What do you do in this situation in Maryland

[Dust]

YouTube - ‪DN! Maryland Man Could Face 16 Years in Jail for Videotaping Traffic Stop‬‏

Watch the video, but only until 18 seconds. A man in a car gets out and draws on you. Doesn't say who he is when he draws his weapon, and conceals it when the marked police car pulls in behind.

It has created a new ruling for Maryland in support of the people, but I am just wondering about the CHL/self-defense aspect.

 

[JADB]

Wow! Guess my ignorance thought you could vid/tape anything like this.

 

[matefrio]

Depends on sate law.

 

[Mic]

Hmm - man draws weapon without identifying himself? If I'm in my tahoe I think I floor it at him and duck down or draw my own depending on surroundings. But jailtime for posting a video of your own encounter... That's some commie bullshit!!!

 

[San Antone RR]

OK. This is old news with NO BACKGROUND. This asshat was riding on the freeway like a fool: (wheelies and 100+ speeds). Camera on the top of his helmet. He turns his head 180 at one point and sees the MARKED patrol car behind him on the freeway and ducks onto an exit ramp. He comes mostly to a stop and looks around again to see the patrol car behind him and he heads for the shoulder/guardrail to flee. The detective in the unmarked cuts him off, exits the vehicle with his firearm at the low ready (never points at the rider) and orders him off the bike. He knew his goose was cooked, so the Monday Morning QB shit about the detective's conduct doesn't hold water.
He was doing wrong and knew it.

 

[JADB]

/\/\ Skit'm him boy!!

 

[Mic]

I thnk the idea was a training/contemplation post, not to bash the cop. Obviously if you just did a bunch o shit to give any dimwit reason to assume it was an officer approaching you for a good reason, the responses would be different.

 

[San Antone RR]

here is the extended version with no sound. He rides like a douche and needed stopped if for no other reason than to save his own life. If you watch, you'll see the unmarked on his right and he looks at the patrol car multiple times.

The videotaping thing is not something I'm going to address because releasing it was against Maryland law and he fucked up doing that.

 

[Jakashh]

I hate stupid youtube comments. This one is from the above video, hope this guys not a real marine.

**** that copper...keep speeding they cant catch all of us

USMC69ification 1 month ago 22 thumbs up

 

[Dust]

OK. This is old news with NO BACKGROUND. This asshat was riding on the freeway like a fool: (wheelies and 100+ speeds). Camera on the top of his helmet. He turns his head 180 at one point and sees the MARKED patrol car behind him on the freeway and ducks onto an exit ramp. He comes mostly to a stop and looks around again to see the patrol car behind him and he heads for the shoulder/guardrail to flee. The detective in the unmarked cuts him off, exits the vehicle with his firearm at the low ready (never points at the rider) and orders him off the bike. He knew his goose was cooked, so the Monday Morning QB shit about the detective's conduct doesn't hold water.
He was doing wrong and knew it.

From the Original post. A man in a car gets out and draws on you. Doesn't say who he is when he draws his weapon, and conceals it when the marked police car pulls in behind. What do you do? Whether the cop is right or wrong is not for me to state, at least in this case. The discussion, before it became about the conduct of the officer in your post, was about what you would do in this situation. Watch the video, just the video, and assume that you are riding, and have a man who doesn't identify himself draw on you after cutting you off. What do you do?

 

[Renegade]

What do you do?

I know the back story, but ignoring that and going only with what you ask, if I am on a bike I am not stopping for some guy in a ***** mobile. I can evade him easily. Thus it never escalates to a gun drawn.

 

[lalonguecarabine]

From the Original post. A man in a car gets out and draws on you. Doesn't say who he is when he draws his weapon, and conceals it when the marked police car pulls in behind. What do you do? Whether the cop is right or wrong is not for me to state, at least in this case. The discussion, before it became about the conduct of the officer in your post, was about what you would do in this situation. Watch the video, just the video, and assume that you are riding, and have a man who doesn't identify himself draw on you after cutting you off. What do you do?

Most of us know what we'd do, given the narrow parameters of your question.
What SanAntoneRR and a few others were trying to point out was that the officer's response was directly related to the (mis)conduct of the motorcycle driver prior to the video portion which you presented, and that it wouldn't happen to most of us because we don't go out violating traffic laws up to and including reckless endangerment with a doggone camera on our heads.

 

[TheDan]

What do you do?

I'd get the hell out of there... When someone is that close to you and advancing with gun drawn, pointed in your general direction, your best bet is to try to get away. Trying to get your concealed handgun out at that point will just get you shot.

As others have noted, there's a crap load more to this story than just the first 18sec of the vid. Knowing the rest of the story the guy should have just pulled over in the first place.

 

[Texasjack]

Hmm. Pretty obvious that the guy on the bike was an asshat. I find it more than a little disturbing that people on this thread are pointing out that he more or less deserves whatever he gets. For the traffic violations, that's fine, but for taping the stop?? It was pointed out that it's against Maryland law. Well then, Maryland law sucks. (Since I don't live in Maryland, I care less than I probably should, but that's still not the point.)

The idea that the government can prevent you from recording the public actions of their officials should scare everyone. If cops or other officials don't follow the law when they take some action, then how can you expect anyone else to do so? The concepts of freedom of speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom of the press were fundamentally important to our founding fathers because they were trying to prevent having a government that could threaten and control the public through force. Video recording is only a modern extension of those basic rights. As our Constitution gets watered down -maybe erased - the future of this nation is in serious jeopardy.

 

[The Lox]

I would try not to get myself in that position to begin with....

 

[TexasTrader]

Public area with a public official..he should have the right to video or voice record and the undercover LEO should definitely be reprimanded!

 

[San Antone RR]

Public area with a public official..he should have the right to video or voice record and the undercover LEO should definitely be reprimanded!

Agree with the first part and disagree with the second. However, MD law requires both parties to consent to record. Jacked up law, but a law nonetheless. He released the recording on YouTube and violated the law. I believe it fell under the wiretapping statute. As far as the Detective being disciplined, nope. The guy on the motorcycle knew he was in the wrong, knew there was a LEO in pursuit and attempted to flee and evade by jumping 3 lanes of traffic and hitting the exit ramp. That bike is a CBR 1000RR. It weighs 466 pounds without the rider and said rider had already demonstrated he doesn't care about other motorists safety with his previous conduct.
The weapon was at the low ready and was never pointed at the rider. I have to imagine the rider knew it was a LEO even though he is in an unmarked car and he did the right thing by not attempting to flee or use that 500+ pounds as an offensive weapon to escape again. LEO did right in my book.
I am no LEO, but I ride a sportbike and have seen the damage one of these can do to things they hit.