Trooper fired for offering FL lawmaker break on speeding ticket


Recommended Posts

In a rarity among modern American jurisprudence, a state highway trooper has lost his job over a traffic ticket he didn't write ? and now his fight has sparked a wider dispute over who gets preferential treatment for enforcing the law on the road. Does anyone need to guess that this happened in Florida?

The tale starts last November, when Florida Highway Patrol trooper Charles Swindle stopped state Rep. Charles McBurney, R-Jacksonville, for doing 87 mph in a 70 mph zone. McBurney was driving a Toyota with a license plate identifying him as a state lawmaker; after checking with his sergeant, Swindle told McBurney "I'm cutting you a break" and cited him only for lacking proof of insurance ? a $10 ticket rather than a $280 one that McBurney could have faced.

According to Florida state investigators, Swindle did the same for another driver he pulled over at the same time, telling his dispatcher ?I?m going to write (McBurney) a warning and be nice; I?m going to stroke him ?cause I didn?t see his insurance card."

But the episode bothered McBurney (who denied going 87 mph) so much that he wrote to Swindle's superiors on legislature letterhead, complaining that Swindle was favoring state officials. "If those who enforce our laws fail to meet the highest ethical standards, there is erosion of that confidence," McBurney wrote. "I am concerned that as Trooper Swindle acted in such fashion to me, that he would do so to any law-abiding citizen of our state."

That letter launched an internal investigation, and two weeks ago, Swindle was fired for "conduct unbecoming a public employee." And now Swindle and his attorney have appealed his dismissal, contending the Florida Highway Patrol has an unwritten policy of letting state lawmakers off easy at traffic stops to avoid trouble come budget-writing time. The FHP denies that's the case, and has speeding tickets written to several lawmakers over the past few years to show it.

more

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aren't cops allowed to let people go with a warning? Also, didn't his supervisor agree to this?

This just tells me that this guy is a lawmaker (what it means to be one, not the job title).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aren't cops allowed to let people go with a warning? Also, didn't his supervisor agree to this?

This just tells me that this guy is a lawmaker (what it means to be one, not the job title).

Yeah actually, in Florida the citation is at the discretion of the officer. If it illegal for anyone else to interfere with the citation process once it has been signed off on by the officer, except the officer himself or a judge. If the ticket makes it to the County/City clerks office and is on file with the court system, the officer can write a letter to the judge explaining that he would like to rescind the citation, however it is up to the judge at that point in the process on what happens.

The statement

telling his dispatcher ?I?m going to write (McBurney) a warning and be nice; I?m going to stroke him ?cause I didn?t see his insurance card."

Doesn't even make any sense...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Doesn't even make any sense...

"to stroke him" is police slang for write a ticket. He's saying he's going to opt to not give him the expensive ticket but not let the traffic stop be a complete bust and give him a ticket for something.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Next time someone please throw the book at this idiot lawmaker.

I feel bad for the cop, I think it was a lose-lose situation for him no matter how he acted..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.