Cop unloads on unarmed, cuffed suspect in the back seat of his cruiser. Acorn falling mistaken for shots fired.



Why do we have armed to the teeth militarized cowards trained to fear the public walking our streets?

Because an uncomfortable percentage are armed thugs.

At the rate officers are leaving the force, it won't be long until there is no law.

But, but, but will be along shortly to defend these guys.

I'm long past caring about "the good ones". How long have we been complaining? How long have you had to clean house?

It's not a job that can be done from home on a computer. Nobody wants it!!

The Good are Standing in the Gap!

Warrior - You need to move to the Woods power down for a time.

Then don't do it. I'd rather it not be done than risk getting blown up by a drone because some bureaucrat fears an honest opinion.

Mistakes are made every day.
From ALL of us.
Cops gets a bad rap way to often.

They'll get their way and get rid of cops..then be sad when a cop don't come help them.

Very pro LEO. Been years since I let an officer or military buy their meal if I see them in a restuarant (sp). It is nice to hear that quite often someone beat me to it!

I think they should lock up the acorn. I mean do you not understand how many cops are harmed each year by falling acorns.

Do you anti-cops ever see the crap they have to put up with. Please don’t tell me it’s their job to put up with it. Our Liberal government, Liberal politicians and wacko Liberal voters have caused it. You tube “Police Activity” a web site that shows nothing but police shootings. It’s unbelievable the restraint the cops use when bad people are holding weapons or attacking them before they use deadly force.

I will continue to back the blue. Don't judge until you've been in their situation.

It's a complicated issue that has a lot to do with training burn out ,PTSD, internal culture ect

Internal culture..

Y'all do know the guys tearing down the wire, opening the gates in Texas are badge wearing sworn officers don't you?

The guys that'll kick your door and take your guns will be as well.

seems like every day , city councils , village boards , county boards of supervisors and school boards work a little harder at making sure we haven't a good cop or teacher left. death by 1000 cuts.

when everyone who is a cop or a teacher for the right reasons decides it isn't worth it anymore

we will have nothing but the ones that are there for the wrong reasons.


it is very unfortunate but it seems current government has it in for cops and teachers

Simmer down Warrior.
Don't give them a reason to be your enemy.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ1YsyZMaaU

Paul Harvey was a wise man.

So some of you are covering for a guy that said he was hit by gunfire when he wasn't and caused a handcuffed man in the back seat of a patrol car to be shot at ? Then his chief tries to cover for him? Face it we need cops not bad cops.Stop with the ptsd, or stress excuse. If you are overwhelmed get help or get out.

And I knew a cook 20 years ago that confessed he spit on people's food that he didn't like.
Knew a mechanic that...
Knew a roofer that...
Knew a lawyer that...
Knew a carpenter that...

And everything you listed was a life or death situation like cops deal with?

And there's a bunch of trappers on here, your point is?

My point is we have an armed militarized force afraid of their own shadow daily watching us.

They are. They're getting out. Enjoy the consequences.

I’d be insulted if I valued your option so it’s not a problem.

a friend shot a guy this week. knife wielding perp advancing towards him, officer kept backing up and yelling drop the knife. perp keeps coming, officer did everything he could have done, then tripped backwards over something, and the perp was on him. no choice but to pull and shoot. i think the guys still alive. i have 3 very good friends in law enforcement, and have heard all the horror stories. they all have my respect automatically, til they do something to make me feel otherwise.

My father was a cop . There are good and bad . I know how they talk and what they say when they are together .The things they said they did . So no matter what good or bad we should defend them? Gee Law Dog I really am sorry I hurt feelings, but the truth is still the truth.So you are saying your okay with bad people being cops?

I think you're missing the point. When good folks won't do it.. agencies are forced to hire whoever will.

For those of you who think it is so easy to get rid of the bad ones, why don't you come on duty with one of us and show us how to do it?

I have very mixed feelings on this issue.

I know some cops are good, and in general, I support them. But I call a bad shoot when I see one.

Above Gary mentioned not liking cops and wanting them gone until you need one and they don't come.

4 or 5 times in life I have called the cops... which isn't really something I like to do. Every single time, they did nothing, or made the situation worse. So no, I highly doubt I will ever call the cops for any reason as long as I live. I'm at the point in my life that I will handle the situation myself one way or another, or die trying.

That said, I'm not nearsighted enough to be unable to see that cops are needed, especially in urban areas. Imagine the anarchy that would ensue if all of NYPD decided to walk off the job tonight.

I also believe cops are getting worse in general as decent people are leaving the profession in droves due to politicians.

I know I don't know the answer.

in my opinion, most of the officers weve lost in recent years, were the best of the best. most experienced, best trained, and most competent. they also had enough pride, honor and dignity that they refused to be crapped on by their superiors, and ordered to betray the oaths theyd taken. look at the minneapolis riots a few years ago. entire communities burned to the ground because law enforcement was ordered to stand down, and betray their oaths to protect and serve. democratic governor, democratic mayor, democratic council, and democratic chief of police. now the result is rampant crime across the country, and a shortage of those good officers. we need officers, but i sure cant understand why anyone would want to enter the law enforcement field these days, but God bless those that do.

For the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness goodness, faith.
Meanness and temperance, against such there is no law.
Gal 5:22-23
If we live by them, No worries.

Hurt my feeling? That’s not a problem I know people have issues and some can’t deal with them. When you apply the fraction of the problem to the mass it just sounds moronic.

There's around 800,000 police officers in the US, who for the most part do a good job. With that many officers and many hundreds of millions of arrests and other interactions, some of them are going to go bad. Police are still just people. There are good and bad ones. I've met a great many police officers. I've had over 60 police officers work for me. Out of the probably 120 or some cops I have somewhat, to very well know, only 2 probably should not have been police anymore. One of those, my friend Matt, had his skull, ribs and arm broken by a guy who he managed to choke out and handcuff, before he himself went into a coma, from swelling on his brain. Afterwards Matt was never the same.

In my personal experience and from what I have seen on the news, most poor quality cops are diversity hires, who only got their job because of their race. In a diversity hire year, many police departments give blacks a 50 point bonus on their test scores, that have a potential of 100. In those years, even at a 50 point disadvantage, some of the candidates will still be white.

Police departments, that want to higher minorities, will also stop using intelligence tests and use life experience tests and like and dislike tests instead. Those tests have questions like "Do you like rap?, Do you like soul food?, Was your family poor? and Did both of your parents live with you?". Cincinnati frequently gives tests like these.

Bad police need to be thrown out of the ranks and prosecuted if they commit a crime. Good police, who screw up unintentionally, need to be treated with some compassion. Police work is not an easy job.

Keith

So because you say it is a small number it should just be ignored. By the way no issues just the truth which some people don't like.

800,000 sounds more like a standing army to me.

We need a standing army to face the larger standing army of criminal illegal aliens biden has flooded our country with.

Keith

Keith I agree with what you said.

I never said it was OK with it you are the one that keeps telling me what I’m saying. If I don’t think a guy would cut it on the job I’d be the first to speak up you keep with the generalizations if you don’t like LEOs that’s fine with me.

That’s what you’re saying.

What I really hate seeing, is a police officer prosecuted and punished, when he did nothing wrong, because the prosecutors and other government leaders are influenced by public opinion. The officers who arrested George Floyd, fall into.that group. Any politician willing to sacrifice a good cop to appease the public, to help their own reelection, is a piece of human excrement.

Keith

What was no longer is.

A person can support the institution of policing generally, while still being intelligent enough to condemn wrongful actions of any individual officer. In this case, it's pretty obvious that this cop shouldn't have blasted a handcuffed guy in the back of his own cruiser because he couldn't tell the difference between an acorn and a gunshot.

So they should all be eliminated?

Here is a more complete video of the incident. I really don't like the short clips that Warrior posted that don't give any context.

A Sargent and deputy were responding to a woman who's car was stolen by her boyfriend. She told the cops he had a silenced weapon on him and that he had multiple weapons. The boyfriend showed up and was eventually searched and detained after lying about where his girlfriends car was. He was handcuffed and put into a cruiser.

I am neither pro nor anti-cop. They have a tough, high-stress job to do. Some are great at it, some just mediocre and some, like Deputy Hernandez, should have never been cops and should never be again.

I follow the channel Police Activity on Youtube. They give an unbiased look at the good, the bad and the ugly of the violence involved in police work and how it is handled by various officers.

I highly recommend it, many of you could benefit.

In this case the Sargent had things under control until Deputy Hernandez lost his freaking mind!

Reading the descriptions provided by Police Activity will give you many more details.

Problem is once this idiot shot up a car with a person he had just handcuffed and put in there, the cover up started! Want the general public to trust you, BE HONEST! What's so hard about that? It's not about being pro cop or anti cop, if you have a idiot on your force get him out don't go along with the thin blue line. This is why your where your at today and as for New York PD, they may as well all walk off the job, not like they are allowed to arrest anyone!

Got several friends that are cops so im not anti cop. Each one of them know's one guy on the force that shouldn't be allowed to carry a gun though! But they are short handed, budget cuts, etc, etc, so it slides. Until something like this happens, then it's a cover up or attempted cover up!

Precisely.

The loss of revenue generated would probably be the deal breaker. But yes, that number could be cut by half to three quarter easily. Let nature run its course and most crime would die off, literally.

I grew up in the Bessemer cutoff, basically the entire western third of Jefferson County, AL. We were the cutoff because we wanted no part of Birmingham and had long ago tried to split off but weren't allowed to.

So what does have to do with the price of tea in China? It has to do with how we were policed. We were given our own county jail and courthouse in Bessemer and our own Assistant Sheriff. AND THAT WAS IT. One assistant sheriff for what was large enough to be a county in its own right and right next door to the largest City in the state at that time.

Now the three cities of Bessemer, Hueytown and Pleasant Grove had their own small police forces with only Bessemer having more than a dozen officers.

You know what, there was no need to lock a door because we didn't have a crime problem because we could take care of ourselves in an area that was well known for you don't go west of Hueytown unless you're looking for liquor, a card game or a fight.

But in the eighties they decided we needed our own substation and more deputies and guess what the crime rate is now.

Wife was shopping the other day and checking out a Valentine balloon popped she said it scared her, she thought it was a gun shot. I guess it scared shoppers more tow shoppers came to the front with guns and the cops showed up. I guess America is getting paranoid. Nam had a lot of wounds from friendly fire, you never know how people will react under stress. But painting a bad picture of LEOs or anyone because of the acts of a few is not just. Dont throw the baby out with the dirty bathwater.

One guy makes a mistake and you are against law enforcement? That makes not sense at all to me.

Thank you Jtrapper I agree with what you said100% but I have trouble putting it in words. I don't dislike cops just people who can't admit they don't all walk on water . A nd the constant covering for each other right or wrong.

There are some that I respect and I mean a lot. Most seem to be in areas like Florida. I can tell you that there are a lot of good ones but there are some that should be in jail. Like the one in Milwaukee that tried to give me a DUI when I did not have a car. Even when the Cab came to pick me up. Even when another Officer located my car in my driveway 10 blocks away. Even when he threatened to arrest the Cabbie that showed up to pick me up. There are some good ones but getting to be fewer.

1 problem is when you do bring it to the attention of the upper echelon, at least around here, they do nothing and like some here suggest the over reaction / misconduct by the offending officer was due to the stress of being overworked in a supposedly hostile environment.
Reported a local officer that would follow young women and girls from 1 town to another close by then sit and watch their vehicle while the women/ girls were shopping then follow them back to the original /home town.
His supervisor either refused to do anything or accepted the behavior. Turned it into the County Sheriff and they did nothing until Sheriff was told if the officer continued he would be physically pulled of his car and be left laying in a ditch. This was after several parents relatives noticed what was happening and complained. The departments did nothing and low and behold a 19 yo female martial arts black belt left him laying in the ditch.

Never said we don't have good solid men and women behind the badge. I personally think I have a great sherrif in my county and he runs a good shop. Now the city of Griffin is corrupt as heck. Wife killers in that diet.

My beef is with the standing army police state that has developed in this country, particularly when staffed by trigger happy cowards that shoot up their own patrol car because of an acorn.

The problem is the hiring process. They are so worried about hiring someone to be an officer that has a squeaky, clean record, and never even Jay walked that they are getting people that just simply don’t have the mindset to be effective. You need strong, minded, disciplined folks to be officers, so this doesn’t happen.

I just watched that video. Wow, wonder where all those rounds went? That was a residential area. Spray and pray.
The woman sergeant deputy is the only one there that wasn't an idiot.

since the country's turned into a police state you're going to have pushback against law enforcement at all levels . . whether there's a majority of 'good ones' or not

Let's see we have city police, county police, state police, fbi, tsa, nsa, armed IRS agents, NCIS, base police, prision guards, school police. I probably forgot some, but it's a wonder any of us have survived this long.

The dog catchers here have badges and guns.

Metro Atlanta has county sheriff, county popo, each city has popo, each school system and college has its own popo, the bus system has popo, state troopers, state dot, dog catchers, code enforcement, county Marshall's.
And at least a dozen different federal that I see daily around town.

And they all have qualified immunity to do dumb stuff like shooting up a police cruiser.

I'm glad the guy wasn't killed.

What cover-up? There was an investigation, the Oklahoma Criminal Investigations Division and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office of Professional Standards found that Deputy Jesse Hernandez was a screw-up and violated policy. The deputy resigned before he could be fired.

The Oklahoma 1st Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office investigated and found no probable cause for criminal charges. I don't agree with that, I think the idiot should have been charged with something. But I saw nothing that would indicate any kind of cover-up whatsoever?

Oh and the Sargent was cleared. I believe they got that part right as well. She believed her deputy had been shot and that there was an ongoing threat. That is why she fired at the cruiser.

Don't be too glad, he is a scumbag.

I agree. She was cleared after the investigation. Did you notice the screaming girlfriend? How couldn't you? LOL

A screaming/wailing women almost seems obligatory. They appear in a lot of Police Activity videos.

Look up SNS reaction and how it works on a persons body during that time. How many here deal with that on their jobs it’s mostly first responders and soldiers primarily.

This guy lacked training or self control under SNS conditions some folks are not cutout for the job they need to be weeded out ASAP. Nobody in their right mind wants some idiot throwing rounds or that’s scared of the job that won’t back you up when the time comes.

I’ve been on several calls with the same officer where he stood there while I fought with his arrest. That guy is gone but should have been long gone before that like I suggested. In the end he embarrassed the department finally and was fired.

There’s LEOs I can’t stand but that’s an individual not the whole department I can separate the two. More then once I’ve told supervisors that idiots were not fit to be on the job that’s state, county and city departments over 22 years.

I fully support the blue; but, there are some serious issues in the first video. Suspect put in the back of a squad handcuffed and the officer thinks 'shots fired' ... must not be very confident or thorough in the pat down.
Officer scurries past his squad to stand in the open behind it and fires 17 rounds (full magazine) through the back window and occupant is untouched? Was there any live fire training? Officer ejects empty mag on the ground, retrieves spare mag with his left hand. Crawls across the ground with an empty gun while carrying mag in his left hand. He thinks he may have been hit in the vest ...was he thing he was being shot at by a peashooter? Trust me, getting hit in your vest, you know it even with full rush adrenaline.

Ya, I see massive training issues here.

So the officer resigns, what are the ramifications to the officer, the department? Does he go out and get hired into another department somewhere?

The majority of officers are good, but the growing concept of shoot first and ask questions and sort it all out later has to be tempered to the situation presented. If this has been any one of us, we all know what would still be happening.

Lovely area you grew up in Warrior, i got to work down in Ensley/Dolomite area several years ago, wonderful place to live and raise a family, lol.

It would go a long way if they understand (not all of course) the oaths they took and honor that oath..

I googled this deal last night after Warrior put it up. You guys can too. I guess it was a big deal when it happened and it was in the papers down there.
This guy, 'Acorn Man', had been on the force less than a year, 10 months when this incident occurred. So he was pretty green.
He said he was a had been an officer in a special forces unit with (2) tours in Afghanistan. Also, while deployed to Afghanistan he had not seen any combat action. Now how in the world you could go to Afganistan as special forces person and NOT see any combat I don't know. Maybe he was in supply or something. So there wasn't any of this PTSD nonsense.

The guy in the patrol car was crap but I'm glad he didn't get killed. Maybe that episode was enough for him to see the light and change his ways.

He said he had seen no combat because he was an officer and he had trained at West Point.

Ah! He was management then. I guess the computer screen and mouse were his weapons of war.
No Combat Infantryman's Badge for him. LOL.

There was also something else in his interview that was strange he said he had had no police training. Is that even possible?

That had to be pretty scary, getting attacked by an acorn and all.

Sadly not in some places they give you a year to get through the Academy to be trained and certified that might be why he was with another Officer.

Can you imagine his reaction to someone flipping an acorn from a slingshot

The caliber of people on Tman is really standing out on this thread. Sad, really.

Not gonna be popular, but gonna say it anyways. The entire system needs revamped. It’s a broken system. Now I’m not talking about bad cops, I’m talking about the way they’re treated and trained.

Think about this…combat troops pull a deployment then back home. They don’t immediately go back, they’ll have a break, then work ups for the next deployment. They “relearn” everything all over again before deploying.

Now let’s look at first responders. EVERY single day for 10-15-20+ years they are faced with the same stress as combat. The only break is when their shift ends and until the next shift starts. Imagine every single day not knowing if it’s your last just because of your profession.

Now to tick off a few folks…if they aren’t up to your satisfaction or standards, why not join the force and show them how it’s done? Heck, some on here wouldn’t even need a break or any type of back up. I’d like to see some walk on eggshells for 20yrs not knowing if today is the day you never see your family or friends again. It’s easy to sit and judge until you’ve walked the line. Are mistakes made, yes. Are there some bad apples, yes. Are there some dang good cops that have been at it too long but need that money, yes! We are the ultimate arm chair quarterbacking age, lol.

https://www.ishn.com/articles/112748-top-25-most-dangerous-jobs-in-the-united-states

It seems a common theme that when a screw up cop screws up, the rest of his department starts covering for him

I have told the story before of the assault team that showed up to arrest my neighbor. A man his wife and two small children. They searched his garbage and found marijuana seeds. A grown man who knew it was illegal. Instead of just showing up with a couple officers they went full blown military style assault.

Yet many dont see a problem.

Yeah because every drug bust is just a family man that didn’t mean anything by it.
Or, it could be, most drug busts also have guns with the drugs. A well armed team is better than 2 dead cops that thought there was no harm. I really think some folks can’t reason beyond their own little world. Some of the things that go on in the real world would have some of y’all not even leaving the house.

I live in rural KS. Everybody knows everybody. They KNEW that man runs his own business and was no more a threat than a blind kitten. They put his life, his families life, my families life, and the other neighbors deliberately in jeopardy. A dozen guys in unmarked vehicles, no uniforms, carrying M-16s, knocked his door open and threw in a big firecracker. I still am amazed no one was killed. When the firecracker went off I almost shot a cop. I thought someone had shot my house. I was using one cops ear for my target when I heard Sheriffs office. I had my front door barely open, lying on my belly behind it. No way I would have missed. They would have killed my whole family. Two other neighbors had grabbed guns also. Would have been real bad.

Absolutely no reason for that nonsense except to play hero with their toys.

Anyone remember the flash bang in the crib that happened here in GA. I understand it was repeated recently in a northern state.

Yeah let's protect those so called swat team no knock raids for those funny cigarettes.

So all the neighbors knew the neighbor was into drugs but never expected the police to show up? Then when they did you was gonna shoot them?
I can say in 56 years I haven’t had my house raided. I haven’t been pulled over because they were bored. I haven’t been charged with a bogus crime. And I haven’t had any reaction with police to whine about. I must be one of the extremely few ones that haven’t based on this thread.

I haven't been raided but I've had a truck ripped apart on the side of the road for tossing a cigarette out the window. I knew the cop, the local bully who killed two and got away with it.
Another one tried to jack me up on a narcotics charge until a state trooper leaned in and told him that Zantac 75 is not a controlled substance. Another time had a sherrif's deputy proposition the gal I was with at the time. And I once spent nine months in the county lock up on a locked bond thanks to that gal and her sherrif buddies. My only crime, running around with a loose woman. Took the jury all of fifteen minutes to return a not guilty.

And there's the rub in Wanne Be's reply. Unless you've seen the sausage made you love the sausage makers.

Wanna Be you shoulda been here. Who in their right mind expects an assault team to show up because an every day guy was smoking marihuana? If you think thats reasonable we live in different worlds.

My exwife took me to court to get her child support lowered. Instead the judge raised it. Few weeks later I got a call cause she was in bar at a neighboring town, drunk, telling people she would pay 5000 to anybody that would put a bullet in me.

I was lying on my bed when my daughter came in and said two guys were in the yard with guns. I figured it was somebody wanting to go coon hunting. I looked out and saw M16's and two guys I didnt recognize in my front yard. I turned the light off, told my wife to call 911 and grabbed my 45. I had not yet seen the other bunch.

There is NO rational explanation for this stuff except knotheads playing with new toys.

When I called the sheriff next day he blamed the county seat chief of police. The chief blamed the sheriff. Whole town was calling and writing letters. They have not done anything that stupid since.

JMHO But there wasn't any hate for cops , unless you're breaking the law.
Then Obama came along, and just like that from Ferguson on , it was hate all cops!
Strange how crime has gotten worse since Obama!

I've never feared cops , no reason to.
Just do as they ask and you're good to go.
I have to agree with the OP that, that cop, was or has problems with his own self!
That's with everyone in any profession , some just don't belong there, while others are great at their jobs.
I don't drink the KOOL AID some people drink and that's their problem , not mine.

Ohio Wolverine, the story I told had nothing to do with Obama. Was in the 90's.

I am still waiting for someone to explain that mess in Texas to me I mean an entire police force hid in hallways while little kids cried for help. Yea they were cops but I still think it wasn't training or the job or stress they even say they were just following orders but honestly would you could you just do nothing?

what has changed is cameras

Id of had to disobey order's or worse if i was a parent they would of had to shoot me in the back as i ran by the cowards!

Does that really make a difference?
One bad cop makes all cops bad?
There weren't any race riots of any real consequence, until Obama got into office.
COME ON MAN , IF YOU DON'T VOTE FOR ME YOU'RE NOT BLACK!
LOL that statement is starting to make sense.

Sorry Danny, this wasn't the post I was referring to.

Even then, you're still here, so explain the outcome.
Did they just start shooting , or ask questions?
As far as I'm concerned , an ex wife can be the most vicious animal on earth.
Especially if you won custody of your children, been there done that.
She could of told them you were holding hostages !

HUMMM From everything you've posted , it seems you're not very good at judging people's character .
You seem to get into some very sketchy situations .

I was young once and dumb. I grew out of being young, lol.

I can relate , wasn't an angel myself, but grew out of it.
Not perfect, but try to keep my nose clean at all times.

All you anti leo just get up off yer arses and go march with your BLM,buddys and chant "defund the po-leese,defund the po-leese"

You ever wonder why some of those folks are marching?

While I'm not defending or BLM I have seen the inside where money buys justice and no money goes down the river.

I've seen lazy cops lie, even caught one on the stand committing perjury in my situation and nothing was done.

Somewhere along the line we've lost the search for truth in what we call justice.

Like I said , just agree and fight another day.
Not saying there's not corrupt cops or judges , or mayors in mayors court.
Just learn and fight on another day.

Getting shoot only hurts once or more,,,,….
(It is not as bad as tv makes it look)
I recommend it to everyone at least once

Takes a lot of money to “fight another day”. That burden alone has probably killed more people than just not liking one another.

If you were a parent. What would you have done if you weren't?

Would rather be able to fight another day, than not have a life!
Strange how some people have to argue and fight everything.
If stopped by an officer, why not do as you are asked?
Everyone of the times I see a video , the people are always resisting anything the officer asks.
Then when it gets violent , it's always the cops fault!
Getting so the hate cops propaganda is doing it's job, population control.

You’re wrong. It’s the conduct of the top echelon of LE on display that is souring the public and its not propaganda.

Your kidding right?

I certainly dislike the man immensely. No need to say stuff like he is the reason for racial tension. Its not new.

No kidding! I well remember Flint Michigan when MLK was killed.....It was very bad in many cities.

Cops never knew I was about to shoot one. Did not see me. After I heard them yell Sheriffs office I quit focusing on the two in my front yard. Seen others. Realized the arrest was across the street. I put my gun up and went outside. Told the idiots in my yard they were trespassing and go somewhere else. That started an argument. Kept telling me to go back in the house. They finally moved to the street. By now everyone that lives here is outside. They did not like that. I don't think they wanted a witness to what they were doing.

Easily overlooked that many are just one one unexpected bill away from collapse. Traffic ticket, days off work, night in jail, etc.

Here in Georgia the traffic courts will gladly work out payment plans to pay off traffic tickets. Just talk to that nice lady over there. What it actually is is probation that you pay for including drug tests that you also pay for. Always a private company contracted to the court. Then there's DUI school to pay for.

It's almost a crime just to be poor.

Go look up Brookside, Alabama and their traffic court. No one went to jail for that one other than the victims.

You have to admit that some of these people deserve what they get. Don't drive drunk and you won't get a DUI school to pay for.

Around here DUI is a cash cow. More focus on that by far vs arresting thieves. No one wants to deal with a drunk driver at 0 dark thirty. I get it. To a point. Seems like a little effort could be put into solving burglaries, locking up shop lifters, and gas drive offs. So far as I can tell that stuff is ignored. They claim there is a war on drugs. Seems to me like the dope fiends are also the thieves. So why is theft not a priority?

Oh absolutely true but sentencing shouldn't be pushing people into further criminality due to unachievable requirements. Don't make your payment then you get jail and more fines. Some of these schemes just snowball folks into no win situations.

I'm all for living a life that doesn't incur legal penalties. But outside of DUI, entirely preventable, just driving can be running the gauntlet. The city of Jonesboro north of me comes to mind. US 19/41 is the route north from points south headed into Atlanta as it dumps directly onto I75. From Lovejoy to the Interstate it is red light red light red light all the way. Everyday from Griffin to the Interstate, some thirty miles, the road is lined with cruisers like sharks. Major revenue raised off that road yet Clayton County/Jonesboro has one of the highest crime rates in the entire state. Heck, their most recent past Sheriff is sitting in the federal pen as we speak.

I'll keep that in mind and watch myself, as there is a good chance I'll be at Atlanta Motor Speedway next weekend. Don't want a run in with the local boys!

If you're coming down from Iowa your best route in and out is GA20 exit 218. Straight four lane shot from interstate that dumps you out right at the racetrack. Avoid 19/41 as it's nothing but red lights going north plus it has lane widening that's been going on for over a year. South from the racetrack there's usually a Hampton cruiser sitting under the GA20 overpass just past the Dollar General and a Henry County hangs out in the dip over the hill just past where 20 dumps onto 19/41. If you can see Sweeties Flea Market he can see you.

20 is usually good but occasionally there will be one hanging out around the Publix red-light.

While you're there check out the beaver swamps around it. One on the front corner by 19/41 across from the Waffle house, one on the back across Richard Petty between there and Lower Woolsey and another directly across 19/41 from the front.

There's also a huge one on 75 just before your exit at 218.

Holler at me if I can be of any help. I know all the good eating spots around here.

Thank you! Very much appreciated.

Oh, and coming south on 75 is fubar if you hit it in the afternoons. The evening rush has it at a crawl from the 75/675 split to south of McDonough. Try to get through before 2 or after 7. Mornings are usually okay southbound. Atlanta best time is middle of the night or middle of the day.

If you have the right pass you can use the express lane through that stetch of 75 but it's a reversible lane so it's northbound mornings southbound evenings. Caution if you use it to get to exit 218 as is dumps you onto the inside lane just before 218 then you have to cross all the way over to the right in less than half a mile.

If you miss 218 go two exits south, Locust Grove/Bill Gardner. Turn right and stay straight it'll take you back to GA 20.