I dunno, but I think I ran into a real ass tonight.

Situation:

I moved here from Iowa recently. I have Iowa Plates on my Jeep (veterans plates), a Washington State Drivers license, and a Washington State CCW. I have a 1st Cav sticker on my rear windows well as those silly " I gave to the Police fund" or whatever sticker.

On my way to teach a class tonight I noticed this county sheriff car following me for about 2 blocks. I stopped for a red light. I was smoking. in the rear view mirror I see this guy on the radio. Thinking he may be checking up on me I figure I best watch my self. While at the light, I finish my smoke, and with my left hand, hold it outside the Jeep, squeeze the cherry off and toss the butt on the floorboard on the passenger side (my in car trash area). The light turns green, and as I am pulling away he lights me up. I pull into the next parking lot I can find, about 1/2 a block. he walks up with hand on gun (understandable) and asks to see me registration, license, and insurance. I hand all these to him (had it all on the dash). he then asks if I know why he stopped me. I say no. He then proceeds to tell me he witnessed me throwing litter out of the car back at the intersection. I say no, I did not throw anything out ( hate litterbugs). he says yes, I witnessed you throw a cigarette but on the ground at the light. I told him in a nice manner that he was mistaken and pointed at the floor in the passenger side at the clearly visible butt. He then tells me he SAW me throw a smoke out. I once again explain that what he saw, was me squeezing the cherry off of my smoke, then placing the butt in the car, furthermore, I suggested we both go back to the intersection and look. He then said he did not have time for standing on a corner looking for a cigarette cherry. He went back to his car. 20 mins later comes BACK to my Jeep and tells me he will let me off with a warning. That is is illegal to throw flaming debris out of a vehicle in the State of Washington. WTF??? I did not toss out a Molotov cocktail... I was not in the woods, I was in the middle of a city, with asphalt all around me. Any way, I said OK, (no thanks to him for "letting me off") and drove away.

This whole deal really pissed me off. just wanted to check if I was being unreasonable. What do you people think?

Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

What he saw when you threw something out the window was probable cause to stop you. However minor that infraction might be at the time, it clears the way for him to go on further with a visual search of your vehicle when he is standing at your door. Does he smell alcohol? See a roach clip? A box of ammo on the dash? This is how they do their job, and it would surprise you how many people go to jail every day for stops like this. Cover your six and learn the rules in your state for CCW permits and procedures for when they ask about weapons in the vehicle.

I think the cop is a major prick.

And this happens thousands and thousands of times a day. Every day cops have an opportunity to earn the respect of the public, and so what do they do? Leave you with a bad taste in your mouth, for no reason. And then they whine about no cooperation.

And some day, that very cop might need your help. Whatcha gonna do?

Your papers are not in order, you will follow me to re-education center......
[x]

I had a girl give me her cherry once. It was kinda like throwing it out the window and nobody stopped us.[}:D]

You know, I understand that. The thing that really sticks in my craw was his INSISTANCE that I was littering. Had he run me and found I was not a threat to society and had no record, wants or warrants then came back and said he was sorry, he had been mistaken I would not have minded so much. The whole warning about "throwing flaming debris" shit really pissed me off the most.

Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

Two replies here. One to crookshanks. Cops are one of the necessary evils in our lives here. I hope you stop and help any LEO that is in a jam. Second one to Aviator. Didn't pick up on the cop being so badgery and insisting that you were littering. Sorry.

O.k then why mention all the stuff about your plates. Drivers license, CCW and thinking he might be checking you? You would have been pissed no matter what he said and the bottom line is you were wrong. Your a smoker. Don't you have an ashtray in that thing? If you do try using it. A "cherry" looks like a butt to any reasonable person at night. I know, lets not enforce all the laws just some of them and especially the ones your not breaking. yes the out of state plates might have caught his attention and you gave him reason to stop. Did you apologize for littering? Why the F*ck should he apologize to you? I've read some of your posts before you seem level headed. Your sounding just a little arrogant with this one.

No, it was not night. It was at 5 in the afternoon. I was not littering, or "Throwing Flming Debris" out of my car. I dropped the Cherry on the pavement. My ash tray is used when I am not in town. I understand he wanted to check me out. My problem with the whole deal is that he was an ass throughout the entire process. Just because he is a cop does not give him the right to be a dick to me. Perhaps I did not explain very well his whole attitude, but it sucked. Had he said something like "in the future please use the ash tray" I would not have been as pissed. I certainly would not consider what I did throwing flaming debris out of the car.


Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

Too bad, but one can certainly discover a bit of a dickhead just about anywhere.  Sounds as though it might have been one of our local "town clown" types with nothing better to do on a boring evening.  Where did this happen?  Almost sounds like Lake Forest Park, north of Seattle...  #1 national speed trap for several years running.

NB:  Don't know much about the LEOs down that way excepting...  I drive the speed limit when going through the area.

W.

You could have...  [puke] out the window.  Bet that would have frosted him!

Vancouver Washington. Just across the river from Portland, OR.


Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

He was a dick. Don't worry about it. Who knows what convoluted mental process he was using. There are dickheads everywhere and some of them are cops. Moral of the story,  "Don't chuck anything out the window when a cop is following you."

I REALLY don't see this cop as "being a major prick". So he did see you dump part of it out the window. As minor as it was, he had cause to stop you. I mean if I was the cop, when you showed me the butt in you car, I would have said fine. Granted, he did bust your chops but, he didn't ticket you. What I get angry about is you had the Veterans plates on your car.

It might be a good idea if you don't go around spitting on the sidewalk either.  Unless you're spitting on "flaming debris".  

I certainly would not consider what I did throwing flaming debris out of the car.


Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img][/quote]

Then next time put it out in your eye and then tell us if its "flaming debris".

I'm not breaking balls and I'm not saying the guy wasn't an asshole. I have some guys like him that work for me(figuratively). They are anxious to get into something but clumsy getting out if there is nothing to it. Cop school doesn't teach you to apologize(I belive it should) because your supposed to be right all the time and we all know that's impossible. Police work is more art than science and the best artists are usually the more experienced artists. I'm guessing he wasn't very experienced or maybe not well suited for that kind of work. Your a flyer. you have to be flawless in the performance of your duties and that's impossible. Make a little mistake and its embarrassing make a big mistake and someone dies. Police work is alot like that. Give the guy a break. Nobody got killed.

WHAT, no major crime for Leo's to go after in WA. ? no sunflower seed spitters,jaywalkers or some CRIMINAL not wearing their seatbelt ???
sounds like a rookie or just really bored...
51 out...
[}:d]

If you think the world is your ashtray, you're gonna get your chops busted at some point.  Cars come with ashtrays for a reason.  If you can remember to use it when you're in the country, you can remember to use it in town.  Kinda like using a restroom instead of just lettin' it fly on the wall of some restaurant.  No sympathy here.

The title of this thread should be 'thoughtless prick of a smoker' instead of 'rat bastard LEO'.

I challenge you to go where I dropped the "cherry" and find any trace of anything I left there. Are you so Anti-Smoking that you can't handle a person dropping what will be nothing more than ashes on the street? I do not drop them out of my car in the country because of the threat of a fire. In town it's not a worry.

You show your true colors with the "Prick of a smoker" statement. I Don;t have any kind of attitude, I live a good life. I AM level headed and the guy was such an ass I am STILL pissed.

Aviator [img]www.dredgeearthfirst.com/aviator.gif[/img]

This statement is probably the most accurate reply I have ever heard/read here at AR15.com.

100% correct!!!!!!!!

sgtar15

I don't know the law in WA, but after the LEO saw you throw something out (or he believed that you threw something out) he could legally stop you.  He was probably just checking out your out of state plates etc.. Here in TX you've got 30 days to register your car after you move here, I assume that the law in WA is similar.  Nobody likes being stopped but it happens sometimes, Chill out.

cops are like everyone else - got you good days and bad days

next time be a MAN and put that butt out on your Tongue [:D]

Under "zero tolerance strict enforcement of existing laws" you should have been cited for littering.

Exact same thing happened to me about 5 years ago. I had just left work and I lit a smoke as I was leaving the parking lot. I get about 3 blocks and remembered I was low on gas. So I flick the cherry off my Marlboro light out the window (which as any smoker knows with those lights the cherry tends to fall off and land between your legs cuz there's less tar to keep the tobacco stuck together). Anyway, so I get about 1/2 block, pull into the Chevron, and right as I get out of the truck with the unlit cig still in my hand this Dublin, CA PD young stud pulls in behind me with his lights flashing and gave me the riot act for tossing the cig. So, I'm standing there and I say, "This cig?", showing the almost complete cig in my hand. I only knocked off about 1/4" of the thing. So, Mr. LEO's saying he saw me throw it out the window and I said I just flicked the cherry off because I didn't want to pull into the gas station with a lit cig. So I show him what's left of the cig and he says okay, but if he see me do it again he'll cite me, so I say thanks but no thanks, fill my tank and leave. He was just being an authoritarian prick like those young guys tend to be. I don’t feel sorry for guys who throw cigs out the window either, but it was on asphalt in the middle of the city so screw it.

$1000.00 dollar fine in this state for throwing out a ciggy...ahem burning debris.

He let you off easy, he coulda slammed you with the big fine. King county sheriff? Snohomish would have written you up on the spot especially if some other minor infraction accompanied the original stop.

[rail]Railgun.... also have the mound of crap on the passenger floorboard.

Clark County...

Aviator

So you kept the butt in the car, but you still threw partially burned paper and tabacco out of your car. That's littering.

just a thought, I know I'm a newbie here and this is not intended as a flame, but what if the last car at that light had been leaking gas and the cherry had been enough to ignite it?

A cop will never, EVER admit that he/she is wrong to a "commoner". I wouldn't be suprised if this is taught at the academy.

Okay, as many of you know from reading my post here I am a retired police officer. In fact I think it is in my profile (Hell, I don't know I never read my own profile).
Also, as many of you know, I will, if at all possible, defend a police officers actions. There are many facets of an officers job that others are not aware of and do not consider.
However, I am also proud to be objective as well. If this happened as you said it did the officer was a rat bastard or an asshole depending upon how one wants to say it.
But then I'm an old copper from the old school and even though we beat the living shit out of somebody that desperately needed it we still had respect for law abiding citizens.

Unbeleivable - the officer is a "Rat Bastard" becasue he stopped you and gave you a warning  instead of the $1000.00 citation he could have?   [rolleyes]

What part of "cigarette cherry" = burning debris don't you understand?   [rolleyes]

Just to put my "minority" position in perspective, I work on my city's volunteer fire department as well as am a full time LEO so this kind of covers one of my pet peeves.  I've been to a lot of roadside fires caused by cigarette butts and, yes, "flicked cherrys."  True it doesn't happen as much inside the city as out because of the pavement, but someone who will do it in town in front of a cop will probably do it outside too.  You may one of the very rare exceptions, but how do we know that?  Doesn't matter though, it's just as illegal in either place. (At least it is in my state)

I would have stopped you and confronted you about the burning debris issue just to warn you about the fire danger and possibly see if you happened to be on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. (his mistake was taking the littering track at first, a much lesser issue)  Then when you showed me by your attitude and arguement that my presence and discussion meant absolutely nothing to you, I'd have given you a big ol' $1000.00 present to remind you to use your ashtray next time you want to "flick a cherry."  (We'll you'd have to really convince me you needed it - $1000.00! [;)] )

And for the rest of you bozos who seem to want to go after the officer for this, pointing to his "bad attitude," remember the bottom line - a verbal warning was given here instead of the $1000 citation despite the fact that the suspect (yes you Aviator) was argueing the fact he threw buring debris out the window as just WITNESSED by the officer.  I tend to get a little annoyed too anytime I stop someone, explain why I stopped them, and they call me a liar. (just the officer's probable perspective, not what you actually said - I wasn't there and won't guess the actual verbage)  

On my stops, I don't mind disagreement, (I expect some) but I know how one thing can lead to another and we ARE only getting one side of the story here.

Aviator, sounds like you got off pretty easy - he probably did have something better to do...

- Rant off.

An idiot like you burned up about 9800 acres just SW of Orlando a few weeks ago.  Use your ashtray and stop whining about police officers doing what they are paid to do.

Aviator- Are you for real? Major forest fires being started by cigarette remains have been documented over & over again. Even in a not-so-forest-like environment, why should the fire department come out to extinquish even the smallest blaze that could have been prevented?

Forget about the cop & think about the damage your insignificant "cherry" could have done.[-!-!-]

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Imagine how many forest fires were started by Sarah Brady???
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How many spotted owl deaths is she responsible for???
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Just Say "NO" and do it for "The Children"
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[img]web-comm.com\ar15\sara3.jpg[/img]
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And you reveal something of yourself with the "Rat bastard LEO" title. How about this instead? "I got pissed at a cop today" or "I don't like authority figures" or "I'm a whiney cop hater" or perhaps "I'm a litter bug and got caught" or even "He could have broke it off in me but he was cool". Don't go getting all chesty, you posted and asked for opinions. If your afraid you won't like the answer don't ask the question.

You're from Iowa (Idiots Out Wandering Around), so you deserve to be FKT with.

Damn Scanderhoovians!

I'm outta this $hithole in 21 days!

[sex]

Listen to Rigger--------------------
Use observation and common sense----
also never let your guard down-most
importantly never take anything for
granted!!!!!! The authorities are
looking for mistakes.

Never take anything for granted----
Listen to Rigger-CYA-

I don't bother with  silly PC reasons for stopping cars like tossing a butt. Too many other things to do.
I do understand that some parts of the country are cracking down on those type of things because of the fires being started by tossed butts.

It's an unfortunate situation, the cop probably was doing what he was trained to do. I generally support the police, their job has to be a hard one. I do not think I could take the abuse they put up with. It's amazing a cop somewhere has not unloaded his weapon into some smart ass. I never argue and show respect, and more times than not have gotten off.

Come on, I think we are missing the point.  The officer was clearly worried about your health when he saw that you were a smoker and pulled you over for your own good.  You should thank him and ask him if there is anything else the gestapo could help you sort out with your horrible life!

"...my (amazing, stunning, fear-inducing, superior, and BIG, above all things, big) presence and discussion meant absolutely nothing to you"  (ROFL!!!!!)[-!-!-]

....(sigh)  This dude obviously acts the same way to people, and resents the fact that this behavior makes a person an asshole.  Bottom line: I see the point about the fire hazard, don't do it.  The cop could have simply stated that, and been on his way.  The whole problem here though, is the way the dude tried to make you feel like he was really doing you a favor, and that you'd better damn well be grateful for his tolerance of your worthless, trouble-causing, "civilian" (LOL) ass!!!  

Hasn't this happened to everyone?  Sometimes you get lucky, and you get a cop who knows that he is a man, without needing to shove his authority up your ass.  Other times you get some prick fag, that wants to make damn sure you know that HE is the friggin' boss, and that if it weren't for his lack of experience, lack of self confidence, superiority complex and lack of success with women, he might not be such a jerk.  

You were wrong for doing what you did, bottom line.

Lesson:  There are scared, weak, sissy little bastards in every profession.  When they happen to be cops, this quality is amplified.  

BTW - Gunslinger sounds like the type that runs (or ran) into a LOT less problems than people of personality type #2.  Why purposely cause people to become defensive with you?  GO GUNSLINGER, and those of your type!  

(pants excessively, rediculously long post) sorry... [BD]

To the guys bitching about a cigarette cherry being considered littering. Are you shitting me ? You guys are bigger pricks than that LEO. Give me a friggin break. Next you'll tell me if I pour H2O (that's water to you) out on the street, that I'm also littering. Let's see , water has been known to naturally occur in nature/outdoors, it readily evaporates harmlessly into the atmosphere, or easily soaks into the ground, and is considered a vital nutrient to all life forms. But no, littering is littering. A cherry from a cigarette dropped on the street in a town has a negligable effect on the enviroment, but no, you got to get all enviro nazi about it. Quit bashing smokers and get a life. Man, this has gotta be the lamest flame on smokers yet.

I beginning to see it. Gun owners and smokers are the new jews. Did'nt ya know everything wrong with the USA/World is your fault. Got something bugging you/pissing you off, well then blame a smoker. Or blame a gunowner, or better yet blame a gun owning smoker and really feel better about your lame, hypocritical, elitist,delusionary existence. My, we make such easy targets don't we. We don't fit into your small narrow minded, pathetic model of a ideal society, so why not make us targets for constant harrassement. why don't you sell your guns and join up with some piece of shit liberal/democrat organization so you can stop living a lie. Come out of the closet cigarette nazis, join the democratic party. Then you can feel even more superior about yourselves.

TacCar, you left out fat people. Fat, gun owning smokers are the only people you can legally discriminate against these days.

My experiences with local law enforcement, i.e. sheriff's departments is not stellar.  I had one depitty give me ticket for flashing my highbeams at the pokey puppy in the beatup toyo pickup (40 mph in the fast lane for 3 miles).  Tried to tell the judge I was 'signaling' the driver that depitty was running a speed trap.  Trouble was, he cited one code on the citation and another in court.  Hizzoner tossed it out, but I lost a day of work for nothing.  Won't go into the time the (now convicted) pedophile/conman neighbor sic'ed the county mounties on my because I asked him in a very gentlemanly fashion (really, no joke)to ask his foster charges not to do donuts in front of my driveway in their cars.  Let me tell you, having three 'shoot'em first and let God sort'em out later' local deputies skid into your front yard and surround you in a tactical formation really gets you angry.  Especially when they wear those stupid ass rainbow looking Oakley shades.  

Best thing I've found to do is just what you did: "yes sir, sorry sir, let me kiss your ass sir" and get out of the situation, then take it up with the judge and hope for the best.  Push comes to shove, lock the door, take out the cell phone, and call for a State Trooper, who at least in my state are required to be better educated, more intelligent, and polite.

This was certainly one of the more unintelligent responses that I've heard.  Are you missing the point?  The problem isn't that you're a smoker.  You can suck smoldering poisonous gas all you want, and I doubt that anyone gives a $hit.  The problem is that smokers like you think that smoking gives you special privledges, ie throwing ashes/butt everywhere.  There was a post earlier where somone cited the ridiculous number of fires started by dumbasses like you, who thinks it's cool to throw your crap wherever you want.  What the hell is the problem with having some respect, and throwing your "flaming debris" (LOL) in a container specially designed for it's disposal?  Smokers are not the problem.  Idiots who think the rules should be different for them are the problem.  Ever know anyone at the office who takes 10 or more "smoke breaks" throughout the day?  That is because the rule that the rest of people abide by, being usually an hour lunch break only, only applies to those who do not smoke.  If you smoke however, you are entitled to at least an hour or two worth of extra break time that the rest of folks are not.  Notice a pattern?  Inconsiderate.  Just like starting fires for the sake of avoiding the inconvenience of using your ashtray.  LOL... sounds like Nazi germany all over again, doesn't it?