tripytrucker
Inactive
This also happened to some New York officers on 95 but they were holding the speed limit in the left lane.IMHO I think the Augusta County Sheriff was just doing his job.I can see wanting to stay together as a convoy but I don't think this was the way to do it. Does anyone think the Deputy was out of line and if so why?
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servle...=1031785364306&path=!news&s=1045855934842
N.J. police object to stop of 95-mph convoy
Officers heading home from Katrina duty got warning, then got mad
BY MICHAEL L. OWENS AND ALICIA PETSKA
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE Sep 30, 2005
WAYNESBORO -- A speeding New Jersey police convoy should not have been warned to slow down here, its superiors say, despite numerous 911 calls from motorists claiming they were forced off Interstate 81.
An incensed New Jersey sheriff called an Augusta County deputy a "disgrace" for pulling over officers returning home from a Hurricane Katrina relief mission Sept. 18.
Augusta Sheriff Randy Fisher and the Virginia State Police defend the stop because the New Jersey officers were traveling 95 mph with their lights flashing.
Virginia law requires an emergency before officers can speed and activate their lightbars. Instead of a warning, the speeding officers could have gotten citations.
"It was causing a dangerous situation, and basically we had to do something," Fisher said. "People were pulling off to the left and people were pulling off to the right getting out of the way of these guys."
Virginia State Police said they logged "numerous" 911 calls early Sept. 18 from motorists complaining about marked cars from the Passaic County Sheriff's Office and Wayne Police Department driving dangerously near Weyers Cave.
With Virginia State Police troopers busy working other cases, only Augusta County Deputy Mike Roane was available to answer the call. Roane averted a potential disaster, Fisher said, after clocking the convoy's lead car at 95 mph.
"Five or six of them did not stop, they just continued northbound," the Augusta sheriff added. "I think they were in a hurry to get home."
Roane ordered the officers whom Fisher described as belligerent -- in the remaining six cars to cut off their lightbars and slow down. A Virginia trooper telephoned their New Jersey departments requesting that the homeward-bound officers slow down.
"There was no emergency situation they were responding to in Virginia that we know of," Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
That same day, Virginia troopers patrolling the state's southwestern interstate roads pulled over a roughly 80-car convoy of New York police homebound from Katrina relief, Geller said. That group stuck to the speed limit, though troopers asked them to stay out of the left lane.
The news of the Augusta County stop incensed Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale, who, in a taped telephone conversation with Roane, lambasted the deputy for stopping his officers.
"If you think that that's not a disgrace, you should take that badge off your shirt and throw it in the garbage," Speziale said. "This is unacceptable, and I'll tell you what, I hope I get the opportunity to show you the same courtesy up here in New Jersey."
Speziale told Roane that "law enforcement is all about supporting each other" and said he was reporting the Augusta County stop to the National Sheriffs' Association.
Speziale ended the call after cutting short Roane's attempt to detail the incident. "I don't talk to deputies," the New Jersey sheriff said.
Other officials from the New Jersey departments remain indignant that its officers were ordered to slow down.
"We make no excuses," Passaic County Sheriff's spokesman Bill Maer told The News Virginian on Tuesday. "They'd been working 'round the clock [in a hurricane-devastated New Orleans]. They were coming back with equipment that needed to get back. In our opinion, they acted appropriately. We take offense at the way they were treated."
A Wayne police official seemed angered when The News Virginian called about the incident last week.
"So what, we're not going to talk about the good these people are doing, you're just going to look for something bad?" Capt. Paul Ireland replied.
Fisher, instead of phoning Speziale, drafted him a letter detailing the stop, defending Roane's actions, and saying that the New Jersey officers were "unprofessional."
Passaic County, in the meantime, plans to send more volunteers to New Orleans, but not through Augusta County.
"We're going to avoid Virginia at all cost -- we're clearly not welcome there," Maer said. "Maybe Virginia should learn from our example."
Michael L. Owens and Alicia Petska are staff writers at The News Virginian in Waynesboro.
http://www.timesdispatch.com/servle...=1031785364306&path=!news&s=1045855934842
N.J. police object to stop of 95-mph convoy
Officers heading home from Katrina duty got warning, then got mad
BY MICHAEL L. OWENS AND ALICIA PETSKA
MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE Sep 30, 2005
WAYNESBORO -- A speeding New Jersey police convoy should not have been warned to slow down here, its superiors say, despite numerous 911 calls from motorists claiming they were forced off Interstate 81.
An incensed New Jersey sheriff called an Augusta County deputy a "disgrace" for pulling over officers returning home from a Hurricane Katrina relief mission Sept. 18.
Augusta Sheriff Randy Fisher and the Virginia State Police defend the stop because the New Jersey officers were traveling 95 mph with their lights flashing.
Virginia law requires an emergency before officers can speed and activate their lightbars. Instead of a warning, the speeding officers could have gotten citations.
"It was causing a dangerous situation, and basically we had to do something," Fisher said. "People were pulling off to the left and people were pulling off to the right getting out of the way of these guys."
Virginia State Police said they logged "numerous" 911 calls early Sept. 18 from motorists complaining about marked cars from the Passaic County Sheriff's Office and Wayne Police Department driving dangerously near Weyers Cave.
With Virginia State Police troopers busy working other cases, only Augusta County Deputy Mike Roane was available to answer the call. Roane averted a potential disaster, Fisher said, after clocking the convoy's lead car at 95 mph.
"Five or six of them did not stop, they just continued northbound," the Augusta sheriff added. "I think they were in a hurry to get home."
Roane ordered the officers whom Fisher described as belligerent -- in the remaining six cars to cut off their lightbars and slow down. A Virginia trooper telephoned their New Jersey departments requesting that the homeward-bound officers slow down.
"There was no emergency situation they were responding to in Virginia that we know of," Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said.
That same day, Virginia troopers patrolling the state's southwestern interstate roads pulled over a roughly 80-car convoy of New York police homebound from Katrina relief, Geller said. That group stuck to the speed limit, though troopers asked them to stay out of the left lane.
The news of the Augusta County stop incensed Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale, who, in a taped telephone conversation with Roane, lambasted the deputy for stopping his officers.
"If you think that that's not a disgrace, you should take that badge off your shirt and throw it in the garbage," Speziale said. "This is unacceptable, and I'll tell you what, I hope I get the opportunity to show you the same courtesy up here in New Jersey."
Speziale told Roane that "law enforcement is all about supporting each other" and said he was reporting the Augusta County stop to the National Sheriffs' Association.
Speziale ended the call after cutting short Roane's attempt to detail the incident. "I don't talk to deputies," the New Jersey sheriff said.
Other officials from the New Jersey departments remain indignant that its officers were ordered to slow down.
"We make no excuses," Passaic County Sheriff's spokesman Bill Maer told The News Virginian on Tuesday. "They'd been working 'round the clock [in a hurricane-devastated New Orleans]. They were coming back with equipment that needed to get back. In our opinion, they acted appropriately. We take offense at the way they were treated."
A Wayne police official seemed angered when The News Virginian called about the incident last week.
"So what, we're not going to talk about the good these people are doing, you're just going to look for something bad?" Capt. Paul Ireland replied.
Fisher, instead of phoning Speziale, drafted him a letter detailing the stop, defending Roane's actions, and saying that the New Jersey officers were "unprofessional."
Passaic County, in the meantime, plans to send more volunteers to New Orleans, but not through Augusta County.
"We're going to avoid Virginia at all cost -- we're clearly not welcome there," Maer said. "Maybe Virginia should learn from our example."
Michael L. Owens and Alicia Petska are staff writers at The News Virginian in Waynesboro.
