I had to deal with a crooked cop myself a couple years ago. I got charged with a DUI because this a$$hole off-duty cop from a small town followed me for 45 mins (due to 'failure to maintain lane', my AC was out in my car and it was August so I put all my windows down so I wouldn't die of heat exhaustion and the wind was blowing the car around on the road some). I never got pulled over that night. My car ran out of gas just after I got off the highway about a mile from my house. My car was right next to a left turn lane, so I was about to move it out of the road and walk home. Next thing I know, this dude is at my window asking me what's going on and I told him my car ran out of gas and I was about to move it out of the road. He asks me if I've been drinking tonight and I said nope (which I hadn't been). Then he asks if I've taken Xanax (which I had like 4.5 hours before at the same time I smoked a blunt, and then smoked another blunt a couple hours later). I said no but thought it was weird as fukk that he seemed to know right off the bat. shyt, I assumed this was a cop from my city who had just happened to pull up on me as my car ran out of gas
Next thing I know, this dude is making the equivalent of a citizen arrest on my ass as he detains me until other cops got there. Now I had no clue this dude was a off-duty cop from 2 counties away that hauled ass for 45 mins to follow me. Then they make me take tests. Apparently the walking test was a slight fail (anything that's 2 or more violations is a fail, I had 3, but I wasn't falling over or shyt faced, I just stopped while walking a couple times, raised my arms for balance so I wouldn't fall over, and I didn't do the turn the way they wanted me to do it). The standing leg test, however, was a perfect score. Nailed that shyt, stood on one leg, counted to 30 without hopping, putting my foot down, swaying, or falling. Now the eye test was a straight fail across the board because you cant fake it out (it doesn't matter if you follow the pen, it matters if you don't follow it smoothly and if your eye shakes when it stops) so they took me in and I was trying to figure out how this was even happening
Here's the thing though: if it wasn't for this piece of shyt following me that entire fukking way, my charges would have gotten dropped. The cops from my city never saw me driving and I wasn't pulled over, my car ran out of gas and it's not illegal to run out of gas and they cant pull you over for that. But when I saw the police report 2 weeks after it happened I couldn't believe that shyt. Dude said that I was going 100 mph and had no evidence to back up any of his story, but he instantly looked credible because hes a goddamn cop. In fact, I was able to introduce into evidence paperwork that showed that I had 2 major components out in my car from before the date of the DUI and that the car I was driving had serious issues. One of those components was the electronic sensor transmitter, which forced me to push my gas pedal more than halfway in order to make the car accelerate. It physically could not go above 3 rpm and the likelihood of a car going 100 mph with a 0-60 time of 30 is pretty slim. My lawyer claimed he was "very credible". He may have looked credible but he really wasn't. There were 3 problems with his story:
1. There was written proof showing inconsistencies with his story (and I could have gotten my mechanic to testify about the condition of my car)
2. If I was truly traveling 100 mph, why the hell was he driving so recklessly to follow me? (because he wanted to power trip and thought because he had a badge he could do whatever he wanted to)
3. If he wasn't driving recklessly to follow me, how fast was I really going and how much of a 'threat' to everyone else was I really? (answer: I wasn't a threat to a damn fly. All I wanted to do was push my car out of the road and walk home 1 mile to my house)
And you know what happened in the end. I got convicted because it turned into his word against mine (even though it was really his word against a piece of paper showing he was lying, but it still didn't explain the 'weaving' which my lawyer claimed was enough to create probable cause to stop me). This was a case that relied heavily on an off-duty cop's testimony, an eye test, and a blood test, and I still got fukked. Yes, maybe I could have a more sound decision, but it doesn't make sense for me to take total responsibility for this one when someone else's actions played a bigger part in this than my own
So when it comes to crooked cops, say no more Meek. I'm a white male and had to deal with a crooked cop who wanted to abuse his power and have something to show for having followed me all that way just to snoop and see what was going on. I can only imagine what type of position that cop put you in for it to still be affecting you a decade later, even if you did have plenty of chances to move past it
Btw, if anyone wants to see the police report from it, I'm more than happy to post it. You'll see how utterly fukking absurd and stupid it is
