Thursday, November 12, 2009

Know this driver? 39 759H Blue Toyota pick-up

Today I got a little visit from a Woodstock police officer who told me that I had been reported for speeding on Raffel Road.

I was in a meeting inside Woodstock North High School, when there was a knock on the office door, and Woodstock Ofr. L. Vasquez asked if I could step outside the room. He politely, courteously and professionally informed me that a person had reported that I was speeding on Raffel Road.

"Oh, really?"

He told me a person had reported this anonymously to the Woodstock Police Department.

Huh? Anonymously?

I pulled a piece of paper out of my pocket and told him who had reported this. The driver of a blue Toyota pick-up truck, Illinois license 39 759H.

That vehicle had followed me east on McHenry Avenue from Irving Road. When we got to Broadway, by Marian Central where the speed limit changes from 35MPH to 45MPH, that driver pulled out and passed me in the no-passing zone. I sounded my honk at him, hoping to wake him up and alert him to his dangerous and illegal driving and "help" him avoid an accident, and he slowed to about 25MPH in the 45MPH zone. Then he accelerated back to about 45. Upon arriving at Raffel Road, he entered the left turn lane and stopped at the intersection because of oncoming traffic.

I was going to Woodstock North High School for a 2:00PM meeting and stopped at a safe distance behind him. When oncoming traffic had cleared, he turned left. I pulled up and stopped to wait for an oncoming car. That car turned right to go north on Raffel Road, and then I turned left.

The blue Toyota pick-up had pulled off on the shoulder, and the other car and I passed it. After I passed the pick-up, it pulled off the shoulder into the northbound lane behind me. Pretty strange driving maneuver, eh? First he is in so much of a hurry that he just had to pass me in a no passing zone, and then he stopped on the shoulder and waited for me to pass him.

As anyone in Woodstock will tell you, I don't speed. I drive not in excess of the posted speed limit, and today was no exception. The northbound speed limit was 30MPH, and I nailed it on 30 as I proceeded to Woodstock North. The pick-up truck followed behind me to Banford Road, and then it turned right to go east on Banford.

At 2:20PM Ofc. Vasquez showed up.

I told him that I ought to file a no-passing violation against the driver of the blue pick-up. That's one to which a driver can testify in court. Speeding is not.

It seemed mighty strange to me that the Woodstock dispatcher would dispatch an officer to track me down, based on anonymous caller's telephoned complaint about speeding. Everyone, especially police officers, knows that a civilian driver in a passenger vehicle cannot testify as to another vehicle's speed in court, because his speedometer is not calibrated for accuracy.

I asked Ofc. Vasquez to record the truck's license plate and include my statements in his report, but he said no report was to be written. No report? A dispatcher airs a call, an officer tracks down a car in a parking lot, comes into a school, interrupts a meeting, and then he's not going to write a report?

And no report when a caller does not identify himself to the police dispatcher and lies to the police about the speed of a vehicle?

Somebody knows the jerk in the pick-up. When I can track him down, I'll publish his name and address here. My guess is that he lives off Banford east of Raffel Road.

What do you think? Should I have him cited for illegal passing and have him summoned into McHenry County Traffic Court?

17 comments:

FatParalegal said...

If no report was going to be written, why did the officer go to such lengths to inconvenience you? That's what I would have asked the officer.

I would say that you could offer the same courtesy of inconvenience to the driver of the blue pick-up. If he had the police come talk to you, have the police go talk to him (or her) when you find the driver's identity.

Gus said...

They ought to be talking to him today (but they won't), because I provided his license plate to the officer, although he said there was no report to be written and didn't need that plate number.

If I make a traffic complaint about someone's driving, I provide my name and telephone number, and, if they can catch the driver, I'll sign a complaint and go to court.

Guess that's a lot better than not giving your name when you phone a police department. I'll be asking the police dept. today to preserve the tape of the call and the CallerID that shows up on the dispatcher's console.

Gus said...

They ought to be talking to him today (but they won't), because I provided his license plate to the officer, although he said there was no report to be written and didn't need that plate number.

If I make a traffic complaint about someone's driving, I provide my name and telephone number, and, if they can catch the driver, I'll sign a complaint and go to court.

Guess that's a lot better than not giving your name when you phone a police department. I'll be asking the police dept. today to preserve the tape of the call and the CallerID that shows up on the dispatcher's console.

Anonymous said...

It was probably Dirty Keith in disguise! DOH!

Unknown said...

You'll post his name and address, hah, you've been saying that all along but nothing happens. Look at you get huffy puffy over this.

stunned said...

I love this blog...No one cares enough to identify the driver......
Life goes on...This is better than fiction. Yet I come back for more.

stunned said...

I would probably just go home and forget about it...Silly rants won't help you win votes.
Gus...Run for office or just run.............

Gus said...

Come on, ace. Just run his plate and provide his name and address. Dare you...

Gus said...

No, not silly rants at all. I won't be surprised to find that pick-up in a parking lot of a police department, fire department or sheriff's department. Just think... what if that driver is a cop?

Richard W Gorski, M.D. said...

Whoever the person was he/she filed (phoned in a false police report). Isn't that at least a misdemenor? What if that same individual yelled "FIRE" in a movie theater.The least that should happen is that the police department should fine out who he/she is and pay a visit to him/her and give then the courtesy of waisting their time and possibly causing them some justifiable embarassment.

Unknown said...

I love that you think I'm a cop. In fact I wont try to change your mind, I'll let you think that. It just proves what a moron you are.

Gus said...

ace, obviously I could just delete every comment you post, but I like publishing them so that readers can decide for themselves about you.

And it's quite possible that one of these days your identity will be confirmed and revealed (it is already suspected), and then your employer will have a different impression of you. Or maybe just the same impression.

FatParalegal said...

So what's the driver's name and address?

Gus said...

I have asked the Woodstock Police Department to contact the driver of the pick-up truck and to interview him regarding 1) illegal pass; 2) illegal impeding traffic; 3) filing a false report with police regarding speeding and how he ascertained the speed he reported.

I have also asked whether it is the practice of the Woodstock Police Department to enter a building, seek out a driver, and make a contact after an anonymous complaint of an alleged violation that is actually unenforceable on such a complaint.

Unknown said...

Still waiting for that info you are promising.

Gus said...

ace, have to get it first. Shouldn't be much longer...

Unknown said...

you think you are so smart by getting that, and by what method are you going to get it?