Chicago Cops/Judges

[BigSqwert]

Judge throws out arrest of cop accused in fatal DUI crash

 

The same judge from this case. Unreal. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04...ce-verdict.html

[Y2HH]

Judge throws out arrest of cop accused in fatal DUI crash

 

The same judge from this case. Unreal. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04...ce-verdict.html

 

They're disliked because people are largely ignorant.

 

Not all cops are bad. Not all are bad, either.

 

Don't allow the actions of a few to speak for the actions of the majority.

[BigSqwert]

How can high profile cases like this consistently get thrown out or go the cops' way? Anthony Abbate anyone?

[LittleHurt05]

Judge throws out arrest of cop accused in fatal DUI crash

 

The same judge from this case. Unreal. http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2009/04...ce-verdict.html

 

I don't exactly understand what happened here. The supervising lieutenant said that guy looked drunk a few hours later, but he is called an unreaible witness? While the officers under him said they guy was sober, and of course they are the ones honestly telling the truth? Justice at its finest. If the two kids had been driving drunk and killed the cop, they would have already gotten 30 years.

Edited April 27, 2010 by LittleHurt05

[Y2HH]

How can high profile cases like this consistently get thrown out or go the cops' way? Anthony Abbate anyone?

 

I'm not sure they always do. These are by far a small sample of a much bigger picture. There are plenty of Police that lost their jobs from questionable rulings/politics, too, but that's less of a story to print in a paper.

[CrimsonWeltall]

Wait, so now the guy isn't being charged with anything? Even if he wasn't drunk, isn't it still vehicular manslaughter?

 

Prosecutors said after that that their case was hampered by the fact that Ardelean was not administered a Breathalyzer test until about seven hours after the crash. He tested at 0.032, well below the legal threshold for DUI of 0.08.

 

Can't you do some math to figure out (approximately) what his blood alcohol level was 7 hour earlier?

 

This site http://www.selfcounseling.com/help/alcohol...stozerobac.html says a body processes .016% BAC per hour on average. So, .016 * 7 = 1.12.... + .032 = 1.152. Obviously, this is just an approximation and there are other factors, but it certainly points to him being above .08 during the accident.

 

 

[CrimsonWeltall]

Another question: why WASN'T he given a breathalyzer at the scene? Did his colleagues purposely avoid it because it would be damning? What's the point of giving him one 7 hours later when it is of no value?

[southsider2k5]

Wait, so now the guy isn't being charged with anything? Even if he wasn't drunk, isn't it still vehicular manslaughter?

 

 

 

Can't you do some math to figure out (approximately) what his blood alcohol level was 7 hour earlier?

 

This site http://www.selfcounseling.com/help/alcohol...stozerobac.html says a body processes .016% BAC per hour on average. So, .016 * 7 = 1.12.... + .032 = 1.152. Obviously, this is just an approximation and there are other factors, but it certainly points to him being above .08 during the accident.

 

Unfortunately that isn't actual evidence.

[BigSqwert]

Another question: why WASN'T he given a breathalyzer at the scene? Did his colleagues purposely avoid it because it would be damning? What's the point of giving him one 7 hours later when it is of no value?

Yeah that one had me scratching my head when I first read the news a few years back.

[BigSqwert]

Not sure if it's true but taken from the comments section of the article:

 

And yes, this judge's brother is Terry Gainer, a former cop.

[CrimsonWeltall]

Unfortunately that isn't actual evidence.

 

Why not?

 

What's the defense? "I'm a mutant unable to process alcohol so my BAC drops at inhumanly slow levels."?

 

[NorthSideSox72]

Unfortunately that isn't actual evidence.

Its evidence, its just not as solid as you'd want it to be.

 

I've followed this one a bit. It really does disturb me. Y2HH is right that you should not apply this to all cops and judges. But the defendant in THIS CASE, sure as heck seems to have gotten away with one here, and it makes me ill.

 

[southsider2k5]

Why not?

 

What's the defense? "I'm a mutant unable to process alcohol so my BAC drops at inhumanly slow levels."?

 

You are sighting an average. You don't see the problem in that?

[CrimsonWeltall]

You are sighting an average. You don't see the problem in that?

 

I acknowledged the calculation wasn't perfect. For the officer not to have been at .08 at the time of the accident, his rate would have to be .0069/hour. Is it humanly possible to process alcohol that slowly? I do not know...

 

Besides, doesn't the breathalyzer already depend on people being average? It's not a direct test of BAC; it approximates based on ethanol in the breath. Can a person who blows a 0.08 say they are a freak and their breath produces a greater % ethanol than is representative of their actual blood alcohol level? Or that they have low hematocrit levels?

[LittleHurt05]

All charges were officially dropped in this case today

[StrangeSox]

Its evidence, its just not as solid as you'd want it to be.

 

I've followed this one a bit. It really does disturb me. Y2HH is right that you should not apply this to all cops and judges. But the defendant in THIS CASE, sure as heck seems to have gotten away with one here, and it makes me ill.

 

I think the backlash comes from the "protect your brothers" mentality projected by the police force. No matter what they do, they seemingly always stand up for each other.

[Y2HH]

I think the backlash comes from the "protect your brothers" mentality projected by the police force. No matter what they do, they seemingly always stand up for each other.

 

Kind of how the street scum all do the same, only against the police, all the time. So it's of no surprise the police are like this to me...when you have scumbags crying foul and making false accusations against cops on a daily basis, you'd begin to understand. And while them doing what they do will cause a few bad apples to get away with some bad stuff, it also prevents those bs false accusations from costing a lot of good police officers their jobs/livelihoods.

[NorthSideSox72]

Kind of how the street scum all do the same, only against the police, all the time. So it's of no surprise the police are like this to me...when you have scumbags crying foul and making false accusations against cops on a daily basis, you'd begin to understand. And while them doing what they do will cause a few bad apples to get away with some bad stuff, it also prevents those bs false accusations from costing a lot of good police officers their jobs/livelihoods.

I call B.S. here. There is no excusing these guys protecting an officer who killed a couple people because he was drunk.

 

[Y2HH]

I call B.S. here. There is no excusing these guys protecting an officer who killed a couple people because he was drunk.

 

I honestly doubt they are. Contrary to you're false belief, but cops don't go out of their way to break the law to defend other cops, as they know if/when they get caught, they'd get the axe, too.

 

So call b.s. all you want, these accusations of police covering up for other police just aren't true, and in the cases this does happen, it's VERY rare, as once again, most normal police don't stick their own necks on the chopping block to cover up for a fellow officer knowing that their family relies on that income.

[Y2HH]

I know a lot of police, and exactly ZERO of them have ever helped another cop cover illegal happenings in their careers, and exactly ZERO of them said they would ever do such a thing.

[NorthSideSox72]

I honestly doubt they are. Contrary to you're false belief, but cops don't go out of their way to break the law to defend other cops, as they know if/when they get caught, they'd get the axe, too.

 

So call b.s. all you want, these accusations of police covering up for other police just aren't true, and in the cases this does happen, it's VERY rare, as once again, most normal police don't stick their own necks on the chopping block to cover up for a fellow officer knowing that their family relies on that income.

I'm not talking all cases, I am talking this case.

 

In this case, you have a guy who gets in a wreck at 1am and kills a couple people, and miraculously, the guy is never given a breathylizer or blood test until 8 hours later when an LT asks for it (despite not only the seriousness of the wreck, but the fact that the LT said he could smell alcohol hours after the fact). An accident like that, you almost always see the screenings done. Here, with the officers knowing the offender, they didn't do it.

 

Sorry, but the facts here don't jive with your interperetation. Its pretty obvious they were protecting the guy, and as a result, no prosecution can be successful. And since there is not a PER SE RULE stating that drivers in injury accidents need to be tested automatically, its left up to the officer's judgment. So they didn't even have to stick their necks out. All they had to do was say "he didn't seem drunk to me".

 

Personally, I think the rule should change. I think police should be mandated, in cases of injury or fatality accidents, to administer a breath test. If that is refused, take them into custody and get a BAC. This is the way DUI is done anyway, so it fits in fine with existing law. That would take any question out of the equation.

 

[NorthSideSox72]

I know a lot of police, and exactly ZERO of them have ever helped another cop cover illegal happenings in their careers, and exactly ZERO of them said they would ever do such a thing.

The bolded is the only part you can know. The earlier part, you could not possibly know.

 

I only worked in law enforcement for a couple years, and even in that short time, I saw numerous instances of cops covering for other cops who did something stupid. It happens plenty.

 

[StrangeSox]

Wasn't there some police community support (or at least a lack of condemnation) for the guy who beat the bartender?

[Y2HH]

The bolded is the only part you can know. The earlier part, you could not possibly know.

 

I only worked in law enforcement for a couple years, and even in that short time, I saw numerous instances of cops covering for other cops who did something stupid. It happens plenty.

 

I don't know for sure, but that's what they told me, and I have no reason to not believe them.

[Y2HH]

Wasn't there some police community support (or at least a lack of condemnation) for the guy who beat the bartender?

 

I'd have to say probably, as there are always idiots who support other idiots.

 

I can tell you of the police I do know, and all of them called the guy a moron and said he deserved to get fired/punished.