from the horny-on-main-(road) dept
The details are all up there within the headline, so let’s cope with the lies first. Plenty of locations reported on this incident, however we’ll go to the original source, WESH TV.
Physique cam footage recovered from Lake County (FL) Sheriff’s Workplace deputy Tristan Macomber’s physique cam confirmed him driving southbound earlier than hitting a stopped car forward of him, deploying his airbags. Then it confirmed him fishing round for his cellphone (which was now on the motive force seat floorboard), flipping it over, taking it with him, and heading to the automobile he hit to apologize.
Then got here all of the lies.
On the scene, the deputy informed officers a car forward of him was stopped for a college bus with flashing lights when the crash occurred.
Macomber mentioned he tried to cease, however the “brakes on his patrol car locked up,” the report reads.
Moreover, Macomber suggested the patrol automobile’s speedometer had simply been calibrated and the anti-lock braking system (ABS) mild had been on since.
The inner report mentioned one thing else. It mentioned the investigator observed deputy Macomber had been “holding his cellphone” in his proper hand previous to the crash. That led to a brand new lie:
Based on the report, Macomber mentioned he was textual content messages from his colleagues simply earlier than the crash.
Let’s simply say a few of these lies have been true. The second lie is the form of factor officers cite or arrest folks for doing: utilizing their telephones whereas driving. Even when Macomber was engaged in a dialogue with fellow officers, he had an obligation to do this safely. Let’s not overlook this occurred straight behind a stopped faculty bus, which suggests Macomber was lucky to hit one other driver, somewhat than children being loaded into/unloaded from a stopped faculty bus.
Investigators reviewed the recordings and noticed that Macomber was undoubtedly photographs and never partaking with an officer-centric group chat. Moreover, the chat group the deputy claimed to be when he rear-ended an harmless particular person contained no photographs.
And, as if there’s the rest damning that actually must be added right here, there’s this:
Physique digital camera footage reveals that the deputy was not sporting his seatbelt on the time of the incident, which is one other violation.
After getting his narrative shot to shit by investigators, the deputy lastly admitted the reality: he had been porn on his cellphone when he crashed right into a automobile and, apparently, virtually crashed into a college bus. However somewhat than take what was coming to him, Macomber resigned and presumably hopes another regulation enforcement company gained’t do a little bit of Googling whereas contemplating his job software.
Maybe the perfect a part of this debacle is that just about each information company masking this has refused to sugarcoat the reality. Right here’s the headline from the Express Tribune’s coverage:
Police officer crashes automobile whereas watching porn
And this is WCSC TV’s report (which incorporates nothing greater than a recording of its newscast masking the incident), which incorporates a headline equally succinct:
Deputy crashes patrol automobile whereas watching porn
Lastly, there’s this, which isn’t fairly as enjoyable. Right here’s the official terminology for the violations Macomber engaged in whereas porn on his cellphone whereas driving, as reported by the Miami Herald:
Officers decided he had dedicated three violations: departure from the reality in giving testimony or in reference to any official duties, sure use of digital handheld gadgets prohibited and use of security belt.
Even the rulebook is so reflexively exonerative, it could’t be bothered to name a lie a lie. As an alternative, it’s a “departure from the reality.” Whereas it’s technically right, it’s additionally worded particularly to melt the blow of the fees introduced in opposition to liars with badges, in addition to meant to downplay the severity of those actions. It’s a great factor the feds weren’t introduced in for this. Say what you’ll concerning the routine abuse of “mendacity to federal officers” prices, however not less than they name it mendacity or obstruction, somewhat than pretending it’s nothing greater than crossing the fog line of reality.
Filed Underneath: body cam, florida, lake county sheriff’s office, police misconduct, tristan macomber
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