Storm Chaser arrested for impersonating a peace officer

[Jesse Risley]

Most chasers shouldn't have problems with impersonation charges per se, though I'm sure the wording of those statutes differs in every single state. Generally speaking, LEOs don't care about (legal) lights, light bars, radio equipment, or other chasing apparatus that is otherwise perfectly legal to possess and operate in a motor vehicle. However, if you are claiming to be a LEO, or you are operating equipment only legal for use by emergency service vehicles, e.g., lighting permissible only to emergency services personnel, then you're justifiably going to run into trouble.

 

[ScottCurry]

Sorry but I call BS on this. Antennas are absolutely not something that would lead police to believe that you are trying to impersonate. and if that truly was the situation you would have had an iron clad harassment complaint, along with every ham in the county.

If you've ever dealt with Denver police, you would understand. I was never ticketed or otherwise charged. Most of the time it was a stare and a flood light pointed into my vehicle. For the two times I did get pulled over, it was just a quick pull over to the side of the road, give the officer my license and registration, a quick 1 minute chat, and I was on my way. The two times I got pulled over, it was after 11pm, so that may have increased the officer's suspicions. And yes, I did often wonder if other hams experienced the same thing. I've never asked though.

 

[Warren Faidley]

The more legal lighting, the better. I do not have anything added on my vehicle that flashes red, green or blue, but I do have enough legal lighting to get attention. As an EMT I often stop to check things out and it's a fact that the more exotic lighting you have, the less likely you are to be hit by someone. We blocked a road as a killer tornado crossed in front of us during the 2011 Chickasha, OK tornado (thus diverting a school bus) by blasting the side of the highway with a mega-lumens of legal warning lights from my vehicle -- causing everyone to slow down so I could inform them. An OHP officer who passed by thanked us later when we were conducting S&R in the city.

If you are not law enforcement or some other form of service that legally allows you to use emergency red / blue / green illumination, then don't do it. I would care less what kind of lighting a chasers has on their vehicle. However, if you come up behind me with illegal red / blues, then I'm calling you out to LEO.

 

[Bob Schafer]

That is my county and my local paper. I called the jail to see if he's still there. No, he's gone. I figured if he was still there, and I could talk to him, and a friend or family member was willing to immediatey transfer funds to my account to post bail I would be willing to get him out of there. He may be an idiot but I believed it to be the least I could do for another "chaser".

 

[Darren Addy]

Don't know if Ben's keeping the lights out of the headline was strategic or not (and whether it was good strategy or not). This thread would probably be 4x longer if he had included it.

 

[Jesse Risley]

If you've ever dealt with Denver police, you would understand. I was never ticketed or otherwise charged. Most of the time it was a stare and a flood light pointed into my vehicle. For the two times I did get pulled over, it was just a quick pull over to the side of the road, give the officer my license and registration, a quick 1 minute chat, and I was on my way. The two times I got pulled over, it was after 11pm, so that may have increased the officer's suspicions. And yes, I did often wonder if other hams experienced the same thing. I've never asked though.

I have had something similar happen on two occasions regarding equipment inquiries. I do NOT have any light bars, LEDs, or any other sort of added lighting assemblies, though I have a scanner and Motorola commercial radio for ham use while chasing. I also have a laptop mount that I only leave attached to the floor mount when I am chasing. Since it is an older 2005 Impala (early to mid-2000s body style), it resembles the cruisers that some departments used 5-10 years ago, though it was never used as a police vehicle. Twice during roadside safety checks, while I was not actively chasing, I've had Illinois state troopers express skepticism about the radio equipment. One trooper asked to see a copy of my ham radio license, which I presented, since I keep it in my glove box. On another occasion, one of the troopers asked if I had any lights or sirens in the vehicle, and requested permission to conduct a vehicle search, which I politely declined and they did not push the issue, having no probable cause to detain me. He thought that the base of the laptop mount was doubling as a de facto firearm mount of some sort.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

LOL that makes even less sense. After 11pm they wouldn't be able to see your antennas. They can't just arbitrarily pull you over. They need a legal reason - and "too many antennas" is not one of them. I've been to Denver many times (I have a friend in Lakewood), I have four antennas on my truck (a Durango BTW - a very common current police/HP vehicle), and I have never had so much as a glance in my direction from the police, let alone been spotlighted or pulled over and asked to explain my antennas. You are seriously talking out your rear end trying to justify your light bar.

If he was pulled over, then it was because he WAS breaking the law (speeding, crossing the center line.. etc).. not because of having antenna's on his vehicle. I do have a cousin that I'm close with that is a Lieutenant with the Denver Police Department, so I could simply ask him and see if they randomly pull people over for having antennas on their vehicle. My guess would be his answer would be no..

 

[Glen Heinz]

I live in Colorado. Last year, I was constantly getting stares from cops and getting lit up because my car had antennas on it and the police thought I might be impersonating an officer.

Antennas? What? That's not a legal reason to be pulled over. Staring at you? Did you ever just stop and ask or talk to them, when being pulled over? Don't be a dick about it, just kindly ask them. Maybe because your staring at them. Not paying attention to the road. Do you have any other devices on your car. That scream look at me? IE-> Anemometer, Hail netting, bright candy red color sport car or a F*%k the Police bumper sticker?..

 

[Paul Knightley]

I know a few will have lightbars because of considering a safety aspect - I suspect many have them because they like to be seen as storm chasers - which includes having decals over their cars, etc. Then it's about them and not the storm!

 

[ericjkelly]

Agreeing with Paul and others here......most chasers want to be known as chasers. That is why they have decals, stickers, lights, etc etc etc. It is certainly NOT about keeping others safe, if that was the case they wouldnt pull over in the middle of the road, blow through intersections, etc. Lets just be real and honest here.

 

[cstrunk]

That is my county and my local paper. I called the jail to see if he's still there. No, he's gone. I figured if he was still there, and I could talk to him, and a friend or family member was willing to immediatey transfer funds to my account to post bail I would be willing to get him out of there. He may be an idiot but I believed it to be the least I could do for another "chaser".

How about instead of doing that you could just transfer some funds into my bank account to help out a (IMHO) non-idiot chaser?

 

[Matt Tottle]

That is my county and my local paper. I called the jail to see if he's still there. No, he's gone. I figured if he was still there, and I could talk to him, and a friend or family member was willing to immediatey transfer funds to my account to post bail I would be willing to get him out of there. He may be an idiot but I believed it to be the least I could do for another "chaser".

His idiot whackerism makes us all look bad in the public eye. Hardly a worthy cause.

 

[Michael Brown]

In any large group of people there will be bad apples. Someone once told me that the more children you have ( I have five) the more likely you are to end up with a fry cook! In my profession (physician) we have bad apples too. One persons poor judgement or psychopathology should not reflect poorly on the entire storm chasing community.

 

[Matt Tottle]

In any large group of people there will be bad apples. Someone once told me that the more children you have ( I have five) the more likely you are to end up with a fry cook! In my profession (physician) we have bad apples too. One persons poor judgement or psychopathology should not reflect poorly on the entire storm chasing community.

Key words there being "SHOULD NOT".

Except it does.

 

[rdale]

Key words there being "SHOULD NOT".

Except it does.

In what way?