Motorists followed by an unmarked car with flashing police-style lights are often told to activate their flashing emergency lights and wait for the nearest well-lit area before pulling over. An attractive young female motorist who followed this advice found herself held at gunpoint, handcuffed and searched by real police officers in Greene County, Missouri last week. Just before 2:40am on June 5, twenty-two-year-old Vanessa Kimery passed through one of the state’s many speed traps. An unmarked police cruiser pulled behind her vehicle and activated its lights. Kimery immediately put on her flashers and slowed to acknowledge the vehicle behind. She then drove less than a mile to the nearest well-lit area, a convenience store parking lot. For this, Kimery was ordered out of the car at gunpoint and surrounded by three police deputies.
Kimery had feared that the unmarked car may have been driven by a police impersonator. Exactly one year ago, two women were attacked in Howell County by by a man driving a Ford Crown Victoria with red-and-blue lights mounted on the dash. Several other states have similar problems with robbers and rapists taking advantage of police use of unmarked cars to trap their victims on dark, rural roads.
This woman did exactly the right thing. Automatically pulling over for an unmarked car is way too risky. The cops owe her an apology.
The “cops” should be waterboarded and then paraded around naked in public with women’s panties over their heads. Douche bags.
They sure didn’t follow regulations… they should have tasered her and THEN put on the handcuffs.
This is getting ridiculous. The lady did what she thought to be the best and safest thing and so did the cops. Nobody got hurt so get over it. Every time someone gets put in handcuffs everyone cries and says how awful the cops are. What if the next time a police officer pulls someone over like this and it turns out that the person in the car has a gun and the officer hesitates to do the right thing. Will all the people crying foul now be sorry. I highly doubt it.
We dont know the details. Why was she pulled over? Did her car match the description of a felony suspect?
Yes, she was cuffed, but she did not appear to be mistreated.
Sounded to me like all the cops were being rather calm and friendly to a woman who was freaking the f*ck out.
They didn’t know why she didn’t stop, but seemed to understand (once they knew things were ok) that she had good reason for waiting to stop.
At least there was not physical violence or manhandling. They didn’t even put her on the ground to handcuff her.
I think this is a good example of rational, level-headed policemen.
these types of cops should have their family members treated to the same abuse
#6 “these types of cops should have their family members treated to the same abuse”
What abuse? Did you even read the article to follow the video? She was pulled over in a speed trap for going 10MPH over the limit.
She was treated quite respectfully. Don’t be such a damn moron.
The KC metro area has had several fake cops pulling people over and checking ID’s in the past year. Hell, one even posed as a DT and checked a security officer credential at a bank. Alot of police departments are trying to save money by just putting a bunch of strobe lights on cars. The overheads make drag when driving. Also, companies who sell the sleak new overhead light bars brag that they are not visible until the lights are lit and the vehicle is converging their direction of travel. It is an officer safety issue to pull someone over in an unmarked civilian looking vehicle.
Or do it the RCMP way, taser you, jump on you, hand cuff you and then kill you. Or even better, hand cuff you to a tree, shoot and kill you and get off on calling it justified.
I am a reserve city cop, I am all for holding police up to a much higher standard of conduct. These officers should be punished, demoted, and retrained, and the higher ups in the force should be fired for allowing such idiotic cops to be on duty. The fact that so many cops responded in such a fashion indicates the AG should investigate and perhaps take over. The problem is clearly endemic with that police force.
#7 – Wow, handcuffed for going 10mph over the speed limit? I’m surprised they didn’t tase her and give her a wood shampoo. I think these cops are just a little too hopped up on donuts. I thought about being a cop once but I decided to graduate from high school.
[Wood shampoo? Har! – ed.]
While I don’t think these cops should be tortured, I do think they owe this lady an apology. I can’t say this for sure as the video is not working, but that is what the article leads me to think.
Mister Ketchup –
She was handcuffed for failure to yield. Usually that means the driver has something to hide, is in a stolen car, blah blah blah. It’s standard precaution. She stayed in cuffs until they knew what was going on and checked the car.
I’ll add you to the “Don’t be such a damn moron” thought.
By the way – “Mister Ketchup” – cmon – Mister Mustard already has that niche.
#3, Bob;
What if the next time a police officer pulls someone over like this and it turns out that the person in the car has a gun and the officer hesitates to do the right thing. Will all the people crying foul now be sorry. I highly doubt it.
There are any number of counter-arguments to your point.
First off, many police agencies explicitly tell motorists to slow down, turn on your hazard lights, and drive to a populated area if you are being pulled over by an unmarked unit. Because of this, it was completely reprehensible that the police attempted to give her a ticket for failure to yield.
Secondly, dealing with armed criminals is a part of the job. Police are paid to deal with that risk. Automatically assuming and treating everybody like a criminal is not acceptable. If you do that, innocent people get killed.
Police are supposed to be held responsible to the public. Not the other way around.
If the cops are the ones suggesting that women put on their blinkers and drive to a well lit area before stopping, why are they surprised when someone actually does that?
Of course this chick is freaking out. She’s heard story after story about unmarked Cruisers turning out to be fake, raping and murdering women, she does what she’s been told to do, and she’s immediately put into handcuffs for it. Not to mention she probably crapped herself when she saw that the gun was aimed at her.
Not to make any assumptions about anything, but judging from her reaction, this looks to be a girl who’s been on the straight and narrow her entire life, and doesn’t know how to react to cops when she’s in trouble.
“Police are paid to deal with that risk”
Paid just above minimum wage for what it’s worth.
#11, Michael;
Since the woman followed the instructions that many police agencies tell people to do when being pulled over by an unmarked unit, it is completely reprehensible that the police attempted to give her a ticket for failure to yield.
For that, the woman deserves an apology.
#14, Michael;
That’s begging the question.
No one forced them to take the job.
Upon seeing the video, I still think the cops owe her an apology. She did not make an attempt to escape, she acknowledged that they wanted her to pull over and drove to somewhere she felt safe. The officer that handcuffed her seemed nice enough, but if hand cuffing someone and pointing a gun at them in these circumstances is policy then something needs to be changed.
A bigger question here is why, as a public, are we allowing police in unmarked cars to perform traffic stops?
What are the police trying to hide? I’m sorry, you’re representing the government and the people. You shouldn’t be hiding in anonymity to conduct traffic stops. If you’re a detective, that’s different. But police should not make stops in unmarked vehicles.
I’m glad my state does not allow officers to make stops in unmarked units.
#17, @me;
I should say that my comment was directed at #15.
Someone’s comment was apparently approved by the moderators…
natefrog –
I believe the police sort of apologized by dropping the failure to yield charge. Granted, she didn’t deserve that one in the first place buy hey – it’s something.
Also, the guy talking to her was very calm, trying to relax her and calm her down.
You’ve got to understand that they were doing what was necessary to protect themselves. Notice the video cuts out before the situation is over. Perhaps she was released from the cuffs 10 seconds later – once the car had been searched.
It’s not “reprehensible” – it’s just lacking in some common sense from the higher ups in the department.
“That’s begging the question.
No one forced them to take the job.”
Correct – and no one forced soldiers to take their job either. But you can’t make an argument that either groups is paid to take risks when the pay is so small.
Unless you have been cuffed don’t make light of it. For most people this would have been a more than slightly tramatic experience. Don’t expect this person or her family to be fans of cops hense forth.
Calling for backup may have been reasonible and prudent but it should not have taken them all that long to figure out they more than had the situation under control and they were going over the top. It isn’t clear to me that they did.
Have a nice day.
#14
You are obviously out of touch with reality regarding police pay.
Just a quick search shows that police pay ranges from the 50K range to over 100K. Something happen to minimum wage when we weren’t looking?
( http://www.blurtit.com/q734861.html )
framitz –
Those numbers aren’t entirely applicable here. Notice the phrase “top base pay”. That means if you’re a cop for 20+ years, are promoted to the highest rank, work overtime, holidays, etc.
Go to any city’s police page, they have pay scales. From the NYPD’s recruitment page:
“Start receiving full pay and benefits from your first day of recruit training ($35,881 per annum). Salaries will continue to increase every year and upon completion of 5½ years of service, base salary will increase to $65,382. In addition to these base salaries, there is overtime earning, holiday pay, night differential and uniform allowance.”
Think and learn before you comment.
#21, Michael;
Also, the guy talking to her was very calm, trying to relax her and calm her down.
I have no issue with that, the officers were relatively professional.
You’ve got to understand that they were doing what was necessary to protect themselves. Notice the video cuts out before the situation is over. Perhaps she was released from the cuffs 10 seconds later – once the car had been searched.
Yes, but when the woman is doing exactly what the police themselves tell you to do in that situation, the handcuffing of this woman is completely unnecessary. I wouldn’t have a problem with them doing a quick pat-down to check for weapons, but the handcuffs were not needed.
And it is absolutely reprehensible when the police punish you for doing exactly what they themselves tell you to do. Even if they later drop the charges.
Correct – and no one forced soldiers to take their job either. But you can’t make an argument that either groups is paid to take risks when the pay is so small.
Stay on topic, I don’t care about soldiers in this conversation.
And, yes, I can make an argument that cops should be held to a higher standard even considering the risk and low pay associated with the job. They are civil servants, expected to be held to a higher standard. Just because the job can be dangerous does not give them the blanket authority to do as they please and fail to respect citizens and their rights. (Not that I’m saying that was the case here.)
Oh, and cops make much more starting pay than teachers do. And teachers are required to have four-year degrees.
Nope. I don’t stop for unmarked police car, unless its got take down lights(which any body can buy).
One night in CA I didn’t make complete stop and off duty cop followed me, he flash his head lights, I just keep going, he was on my tail so I go faster and faster to get away from him. Pulled up into my friend house and ran in the house. He came up, knock on the door and give me ticket for failure to stop and speeding.
Went to court and contest it. He never showed up! Wasted my time!
In CA cop can’t give you a valid ticket if they’re not in Marked Car. You know those ones with Police Paint scheme, light bars and police logo etc. Not Even Undercover cars.
#24
Your own pay quotes prove you are full of crap, 35K starting is a LOT more than minumum wage.
Riverside CA starts pay at 4156.95 monthly, or around $25 per hour. Isn’t minimum wage still less than $10 per hour?
Dead link now.
Here’s another.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFVjFfmiCxE
[Nah. It’s still good. Thanks anyway. – ed.]
#26,
do teachers have people try to kill them?