Colorado State Patrol

[mstranglr 9]

What a bunch of ASSHOLES!

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090226/ap_on_...aritan_ticketed

[Wheel 0]

That was my first impression as well. However, if you read the article, the man didn't dash out into the road to save the ladies' lives. He was actually assisting them to cross the street illegally. Sure, he pushed them out of danger and took the hit, but his negligence contributed to the accident and the citation is relevant. When it comes time to decide who is financially responsible for damages incurred from the accident, this evidence will be crucial.

 

Contributing negligence is a factor when deciding insurance settlements, or deciding which insurance company will foot some or all of the bill. The trooper is just doing his job to ensure each party is held properly accountable for their actions.

[Eric Pate 478]

Oh yeah, I love stringent enforcement of regulations with complete disregard to their effects on the people they're intended to assist. Sets a great example.

[railman1 0]

We certainly cant let such outdated concepts as "civility", courtesy, and respect for the elderly stand in the way of establishing that "the party of the first part negates any ramifications of indemnity to the party of the blah blah blah". ..If the driver stays on the bus, the two ladies..jaywalking or not..get nailed by an apparently speeding, blind, or totally inept driver....

Of course in todays view of the world they would have been getting what they deserved.

[DogMan 2,343]

If the ladies were intent on crossing the street at that point and the bus driver said to himself "No I can't help them cross safely here because I might be jaywalking" I think we would say that is pretty cowardly of him. Its OK to break the law if there are exceptional circumstances such as an immediate safety concern for yourself or someone else, which this was. Since the man had to push the ladies out of the way the fact that he had a legitimate concern for their safety is self evident. Helping them across the street is something he could do, physically restraining them from walking across the street is something he could not do. That ticket isn't worth the paper its written on, and I'll bet the CSP already wishes they could take it back.

[Bayoupiper 738]

There must have been some pressure exerted to get the dang ticket written in the first place..........

[read_the_wall 614]

and it all leads to......why did the ladies cross the road????

[Wheel 0]

Regardless of his intent, the citation was not to punish him for helping them cross the road. However, it is not appropriate for the driver to be handed full responsibility. Without the citation, there is no supporting evidence that the pedestrians were crossing the road where they should not have been. Without that evidence, the driver could be punished as if he hit pedestrians in a crosswalk, and that is neither fair nor appropriate.

 

That is the way it is. Before you take any action, be prepared to accept the consequenses. Breaking the law with good intentions is sometimes acceptable. However, when your actions create an unsafe condition that could cost someone else money or liberty, it must be shown that your actions were improper regardless of your intent.

 

If you fire your concealed handgun at a man that is beating a woman with a lead pipe, miss him and kill a child standing 50 feet behind the altercation, would you not be held liable? People need to learn to take full responsibility for their actions. This whole business of not taking responsibility for your actions is retarded. In fact, it is much akin to the poor demanding welfare. You guys are all gung-ho against the liberal welfare mentality, and demand people take responsibility for themselves. However, it doesn't seem that you expect self-responsibility from everyone, at all times

 

unfair, unreal, and improper.

[janusthephoenix 24]

Regardless of his intent, the citation was not to punish him for helping them cross the road. However, it is not appropriate for the driver to be handed full responsibility. Without the citation, there is no supporting evidence that the pedestrians were crossing the road where they should not have been. Without that evidence, the driver could be punished as if he hit pedestrians in a crosswalk, and that is neither fair nor appropriate.

 

That is the way it is. Before you take any action, be prepared to accept the consequenses. Breaking the law with good intentions is sometimes acceptable. However, when your actions create an unsafe condition that could cost someone else money or liberty, it must be shown that your actions were improper regardless of your intent.

 

If you fire your concealed handgun at a man that is beating a woman with a lead pipe, miss him and kill a child standing 50 feet behind the altercation, would you not be held liable? People need to learn to take full responsibility for their actions. This whole business of not taking responsibility for your actions is retarded. In fact, it is much akin to the poor demanding welfare. You guys are all gung-ho against the liberal welfare mentality, and demand people take responsibility for themselves. However, it doesn't seem that you expect self-responsibility from everyone, at all times

 

unfair, unreal, and improper.

 

Hallelujah! Pragmatism and impartial logic like this give me the warm fuzzies.

[22_Shooter 1,560]

If you fire your concealed handgun at a man that is beating a woman with a lead pipe, miss him and kill a child standing 50 feet behind the altercation, would you not be held liable?

 

I don't even see how that relates to what happened.

 

Anyway, it's a BS ticket, IMO. How many LEO's turn a blind eye to much worse things than jay-walking, when it's a fellow LEO doing the deed? (That was a rhetorical question.)

 

I mean, would this particular officer have gotten in trouble, for not writing the jay-walking ticket?

 

What if one of the old ladies that was saved, was the officer's Grandmother? Would he still ticket the good Samaritan?

 

 

I just think that for some of the things that LEO's let slide, that this is a situation where it would have been welcomed by all.

[DogMan 2,343]

A couple other things that I've seen here are just plain wrong. The idea that he HAD to write the ticket in order to document the event is just ludicrous. You can accomplish the same thing with witnesses and a police report. The lack of a ticket being written also does not just magicly erase the fact that he was technically jaywalking for any other liability or court proceedings.