CHARGES DROPPED AFTER VIDEO SHOWS COP LYING

The police report says that Raymond L. Bell after being stopped, allegedly for a DUI, lost his balance and used his arms to steady himself. It says he was driving 85 mph is a 40 mph zone and could not stop when the police officer turned on his siren.

The video on the police car shows Bell walked steadily and stopped the car within 40 second of the officer turning on the siren.

The arresting officer was Chicago police officer, Joe D. Parker, who has won awards for being among those officers who have arrested more people for DUI’s in the Chicago area.

Parker’s report says Bell staggered and that his gait was unsteady. Again the video contradicts Parker. Parker claimed that Bell flunked the “walk and turn test’ but the video show that after some initial confusion, Bell did fine.

Bell asked for a breatyalyzer. Parker refused.

On February 20, seven months after the initial arrest prosecutors dismissed the case. Parker has been put on desk duty pending the results of an internal investigation.

Are Parker’s lies unique–no. Another Chicago officer, John Haleas, who like Parker, has been commended by the Alliance Against Intoxicated Motorists, as a Top Cop for the number of his arrests has been criminally charged for filing false reports and 156 people arrested by Haleas have had their charges dismissed.

One question this raises is why would an officer lie about an arrest when the arrest is on tape? I don’t know the answer to this question. Do they believe that prosecutors will let them get away with anything in order to get the police union’s endorsement when they are up for reelection. Do they believe that defense attorney are so lazy that they will not look at at the tape or listen to their clients? Have they been getting away with it for so long that it doesn’t matter? After all it took seven months from the time of Bell’s arrest until the charges were dismissed and Haleas made hundreds of arrests before charges were brought.

But the more important question is why doesn’t every police car in the country have video machines that video arrests. As TChris says in Talk Left: The Politics of Crime:

When squad car cameras are available, the recordings usually tell the tale: either the driver looks drunk or he doesn’t. When the picture matches the police report, the driver pleads guilty. When it doesn’t, the case is often dismissed

Not only would many innocent people be protected (Remember Rodney King and the arrest of Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer, Johannes Mehserle but many guilty individuals would be more inclined to plead guilty, early in a case, saving the government more money than the cost of the video equipment, when they know the video shows that they cannot win at trial.