Motorists followed by an unmarked car with flashing police-style lights are often told to activate their flashing emergency lights and wait for the nearest well-lit area before pulling over. An attractive young female motorist who followed this advice found herself held at gunpoint, handcuffed and searched by real police officers in Greene County, Missouri last week. Just before 2:40am on June 5, twenty-two-year-old Vanessa Kimery passed through one of the state’s many speed traps. An unmarked police cruiser pulled behind her vehicle and activated its lights. Kimery immediately put on her flashers and slowed to acknowledge the vehicle behind. She then drove less than a mile to the nearest well-lit area, a convenience store parking lot. For this, Kimery was ordered out of the car at gunpoint and surrounded by three police deputies.
Kimery had feared that the unmarked car may have been driven by a police impersonator. Exactly one year ago, two women were attacked in Howell County by by a man driving a Ford Crown Victoria with red-and-blue lights mounted on the dash. Several other states have similar problems with robbers and rapists taking advantage of police use of unmarked cars to trap their victims on dark, rural roads.
This woman did exactly the right thing. Automatically pulling over for an unmarked car is way too risky. The cops owe her an apology.
#80,
not that I disagree with you in general, but how does an unmarked police car infringe on your rights?
As far as fines, they should be high enough to discourage violations. Speed cameras upset me, the whole right to face your accuser thing.
Perhaps some other use for trafic fines would seem more appropriate (uninsured motorist fund maybe).
A few days ago I passed way faster than the speed limit by an unmarked police car too. A few kilometers down the highway, there was a marked police car waiting for me to pass to intercept me and lead me to the first service station. It was a very well planned operation with no handcuffs, no guns being pointed to me, absolutely no intimidation to me done by the police whatsoever besides the knowledge that probably I’ll have my drivers license suspended, besides the fine I paid on the spot.
This happened in Portugal.
#80;
An unmarked police car doesn’t infringe upon rights. I’ve explained above why I don’t like them, in addition to others’ arguments at how these misunderstandings can happen, as well as criminals preying upon people’s willingness to stop for an unmarked car.
#69, Les,
Oh, do tell us what the legal reasons for handcuffing someone are. This woman did not stop, we see her reasons. If the police are detaining her to sort out the situation, they can cuff her.
There is the law and then there is the law as practiced by the police. Shit, the cops could have ordered her out of the car and to lay face down. They could have even maced her, tazered her, beat her with batons, or shot her 52 times. Then sorted out the situation.
The point isn’t what they could have done; it is what they did and their moral justification for that. The police are an arm of the government. Well WE are the government. When we lose that distinction and answer to A government, we are no longer a free people.
Handcuffing people for a traffic offense is the same as a cop yelling “assume the position” while pointing a gun at someone, or having a dozen cops kicking the crap out of three unarmed kids because of what might have happened.
Why is this news worthy? This officer drives an unmarked car for a living. I’m sure he’s used to people being a little hesitant about pulling over. He calmly told her to keep her hands where he could see them. Wow, what horrible abuse. It seemed pretty obvious he was just waiting on his partner to get there before approaching the car. There’s no way at night he could tell what was going on in the car. Maybe it’s somebody looking for a lighted place to pull over, maybe it’s someone trying to hide their drugs before they pull over, maybe it’s someone trying to get their gun out of the glove box before they pull over. SHE then decided to just jump out of the car, without being told to. Who knows why she’s jumping out? THAT’s why she was handcuffed. If she had just kept her dumb ass in the car she’d have gotten a speeding ticket, or probably just a verbal warning since the only reason you’d stop someone for 10 over (if that’s even true. Probably what the ticket was for after the officer reduced her real speed) is to look for something else, like a DUI. If you’ve never pulled over a car at night and had somebody bail out and charge your car then you have no reason to comment on this video since you have no idea what you’re talking about.
“If they want to search, make them get a warrant (in states that require it).”
Might want to check your facts first. No state requires a warrant to search a car because federal law says no warrant is needed and federal law overrides state law. If an officer has probable cause to search a vehicle, then it can be searched.(period) No consent or warrant is ever required. Don’t believe it? Look up US v Carroll, Federal case law from…..1920 something. NY v Belton. There’s plenty of others. There’s also plenty of other times a car can be searched without consent or a warrant. Incident to a lawful arrest (which is more what NY v Belton is about), as part of an impound inventory, etc.
“If they want to search, make them get a warrant (in states that require it).”
Might want to check your facts first. No state requires a warrant to search a car because federal law says no warrant is needed and federal law overrides state law. If an officer has probable cause to search a vehicle, then it can be searched.(period) No consent or warrant is ever required. Don’t believe it? Look up US v Carroll, Federal case law from…..1920 something. NY v Belton. There’s plenty of others. There’s also plenty of other times a car can be searched without consent or a warrant. Incident to a lawful arrest (which is more what NY v Belton is about), as part of an impound inventory, etc.
“If the cop had probable cause, he wouldn’t be asking for your consent.” All I can say to that is bullshit. I’ve seen plenty of guys ask when they didn’t need permission. Part of it is just being nice, most civilized people are raised from day 1 to at least act nice. Part of it is just to judge their reaction. Especially if they’re still in the car. As soon as you start talking about searching alot of people will without even thinking about it glance over to where whatever they’re hiding is. Makes the subsequent search go a lot faster.
And where’d all this “handcuffed AT GUNPOINT” talk come from? Is that just a bald faced lie or stupidity? The guy on the right doesn’t even have his hand near his gun. The guy in the middle has his hand kinda near his, as he’s reaching for his cuffs. And the guy on the left is holding his flashlight in his gun hand and trying to look past the chick into her car to make sure there’s not someone else in there. WOW, she has been so mistreated.
Many of you have these theories of what you think the officers should have done. I can tell that those of you who Don’t agree with what they did are NOT Police Officers and do not know anything about tactics or law. I had my eyes opened to a world that I did not know existed, when I became a Cop!
I don’t see how any of you who disagree can formulate any opinion about how the officers acted improperly if you never underwent training as a police officer! Furthermore, it may seem easy to condemn them, but I invite you to put on a uniform and do the job for a good week or two then formulate your Opinion! I personally have been on patrol in a very rough neighborhood in which I was disrespected and cursed out while in uniform, but when I changed into my street clothes to go home after a shift, and stopped at the same store on the post I walked, that same guy tried to sell me Weed!
Point is put on a uniform and see just how hostile people can become, they hate what you represent, which is order & control they don’t see a person! And just because we get paid to do this Unforgiving Job, doesn’t mean that we have to kiss the public’s ass and not show a sign of force in some way! That is our deterrent, and it keeps us and the public safe. Because statistics of Criminals who’ve Murdered Officers show that they felt that they could “Take” the officer because the officer looked Weak and employed Poor Tactics and Posture!
So before you monday morning quarterback anyone, at least be qualified to do so!
(p.s. this woman had a good reason for not stopping, I would’ve warned her and not issued a summons, but what If that wasn’t the reason she didn’t stop? And she had just robbed a bank or just killed someone, women shoot guns too! The next time, that could very well be the case!)
Why do Police use “unmarked” cars? Simple, to catch people in the act! If he had been in a marked car, do you honestly think she would’ve gone over the limit as she passed him? I even make sure I’m under/at the limit when I pass cops, and I’m a cop, I don’t get tickets even if I was speeding! So please stop being so one-way, think about what you’re saying! Do you really think that having an unmarked car does not help enforcement? Tell that to someone’s mom who lost a child to a drunk driver or a speeding teen!
This woman did EXACTLY what women in our area had been being advised to do, as the result of a man in a nearby county assaulting and raping 2 young women after pulling them over on a dark, isolated road, posing as a cop. The fact that she was terrified of what might happen to her is probably a direct result of the increasing use of unnecessary force on the part of law enforcement. I told my 19 year old daughter (and 18 year old son, too!) that, despite what the police did to this young lady, they STILL should do exactly as she did – put on the hazard lights and proceed to the nearest well-lit, public location before stopping. Better terrified and humiliated by your local cops than beat, raped, and left for dead.
CopCop, that’s what most people do when they pass by a marked vehicle. They slow down. I agree with the #19 poster. There is a time when unmarked cars are needed, but to conduct traffic control I believe most people get the point when they see a police car parked on the freeway.
This video has a very misleading title, i don’t see any guns drawn.
Even before the officers approached the car she had her hands up and waited to get handcuffed.
The officers did absolutely the right thing in this situation!