Do they have a right to do this?
Indiana 10/07/97
On October 4, 1997 while driving south on the bypass in Anderson
my husband and I noticed a county sheriffs car weaving in
and out of traffic showing no concern for turn signals
or the speed limit. My husband, who was driving, decided
to follow the officer to see if his inability to
obey traffic laws was due to his hurry to get to a call.
While following the car, my husband called the Madison
County Sheriffs department to lodge a complaint, and
was told that the car was not a Madison county car,
but was from Henry county. (Madison County cars do notM
have car numbers on the trunk.) He continued to follow
the officer in order to get his plate number, which we
did not already have, to report it to the Henry County
Sheriffs department. He followed the officer into Henry
County, while narrating the officers traffic violations to
the Madison County Sheriffs Dept. On US 38 the officer slowed
down and turned, then pulled off the side of the road.
My husband pulled up along side him to explain why he had
been following. He told the officer that he had wanted his
plate number in order to report his driving skills to
his supervisor. The officer then informed us that he was not
speeding and that our speedometer was not certified.
As my husband pulled away, the officer turned on his lights
and pulled us over! After threatening us with a few tickets,
and realizing that we were not afraid of him, he proceeded
to tell my husband that he was going to jail for "stalking him".
On repeated trips from his car to ours the officer continued
to make threats of jail and tickets until two other officers
arrived, one of them his supervisor. The first thing the
supervisor did, after confering with the two officers for several
minutes, was to walk up to our car, lean in the window
looking at me, and say, "I want you to keep your mouth shut,
I am talking to the driver, not to you." He then proceeded
to threaten my husband with "a few tickets" (although the
only violation he ever mentioned was our failure to sign our
registration) and with arrest for "harassing" his officer.
When my husband got tired of the supervisors abuse he said,
"I must have made a mistake, I'm sure your man here did
nothing wrong", and was then told by the supervisor that he
could go. So far my husband has spoken to four people from
Henry County, trying to find someone who is interested in
these officers intimidating and abusive behavior. One of these
four people seemed to be interested and we are now waiting
on a return call to see if there is anything that we, or someone
else, can do to stop officers from behaving this way in the
future. Maybe we shouldn't have followed an officer or
reported his traffic violations, but if we don't make sure that
the people our tax dollars pay to enforce the law don't break
it...who will?
Questions or comments? Think you can help?
please email me!
UPDATE..1/02/98...
No return phone calls from Henry Co. yet! We're not waiting!
The Madison Co. Sheriff did call in November
after being misinformed that the complaint
was against one of his officers...
This page hosted by 
Get your own Free Home Page