Breaking news
Sen. James Meeks claims he was "profiled" by Chicago police this week. Gun pointed in his face in front of his family. More in tomorrow's Capitol Fax.
posted by Rich Miller @ 7/14/2005 03:05:00 PM
35 comments
35 Comments...
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Sunday's sermon should be good.
I smell a press conference around the corner...
God help them
It looks like some of Chicago's finest need a fresher course in the First Rule of Chicago Law (and its follow-up provisos):
"A dumb lawyer who is an Alderman can perform greater legal miracles than a smart lawyer who isn't."
Taken to its logical extension, it means that a cop better know who the various elected officials are by sight and not screw around with them. Those who fail such a recognition quiz will likely get a quick transfer to an obscure beat at the opposite end of town from where the cop lives.
RANDALL SHERMAN
Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government
Chicago
Does anyone watch the NEWS where you see him often. And no, they don't all look alike. What could he have possibly done with the family in the car. idiots.
I thought the whole purpose of legislative and low-digit plates was to make racial profiling idiot-proof?
First off, I know the name James Meeks, but I couldn't pick him out.
Second, how do you know he was in his car with his plates? How do you know he wasn't doing anything illegal?
How about we wait for all of the facts before we jump to conclusions. I'm not saying it didn't happen, it probably did. I'm just saying convicting someone automatically does no one any good.
James Meeks, as in Rev. James Meeks, as in James "I just built the largest church in America" Meeks.
I can see Meeks speeding -- maybe 5 miles over the limit, but I can't imagine he did anything that would justify having a gun shoved in his face.
Unlike some Senators, we know he doesn't drink.
Which reminds me, which is worse, pointing a loaded gun at a Senator or a minister?
Actually, reading it, we don't know for certain he was driving, although it seems likely.
Maybe the nabbed him for talking on his cel phone? That'll be the end of that ordinance.
Rev Meeks is a class act, The cop must have been a real dope.
No Randall, the cops do not need a "cheat sheet" to reconize all the elected officials. However when the Rev. pulls out of his church(Not not like a $50 million church on the south side,or in Illinois,is built everyday) stopped by the police, tells the officer who he is.. and the officer states that he knows him... c'mon. I would bet that a majority of cops from the district at least know Meeks' name and face. If they broke the law due to a minor traffic violation is one thing, but waving a gun?
Sounds like a stepping stone to a mayoral run to me.
Meeks would be more acceptable than Jesse, Jr., don't you think?
More cameras, more videomonitoring with tickets for violators, such as newly launched plan to ticket
speeders through work zones.
Electronic traffic monitoring is race neutral and it frees up our
police to chase ciminals.
Watching the evening news, it sounds like he jumped out of the rear seat and approached the officer who was talking to the driver.
A friend of mine (NOT black) did that once and got spread-eagled on the pavement in like 2 seconds by the officer who was talking to me at the front of the car. In Kane County.
Profiling happens, but it sounds like there might be two sides to this one.
Under those circumstances, spread-eagle, maybe. But do you think he would have pulled his piece on a 5 foot 2 blonde chick?
I've never heard of anyone justifying the use of deadly force on an unarmed man with no warrants in a routine traffic stop.
Somebody panicked.
Really panicked, because they guy is like 5 foot 2 and 52 years old.
Remember the police officer who got into an argument with Alderman Natarus over dogs in Washington Park? Maybe this officer should have just pulled out his pepper spray?
I agree with 12:50am. The news story I heard said that Meeks was told several times to stay in his car; he disobeyed the direct order of the officer and continued to get out. Any fool idiot (guess that should include the General Assembly and the Administration) should know that when a police officer says to stay put, you stay put. I was pulled over in Springfield one time and started to get out of my car (I am not an Illinois native; in my home town, we pretty much knew the police); however, when the officer told me to stay put, I had the common sense to do so. It was after midnight when this happened. Plus, I'm Caucasian. No profiling there.
lets back this up...profiling occurs when someone is stopped for no appearent reason, not because he stepped out of the car. all stories state that meeks was respectful to the officer who knew it was meeks. what valid reason could the office explain why he pulled out a gun?
I don't know enough about this story to pass judgement on the specifics, but I did want to make a generic plug in defense of police officers. Why is it that police officers are almost never given the benefit of the doubt by the media and other liberals? God forbid a conservative imply that public school teachers (who are indeed so admirable that I will soon be marrying one) are at times corrupted by the greed cultivated through their unions, but police officers (who are equally commendable public servants) are often attacked for being racists and idiots with guns.
The irony, of course, is that a great deal of Chicago Police officers are patronage hires....so Democrats - who are elected with the unwavering support of African Americans - are probably responsible for such allegedly unsavory characters being on the force in the first place.
No matter what, let's give the police officers the same benefit of the doubt that liberals are all to willing to give to criminals.....let's find out what really happened before we declare him guilty of being a racist. It may turn out that he is, but lets just wait and see fellow bloggers.
Meeks would be more acceptable than any other candidate including the incumbent. There is no excuse for the cop's behavior. He should be terminated. There are too many cops in Chi who think that they are above the law and can treat citizens this way. That is just one of the reasons why we need a change in leadership. They should make cops like this one keep their one bullet in their pocket.
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I think the Chicago Tribune does a much better job with this story.
Apparently, it was not Meeks' car.
The Tribune though leaves you with the impression that Meeks was targeted not for being black, but for his comments about how Chicago cops needed to do a better job of ending racial profiling.
In other words, the driver was pulled over for being black but Meeks almost got shot because cops don't like his politics.
This, unfortunately, is every day life in Chicago. Black driver pulled over for going around parked police car. Two back up cars called to scene. Someone needs to tell Meeks that being State Senator doesn't make you bulletproof. He's lucky he didn't get shot.
Maybe the cop wanted to be transferred out of the hellhole area he's currently assigned to.
He's riding with his family in the back of some volunteers 1993 Olds? This oughta be good. Why wasn't he riding with his secreity detail?
I've never seen Meeks with a security detail. Since when?
Meeks for mayor?
Sure.
Good luck with the liberals.
"I had to vote against the human rights amendment because it went against my church..." (paraphrase).
Um, you aren't there JUST to represent your church.
Tessa, I was in Decatur during the race issues of 1999 (school board vs. expelled students). Jesse Jackson came for a couple of events and the one I attended really opened my eyes. The Rev came with a massive entourage, bulletproof vehicles, two Jaguars, a few (armed) bodyguards and, of course, the Rev wore an Armani outfit. He started talking about rights and equality and yet I couldn't keep my eyes off of the 1/2 million dollars worth of vehicles. I'm sure Sen. Meeks is worried about being a target of violence, but it's the same with a lot of the famous/wealthy persons who feel they must have protection. He should never talk about the plight of the poor or the way the rich live when he has a driver, bodyguard and probably a nice bank account. Hypocrit? Maybe.
The cop was stupid or racist or both. Stupid because he didn't know to let a powerful Chicago pol go, even if there was a traffic violation. Racist if he would've let, say, Alderman Burke go for the same offense. I bet the Daley administration will come down hard on this cop.
both rev. jackson and rev meeks has had threats to them and theirs families over the years. regardless if you like them or not, these type of things you do not take lightly. these are not your just a couple of regular guys
meeks is not the type to be "up front and in your face" to the officer (like other legislators have been). since the officer knew who he was, did he think meeks was going to go postal after bible study?
What this silly incident says to me as that the City of Chicago has far too many police officers if they have time for this kind of nonsense. The driver was charged with really minor infractions such as not having car registration in car, going around a police car (which was apparently stopped in the street for no visible reason....how long are citizens supposed to wait?) and a couple of others.
Did the officer wave his gun? Who knows. But if he was one of the thousands of Chicago City police who are patronage employees, he probably didn't have to leap a very high bar to get the job. If you inflict a large number of underqualified civil service employees without enough work to do on the citizenry, this type of incident is what you get.
How come Meeks and Daley and others get armed protection
but small businessman or a little old lady living alone becomes a criminal for having a weapon
I am NOT an NRA member or want armor piercing, automatic weapons or anything like that
BUT I DO want to be able to carry a weapon without being a criminal
in my home or busines
Meeks, Daley, Burke, Daley's kids all have cops I think unnecessarily
but I am a criminal if I carry a gun
and I was in the Marines
Puleeze.
Scanned some of the comments about this; haven't read them all, but where are some of you folks?
What would YOU do?
Car gets stopped, probably at night, in the dark.
EVERYONE knows it's stupid to get out of a car when stopped by the cops.
The drill is: hands on the wheel, don't get out, wait for the cop to approach and to clear the car from danger to him/her self.
This guy, apparently Meeks, isn't in the driver's seat and gets out.
Cop should be wondering, if I pay attention to this guy, what's the driver gonna do? This is CHICAGO, remember?
If I were the cop; real interested in staying alive & not getting shot, I'd probably use profanity and tell the guy to get back in the car and shut the f*** up.
And I've have my gun out, still wondering what the driver or some other passenger is gonna do while I'm paying attention to this guy.
Ooops. I guess it makes a difference if the cop is not black.
Get real.
Support the cops unless there's a REAL good reason not to; and being an aldergoof isn't enough.
anon 8:41 may be right... but the cop said that he knew who meeks was and still was hostile. now what does that suggest?
I still say..based on the information available and the tickets issued, they shouldn't have been stopped at all.
Police have far too much discretion in deciding when to make traffic stops for low-level offenses.
Traffic stops should be made when drivers are doing something that is clearly dangerous, such as driving erratically, significant (not 2 miles over the limit) speeding and other similar infractions. Public safety issues.
Instead, traffic stops are used as an indirect method of finding drugs and criminals, getting to chat up cute young girls, or increasing the amount of money brought in to state coffers (that can be wasted by government officials).
Maybe the black community will make enough of a fuss so that the
training and rules can be changed in traffic stop protocols to focus on driving behavior dangerous to the public, but I'm not optimistic, since it's a good political rallying issue for African American pols.
Let's not get distracted by emotion
here. Meeks and the officer could probably both have handled it better. What's needed is more cops handling real crime, and public safety oriented protocols and training re traffic stop.
Let's review the imporatnt facts:
While conducting a traffic stop, a police officer is alarmed by having a subject disobey his lawful order to stay put in the vehicle.
The officer is working alone, at night, and in a high-crime area. Officers have been killed on routine traffic stops in the past. So the officer draws (perfectly legally) his weapon and (more forcefully) repeats his orders to remain in the vehicle. The officer then calls for backup.
The stop concludes, resulting in 4 citations being issued.
Rev. Meeks is displeased by having a gun drawn on him (despite disobeying a lawful order) and being sworn at. Perhaps Rev. Meeks believes that his status and position should purchase him some special treatment.
The only thing the officer apparently has done wrong is using foul language. Have Chicagoans or Americans for that matter, ever seen a cop that does NOT sometimes swear? Go watch any of a hundred popular police movies, and count the profanity.
My only regret is that the policeman didn't also tell Rev. Meeks "Feel lucky, punk?" That would have been cool.
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