Crane County Deputy No Longer On the Job

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jon_k

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Why is everyone congratulating this? Was the storm chaser arrested for no reason at all?

How do we know he wasn't some sort of whacker going 90mph down the road with red and blue lights and sirens blazing?
 

rdale

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Because of the other thread. There was a tornado that passed a few miles south of the rest stop and the storm moved into the distance. They pulled into a rest stop to take a break and get some pictures. The deputy told them they were in danger and ordered they leave the rest stop. They did not, explained that the storm threat was over, and the driver was arrested for not leaving a public rest stop.

Around these parts of the world - police can't arrest you just because.
 

kadetklapp

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The storm wacker disobeyed a lawful order to leave after being warned several times. Officer made good on his promise. The officer does not have up-to-the-minute weather information that the spotter claims he does, and the spotter is not in a position to tell the officer the weather is no longer dangerous. Had the officer simply left, and a tornado wiped out this group of weather wackers, the survivors and families would sue the officer for negligence!

I hope the officer counter-sues the spotter and if this was the sole reason for losing his job, then I hope the FOP gets involved and he gets it back.
 

andrewccm

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Lawful order to leave a public rest stop and go where? Telling someone to leave in their car during a tornado? Seems to me that would be worse. If they were killed in their car, wouldn't those same families sue due to forcing them into their cars during a tornado? :confused:
 
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rdale

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There was LITERALLY nowhere around there for them to go. He just told them to leave the rest area.

In this country, the police has no backing for ordering people to evacuate. Remember Katrina? If someone is in a danger zone, but chooses not to leave, you cannot drag them out. THAT IS THE LAW. FOP will back that up too :)

You can keep people out, but you cannot force them to vacate unless they got their by crossing lines illegally.

Had the officer simply left, and the people been killed by a tornado, there might be some 1-800-lawyer somewhere who would pursue - but there's no legal requirement that he could go on.

(PS, what's a storm wacker? Someone that hits the hail with a baseball bat?)
 

N8RUS

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S. E. Ingham County MI
The storm wacker disobeyed a lawful order to leave after being warned several times. Officer made good on his promise. The officer does not have up-to-the-minute weather information that the spotter claims he does, and the spotter is not in a position to tell the officer the weather is no longer dangerous. Had the officer simply left, and a tornado wiped out this group of weather wackers, the survivors and families would sue the officer for negligence!

I hope the officer counter-sues the spotter and if this was the sole reason for losing his job, then I hope the FOP gets involved and he gets it back.

Keyword=Stormchaser.........Chase the storm. Don't get in front of it. He was doing exactly as he was trained. He had every right to be where he was...his life depended on it. Chances are he did have up to date data
 
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