By this morning Fort Worth bloggers were blogging about last night's Fort Worth city council which was packed, for once, with angry Fort Worth citizens, demanding action regarding the Rainbow Lounge Scandal, where a group of Fort Worth police, acting like Gestapo thugs, beat up bar patrons, handcuffed over 20, forcing them to lay, facedown on a parking lot, while one was so severely beaten he had to be hospitalized.
When the police version was released there were howls of protests from citizens who were actually there, including newspaper reporters and others of good reputation, who quickly let it be known that the police version was a BIG LIE. Soon large protests and world wide condemnation of the Fascist State of Fort Worth, led Fort Worth's morally bankrupt, ethically challenged mayor, Mike Moncrief, after a week, to call for a Federal investigation of the crimes that took place here in Fort Worth.
One very astute Fort Worth blogger, the Fort Worth Star-Telegraph, managed to see the connection between the Rainbow Lounge incident of police judgement gone awry and my incident yesterday, where a Fort Worth policeman, legitimately and responsibly doing his job, stopped me to ask why I was driving so slow. A valid reason to stop someone, I suppose, guarding the neighborhood against something that looks suspicious.
Where it goes awry is, rather than simply ascertaining that I was no threat to the neighborhood, the cop had seen I was not wearing my seatbelt. The explanation of why I was not wearing my seatbelt was of no import to this cop. The fact that I was driving slow while not wearing the seatbelt was of no import, made no difference. As in, I was not violating the spirit of the law, that being to click it when you are driving at as speed and among traffic where a wreck could cause injury.
Might I add that in my long driving career, that surely covers hundreds of thousands of miles, I have not had a single incident where the seat belt was of any use to me. As in, I have never had a wreck. Knock on wood.
So, just like with the Rainbow Lounge, only on a minor scale, I had an incident where the officer could have earned my respect, in that he was diligently doing his duty to look out for the neighborhood he was patrolling. He could have simply said, okay, I get why you were driving slow. And I understand why you didn't want to put your belt on, but you need to. So, get out of here, sorry for stopping you, have a good day.
That cop behavior would have had a totally different outcome. Instead he managed to annoy one of the citizens he is supposed to serve and protect, causing the citizen to besmirch the character of Fort Worth's possibly serious corrupt police department, in a venue that reaches far outside of Fort Worth, adding, just like the Rainbow Lounge incident, but in a more minor way, to the growing image being projected to the outside world, that Fort Worth is not a place you want to visit. You may find yourself getting beaten up by Fort Worth police in a bar. Or get a ticket for driving 15 mph in a residential neighborhood without wearing your seatbelt because you were sweating like a fat pig and didn't want the added discomfort of a seatbelt til you cooled down.
Yup. That is my advice to those not currently in the Fascist State of Fort Worth. Stay away til we have a revolution here and establish a respectable law enforcement agency and city government.
Duly noted...how 'bout Dallas? Is it any better?
ReplyDeleteWell, Dallas did have that cop out of control incident a couple months ago which ended up with him off the force. I really don't think you're at the same level of danger in Dallas as Fort Worth. Even though they are close, geographically, they are a world apart sophistication and being civilized-wise, for the most part. I've heard no Dallas horror stories on par with the stories of Fort Worth's cops gone rogue.
ReplyDeleteIt sounded like to me the line of questioning from the child with the badge and gun insinuated itself along the lines of "watcha doin' it the park, boy?",too. I don't guess it's necessary for me to spell it out too clearly. It's not a moving violation so are you going to get a lawyer for trial by jury, or what?
ReplyDeleteI think I'll argue my case before the jury myself.
ReplyDeleteYou'll lose....
ReplyDeleteThank you for your input, Anonymous. But I already won.
ReplyDelete