THP out of control

[Guest Spurhunter]

Without reading all the pages, I cant believe this was legit. If it is, this guy is going to win some money with a good laywer.

[East_TN_Patriot]

Without reading all the pages, I cant believe this was legit. If it is, this guy is going to win some money with a good laywer.

And I think with this single concise statement, Spurhunter has summarized this whole debate. Only the facts will reveal what happened and if the Trooper did act unlawfully, it would not be too difficult to find a lawyer chomping at the bit to get their hands on the civil case.

[LagerHead]

Without reading all the pages, I cant believe this was legit. If it is, this guy is going to win some money with a good laywer.

And I think with this single concise statement, Spurhunter has summarized this whole debate. Only the facts will reveal what happened and if the Trooper did act unlawfully, it would not be too difficult to find a lawyer chomping at the bit to get their hands on the civil case.

He won't get a dime. An officer acting in good faith, even if wrong, misguided, misinformed, etc. cannot be held liable for stuff like this. IF the story is true and he did nothing wrong, he will get his weapons back, possibly a verbal apology for troubles, and that is about it.

[Guest Drewsett]

He won't get a dime. An officer acting in good faith, even if wrong, misguided, misinformed, etc. cannot be held liable for stuff like this. IF the story is true and he did nothing wrong, he will get his weapons back, possibly a verbal apology for troubles, and that is about it.

The officer can't be, but the state can....correct?

[vontar]

Agree with Spurhunter.

He won't get a dime. An officer acting in good faith, even if wrong, misguided, misinformed, etc. cannot be held liable for stuff like this. IF the story is true and he did nothing wrong, he will get his weapons back, possibly a verbal apology for troubles, and that is about it.

Which circles back to one big fault in the legal system. One should not have to pay to prove innocent. It is costly to fight the system even if one is right.

[MikePapa1]

Life's not fair. This stop was made, I was able to verify that much. I'm waiting to hear back from a friend in Cookeville as to outcome.

[Guest Archminister01]

I will tell you this gents. I was in LE in AZ for just under 12 years. It isnt what happened but how it gets articulated in a report. There are LE Officers out there that have little concern for what is legal and right. Not all of them but they do exist and regardless of what this man said, the law is still the law and it was not upheld. The sad thing is that it was done by those that are out there to protect and serve the public through enforcement of the law. These are dangerous times. If you look outside and see clouds and a dark sky you can pretty much see that rain is coming. Well all of the indicators are out there and sadly those sworn to uphold the law are involved in some cases. I am not bashing LE and there is a need for it. I am just stating the obvious from an inside perspective. My brother is still a deputy back in AZ. He will and can tell you the same.

[VolunteerGuns]

Forwarded a copy of the blog link to Rep Hank Fincher here in Cookeville. I asked him if he had any knowledge of this, and if there was any truth to the claims. Here is his response-

Henry Fincher to me

show details Sep 26 (4 days ago)

Dear Adam,

This is the first I have heard of this. Let me send an inquiry to the Department of Safety and ask them to look into it. Since the matter appears to be in court, and in the judicial branch, it is not something that I have much influence over as a legislator. The story, as told, is concerning.

Sincerely yours,

Rep. Henry Fincher

________________________________

[Guest Archminister01]

As in all cases the facts come out in the wash. I was the victim of one person filing a lawsuit against me for extreme abuse of force. This woman stated that I assaulted and mishandled her while taking her out of a van while transporting her to a court appearance. I sat in a courtroom for five days until it was finally resolved. Even though the two transport officer stated that I was not even present when she was removed from the van, this case was still allowed to go to court. The tapes of this incident somehow had been destroyed. I was found innocent. It was humiliating just the same. I know how both sides of the story works. I was a shift Sgt myself for 6 years before being injured and leaving LE. I love the brotherhood but just the same, I have personally done 5 investigations that led to 3 firings and 2 suspensions. All I am saying is be careful because you never know.

[E4 No More]

As in all cases the facts come out in the wash. I was the victim of one person filing a lawsuit against me for extreme abuse of force. This woman stated that I assaulted and mishandled her while taking her out of a van while transporting her to a court appearance. I sat in a courtroom for five days until it was finally resolved. Even though the two transport officer stated that I was not even present when she was removed from the van, this case was still allowed to go to court. The tapes of this incident somehow had been destroyed. I was found innocent. It was humiliating just the same. I know how both sides of the story works. I was a shift Sgt myself for 6 years before being injured and leaving LE. I love the brotherhood but just the same, I have personally done 5 investigations that led to 3 firings and 2 suspensions. All I am saying is be careful because you never know.

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger. I was sued by the subject of a DWI arrest who claimed three different stories as to how I broke his back. First he claimed that I picked him up and body-slammed him. I'm 6'4" and 240, (back then), and he was a little feller, so it was feasable but not probable. The witness across the street said that never happened. Then he changed his story saying that I broke his back bending him over the trunk of the car to search him. The witness said that didn't happen either. Then his story changed to I did it while placing him in the back of my patrol car. Later I was able to supply them with proof that little buddy was working in the pits on a crew at the Pepsi Challenge at the I-70 speedway while he was on medical leave from his employer for low back surgery. At that point the insurance company paid that slug $10,000 to settle out of court!!??

2.5 years later I attended a seminar given by a lawyer who specialized in representing LE's who sue people like that for making BS claims. He said that I could sue little buddy and his lawyer, and I told him another lawyer told me that there were no damages. His response was that even though I was cleared the chief of police wasn't there - thus doubt would always be present in his mind when it came time for promotions: there were the damages. Unfortunately, it was 6 months past the statute of limitations in Missouri.

[Guest Drewsett]

It is unfortunate that we live in such a litigious society. I actually wanted to be a lawyer for a long time until I learned how our legal system actually works.

We have a Legal system, not a Justice system<----and therein lies the problem.

[East_TN_Patriot]

Forwarded a copy of the blog link to Rep Hank Fincher here in Cookeville. I asked him if he had any knowledge of this, and if there was any truth to the claims. Here is his response-

Henry Fincher to me

show details Sep 26 (4 days ago)

Dear Adam,

This is the first I have heard of this. Let me send an inquiry to the Department of Safety and ask them to look into it. Since the matter appears to be in court, and in the judicial branch, it is not something that I have much influence over as a legislator. The story, as told, is concerning.

Sincerely yours,

Rep. Henry Fincher

________________________________

Wondering if you ever found out any more info on this?

[Guest SW9VE]

A reminder that when traveling, it is our responsibility to know the laws of the states and cities we travel through...

Excellent advice. The problem with this is that you are at the mercy of any LEO and their particular understanding of the law. If you are stopped by a LEO who is does not have an accurate understanding of the law himself then no amount of study of the law on your part is really going to do any good. He has the badge and you're in hot water even though you did nothing wrong.

I'm a Georgia resident with a valid Georgia Firearms License - the equivalent of the TN HCP. I make regular trips from Atlanta to the Nashville area and plan to start carrying my handgun with me in my vehicle commencing with my pending trip this weekend. In an attempt to become as familiar as I can with the laws as they relate to handguns in TN I joined this site - and excellent resource, by the way.

[Guest chaplain tom]

I was pulled over in TN once on my way to Mobile to visit my brother. The THP pulled me over to check that my truck was rated to pull my rather large and heavy camper. It was. While he had me pulled over the officer asked if he could look inside of both my truck and my camper. I asked him what he was looking for and he was up front. He was looking for drugs. Since I didn't have any, I let him look inside. I now know that was wrong, but it turned out ok. In my camper he did find a LOADED derringer in a drawer in the kitchen area of the camper. The officer actually told me that it was illegal, but he said that if he was camped somewhere, he would also load the pistol and keep it in the camper. He told me that I should unload it and go on about my trip, and he ended with "Don't forget to load that thing again when you camp somewhere." He could have made life very tough for me then, but I figured that since it was not anywhere near my reach in the truck, he just let it go by telling me the law in TN. Good cop IMO.

[Guest 270win]

Did you not have a license in another state when you were coming up from Mobile? That is good the state trooper had common sense and didn't hassle you over the loaded derringer in your camper. We need more police officers like that who are willing to help the honest folks in error of minor laws than to railroad good people.

[Guest chaplain tom]

Did you not have a license in another state when you were coming up from Mobile? That is good the state trooper had common sense and didn't hassle you over the loaded derringer in your camper. We need more police officers like that who are willing to help the honest folks in error of minor laws than to railroad good people.

I was actually going to Mobile from the USSR of Illinois and only had my FOID card. Trooper was a good guy like you said. Now maybe because he saw Racers for Christ (TeamRFC) stickers on my truck and my camper and during the conversation he learned that I'm and ordained minister and serve as a chaplain for several racing organizations had something to do with his being lenient with me I don't know.

Edited October 29, 2010 by chaplain tom

[Guest Eagle One]

The freedom of information act lets the news agencies expose national secrets but I bet you will not get any info about this from the THP.....

[JayC]

The freedom of information act lets the news agencies expose national secrets but I bet you will not get any info about this from the THP.....

FOIA is a federal law... so doesn't apply to the THP... But we do have the 'Sunshine Law' here in TN and it does apply to the THP and they will honor requests for public records. And the police report if there is one from this case should be a public record now.