Is an officer supposed to respond?

[stix1358]

First off, I want to say that I have a lot of respect for police officers. I am a US Marine and know what its like to put your own life on the line for a cause greater than yourself, so dont take this as me downing all law enforcement officers. However, I saw something tonight that absolutely disgusted me. It really made me wonder what the point was in having a police force.

Tonight my wife and I left our house to go to the store to get some ice cream. Upon leaving our housing development (Southfork, Riverview) we came upon a head on collision that happenned probably less than 2 minutes before we arrived. It happenned right in front of the entrance to South Bay Church on US 301 at about 945pm Sunday 22 Nov. Upon seeing the accident, my wife and I pulled 20 ft into the driveway of the church to see if we could help in any way. The female driving the Altima was on the phone with 911 when I approached her to see if she was alright. My wife and I waited there for 15-20 minutes for the police to finally arrive. When we were sure that there was nothing else we could do to help, we decided to leave. Because we were already in the church driveway with no safe way to back out, my wife decided to drive completely into the parking lot in order to turn around. Here is where the most disturbing part of the night happens...

Less than 20 yards into the parking lot of the church...in the dark...sat a hillsborough county police car. As soon as we passed him he put his lights on and followed un into the parking lot. My wife turned into the area with the parking spaces are and he turned in the other side as to more or less block us in. She explained that we were just trying to turn around after helping with the accident. He said ok and we left. But what I want to know is...how does a law enforcement officer having a front row seat to a head on collision, sit there in the dark and do absolutely nothing!! He had a perfect view of the accident and there was even another truck that pulled over to help with construction flashers on...so how could he have not seen it? Was he sleeping? On a break and couldnt help? The only remotely plausible explanation I can come up with is that he was at a speed trap, waiting for people to come blazing down US301 so he could write a ticket. But wouldnt that mean he would have to actually be paying attention to the road? That is completely bullshyt!! If I was in an accident and found out there was a cop sitting 20 yards away and refused to come help I would have sued the city! At the minimum he would have heard of the accident on his radio after the female driver had called 911!

So now...can anybody offer up any sort of explanation on why an officer of the law, To Serve and Protect, sits there in the dark and doesnt budge on a head on collision that he had a front row view to?

[Sgt. Slaughter]

Semper Fi.

Call Hillsborough County. Anything else (especially over the internet) is pure conjecture and supposition.

[retdetsgt]

Since we're cops, we know exactly what every other cop in the world is doing and what they are thinking.

Good grief, how are we supposed to know why anyone did anything when we weren't there?

Sounds like you just want to b!tch about it. Contact his supervisor.

[BJJVad]

Without being there, I believe you know the answer.

What I can tell you, we sometimes have our heads down buried in our paperwork or on-board computers.

Claiming that he did nothing without his perspective is a little ballsy. We are human after all and do not catch everything going on around us.

[basher52]

First, thank you for your service. I hate Monday morning quarterbacking and my reply, if even somewhat correct, does not absolve the officer in question form his inaction. One explanation is that the officer in the lot might have been on a paid detail on off duty time and assigned at the church. I say that, as he only stopped you after you entered the parking lot and then after explaining let you go. We will never know, but it is possible that he called it in for an on-duty unit to respond. That in no way excuses him from at least checking on the condition of the occupants, but as I stated earlier I don't know the entire story. Again, he may not have done anything wrong, just not what you or I would have done in this situation, by going to check the occupants. Again, thanks for your service.

[RoadKingTrooper]

Well, you seem intelligent, articulate and claim to be a Marine. Why didn't you ask him?.......................Or did that not occur to you?

Wait...................you preface your statement with how much respect you have for LEO's and then..............I see now, you just wanted a captive audience to spin your tale for.

Should have asked him........Speedtrap (snort) sure bubba!

[GoDirectly2Jail]

I wonder if the OP will even be back to view these responses to his post?

Dear Sir: A cursory view of the church from Google Maps satellite view shows two parking lot entrances, one from US301 and another from Banyan Wood Way (a subdivision). Since you state you did not notice the cruiser until you had pulled into the lot, is it not plausible that the police car had come from the subdivision and, seeing other units onscene handling the crash, pulled into the lot instead to handle something else? There is such a thing as too much of a response, and in an accident - EMS takes the lead, with police left to little but direct traffic and write the report.

The long and short of it is that we can sit here and "what if" all day long, but unless the officer in question comes on here, we'll likely never know what he was doing or what his motivation was for doing so.

You seem awfully intent on thinking the worst of the guy, though...

[stix1358]

Sgt Slaughter - Oorah! Former/retired Marine?

BJJVad - You are absolutely right that not everyone is always able to catch everything going on around them, but being so close to the accident and I am assuming he had a radio in the squad car, I cant see how he would have been so oblivious to the situation.

Basher52 - You do bring up a very good point that he could have been doing an off-duty detail, but that still brings me back to why didnt he get out to at least make sure everyone was ok like I and a couple others did.

RoadKing Trooper - You are absolutely right, I should have asked him, along with gotten his name and vehicle number, but the wife was already freaked out about the accident and the fact that she had a car with flashing lights coming after her...she was driving and just wanted to get out of there.

GoDirectly2Jail - Yes I planned on coming back to respond. And no I dont see how or why he would have pulled in from the other side and then just stopped in the middle of the dark and watched the entire thing without doing anything. His car was completely dark and he was tucked away in the shadows. My entire purpose of posting this was to see if this individual could offer some kind of explanation to a "civilian" (as Im sure LEOs refer to guys like myself) of why.

[GoDirectly2Jail]

How do you know he was there the whole time "watching the entire thing" when you didn't see him until you were leaving?

[retdetsgt]

My entire purpose of posting this was to see if this individual could offer some kind of explanation to a "civilian" (as Im sure LEOs refer to guys like myself) of why.

Could have fooled me. Still seems to be that your primary purpose was to come here and let off steam about a cop that nobody here knows nor has any idea why he did what he did.

It's ridiculous to believe that we would know why someone somewhere did something that appeared to be negligent. It wasn't a matter of explaining procedure, the cop didn't do what it seemed he should and you're pissed about it. I can't say I blame you, but don't act like we should hold your hand.

I had a Marine sentry really piss me off back in about 1967. Asking you why he acted the way he did would make about as much sense as your question. At least be honest about why you posted that in the form of a question.

[BP348]

How do you know he was there the whole time "watching the entire thing" when you didn't see him until you were leaving?

I was thinking the same? If there were two ways into the parking lot then there is no way of telling when the Deputy arrived.

On that note by calling 911 you may have been calling the city PD and not the county so it's possible that the call went out to the City PD and not to the local County S.O. or he may have called in and been told that the City PD was in route.

Long story short is that no one can give you an answer to your question except that officer and since he's not here it's all just a guessing game.

[FBINA188]

... So now...can anybody offer up any sort of explanation on why an officer of the law, To Serve and Protect, sits there in the dark and doesnt budge on a head on collision that he had a front row view to?

Call Hillsborough County. Anything else (especially over the internet) is pure conjecture and supposition.

OK, there's a few things that need to be addressed.

The first being, don't assume anything. When you come onto a law enforcement forum and make these comments:

can anybody offer up any sort of explanation on why an officer of the law, To Serve and Protect, sits there in the dark and doesnt budge on a head on collision that he had a front row view to?

He had a perfect view of the accident and there was even another truck that pulled over to help with construction flashers on...so how could he have not seen it? Was he sleeping? On a break and couldnt help? The only remotely plausible explanation I can come up with is that he was at a speed trap, waiting for people to come blazing down US301 so he could write a ticket. But wouldnt that mean he would have to actually be paying attention to the road? That is completely bullshyt!!

you can't expect any warm and fuzzy replies

NO one can say for sure what the Hillsborough County Deputy saw, except for him. As recommended, you could have asked him, or at this point, do what Sgt. Slaughter has recommended by calling the HCSO, since everything else is "pure conjecture and supposition."

Now, if the Deputy did in fact have a front row seat, short of being involved in something with a higher priority, it would be appropriate to drive to the scene to check on the condition of the parties involved. As a side note, Florida Sheriff Departments often refer accidents to the Florida Highway Patrol, or the local municipality.

In the end, don't be "absolutely disgusted," until you have all the facts before drawing a conclusion.

This is my opinion ---

[CityOfChicago]

Here's yet another thought. Perhaps the deputy was on another assignment - traffic violations or some such. Perhaps he did hear the crash. Perhaps he went over to see what had happened, determined everyone was OK and it was just a paper job, perhaps he then put that info over the air and requested another car - one not assigned a specific detail as he was - to come and handle the paper.

Perhaps he was the supervisor. After seeing that no one needed immediate medical attention, he was waiting there for the assigned paper car to arrive.

[Creeker]

In my neck of the woods, my residential County refers all accidents to the Highway Patrol, as they don't have either the manpower or the resources to work accidents. Indeed, they can't keep up with most LE related activities and have response times to prove it.

I suppose its possible that he may have been out of his jurisdiction.

When I was working the road and came upon an accident in the City jurisdiction, I'd get out with it, but made sure that the City was coming to work it, because there were enough accidents in the County that I did work and we didn't use City Courts.

We don't know what restrictions he may have been working under. Nor do you.

[nikerret]

Maybe he was just one of the lazy bastards that refuses to be the first to any call or pull any cases.