My friend just came over with a pretty dreadful story. One of her employees called today to say he would be late for work. Let’s call him Joe, although this is not his real name.

No problem. Joe is one of her most reliable employees. He works 2 jobs and drives an older car. He was coming in to Manassas from the Fair Oaks area and was in the process of getting a ticket for going 7 miles over the speed limit.

As the Fairfax County officer walked away from the car, after giving him the ticket, he uttered the words, “Learn the rules of the road, Spic.”
This employee is Italian! His last name ends in ‘O’

Joe came into work in Manassas late, speechless, and in shock. He said he had never had anything like this happen to him.

Fairfax County needs to do better. This would never happen in Prince William County. Our officers are far more professional than this Fairfax officer. This is, however, what happens when certain groups are so vilified and demonized that people begin to think behavior of this nature is acceptable. This incident appears to have gone beyond racial profiling.

59 Thoughts to “Learn the Rules of the Road?”

  1. Juturna

    The officers name is on the summons. “Joe” must call Fairfax PD and ask for Internal Affairs and file a complaint.

  2. Rick Bentley

    This sounds like baloney to me. Why would an officer do that when he is so easily identifiable, and his name is on the ticket?

  3. Chris

    UFB!!!
    Absolutely sickening. Well, at least the gentleman has all of the information reagarding the officer since he got a speeding ticket.

  4. Emma

    Did he get the name of the officer so he could file a complaint? Also, a ticket for going 7 miles over the speed limit? I’ve never heard of anyone getting cited for less than 10 over–I’m pretty sure he could challenge that one successfully based on the calibration of the radar gun, etc. This one sounds a little weird.

    You’re going to get Mackie all fired up on this one.

  5. Juturna

    I was afraid to mention the “M”.

    If his name is not on the summons his number is.

    Did your friend aee the summons?

  6. Michael

    If he really said that, that is wrong. Can your friend prove it? People lie more often than they tell the truth, especially when they are angry at the law. Most Judges have seen this, and YOU can see it too on “popular TV shows” showing the response of most people to law enforcement, and the law, when they have broken it.

    I am inclined to believe your friend “ad-libed a word”.

  7. Michael

    If he is telling the truth, he should file a complaint, and be held accountable under the law for perjury and slander if he is instead lying.

  8. Emma

    Or maybe Joe misheard–the cop might have called him “sport”–I don’t know. I just find it hard to believe that a cop would be so stupid as to say something like this and create a paper trail.

  9. Moon-howler

    The friend and her assistant have talked the young man into filing a complaint. The name is on the summons. I suppose it will, like most cases, boil down to a he said, she said situation. If the officer has had other complaints, perhaps something will be done. If he hasn’t then lets hope it was a one time thing.

    Clarification, my ‘friend’ didn’t hear it. It was told to her by the person who alleges it happened. What was stressed was how reliable this employee is.

    I guess only 2 people really KNOW what happened. The cop and the young man pulled over.

  10. Moon-howler

    Emma, I find it really hard to believe that Trooper Carter took sexual favors from women so they didn’t get a DUI around here about 5-6 years ago. He was found guilty in a court of law.

    I think most of us are in agreement that this incident should be reported. And as Juturna pointed out, let internal affairs sort it out.

  11. Lucky Duck

    I agree the citizen should contact Fairfax County internal affairs and file a complaint. At least then the situation will be looked at. If the officer did in fact, say that, there is absolutely no excuse for it. If the citzen misunderstood what was said, that would need to come out too so there is not the wrong impression of the event amongst a lot of people.

  12. Emma

    OMG, I forgot about that, Moon-howler! I actually met that sleazeball–he was also in real estate at the time.

  13. Chris

    MH & Emma,
    I forgot too. Certainly, not one of finer moments around the area.
    Emma,
    You poor woman. I hope he wasn’t your agent. Did he creep you out?

  14. Chris

    corr: Certainly, not one of *THE* finer moments around the area.
    Right up there with the Bobbit story.

  15. Juturna

    If the Officer did as alleged I seriously doubt this will be the first complaint. Either from outside the Dept OR inside the Dept.

  16. Emma

    No, he wasn’t my agent, Chris, but it was a real-estate issue. Sucker lied his *ss off about a property issue, is all I can say about it. Found out shortly afterwards about the DUI crap.

  17. Elvis

    information from a third-party, however “reliable” is worthless. you can complain, it will not even leave a trace of ink on this officers record. All he has to do is deny it, and it’s history. so please do report it if you feel the need, assuming that this actually did happen it would be most unprofessional but I think the facts are skewed here. sensationalism at it’s anti-bvbl best for sure.

  18. Chris

    Emma,
    Good, about him not being your agent. Unprofessional accross the board, I’d say.
    I’ve to say it again. Unfortunately, there’s “bad apples in every bunch”.

  19. Emma

    They don’t come much more rotten than that one.

  20. Chris

    Total agreement, here.
    He was a bad apple and the worm. 😉

  21. Moon-howler

    Once again, the nay-sayers have demonstrated limited reading comprehension skills. I reported a story that I heard from someone I trust very much. Look at the first sentence. STORY. Had I heard it on a blog, I wouldn’t have repeated it. As just about everyone on this blog knows, I very much support Prince William County police. Truthfully, if I had heard the identical story, same people, and it has been an incident in Prince William County, the story wouldn’t have made it to this blog.

    Elvis, it doesn’t sound like you know much about how internal affairs work. Additonally, I am the third party. I have no intentions of filing a report. The person who got the ticket will file a complaint. If he misunderstood what was said, then it will be cleared up. If the officer has a habit of having loose lips, there are already complaints.

    Lucky Duck, I agree. If it happened, it was inexcusable. If it was a misunderstanding of what was said, then that needs to be cleared up also, and the officer’s name cleared.

    In general, I brought up Trooper Carter earlier. I will have to say that he is the one and only state trooper I have ever dealt with who didn’t have impeccable manners. He was a rude nasty human being. And before anyone asks…NO. I was not asked. I was a passenger in a car that he stopped.

  22. SecondAlamo

    It’s called hear-say and without any evidence it won’t and shouldn’t go anywhere. I’ve seen so many baseless accusations on this blog that it just sounds like another person trying to make something out of nothing. How exactly do you know what the officer said when he was walking away with cars possibly passing by? Just like you folks always say ‘how do you know they’re illegal’, and yet this one persons comment gets full unsubstantiated support. Proof, not hear-say, is all that will hold up in court.

  23. Emma,

    You’re going to get Mackie all fired up on this one.

    Don’t you think we should all get fired up on this one.

  24. How many people get tickets for going 7 miles over the speed limit? The spurious nature of the charge gives weight to the argument that the occifer did in fact say ‘Learn the rules of the road, Spic.’.

    Moon-Howler, did the occifer ask to search the guy’s vehicle? Do you know what kind of questions he asked?

    Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. What else has this occifer done to minorities? What else will he do in the future? Has he assaulted Latinos when no one else was around to witness and then charged them with ‘resisting arrest’?

    Being given a traffic ticket you don’t really deserve sucks but it’s small potatoes. What happens if you’re Latino and some white nativist assaults you for being Latino and you defend yourself. And then this occifer shows up. Will he bend the rules to charge the Latino or to let the white nativist go?

    Who will take care of the people we care about if something happens to us?

    Information is crucial to helping people protect themselves in situations like this. It’s called situational awareness.

    Moon-howler, can you say what the cop’s name is so we Latinos can be on our best behavior if we should happen to be stopped by him?

    Let internal affairs do what ever it is they need to do. Their job is not to protect the immigrant community. And in a situation like this, without proof except Joe’s word, the investigation is as good as over.

    Imagine if a woman knew about that cop-rapist Carter back when he started raping women. But she refused to tell other women who his name was out of some misguided idea that somehow internal affairs is omniscient and will magically find the proof. How would that woman feel about the woman who were later raped by Carter? What if those raped women had known his name and been able to call the police when pulled over by him to request a second cop as insurance against being raped?

    So too, immigrants and Latinos should be given a chance to call for a second cop if they get pulled over or stopped by this guy.

  25. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    The proof here cannot be refuted! There are few things more reliable than someone looking for discrimination in all places and at all times who might have heard practically anything muttered from someone walking away from them. This is more ironclad than DNA! All known evidence collection methods wither in the face of proof like this. Everyone and everything under the sun is racist! racist, racist, racist! Yippeeee!

  26. […] story of racism at Anti-BVBL in Learn the Rules of the Road? This comment, plus a derogatory one, was made by a police officer which is odd sense breaking the […]

  27. Mando

    I’m with Mackie! Let’s lynch the pigs!!!

  28. Whilst ‘Joe’ cannot prove what the cop said he should report it; and make sure he gets a written response of the fact he’s reported it.
    If the cop is foolish enough to carry on behaving like this – and people keep reporting him for it – the onus of proof will eventually turn.

  29. Moon-howler

    Mackie,

    I do not know the officer’s name. Because I do not know the individual who got the ticket personally, I probably wouldn’t say. If I did know them and knew that their word was above reproach, then I would consider it. On the other hand, being called a name is a far cry from being raped.

    I actually had to think about even telling the story for a while before putting it up. As you probably know, I generally am pretty supportive of police officers. ‘Being supportive of’ is not blind obedience. There have been a bad apple or 2 out there, one I actually encountered myself. So I posted. Everyone can thank Trooper Carter. Thinking of him is what made me post.

  30. Moon-howler,

    being called a name is a far cry from being raped.

    Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.

    Imagine a young, attractive Latina who is undocumented, without a driver’s license and driving a beat up old car. What happens when THIS cop pulls her over for going 7 miles over the speed limit and she doesn’t have a license or if he stops her for jaywalking and she doesn’t have an ID? After he has arrested her and put her in the back of his cruiser and she is terrified that she will be deported. What if he turns around and says ‘I won’t deport you and I’ll let you go if you do me a little personal favor’.

    Facing what appears as a legitimate threat of deportation, what do you think she’ll say? What do you think she’ll say if she has children here that she’s terrified that she’ll be separated from?

    This is not a game.

    Moon-howler, these are things YOU don’t ever have to worry about but undocumented Latina women DO have to worry about. They come from countries where police raping women is commonplace. And when women in those countries try to bring the police to justice, the police retaliate against them.

    Very, very few (probably none) undocumented Latinas who have been raped by a police officer here will go to police headquarters itself and file charges. They would think ‘If I walk into the police station and say a cop raped me, they will grab me and deport me for being illegal to cover up what happened’. Moon-howler, if you think differently, you’re kidding yourself.

    If THIS cop’s identity is common knowledge in the immigrant community, these women would at least have a chance to call for a second police officer as insurance against being raped.

    How long was Trooper ‘Buck’ Carter allowed to go on raping woman after woman after woman? Leaving them with PTSD, depression, inability to experience intimacy in a relationship ever again, etc.

    How many years before he was finally stopped? How many women?

    And he was raping American citizens with full rights and no threat of deportation.

  31. Rick Bentley

    Take it easy Mackie. I don’t think Carter raped anyone – just gave them a choice between a ticket and prostituting themselves to him. He probably deserved more punishment than he got but it’s not exactly America’s Most Wanted.

  32. Mando

    Mackie is right. Most cops are rapists lurking the streets for undocumented latinas.

  33. Moon-howler

    Mackie,

    There are scum bags in every walk of life doing things to the most vulnerable people of our society for their own gain. I think you might have lost me when you said

    Moon-howler, these are things YOU don’t ever have to worry about but undocumented Latina women DO have to worry about.

    You cannot diminish what American women might have to worry about. There are other things to hold over people’s heads other than deportation. You immediately zoomed in on race, attractiveness, and bad cops. I believe there is a bigger picture here.

    SA, I told the story as it was told to me by someone I trust. Neither of us were there and I made that perfectly clear in the thread post. Believe it or don’t believe it.

  34. Moon-howler

    Rick, re: Trooper Carter. I agree. He got off way too easily. Now that one I can address from a personal point of view. I was a passenger in a car he pulled over. You know, the old broken tail light pull over. He is a rude, obnoxious person at best. At worst, he is a sexual predator. He did not get what he deserved.

  35. Juturna

    When was all that nonsense with Budk Carter?

  36. I think it was about 5 years ago. He was fired but he didn’t serve any jail time I believe. It’s hard to find details on the web.

    Perhaps Joe has run into Buck Carter part two.

  37. Juturna

    Oh, thought it was further back….

  38. Lucky Duck

    It was in 2002, he was sentenced in September of 2002 according to an article on the web.

  39. Slowpoke Rodriguez

    Mackie,

    Your attractive young Latina can easily avoid this situation by not being here illegally. Problem solved!

  40. Johnson

    Mando-
    Be nice. I hope you were kidding.
    I’ve interacted on both levels with FFX CO. PD ( I am a Federal Officer) and have had the vast majority treat me with courtesy and professionalism. I did, however, get a summons for passing one doing 57 in a 55. He cited me for failing to obey a highway sign, (speed limit sign) knowing that a judge would dismiss a 2 MPH speeding ticket. I was in uniform, on my way to work at 1:30 AM. I did not identify myself as a law enforcement officer (the clue was the uniform and the gun) nor did I ask for a professional courtesy pass. I don’t believe in asking for a favor unless it’s in the line of duty. He asked me if I knew why he pulled me, standard question on a traffic stop. I replied, “Uh-speeding?” He replied, pointing his finger at me, “THAT, AND YOUR BLATANT DISREGARD OF THE LAW!!!!” I assumed that he really meant himself instead of the “LAW”. I paid the ticket. I also sent a glowing letter to the Chief at the time, outlining the incident and praising the officer for his stellar professionalism. I enclosed one of my agency’s uniform hats as a gift. I hope his lieutenent read the letter at roll call and presented him with the hat. I doubt that he understood the irony.

    That being said, I encourage everyone to raise concerns with any law enforcement officer’s behavior with the agency, good or bad. We have a saying about complaints-“One ‘Uh-Oh’ cancels out a dozen ‘Attaboys'”. Attaboys are always appreciated.

  41. Alanna

    Rick,
    There is a general fear of people that are not like you. I suspect your acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle is because you know somebody who is gay and realize there’s nothing to be afraid of. I know people who are undocumented and realize that they aren’t these evil wretched people that many try to make them out to be.

  42. Johnson

    Alanna-
    Do you really think that I am afraid of illegal aliens because I don’t know any? Do you really think that I see illegal aliens as “wretched people”? Do you have a fear of conservatives because you don’t know any? Or because you disagree with them? Please don’t psychoanalyze. It makes you sound elitist.

  43. Uh-oh, is Federal Officer Johnson really Rick Bentley???

  44. DiversityGal

    Elitist…I just love when people throw out the demonized words:) What I love is how people who are calling for understanding and acceptance of all people are called “elitists,” while those that who are tossing around terms like “ghetto,” “flop house,” and “low class” are not slapped with this label. This makes absolutely NO sense to me; I don’t see how some people in America buy that crap.

  45. Moon-howler,

    If Joe is going to file a complaint he may want to think about making sure he surreptitiously wears an audio recording device like a small mp3 recorder.

    I don’t know the procedure in Fairfax county but he should definitely research it before he goes in. He may go in to make a complaint. But he may find himself in something akin to an interrogation instead. It would be a nasty shock if he wasn’t prepared.

    The complaint form may be a legal and binding document that can be used against him in a court of law. If he makes a mistake and it looks like he lied, that may be a crime he can be convicted for. He may walk out of the complaint process, in a very vulnerable state and open to criminal prosecution.

    Most of the holes in our understanding of the system is in our assumptions we make about the good-will of the system.

    If I were Joe I would simply let it go. Joe lost this round. Hopefully he will learn from his mistake and his assumption that police don’t abuse citizens. Next time he’s pulled over by a cop, he should have an mp3 recorder running. Then he can take the recording to a lawyer and get a lawsuit started. That is the proper way to make a complaint and it goes a lot farther.

    Send him these videos so he knows what he might be getting into.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8z7NC5sgik

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zq9O9vq7zHI

  46. Emma

    For those of you wondering what happened to William “Buck” Carter:

    The judge’s unique sentence (2002) will require Carter to do 500 hours of community service each year for the next seven years — the equivalent of about three months of full-time work each year. For the next seven years, Carter also has to report to jail every Jan. 9 for two days, marking the anniversary of his crime. Alston also required Carter to write a public apology to be printed in newspapers, and Carter must receive treatment for a sex addiction disorder. Alston suspended a 10-year prison sentence.

    The sentence was given by Judge Rossie Alston, the same creative soul who thought 1 day a year in jail and an annual blood drive was enough punishment for a dad who left his 13th child roasting all day in his van, and then blamed his teenaged son.

    If you think Carter’s punishment was more than adequate, consider this from one of his victims:

    “I have had numerous nightmares of officer Carter chasing me and taunting me,” one woman arrested by Carter in the days before the Jan. 9 encounter said in an interview. “I’m petrified to drive at night alone. I feel as if the people paid to protect me have violated my safety.”

    Buck Carter’s life goes on as a Remax Olympic Realty Agent covering Manassas, Lorton and Bristow. He is currently selling 6 properties.

  47. Chris

    Emma,
    Great info.
    Mr. Kellys another fine example of too little jail time if any in many, many cases.The nerve of Mr. Kelly wanting to play “the blame game” and on his own child. Disgusting!

  48. Emma

    I heard from very reliable sources what that baby looked like when she was found. Heartbreaking.

    “Creative” judges like Alston should be kicked out on their asses. That would indeed be a “community service.”

  49. Moon-howler

    I feel the Kelly family has been punished enough by the loss of a child and living with that guilt every minute. I wouldnt have 13 children because I know I couldnt take care of them. To me the crime is having 13 children to start with. Blaming your kid isn’t real swift either. On the other hand, who would get to support all those kids? You and me, if the old man had been thrown in jail. A just judge would have made Mr. K wear a condom every day for the rest of his life, lest he forget.

    As for Buck Carter, Great find Emma. I think he got off too easy. He is still practicing real estate? Why? Why would remax let a sexual predator represent them. It doesn’t sound like he is being punished very much at all. I wonder who is overseeing his community service and what kind he has to do? I bet he chose something cushy.

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