A Truly Offensive Traffic Stop

Over the past several weeks, it seems YouTube videos of police behaving badly in Southern California are dominating our discourse.  The now famous “don’t touch my junk” video in San Diego has become a national sensation, and a national headache for the Transit Security Administration.

But over two nights last week, I twice saw local news reports on a YouTube Video taken by a German tourist pulled over by the California Highway Patrol in Barstow, CA on his way to Las Vegas.  The media are fascinated by the officer’s salty language and his lame put downs.  For example, he asks “Germnay Boy” why he’s driving in “my country.”  Later in the video, the CHP officer makes a couple of references to how the driver would be sexually abused were he to be sent to jail for reckless driving.

Charming.

The CHP is now investigating the officer’s conduct.  And well they should.  In addition to his verbal abuse of the German tourist, he did something far more offensive.

The verbally abusive officer failed to give the driver a ticket.  The German tourist was driving 98 miles per hour at the time of the stop, 28 miles over the speed limit.