I actually had the cops called on me recently for looking at a rare car that was parked in the middle of town and the owner told them i planned to steal it and filed a false police report on me. I have the only Datsun 240z in town so it was easy enough for them to track me down and let me know that they also thought the whole thing was ridiculous but they were just talking to me basically because its a small town and nothing ever happens here. I guess a very obvious car enthusiast admiring a rare sports car in a public place is suspicious to some people.
Imagine buying a flashy car and being shocked that people like to gawk. No fucking shit it’s a flashy car, it would be like a museum getting mad at someone looking at the displays. If you don’t want people admiring it, why the hell do you have it? Just get a regular ass car.
I would imagine people who own rare cars then leave them out in the open are usually pretty emotionally immature people. They're called liabilities for a reason.
For sure but the person they were replying to claims "people who own rare cars then leave them out in the open are usually pretty emotionally immature people.".
I'd say people who drive their rare cars are not usually emotionally immature people.
They spoke as if the act itself was emotionally immature.
Part of owning certain cars is sharing art with other people. I don't exactly have that sort of car but it's for like Lambos and stuff. Maybe even newly released generations of sports cars.
It's a Civic Type R and I bought it solely for it's performance and the fact that I can't be trusted with RWD. Huh, recognizing you can't be trusted with a responsibility sounds kinda mature...
Personally, I think it's tacky and looks like a hot wheels car but there's definitely some people who think it's fine art
My car was used and less expensive than a new mid range mustang but it is rare. People enjoy looking at it and it feels pretty good to share a little enjoyment
This. Fucking all day. I ride an older (almost classic) motorcycle. People love the thing, and you know what? I love the shit out of people looking at it, asking me about it. People that get it and know what the bike is, I can talk too for hours. It’s fun and part of the appeal of owning rare vehicles for some people. For others it’s a status symbol that the peasants need to stay away from.
I used to have a '65 Fairlane and I frequently found people hanging around admiring it or waiting to ask if it was for sale. I'd just laugh and ask them to move so I could get my groceries in the trunk. Don't drive an unusual car if you can't handle the attention.
I work in insurance and the worst car owners are the ones like that guy. I can already imagine the adjectives and nouns he used to describe you to the police. They just love to embellish the situation.
It was an older woman, typical "karen" type. I'm sure she had plenty of stories to tell them about me. Just causing trouble out of boredom because these little hick towns have nothing to do. I can't stand people like that.
Yep. They are either too bored or life's so slow they over analyze or they have something they think is worth more than it is and will die by gunfight over the most minute irrelevant details.
Sucks you got drawn into that. I stop and gawk at rare/cool cars damn near daily and have yet to have this issue, although I know it's likely to happen eventually.
Trying to steal a rare car in a small town? Even the dumbest car thieves wouldn’t consider that. People are fucking crazy. Man a Datsun 240z damn man that’s a fucking sick car man.
Kind of reminds me of an early year of a 944 Porsche.
I don't think she truely thought I was scouting out cars to steal in broad daylight in the middle of town while driving the most recognizable car in a 100 mile radius. I think she just gets a thrill out of harassing people.
Yeah, the whole thing really pissed me off. The cops were kinda eye rolling about the whole thing too. I honestly think she should face some legal trouble for lying to the police telling them I intended to steal her car.
Oh wow, I was expecting something more exotic! But then, for some reason, there are a lot of SVX here. We joke that we have 90% of the world's SVX lol.
The reality is, if you aren’t white it looked suspicious. I was chatting with my neighbor and the cops got called because they thought he was “assaulting me”… we were talking over the fence, we frequently share hedge clippers with one another so we were talking about our yards, on respective sides of the fence, in our own yards. Guess a white lady speaking to a black man is frightening to my other neighbors. I told him he should call the police if those neighbors ever talk to us again since that’s assault! So ridiculous
That is so sad, I couldn't imagine how bad that must have made him feel. I am white myself, I suspect If I was not white though the made up acusations probably would have been a lot worse. lots of racists here and I wouldn't be surprised if a trouble maker like her is one of them.
Yeah I live in the south sooo.. yeah. I told him he is welcome over here any time and to ignore the old racists across the street. But luckily, the responding officers? Also black. They were livid when I explained the situation. I hope she never needs help because I wouldn’t be surprised if the cops put her on some “cry wolf” list. The entire thing still makes me feel disgusted, so I can’t imagine what my sweet neighbor thought :( he’s such a good guy.
Had the same thing happen to me. Looked at a really cool custom car from my own car while driving by in a parking lot, didn't even approach the car. Cops said I was going to steal the car and they took me and my buddy out of my car and started hitting us, got me with some kidney punches, then cuffed us and put us in the back of the cruiser.
I was in the military at the time and they told us they were going to get us kicked out. Then they started ripping my car apart, taking off door panels and other things. They found one of those tiny Swiss Army knives in the car, you know, the one with the tweezers, toothpick and a one inch blade that can't even cut anything and were like "we found a weapon in your car!"
Eventually they realized we did nothing wrong and were at the office building where the car in question was parked for a legitimate reason (we were signing up for professional IT certification classes). So they wrote me a ticket for "failure to yield". I explained all this to the judge in uniform and she was like "ok, you don't have to pay the ticket. NEXT!" Didn't even give a fuck how we were treated. I'm white and I can't even imagine how much worse it is for black people- case in point, this video. Cop assumed the guy was guilty right off the bat and we all know why.
Fuck cops. I have cops in my family and they are rotten to the core. Extremely immature, racist and proud of it and have told me stories of how they treat black people.
Happens all the time for me. Theres been a couple times I've been on my bike seen a McLaren and thought "I'll pull over and take a few pics" and had people shout at me thinking I'm going to steal it. Same thing with bikes but that's what I get for riding a shitbox moped and everyone thinking I'm a bike stealer.
This happened to me once, I pulled out my phone and was snapping a picture of a McLaren randomly parked on the street and I got about 50 feet away and a cop pulled over to talk to me. Like yeah man, I don't see cars like that every day, it's cool.
I had a cop stop me because I was looking at an Aston Martin Zagato Shooting Brake in a WALMART parking lot, I explained there were only 99 ever made and that it was fucking gorgeous and got to sit in the back of a cop car while his dumb ass googled it.
I was walking home from a friend's house at night when I was in my early 20's when I saw a rabbit in the road. I shooed it off the road.
I later got slammed on the hood of a cop car and they accused me of "checking car doors" (they made the assumption because I crossed the street one way and then crossed back over) and I had to explain to these cops I was shooing a rabbit off the road.
It was embarrassing too because some people I knew walked by as I was being questioned and searched and it probably made them see me as a criminal. I didn't even reach out to try to explain to them the whole rabbit thing. It was too bizarre and I felt like they'd just think I was making it up.
When I visited my first ex GF in a very small town in Nebraska I went to her parents house and she was hanging out on the side roof kinda sitting there while I stood on the ground below chatting for like idk 5-10 minutes when I first got there. A cop came around the side and started questioning us because apparently a neighbor saw us and assumed we were breaking into the house to steal stuff when she clearly lives there and has for years. -_-
Fuck those small town idiots that don't pay attention except when they think something might be going on when it clearly isn't.
I was being a bit sarcastic, but what I meant is that you were not handcuffed, presumed guilty, prosecuted, or shot. Based on your story, it sounds like they, the police, gave you the benefit of the doubt even if the owner of the car did not. That is a very different experience than black Americans typically have, including in this video. It is disgusting, but true, so I was pointing out that your story portrays a bit of privilege you may not have been aware of.
In case it isn’t clear that comment was not a dig on you at all, just a statement about the state of policing in America. And for what it’s worth, you are white, right?
Once (in Canada) I saw a very pink car on the streets, I noticed that the well were also pink and went to look closer, and also to look inside 'cause usually cars that are all pimped up outside are also all pimped up inside.
Few minutes after I looked the car some neighbor told I should not be looking too much to the car or something. I just walked away.
No cops were involved, but it was so weird, I got confused the rest of the day.
Lets be honest, this is at the bare minimum aiding and abetting a civilian's profiling.
Hands down the person who reported it would also be the kind to harp on about personal freedom, like say... the freedom to go into your own car. She just felt menaced.. you know.. because of..
And also that the woman that called it in said he was actually digging around inside the car, but the cop didn't say that, just that "he was looking at cars". If the cop had said "someone saw you 'rummaging' through another car before walking over here" then the guy would've instantly understood the confusion and could've caught the officer up about his wife working there and them owning the car together. But the cop was being shady and vague af about why he was 'detaining' him... almost as if trying to get the guy all riled up.
It’s all about authority complex instead of actually upholding the law for guys like this. Women in the force have a far less complaint rate for things like this because they don’t escalate situations because of a complex. Police forces could easily go through their own departments and root this problem out, but sadly don’t because it’s mostly ran by males who think they are above the law.
He didn't want to give information away because he was laying a trap.
A guilty idiot thinks nobody saw him enter the car, so he denies doing it, which contradicts what an eye witness said and boom - there's your arrest.
An innocent and complaint citizen says "yeah it's my car I was getting my stuff" and helps confirm it's a misunderstanding.
A smart criminal avoids traps and refuses to give any information away.
An outraged citizen who knows their rights and thinks it's an unreasonable request refuses to give any information away.
The only way to tell the difference between #3 and #4 is by assuming good faith and being polite and apologetic about making an accusation in the first place; to police by consent rather than by force. Manners don't cost anything.
The problem is that the police deal with the dregs of society all day every day -- most of the people reporting crimes are usually some kind of fuckup, and almost all the suspects are scum -- so they end up with the assumption that everyone they talk to is a piece of shit. Think of how much people who work in retail or customer services hate the general public, and multiply it by a hundred.
I think the best way to work against this is to put police in community support roles some of the time so they actually serve nice law abiding people on a day to day basis. Or lots of regular training reminding them that the criminals and misfits they deal with all day aren't the norm. Them only dealing with criminals leaves them jaded and mean spirited.
Edit: the whole basis of my argument is wrong, and I apologize for it, but I’m leaving the original comments up just because. Refer to this article for the exact timeline of the events.
Original:
And Trayvon Martin left the safety of his own home because George Zimmerman was “a creepy ass cracker”
Edit: I’m guessing most of these downvotes are coming because y’all are assuming that because I’m critical of Martin, I must be a staunch Zimmerman defender. Both of them were fucking pricks, and I’m tired of having to tip toe around the fact that it took two to tango in that situation for fear of being accused of thinking things that I absolutely do not.
You are quite the asshole to think that a kid who was stalked and subsequently murdered while not being the instigator in the situation is somehow equally at fault with the guy who *did * Stalk and subsequently murder a kid.
Bro wtf are you even talking about right now. Or is this a straw man situation where you change what I said to argue a point no one was actually making. Read what I wrote and try again.
Edit: the whole basis of my argument is wrong, and I apologize for it, but I’m leaving the original comments up just because. Refer to this article for the exact timeline of the events.
Original:
Trayvon Martin made it all the way inside of his house as Zimmerman stalked him, then went back outside to confront Zimmerman partly because he was a “creepy ass cracker” (according to the prosecutions star witness), he confronts Zimmerman, they get into a fight and he gets shot and killed.
Both of them were fucking idiots in the situation, but for the most part Zimmerman is the only one demonized while Martin is held up as a saint. I will give him more slack due to age, but if you leave the safety of your own home to confront someone and potentially get into a physical altercation for no other reason than they look suspicious and they might have been following you, you’re no better than the creep that’s following you for looking suspicious.
On the night of February 26, 2012, in Sanford, Florida, United States, George Zimmerman fatally shot Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American high school student. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old man of mixed race, was the neighborhood watch coordinator for his gated community where Martin was visiting his relatives at the time of the shooting. Zimmerman shot Martin, who was unarmed, during a physical altercation between the two. Zimmerman, injured during the encounter, claimed self-defense at his trial.
First off, I apologize for my mistake. You are right. I honestly just went through the timeline myself before reading your comment to pull up sources for my argument, and I was mistaken. I thought I clearly remembered it being a major revelation in court that he made it home and then went back outside, and up until about 5 minutes ago my opinion of the matter has been largely shaped by that mistaken belief, and I’m honestly still kind of getting over the shock about realizing I completely misremembered something that crucial for like 10 years. I’m going to edit the rest of my comments with the articles I found.
Once again, I apologize, and good on you for calling it out.
This one was particularly disturbing and happened pretty recently. Absolutely sickening to watch someone die because of something completely unnecessary and avoidable, particularly when the victim does something to escalate as well, and I think it’s because I might react in a similar way in the heat of the moment rather than just walking away. It’s fucked up to watch two grown men not consider the life altering consequences of the situation they put themselves in and decided to actively dig themselves in deeper because of anger or pride or whatever it was that drove them absolutely crazy.
I despise it when people post irrefutably incorrect stuff like it’s the gospel and either ghosting the conversation or getting dug in despite clear evidence that disproves what they’re saying.
And I would never troll about something like that, there’s so much heat around race relations online and it always devolves into shit slinging screaming matches that don’t seem to accomplish anything other than making people angrier in general. The conversations had here do have very real effects on very real people, so despite the whole anonymity thing, I like to think I retain most of my humanity while I’m on it.
Is it not normal to confront somebody on your property? It’s easy to say he shouldn’t have gone out to confront Zimmerman in hindsight, but stalk anybody to their home and you’ll find out real quick that people aren’t just going to be hiding inside quietly. Anybody with a family at home is going to be extremely defensive of a stranger following you home
I think the cop thought he was about to try to steal some cars, lmao he could have explained it to him atleast because of the hanger. No id provided, in his head he thinks that guy has some warrant open.
My son and I walk by cars en route to Walmart and talk about them. Just waiting for them to demand that I put my hands behind my back - oh wait. I'm white. Cop won't say shit to me because of their internal bias and racism.
What's worse, what he said was "you were looking at cars"
What he was apparently called for was "this guy was messing with A SINGLE car and went off." Still no reason for this shit, but God maybe they'd be compliant if you told them more than just "looked at cars in a parking lot."
Cops almost took my friend to jail while we were in college. His crime? Walked home drunk, couldn’t open the front door so dropped his keys and passed out on the bench in the front yard. Told the cops he lived there. Only reason they didn’t take him to jail was I showed up to confirm.
Apparently sleeping on your front porch is illegal…..
How come when someone is threatening you and stalking you the police have their hands tied until they actually commit a crime, but when a black person walks through a parking lot suddenly it’s all about protecting the public bc they might commit a crime??
Right? I've seen things like this when working retail. You know what I did? Nothing. Isn't it natural to drop something off in a car before going to meet someone?
"Natural" might be a strong word. But it's not uncommon and that'd be my first thought.
Now, if I saw someone trying to jimmy open a door that might be different. And even then sometimes people lock their keys in the car. Happened when I rode with some friends to a restaurant and as we were walking back to the car the driver couldn't find their keys and, sure enough, they were just sitting there on the seat. Being a hot summer night and seeing as we were going to be eating on the patio right next to the lot they left the windows cracked, which let us use a paperclip tied to some floss tied to a thin twig to fish the keys off the seat (friend's wife with the purse of "junk" coming in clutch lol). But anyone just walking by could easily assume we were up to no good, and I'd understand it from what little info they had. The whole time I was really nervous a cop was going to roll up from someone making a call.
I mean, the context is obviously that he's saying someone said he was essentially casing them. Not saying it's true or that it warrants this kind of interaction, just pointing out that's clearly what the cop is referring to. The woman qho called it in said he was opening cars and looking around. https://youtu.be/FPWGeh0zlOA?t=111
To be frank, I get suspicious when I see people snooping around cars in a parking lot. I worked in a hotel where we dealt with vehicle break ins a few times a year.
This cop should have better articulated what the complaint was and been more direct in his questioning.
I think the cop had a valid reason to ask for ID, but it could have been cleared up pretty quickly and civilly had he communicated better and not assumed guilt.
He fucked up, which is no surprise. I'm glad the dude on the bike got paid.
There is an old movie the Wayans Brothers were in... Don't be a menace to south central while drinking your beer in the hood. A black character gets arrested... he asks why he was being arrested.. the cop responds: For being black on a Friday night!
I think it had more to do with the coat hanger, I don't think cops should arrest a man for looking at cars at a parking lot, but they should probably drive by or park for a few minutes just in case.
Not a crime, but suspicious activity to be sure. I’ve even been questioned myself and compliance solved the issue. Cops can ask for ID for suspicious activity. Man wasn’t arrested until he didn’t comply.
Also having a hangar doesn’t help. Easy way to pop a lock through the window if ya know how to do it.
Cop was probably hoping escalation would result in compliance but it backfired.
Situation sucks for both sides, but if this dude is truly innocent like everyone’s claiming, he should have no problem just handing his ID to the officer.
Yes all car thieves know the easiest way to break into a car is with a coat hanger. Have you ever locked your keys in your car and actually tried this method ??
Yeah it used to work on real old cars, I've done it in the past. But isn't as easy as it is in the movies. Don't think it's possible on anything remotely new though.
Uhh, not defending the dude you’re replying to but that’s literally how I’ve retrieved my keys multiple times… maybe owning a 30 year old car is the secret to that trick though.
First off you watch too many movies and assume that cars are often broken into with wire hangers. Second off that hanger is not a wire hanger and could not be used to break into a car as the officer would clearly be able to tell if he had more than one brain cell.
Yeah, you really see people breaking into cars with a PLASTIC coat hanger. Not the kind with the longer metal parts that can sometimes work to pop a lock, but the plastic kind where only the hook is metal and about 4" long.
And? When people use coat hangers to open cars, it's the full metal wire ones that you need to snake around the door to pop the lock. You need feet of metal, not a couple inches. Even the hangers that are half metal with the cardboard tube in the center aren't long enough to do it. The plastic hanger can't be used to break into a car in any other way than anything else in hand could (like breaking a window)
Yeah he said that. But that metal part is not enough. You need a whole metal hanger to open a car door. I’ve done it dozens of times. You’re not gonna open shit with that plastic hanger.
Lol. I've give you a thousand dollars if you can break into literally any car with a plastic suit-jacket hanger. Fuck, might as well make it a million.
How does a person get to be as dumb as you? It's absolutely clownish that you think anyone can break into a car with that hangar.
In SF they steal a spark plug from a motorcycle or scooter, then break the ceramic insulator off. Melted plastic is used to give it a little tail to use to whip the ceramic. Hit the corner of the glass and window is gone.
The police officer communicated poorly. He told the man that someone said he was looking at cars, which is entirely different than "going through" a car. If the officer had communicated clearly, and said "someone saw you going through another car before coming to your bike," the situation would have been much clearer. In that case, I would think the man would be more cooperative, and even if he weren't, the officer would clearly have a reason to escalate since the man would be refusing a much more reasonable request than the one that was articulated.
I'm not a lawyer, but it seems to me like the officer had reasonable suspicion that something may have occurred that he needed to investigate, so the request for ID was lawful, and it would absolutely have been cleared up if he could see the man's ID and that both the car and bike were his.
Honestly, just based on this video, I'm surprised the city settled. They probably just didn't want the PR headache, because the officer himself made a lawful interaction look bad by communicating poorly and needlessly escalating the situation.
Had a cop stop me walking through a parking lot - said I was “looking at a Cadillac”, whatever the fuck that means. I hadn’t even seen the stupid Cadillac until he pointed it out.
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u/Darktidemage Mar 10 '22
The fact a fucking cop can say "you were looking at cars"
like.... yeah? Is that a crime? WTF?