New definition of sheriffnado!!!

[David Drummond]

Jason isn't the only one likely to encounter him again, that county is also in my stations viewing area as well. I will be through there countless times during the coming years.

Since Dan CCd his post over here from WXCHASE, I am going to do the same with mine.

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It was suggested to me by a TX DPS Trooper that I activate my lights any
time I am in the vicinity of a tornadic storm. He said it would help raise
awareness about the storm to other drivers because he sees them drive into
bad stuff (like big hail, blinding rain, etc) all the time. He also thought
it might raise awareness for people living in the area to see a storm chase
vehicle with the lights on, when they might otherwise not have been paying
much attention to the weather. I've actually been stopped near a house with
lights activated and had someone come out and ask what is going on with the
weather, and had no idea that the storm nearly over them had the very
likelyhood of producing a tornado, so I believe this to some degree.

I have asked a good number of LEOs in the last few years what they thought
about storm chase vehicles with AMBER lights on them. To date, I have only
received positive comments from them regarding that. This was across TX, OK,
KS and (gasp!) NE. In general feeling was that they thought it was a good
safety thing for storm chasers to have.

No doubt not every LEO feels that way, just not every chaser likes them. But
it's good enough for me. I'll probably keep asking LEOs whe the opportunity
comes up. But their opinion on the lights weighs in FAR GREATER with me than
any other chasers opinions on them, so I will continue to use them when I
feel they are warranted until some LEO comes up and tells me to turn them
off, which of course I will comply. I've had lights on my chase vehicles
for well over a decade now and NOT ONE SINGLE TIME have I have had even a
close call with someone nearly hitting me, which is my primary purpose for
having them. The secondary purpose, to warn other motorists of something
dangerous in the roadway as come in handy many times as well.

I find them functional and an added tool that keeps me safe, and alerts
others. That's good enough for me. I have to base my actions on my own
experiences, knowledge and judgements. Other's mileage may vary.
Personally, I have far too many other things to worry about when I am
chasing to worry about what other chasers are doing, but that's just me.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Gene Moore makes a very compelling point... in fact I found myself having to adjust the front page article a bit as I wasn't aware of the extent of the chaser misbehavior that was taking place. This is a messy issue indeed.

I remember a couple of years ago we were hashing out the idea of making a "hall of shame" for chasers who are embarassments and poor ambassadors. I don't think it's a good idea. But I feel it would be very useful for us to collect and share information (pictures, license plates, makes/models) to identify the people who are doing this. It would also give some idea of how many of them are "local yahoos" and how many others are regular chasers. Some friendly peer pressure and a "we know who you are" approach would work far better than simple ridicule. It's not hard for me to sit here and picture the National Sheriffs Association requesting Kay Bailey Hutchison add a line item in some bigger public safety bill to regulate chasing, and I don't think we want that day upon us.

Tim

 

[Jay McCoy]

I agree with Gene that the scene out there was pretty hectic and a number of chasers were acting wrecklessly. If The deputy had just been worried about safety and the chasers action I can see where he would be yelling and pulling people over etc..

BUT...

Where I think this went way way beyond a safety or legal issue with reguards to chasers on the road was when after the event he called Jason's tv station and talked to his boss and told them Jason had run him off the road into a ditch. That was a bold faced lie meant to get Jason in trouble and possibly fired. that is not only illegal but extremely unprofessional and way beyond anything moral. This is the point I am having major issues with. Luckily Jason has the video to back him up about that.

He had every right to stop people acting wrecklessly and hanging out windows but he can not be allowed to just make up stories as he goes along. What if he arrested one of us and made up the story we ran him off the road?? We could be facing attempted capital murder or assault on a peace officer charges. If he calls an employer and makes up stories who says he wont do it in a report or in court?? He is out of control and is dishonest. Not much worse than a dishonest cop.

I can say right now without any doubts Jason wasnt one of those. He is a cautious and safe chaser. I have watched him come along from a noobie to an experienced and well knowledged chasers the past 8-10 years and know he wouldnt be doing anything like that. I used to work at the station he chases for. I used to run the chase team there and my dad was chief met there for 30 yrs.

 

[David Drummond]

I'm with Jay on that. I don't believe for a moment that Jason did what that guy said he did.

Actually, considering the sheer number of chasers that were there, and amber lights aside, other than what the Sheriff's truck was doing I only saw 3 other incidents.

After being tailgated a good five miles, and by tailgated I mean another vehicle could not have fit between us, when I was doing a little over 70 and then finally passed like I was sitting still was a bit much. Black truck with OK plates and media markings on the side.

The other thing was a VERY WELL KNOWN tour operator that parked their van SQUARELY in the driving lane. And was out with the driver door open. I know exactly who it was but I am not naming names because this person is very well liked and respected and I would get chastised beyond belief for pointing the behavior out because of that. Myself and some other chasers had to wait until the oncoming traffic passed so we could go into the other lane to go around them.

The other thing which for the most part was only a mild annoyance, but caused me to have to slam on brakes a few times was the number of people that were pulling off the road and didn't bother to signal what they were doing before slowing abruptly. I almost took out a white car and a red car that did that.

 

[Shane Adams]

I hope that never happens to me. I have a real problem with authority figures abusing power...a serious problem. Fortunately, I've never been in a situation like Jason's. Arrest or not, I'd take that tape to every station in the viewing area....cause not doing so only makes the a#$hole feel like he's getting away with it...and that feeling will keep him repeating the pattern time and again.

I'd use that tape and nail his arse to the wall.

The only thing I can think of that I would do is to let the guy know as the situation escalates that you've broken no laws, he's being taped, and you're not going to sit there and be harrassed. Then it's his move.

 

[Dan Robinson]

Maybe this is drifting away from the original thread topic, but that shot Wesley posted of the guy hanging out of a moving car window, clutching the roof with one arm and a video camera with another is beyond comprehension! Holy cow. It's hard to believe that that kind of extreme stuff is happening! I can understand now what the veterans have been saying all along. I can see that on the front page of a newspaper article someday which will strike another blow to the chaser image in the eyes of the public and the law.

I'm in no way condoning what the aforementioned cop did, but if any cop saw that stunt and made the association in his mind to equate that behavior with all chasers, then we can expect more bad cop encounters in the future.

 

[David Drummond]

I am pretty positive they guy hanging off the car happened AFTER Jason's event and other stuff mentioned before it. I know some of what I saw was going on at Silverton.

 

[Gene Moore]

The problem I see that is the main 'beef' with everyone, and the source that triggers these discussions, is with running the lights during one's entire 'intercept mode', which I think is a phenomenon mostly derived from movies like 'Twister'. It's like once you're in 'intercept mode', you kick up the action/drama and get excited, turn on the lights and close in on the tornado. Although the intentions here are understandable and harmless, the implications are not. In most states, doing this is illegal - and is, as others have mentioned, a hazard and annoyance to other chasers.

Hi Dan,

This light bar topic should have it's own header, although it was just one more issue that day. I think the Norman crowd is more likely to deck out their vehicles than chasers from other parts of the country. Honestly, I think it's fine if they have full blown weather stataions on the roof. Even the sillyness of painting C H A S E R in 3 foot red-white & blue letters on the side excites some people, I can live with all of it. My problem with the light bars are the new one's that are strobes designed to be seen a mile away. I'm telling you I could not keep my eyes open I was so blinded by some of them and had tears running down my face.

My challenge is this: turn on you light bar and stand 15-20 feet behind your vehicle staring at it (that's what the other driver must to do in stacked traffic). If you eyes tear or you have to turn away in pain they are too damm bright.

Gene Moore

 

[Brian Emfinger]

The other thing which for the most part was only a mild annoyance, but caused me to have to slam on brakes a few times was the number of people that were pulling off the road and didn't bother to signal what they were doing before slowing abruptly. I almost took out a white car and a red car that did that.

Pulling off the road is dangerous enough without people flying off the road without blinkers and not slowing down and there wayyyy too much of that going on for sure. It really is lucky no one got into any accidents. But as already mentioned there were a lot of chasers and locals doing a lot of bad things. I will definately have to weigh distance vs isolation more in the future... I think I will be willing to travel a good deal further to avoid what was happening down there...as it really is just a matter of time before something bad happens and I dont want to be anywhere near it when it does!

 

[afischer]

After being tailgated a good five miles, and by tailgated I mean another vehicle could not have fit between us, when I was doing a little over 70 and then finally passed like I was sitting still was a bit much. Black truck with OK plates and media markings on the side.

Tailgating is bad enough when it happens in everyday life, but if (easily distracted) stormchasers are doing it... yikes. Sounds like a terrible accident waiting to happen.

If I was in Jason's shoes, I'm not sure what I'd do. As irate as I would be, if I could convince my employer that the deputy was lying I'd probably just let it go at that.

 

[Earl Faubion]

Jason, this morning, it took me less than 5 minutes on the Internet to come up with contact information for each of the two counties for where this incident may have taken place. Included were photos of the sheriff although I imagine your encounter was with a deputy. You don’t have to know where he lives, only where he works, and with a vehicle description and the other information you already have it shouldn’t be hard to learn his identity. I am quite sure their logs will indicate who was up there that day. Maybe someone else has already complained in which case your complaint will lend additional weight and vice versa. One thing is for sure, if no one complains, all we have is a lot of talk, end of story.

Gene, thanks for your insight. I wasn’t there but the chaser circus that’s already been hinted at is beginning to shed additional light on the subject. Bad behavior is bad behavior no matter who exhibits it and while I don’t condone what the deputy is accused of, it certainly becomes more understandable when one realizes the stress he may have been under having to deal with a tornado and at the same time being vastly outnumbered by what he may have perceived as bunch of crazies who were acting as though the traffic laws don’t apply to them when there’s a tornado in the vicinity. Anyone who jumps to a conclusion after hearing only one side of a story is guaranteed to be wrong about half the time.

One thing I find bothersome is how after Jason’s initial post the thread began to degrade into a kangaroo court by some in spite of Jason clearly writing, “I did not post this to bash any law enforcement officials at all. PERIOD!†Some seem to have overlooked that part of his message. For those who are okay with the deputy being fired or harshly punished for what he is alleged to have done, are you also okay with a storm chaser losing his/her driver license or freedom to chase for similar behavior?

Like I said, I wasn’t there so I can only go by what others are writing about what happened near Brice. At the time I was closer to Shamrock and witnessed a handful of chasers speeding and committing other traffic violations south of town with no tornado in sight, so it's reasonable to assume behavior in the presence of the tornado was worse. As a active duty police officer on May 3, 1999 I very nearly became a victim of a well known storm chaser’s inattentiveness myself, the keyword being nearly. He missed me and all’s well that ends well so I let it go, we each had other matters more pressing to deal with at the time.

Anyway, all I’m suggesting is we exercise some restraint until the full story is known. Jason is the aggrieved party so it’s up to him to follow through with a complaint if he chooses to do so. If he elects to let it go, then so should we.

 

[Shane Adams]

that shot Wesley posted of the guy hanging out of a moving car window, clutching the roof with one arm and a video camera with another is beyond comprehension! Holy cow. It's hard to believe that that kind of extreme stuff is happening!

I've hung out car windows to get the shot before....wasn't a big deal. Then again, losing windows to hail isn't a big deal to me either. I guess it depends on the person.

 

[Jeff Miller]

I have to agree, but this once again highlights an ever-recurring - and ever increasing - situation in the chase community.

As has been shown with the exponentially increasing popularity of chasing, the ratio of yahoos to experienced chasers is also exponentially increasing. More and more young people with little or no meteorological knowledge - and plenty of stupidity - are getting out in the field to "go get a tornado" - and what we find are incidents as what are outlined above.

It seems that we are all so gung ho to attack this officer for how he treated Jason - and yes, the way he treated Jason was wrong as Jason himself was NOT part of the "problem" on the field. But as Gene has said, I have to put myself in the position of the officer.

I can imagine the officer looking at so many legal offenses. Reckless driving, speeding, failure to control a vehicle, failure to yield to law enforcement, illegal stop in the middle of a road, and I dont know what in the world you charge the guy hanging out of the car - but Im certain there is something there. So we have one officer, and a huge mob of lawbreakers in the mind of the officer. I think he was attempting to restore order the best way he could but lack of experience and judgement caused him to overreact and do the only thing he could think of - treat everyone like the yahoos - because the majority, *apparently*, WERE yahoos. The officer has no idea who is a veteran, who is not, if "licenses" are needed, what the driver's intentions are - in his mind, "we all are crazy".

The problem is not going to go away. The exponential increase of thrillseeking yahoos will continue. Law enforcement will get more and more aggressive trying to maintain order, and mistakes will be made. Inexperienced chasers will get bolder. The ratio of yahoos to experienced weatherwise chasers will continue to increase. It seems to me more and more like a runaway train.

Every year this subject comes up, and every year the tales get crazier - and the number of chasers continues to increase, the reports get wilder - and the officers get a worse and worse impression of ALL chasers because of the cancerous yahoos that continue to pervade the field. All we can do is our best - and all we can do is go above and beyond respecting the law as that seems to be an ever increasing situation on the plains. Scary, scary stuff.

 

[Damon Poole]

How to report this guy.

Check your tape again, and see if you have this guy on tape, then, see if you can zoom in on his badge and ID him from that. If you have any of the incident on tape, take it to the Sheriff's Office and start with the Chief Deputy and keep going up the chain of command. Someone should listen, and if warranted, take disciplinary action on the deputy.

I'm not even sure how to go about reproting this guy. I didn't get his name and I don't know where he lives. I'm actually not even quite sure what county I was in when he stopped me. I think I was in Briscoe, but again, I'm not sure. I thought I was the only one this guy targeted, but from the posts on this thread it really looks like this guy was out to get someone. I agree with Tim that turning the video camera on will help with proving what was said. In my case it didn't help. When he stopped me I had my vid camera rolling. When he came up to my car he said "Get out of that truck!" and he made me go stand next to his vehicle. I guess I will have to get me a little cassette recorder to stick in my pocket when I go out from now on...especially when I'm in that knuckle heads territory.

 

[David Drummond]

I think the thought is a little off track here trying to justify why the officer may have acted the way he did was BECAUSE of the huge chaser convergence and associated behaviors. The fact is, back before Silverton before I ever even saw a big chaser convergence he was acting strangely.

I still think the site of a tornado appearing about to rip his town up frankly scared the living hell out of him, and then as he went on and encountered the circus just overloaded.

While there were certainly some instances of deviant behavior, given the shear number of vehicles I saw, they still seem to be in the very small minority.

Unless I just totally missed something, FOR THE MOST PART, the vast majority of everyone in the convergence was behaving just fine.