[Steve]

I took 0327 out for a drive today to shake off the rust and the experience of being behind the wheel of an 82 SSP again brought back many memories, including the time 0255 and I stopped a speeder who attempted to assault me, later filed a complaint, and ultimately was thwarted by state-of-the-art technology that was way ahead of its time in light of the body camera debates and deployments we are seeing today. How’s that for an intro?
It was just after noon, a sunny day, 0255 and I were working on the East side of the Los Banos area, rolling Westbound on State Route 152 about 20 miles East of Los Banos, when we observed a high roller pass by heading Eastbound. A “high roller” is a speeder moving greatly in excess of the speed limit; there is no exact definition but 30-40 mph or more is about right.
We accelerated to the next cross road and made a U turn, then went after him. He apparently had not seen us as he passed by because he continued at high speed; I had to peg 0255 at the top end (~117 mph) to overtake the vehicle and it still took 4 or 5 miles. I had only a visual estimate but between 90 and 95 was about right. He slowed and took the exit ramp to another State highway and I was on him; made the stop on a wide gravel shoulder area and walked up to make contact on the driver’s side.
The driver was an older, very large (heavy) man. It was strange; instead of just rolling the window down he opened the driver’s door about halfway and turned to face me as I approached. My cheerful “Good Afternoon” was answered with a string of obscenities: What is my problem, why the hell am I stopping him, etc., ad nauseum. I immediately reached down to my belt and turned on my microcassete tape recorder, state-of-the-art technology at the time, to capture the audio of this event. I let him run his mouth until he seemed to be temporarily finished, then asked for and got his registration and license. I walked back to 0255 and wrote out the citation. I returned and, standing in the open V of the door, handed it to him. A few more curses; I explained to him that he did have to sign the cite, if he wanted to contest it he could do so in court. To my surprise he did sign. I was thinking this was too easy, but then things took a turn for the worse. He pointed to some open space in the body of the citation and said “I’m going to write right here that you’re a goddammed liar!” I told him that the citation was an official court document and that he could not do that. He replied “Oh, yes I am!” I said “No, you’re not!” and reached down to remove the cite book and my pen out of his hands. He held on to them and a brief struggle ensued. I yanked them free and stepped back. Enraged, he shouted another string of obscenities as he turned even more in my direction and attempted to kick me with his right leg, coming across the front of his body and past his left leg. It was ridiculous, he was slow, and I simply stepped out of the way and watched as his foot flailed in the air.
Technically, he had assaulted me, and I could have arrested him. But he simply wasn’t worth it. If I arrested him I’d have to wrestle with him and he’d probably have a heart attack then I’d have to do CPR or explain why I didn’t. I had the signed cite. I tore off his copy of the citation, dropped it into his lap, and walked back to 0255. I could hear him shouting all the way back to 0255.
I didn’t think anything more about it until about 3 weeks later; my Sergeant told me “we needed to talk”. “Mr. Smith”, it seemed (the name is changed to protect the guilty) had come into the office and filed a citizens complaint against me. This was the high-roller from a few weeks back. Mr. Smith had already provided his version of the narrative: He was minding his own business, driving at the speed limit, when for no reason I stopped him. To make matters worse, when he protested that he had done nothing wrong and I gave him the ticket anyway, I physically assaulted him, then threatened him.
I told the Sergeant my side, then produced the audio tape of the incident. I had captured the entire event. He took the tape and said he’d get back to me.
A few days later the Sergeant gave me back the tape. He said he had listened to it carefully, then contacted Mr. Smith and asked him to come back in. At that meeting he asked Mr. Smith to go over his version again, then asked some questions. Mr. Smith, apparently emboldened and thinking he had me on the ropes, laid the BS on even thicker. When he was finished it almost sounded as though for no reason I had practically beaten and left him for dead along the roadway. The Sergeant played the tape for Mr. Smith’s benefit. Mr. Smith’s normally-red face turned ashen. Then, as the Sgt. told me, he essentially threw Smith out of the office. I never heard anything about it again, and the complaint was classified “Unfounded” which is CHP’s way of saying it was BS. But I was sure glad I had that microcassette recorder. It saved me a lot of trouble. In today’s society body cams are essential imo.
That was the one and only citizen complaint I ever received in my 5 years with CHP.