Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Road-raging cop brake-checks driver and causes accident, caught on video

Road rage is definitely getting out of control these days, and, apparently, police officers aren't immune to the urges of aggressive, vindictive driving.

In this situation, what we do know is that a North Carolina police officer – Onslow Country Deputy Craig Culpepper – was driving through South Carolina and caused an accident after brake-checking a motorist he had just cut off, and news station WNCT is reporting that the officer has since resigned due to this incident.

Now, we don't know what happened before the camera started recording, what the speed limit was or how fast the officer was actually driving, but what the film shot by the driver who eventually rear ends the officer shows is the cruiser traveling on the highway at what the cameraman/driver clearly believes is an inappropriately slow speed. When an opening on the right becomes available, said driver passes the police cruiser using a third lane and gets back into the left lane in front of the cruiser. This is where ex-Deputy Culpepper's decision making skills failed him.

The officer quickly passes the camera-wielding pickup driver on the right, cuts him off pretty close and then slams on his brakes, causing the driver to rear-end the police car. The report seems to indicate that neither the officer nor the driver was cited for the accident, and while most of the blame should be placed on the officer, it should also be noted that the driver was following the cruiser closely and trying to film while driving.


http://www.autoblog.com/2013/03/20/c...ccident-video/

NickawdIs

iTrader: (1)

wow wat an idiot cop

CDNROCKIES

Wtf?

So this idiot baits the cop and then rear ends him and the cop doesn't immediately fire his lights and pull him over?

Something is not right here.

ISFPOWER

iTrader: (20)

brake checks then resigns? what an idiot cop. good luck to your salary in 2013.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

Video says its a NC cop in SC. Perhaps no jurisdiction, iono

ISFPOWER

iTrader: (20)

you can tell he is not in his jurisdiction because no idiot would pass a sheriff like that. that's asking for a ticket.

CDNROCKIES

Interesting.

So state cops/sheriffs can't do anything outside of their jurisdiction?

Our RCMP have nationwide jurisdiction but our provincial cops are limited to within their own province. However, they would have an RCMP involved long before it became a jurisdicitional issue...lol.

Hoovey689

iTrader: (16)

For the most part yeah. Our Blackhawk Sheriffs are only ever in Danville and Blackhawk, you'll never see them in Walnut Creek or San Ramon for example. CHP on the other hand is everywhere in the State.

If the violation was something for traffic then yeah a cop probably wouldn't do anything if they were out of jurisdiction. If a body was hanging out a trunk then I'd say that's grounds to investigate

dmvp29

The guy filming that video is a total knucklehead, and this accident is just as much his fault as it is the cop's fault. In fact, it's mostly this guy's fault. The cop is also a knucklehead for brake checking.

He's tailgating the cop for the first half of the video. The cop does cut him off, but a good driver compensates immediately by slowing down to put distance between himself and the car that cut him off.

The sad thing is that the vast majority of people will side with this knucklehead, reckless driver.

I think there's also a huge problem with the way people handle "fast lane" etiquette in the U.S. Why isn't there a well defined speed limit for the fast lane? It's simply assumed that you can "probably" go 10 or 15 MPH over the posted limit in the fast lane without recourse. People who go "only" 5 or 10 MPH over instigate road rage among people who feel like they are entitled to drive even faster than that.

The fast lane on a highway should have a designated, separate speed limit from the slow lane. This would avoid a lot of confusion and (probably) road rage as well.

edgeucated

iTrader: (4)

For those of you defending the cop, it is stated that the cop was driving too slow, and driving side by side with another slow vehicle to prevent anyone from passing.

This is an jerk move and the cop deserves the tailgating. It is 100% the cop's fault IMO

ISFPOWER

iTrader: (20)

state troopers can pull anyone over in the state they work in. if witnessing a crime, a sheriff can following you and radio in close by authorized authority until they come.

+1 there is a reason why he resigned after the video was posted, he was clearly in the wrong. i doubt he would of resigned if there was no video footage and just a complaint. His office will basically make him resign to keep their name in the clear. My ex gf's grandpa was a chief of police and i was actually going to become an officer at one point but the system is too crooked for me. you learn a lot.

Joey-E

iTrader: (1)

This is so wrong on so many levels, I can just imagine if there was no video to prove what happened. Good news this once so called officer is off the force.

Fizzboy7

The other driver did just about everything wrong. He tailgated a cop, allowed his rage to build to a boiling point, aggressively passed him in a non-passing lane (you can hear him throttling up and see him passing at a great difference of speed), and then did not give the cruiser any distance before the brake check happened. He deserved all he got, even though the cop was way out of line.
A clear example of road rage from both parties.

dmvp29

Exactly. Both parties were clearly in the wrong.

Even worse, the truck driver was literally taking a hand held (probably cell phone) video of the cop while driving with one arm the entire time. This wasn't a dash-mounted cam.

And, if he spent less time raging about something as insignificant as being "cut off" by the equally reckless cop and more time driving defensively (by slowing down the instant the cop cut him off), this never would have happened.

There's no excuse for hitting another car, unless the car literally backs into you. Brake checking is not an excuse. Both drivers were driving recklessly. The truck driver is just as reckless/stupid for not braking immediately when the cop recklessly cut him off.

UDel

I would say this is mostly the cops fault especially if the cop cut this guy off before he started filming and then proceeded to slow down the passing lane and not let anyone by. The cop continues to stay right beside a slower driver in the next lane which is going to cause traffic and slow the passing lane down to the regular lanes which creates a even more dangerous situation. To top it off the cop is out of his jurisdiction during all of this, the cop is clearly abusing his authority. Passing, cutting the truck off, brake checking, and causing an accident is where the cops judgement failed and he ended his career.

The guy filming could have slowed down and just got in a different lane and brushed it off but that still does not excuse the cops behavior. The truckdriver may have been better off calling the local police and reporting that cop but it is unlikely they were going to do anything against another cop. He got it on video so the cop can't just say he was tailgating me and ran into me when I had to hit the brakes. While I see it as mostly the cops fault they both could have handled the situation in a better way which would not have led to an accident. I would not have passed a cop on the right and then pulled in front of him in the passing lane even if he was out of jurisdiction, but that is just me, I don't want anymore tickets.