Cordell Pemsl OWI
- Thread starter Blair Sanderson
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They troll for OWIs. Had a case back when I did crim work where the Indianola copper claimed he observed a right rear tire low on air 100 yards behind the vehicle on an unlit gravel road. The judge literally laughed at that one when I asked the copper if his alias was Clark Kent.
Usually the excuse is more plausible. A lot of pressure is placed on patrol officers, especially young patrol officers, to write a lot of traffic tickets and OWIs, etc... The cities and the state need the money.
Very different in small towns where the police actually live in the community.
Usually the excuse is more plausible. A lot of pressure is placed on patrol officers, especially young patrol officers, to write a lot of traffic tickets and OWIs, etc... The cities and the state need the money.
Very different in small towns where the police actually live in the community.
Lol. If they pull you over and you arent intoxicated....it's not a problem.
Oh, and I have had people that I know hit by a drunk driver.....so there's that too.
I don't know what La-La Land you live in, but Cops most definitely will pull you over without doing something to "provoke" it.
I've been pulled over for a license plate bulb being out on basically a brand new car while obeying every road law known to mankind.
And a couple of occasions for a brake light bulb being out even though I had about 20 other bulbs working just fine. The key is that it was dark outside. That's it. They hope they find a drunk at the wheel when they stop you. That's how the "System" gets to stay employed. Cops, Lawyers, Judges, etc. Anyone that tells you otherwise is full of shit.
First thing they say is "do you know why I pulled you over?" Of course I do, it's dark out and you were hoping I was over the drinking limit. I wasn't speeding, swerving, or breaking any road laws, so I must have a light bulb that went out somewhere.
The second question is typically "have you been drinking?" Sorry Officer, you just wasted your time. Better luck on your next witch hunt.[/QUOTE]
Oh, and I have had people that I know hit by a drunk driver.....so there's that too.
I don't know what La-La Land you live in, but Cops most definitely will pull you over without doing something to "provoke" it.
I've been pulled over for a license plate bulb being out on basically a brand new car while obeying every road law known to mankind.
And a couple of occasions for a brake light bulb being out even though I had about 20 other bulbs working just fine. The key is that it was dark outside. That's it. They hope they find a drunk at the wheel when they stop you. That's how the "System" gets to stay employed. Cops, Lawyers, Judges, etc. Anyone that tells you otherwise is full of shit.
First thing they say is "do you know why I pulled you over?" Of course I do, it's dark out and you were hoping I was over the drinking limit. I wasn't speeding, swerving, or breaking any road laws, so I must have a light bulb that went out somewhere.
The second question is typically "have you been drinking?" Sorry Officer, you just wasted your time. Better luck on your next witch hunt.[/QUOTE]
I don't really think it matters how you answer this question,... If a cop asks "Have you been drinking", you better just prepare to blow....
I was told that anything you say can, and will be held against you under the law. Am I wrong?
You won't get arrested for what you say,... you might get arrested for what you blow....
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anon_qczsdwtnv6esw
Guest
not sure what the laws are in each state, but NEVER agree to blow. The way it has been described to me is that you are already getting one ticket. Agreeing to blow and failing, just means a second ticket. Take the first ticket and chances are you are a bit 'impaired' anyway and pay it or try to fight it in court.
Agree as well. The people causing safety concerns on the roads due to alcohol are the ones way above .08. It' all about revenue building for law enforcement. More OWI arrests, more $$ for everyone in the system. But it is what it is, and we all know the law.
Actually, refusing to blow will cost you your drivers license (implied consent) and still doesn't guarantee you won't get arrested for OWI....I'm not saying a person should blow...but I am saying don't drink and drive and you don't have to worry about making those decisions. Then just hope that the person coming at you in the other vehicle made the right choice about drinking and driving.
This is one of those old man moments where you say, "There but for the grace....." Never got an OWI somehow before my liver made me quit but I can tell you Uber is always, always much cheaper. Getting your car towed for illegal overnight parking is always much cheaper. They will get you and its far worse financially than people can ever realize.
I spent 36 years in LE and I can honestly say that no department that I ever worked for, nor any that I had interaction with, put pressure on officers (especially young officers) to go write a bunch of tickets. Quota's have not been permitted for decades. You might find the rare exception.
Last but not least, revenues from tickets are minimal compared to the other revenue streams a city/county receives.
The only practice that I am aware of, that comes close to what you are talking about, is if there is a "Governor's Traffic Safety Bureau" grant that is being utilized. That grant pays officers overtime to work traffic only (most departments spend their time responding to calls for service and doing paperwork) since they spend most of their time not working traffic. That effort, as the title says, is about enforcement on safety issues.
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You know you raise a good point. I've always thought there should be slightly escalating BAC based on age. Like a little buzzed driving is going to have less adverse impact on a 50 year old with 34 years driving experience. Cordell is too young to be drinking behind the wheel, and now he probably better not do it again or life becomes very problematic.
You're retired LEO! Buddy I have to be paid to fight with you guys.
Suffice it to say, and I really probably shouldn't speak further on the topic, I disagree and my disagreement is not delusional but very real world.
However, so as not to appear demeaning our coppers, I do a lot of civil rights police misconduct work. I turn down about 90% or more. I'm frequently led to wonder why the coppers didn't hit the guy harder. Especially the big tough wife beaters you guys get to taze. The boys in blue bat a pretty high percentage of doing it right.
I appreciate those comments....and agree, that the vast majority do it the right way. I despise those who intentionally do wrong. Those officers need to be hung out to dry. They undermine the good work and legitimacy of those who do it right.
Pemsl is a lucky man with all this band and Carson King stuff coming out. Very little attention on him.
OWI is determined by blood alcohol content so not blowing will prevent that ( unless they get a blood sample somehow). But not blowing won’t prevent a DUI, which is a different and lesser offense determined solely by a judgement call by the cop. So, obviously the right call is not drink and drive in the first place. If you do have a little and drive, if your even remotely wondering if you’re near .08, don’t blow.
It's been a while since I have looked at 321J or any case law surrounding it...I don't pretend expertise but, OWI=Operating While Intoxicated and DUI was just a term used by people not knowing the state code terminology. Some other states might use Driving Under the Influence as their designation.
So, I have not heard of an officer charging a lesser offense for OWI because their wasn't one...I don't think an officer charging a lesser offense of DUI in Iowa is factual, I think that's incorrect.
The blood alcohol content and impairment can be most easily determined by a breath test.....but an officer can provide other observations and evidence to establish impairment (HGN-FST's-Video of driving-etc) not to mention that they can obtain a search warrant to draw blood to determine the BAC level.
Just skimmed the thread, but those defending driving after drinking are on the wrong side of this debate. Those suggesting that police forces are generally looking to create issues, except maybe speed traps or issuing parking tickets, need to just shut the **** up IMO. I did a LOT of partying in school and was in grad school in Iowa City for over 7 years (a long time ago). You can walk where you need to go, if you have been partying. DUI punishment should be severe, especially ANY repeat offenses and levels well over the limit.
I know. I wrote that and then went to the football page and found out about the Register article.
Yeah, cuz no one would give a varsity basketball player a ride in Iowa City, right? The players are generally loved and every jock sniffer in every bar or party in Iowa City would give the big C a ride-unless I suppose it was drive for Cordell or experience romantic success and then only 75% would choose getting to ride in a car with a varsity athlete. Plus all the drivers that are just good fans and don't want to see a player get an OWI.
There's no excuse for a varsity kid getting an OWI but just stupid drunk kid shit. It happens because the players, in the end, are just great big stupid kids who do the same stupid shit in general ratio to the rest of the stupid shit smaller kids do.
In fact, suspending these stupid kids hurts everyone else more than the culprit. Missing a couple of games is annoying but cleaning toilets in Kinnick at 5AM would be far more of a deterrent.
Let me just say you haven't done small town Iowa law enforcement until you have a case that begins with "the fuzz took my lions", which I ascertained meant actual mountain lions and not pet names, followed by a solid 20 minutes of talking that we left uninterrupted until the prospective clients got to the words "my pet bobcat" and we just couldn't contain the laughter anymore.
That was one where we had to decline; had to opine there's no Constitutional right to keep and bear large wild predators in one's home. The even better part was the copper they wanted to sue for calling the DNR actually lived on the same street and let aggrieved plaintiffs keep the MOUNTAIN LIONS until one of 'em got loose at 2 years of age-lion not Plaintiff aged 2. Now that my friends is small town Iowa law at its most memorable. Off topic but PerryHawk brought that to mind.
That's funny......no doubt about it. There are a ton of funny, entertaining, and a number of traumatic stories that can be told from pretty much every Iowa small town.
That anecdote might be more appropriate when Penn State brings their blue lion into Kinnick Stadium and the boys cage it just like the DNR did my poor country folks pets.
The lions were so domesticated you could pet them. Found a sanctuary for battered cats, that's where PSU is going when they leave Iowa City.
The lions were so domesticated you could pet them. Found a sanctuary for battered cats, that's where PSU is going when they leave Iowa City.
Nobody here needs to "shut the **** up",.... Assholes come in all shapes and sizes and some of them wear badges...
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anon_qczsdwtnv6esw
Guest
Agreed. Your are being asked to blow because the police officers sees that you appear impaired anyway so your gonna get a ticket probably. If you are impaired, your also not thinking right so the worst thing you can do is blow and have more problems to deal with. Its not like an officer pulls you over and immediately asks you to blow. Its because he/she already think you are impaired. But all of this can be avoided by not drinking and driving and making bad decisions.
I believe in most states refusal is an automatic license forfeiture and a traffic offense in and of itself. Chances are good that the arresting officer will be able to produce enough other evidence to make his case as well about driving under the influence. The rule of thumb in this generally is: if you have a prior alcohol related driving conviction so that the instant offense could result in a felony charge, do NOT blow. If misdemeanor DWI is most you are facing, take the test.
I was stopped 7 times while in college and grad school at the University of Iowa. Over the next 20 years I have been pulled over 4 times. The 4 times, I was blatantly speeding and have no issue with LE issuing me a ticket. The officers were polite, professional, and doing their jobs. Have to wonder why I was never issued a ticket by ICPD or U of Iowa? I'm sure it was because all the police were "Iowa nice" or perhaps it was they were patrolling for drunks and stopping people for any random excuse. When they found I wasn't drinking their mysterious reason to stop me somehow wasn't a problem that warranted ticketing.
My favorite of all time was that I was running an experiment for my honors class that had timing required that I be in the lab at midnight. I walked out the biology building doors. The cop was driving by, saw me exit, and looked right at me. This was on a Tuesday so downtown IC was dead. I get in my car and he pulls an illegal U-turn. Then proceeds to tail me and pulls me over about 2 miles later. I see this and know he's right there but somehow get pulled over. This is the conversation:
Cop, "Why do you think I pulled you over.
Me, "I don't know. You saw me walk out of the bio building and started tailing me the moment I was driving."
Cop, "What were you doing?"
Me, "Working on my honors experiment. It's why I have a 100 articles sitting here on nerve regeneration and cockroach nervous systems." I show him the stack of papers on my passenger seat. Despite this he still bothers to run my license.
Cop, "What is the speed limit in downtown IC?" (We were way out of downtown IC at this point. I had crossed the river already)
Me, "25 mph"
Cop, "It's a business district so it's 20 mph. You were doing 25 mph."
I'm always respectful to cops. They have a job to do, but I just flipped my lid. Told him thanks for keeping the city streets safe from a threat like me. Actually insisted he right me a ticket so we could meet in court but he refused and sent me on my way.
The ICPD has a history of targeting college kids. No one can convince me otherwise. Growing up in Cedar Rapids, the cops never harassed me as a teen. I don't know if they do it to screen for drunks or to generate revenue. When you live in real cities like Detroit, Seattle, KC, etc LE has to take care of real problems. You don't get stopped on bogus charges.
Pemsl broke the law and I'm not defending that at all. I would argue that the 0.8 limit is ridiculous and the lowering from 1.0 was unnecessary. It starts to draw in a lot more people that aren't actually impaired at that level. I will also tell you that I took care of a lot of traffic injuries involving drunks and none were near the 0.8 level. Pemsl's offense is worse given that we have uber now.
Folks keep referring to Pemsl and 0.08. Say what you want about the law specifying 0.08 as the threshold, but be clear that Pemsl was 0.151. Not for the reason of condemning Pemsl, but I think we would do better focusing on the dangers of 0.15 rather than scoffing about 0.08.
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I was pulled over by the IC police for supposedly going through a red light, which didn't turn yellow until I was most of the way through the intersection. The policeman wasn't even near the intersection and pulled me over maybe 5 min later. I too was coming home from a long day of experiments, finishing my PhD in psych and also finishing up the experiments for a buddy who had to leave town a month or so before his experiments were complete. Basically, the policeman just didn't like my looks and the old beater I was driving... I also left two parking tickets unpaid when I left IC, for being on the wrong side of the road on their "odd/even" crap that was supposed to be for snow removal. Both times, I woke up on the first of the month following a month that had 31 days, and moved my car to the wrong side of the street. So, I understand the IC police were in the revenue generating mode... Driving after drinking is another story. I agree that .8 is a low bar, but I personally don't drink if I had more than a drink, unless it is over a long evening. Like I said before, IC is small enough that walking is an option, assuming you aren't so drunk you are stumbling around and get arrested for public intoxication... Pemsl was almost double the limit, and he deserves more than a slap on the wrist IMO.
Correct. If someone is stopped they have 2 hours to get the person to blow in the data masters at the jail which is the official thing for court. Technically they don’t go by roadside breathalyzer. If someone refuses to blow can still arrest on field sobriety with the walk and turn, one legged stand and most important the eye nystagmus test. The eye test unless you have some odd condition can’t cheat on that test where if drinking and following the cops finger can see the twitching in the eyes. That alone can arrest for if they refuse to blow.
Also another poster mentioned quotas which is illegal and no department in Iowa can enforce the quota system such as you need to write X amount of tickets or write some many OWIs. As for Cordell with Uber, lyft or taxis no reason or excuse to get one especially in a college town where they are always on the look out for.
