I stand on this one because Uncle_Max has a good point. It's too easy to bash the cops anyway. This is definitely one for a judge who is "reasonable" when it comes to the strict interpretation of law enforcement’s unwritten set of privileges.

OK guys I've got one for ya: how many times have you seen a police cruiser stop behind a row of, say, three civilian cars waiting for the light to turn green and then seen the inexplicable? There is no traffic coming in the intersection (so far) so whammo! The cop fires up the siren and flashes his cherries and then guns that cop special engine so he can whip right past all those cars in line and blaze through that red light before it has turned green. He (or in last night's case she) must have had a call on the police radio, right?

Wrong! They always shoot down the street for about a block and while they are still within sight from the intersection they have slowed to regular speed. I mean holy crap I have seen that move at least twenty times in my life in cities all over the country. It's not the speeding through the red light that gets me it's the slowing down they do once they have burned rubber through it. So the Five-O get a little impatient at a red light so they just say hells bells I'm going to hit the gas and go right through it? Forget all that!

I've got plenty of other cop stories - isolated incidents - that stink of abuse of power (as I'm sure all of us have) but this specific act is rampant and begs for a citizen's citation. Or at least an explanation. What's the big hurry officer if you slowed down a block after you hit the sirens and hit the gas right through the red light? Impatient much sir? And don't I wish I had a car that had an engine which could catch you so I could slap you with a big fat ticket.

cops should enforce the law, never be above it. what if the cop went to take a shit and a real fire broke out. I like cops, but they should never act like the laws don't matter.

OK guys I've got one for ya: how many times have you seen a police cruiser stop behind a row of, say, three civilian cars waiting for the light to turn green and then seen the inexplicable? There is no traffic coming in the intersection (so far) so whammo! The cop fires up the siren and flashes his cherries and then guns that cop special engine so he can whip right past all those cars in line and blaze through that red light before it has turned green. He (or in last night's case she) must have had a call on the police radio, right?

Wrong! They always shoot down the street for about a block and while they are still within sight from the intersection they have slowed to regular speed. I mean holy crap I have seen that move at least twenty times in my life in cities all over the country. It's not the speeding through the red light that gets me it's the slowing down they do once they have burned rubber through it. So the Five-O get a little impatient at a red light so they just say hells bells I'm going to hit the gas and go right through it? Forget all that!


I see that A LOT, in particular at this one intersection. It's a newly built (within the year or so) bypass that has regularly spaced traffic lights. The speed limit is 45, but the road was built with 65 mph speeds in mind, so it's all wide lines and slow curves. There is one intersection in particular where you can see a quarter mile or more in both opposite directions. But even if no traffic is coming, the light will turn red because it's on a timer to sync up with the others on the bypass.

This intersection is about a half-mile from the state trooper headquarters, and I see a cop blow through a red light there AT LEAST weekly. The siren goes on as soon as the light turns yellow, and they blow through, only to turn the light of afterward. How do I know they turn it off and slow down afterward? BECAUSE YOU CAN SEE A HALF-MILE DOWN THE ROAD! Other times, if I just barely make it through the yellow light, a cop will blow the light behind me, pass me, and then I'll end up catching up to him anyway without having to try.

I agree that things like THAT really piss me off, and maybe that's why this guy has to take it out on this officer, but really, parking in a yellow zone for a little while to pick up food while he's on call? That's not worth making a deal over.

sounds to me like the cop was in a privately owned parking lot...if it wasn't a handicapped parking space just a no parking zone designated by owner , then no law was broken...making this a civil matter..the lot's owner could have had the police car towed.

police have no parking enforcement rights on private property unless it is a handicapped spot....

JMO BTW

Dumb Woman Cop Busted Video@@AMEPARAM@@http://embed.break.com/NDkxMzg4@@AMEPARAM@@NDkxMzg4

Someone needs a life...

Dumb Woman Cop Busted Video (http://www.break.com/index/dumb-woman-cop-busted.html)

I posted this one earlier ; )

Overall, I don't mind if a cop goes through the intersection. SOMETIMES (not all the time) they actually DO get a call and have to go through, and then someone else finishes a call closer, or anything like that, so they get assigned instead. I'm not saying its all the time, but occasionally it is.

the only thing going for the damn fellow is he can lord it over the ordinary folk once in a while....its a shitty job and most of them a dumb fooks who could'nt get any other job.......basically he is a janitor/security guard of the city streets, might get killed too....let him at least park in the no parking zone....

Gives satman a "bronx cheer"

Police work hard for the money. They put up with the rotten 10% of the population so that the other 90% of us can be normal. If he did it once, no big deal. If he did it routinely, yes do something about it. Like many of you have mentioned, I have seen the cops roll through the intersection Lights on/ Lights off just to keep on rolling on. Some seem to be worse than others. I saw one yesterday on the interstate. I was cruising along at 65 in a 55 zone, middle lane minding my own business. Here comes a local boy (city cop) batting along at 80+ in the left lane with no lights or sirens. He was playing NASCAR with anybody in the left lane, bobbing and weaving if they did not move right. No one in the car, just him play intimidation games on the cars of the left lane. Talk about road rage. Then they wonder why some folks don't like them. (Don't get me wrong, I have had cops for neighbors, cops for friends and even one of them made Chief of Police in my old hometown. For the most part they are just like us, hard working and law abiding.) Some of them are just corrupt, even the cops don't like them, either.:icon_oyes:

My dad has worked in the prison system for over 30 years. He works with murderers, rapists, pedos, and worse. I'll call him up and tell him it's ok for him to do what he wants...

A lot of people have shitty jobs, but only cops think they can get away with breaking the laws the are paid to uphold. If he is on a call, park anywhere. If he is getting his lunch, he is no better then you or I.

When I was a manager at a restaurant, if an officer was in uniform, I would buy his dinner or lunch no problem no return expected. If he was out of uniform, he pays his bill like everybody else does. I would not want to do there job, by the same token, they probably would not want mine either.

I've said it before and I will say it again:

There are good cops, bad cops, and really awful cops.....just like there are the same in any profession whether it be Doctor, lawyer, or Candlestick Maker......however, when a person has a run in with officer dickhead it puts a dark cloud over all officers by association....

this is not true with other professions...let's say you have a problem with a dickhead plumber you get mad at him, not every plumber......but, some people have a problem with a cop, they get mad at all cops.......it goes with the job......pisses me off, but that is human nature

I live in Portland, OR right now. The cops have been irritating me for a while now.

I had an Asian friend who was cop, he loved being a cop, but he hated working with all the assholes who treated him like shit so he quit.

I was working at this bar and we had to call the cops because some huge angry dude came raging in and busted our ATM and then didn't want to leave. He didn't even have a drink in our bar... he came in off the street sober and pissed. The responding cop yelled at a female employee that he had better things to do.

Another time I was walking down a residential street late at night on my way home when a cop comes speeding towards me with all his lights (including headlights) off, no siren... the wrong way on a one way street. I saw him go down 3 blocks before he saw me and turned off toward the street he should be driving on.

I also saw a cop harassing some middle school kids coming back from playing basketball. They were Mexican and black kids all in shorts and t-shirts, one had a basketball, they stopped at the bus stop and were eating some Burger King which they got nearby. This old white cop rolls up, stops in the middle of the street and glares at them for about 20 seconds... then he gets on his in-car megaphone deal and says, "It's time for the crack dealers to go home." Sits there about 2 minutes staring these kids down. The kids just ignored him the whole time... then the cop drives off.

So yeah, I think cops here have been sporting a bad attitude lately.

^ ^ see what I mean......

^ ^ see what I mean......

Yeah I see what you mean, I also have a friend who is trying to be a cop, he's cool. And the guy who was a cop that quit... well he's still cool too.

I have another friend who's dad had a very lofty position in the state crime lab, he's cool but somewhat racist.

Unfortunately I can't name very many fun cop interactions, is that my fault? I don't think so, it's not like they showed up to put me in line or anything during these interactions. I think it's significant that a cop I did know personally and hung out with hated working with some of the other cops cause they were racist dicks and just dicks when not racist.

I also have a friend who's a news cameraman so I get the down low on a lot of stuff that goes on off camera at crime scenes/protests and shit too.

It hasn't put a dark cloud over my idea of all cops, it just that aside from the times they're just driving around looking at stuff, giving out moving violations or rousting homeless people, I sometimes see them doing strange things. But yes, I have had a few good conversations with cops that I didn't know personally.

Here's exactly what you said "The cops have been irritating me for a while now. "

Is that all 967 cops or just a few?.....see what I mean now?

Unfortunately, There is NO way to understand how a cop thinks or acts if you have never been one...

and trust me on this one...you don't want to imagine a life without cops.....It is a very sick society we live in

Here's exactly what you said "The cops have been irritating me for a while now. "

Is that all 967 cops or just a few?.....see what I mean now?

Let me put it to you this way... as far as actual interactions go. We're probably at about 50/50 good and bad. Most good ones turn out that way because I still keep a Hawaii State ID on me and their attitudes turn around 180 degrees when they see it.

Why would that change their attitude?

Why would that change their attitude?
Because I apparently look suspicious sometimes or something. I have dark skin and long hair.. I like to wear jeans and usually have a coat of some kind on. I'm kinda stocky w/ a goatee. I know I scare people sometimes, when I lived by the waterfront where a lot of rich families were they would part like the red sea when I walked on the sidewalk.

Anyway, when cops see my Hawaii ID they get a lot friendlier.. they start telling me about their vacation to Hawaii w/ the wife or how they've wanted to go there or whatever. There's a stereotypical view of the friendly jolly Hawaiian person which is just fine with me.

Just curious faux...what age bracket are you in? under 30 or over

Just curious faux...what age bracket are you in? under 30 or over
I'm 33 but people think I'm in my mid 20s.

I agree that I don't see Officer Dickhead too often, but when I do, I remember his face, not the badge... I know there are a lot of good cops who have bad days and such, but on the whole they're usually pretty decent. I used to work security for a local venue, and I know all the guys there were pretty decent unless someone wanted to take it to the next level (fighting, running, etc...) In which case they took 'em down hard. So, like Max said, if a cop wants to park in the no-parking zone, I MAY utter asshole under my breath, but then I'll typically think better about it. I'm not about to pull an Ozzy (piss on the car).