Oregon attorney slaps cop with illegal parking complaint

Sat Apr 19, 2008 5:59 PM EDT
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PORTLAND — An attorney who watched a police officer park illegally in front of a restaurant, then wait around while his meal was prepared, issued the officer a series of citizen-initiated violations.

Eric Bryant said he was sitting at the restaurant March 7 when Officer Chad Stensgaard parked his patrol car next to a no-parking sign and walked inside to wait for his food, the Portland Mercury reported Thursday.

Bryant told the weekly paper that when he asked Stensgaard about his car, the officer asked Bryant, "If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be able to park in front of your house or have to park three blocks away and walk there?"

Bryant filed a complaint as a private citizen alleging several violations, including illegal parking and illegal operation of an emergency vehicle.

Stensgaard was issued a summons to appear in traffic court in May. The fines could total $540.

"Citizens should be concerned that he used his status as an officer of the law as justification for breaking the law," Bryant said.

Cathe Kent, a spokeswoman for the Portland Police Bureau, said Stensgaard would fight the complaint in court, "as he rightfully should."

Parking is limited on city streets, especially with many construction projects downtown, she said, and officers remain on duty even when they are picking up food.

"We are emergency responders and need to be ready to take an emergency call," Kent said Saturday.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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{"commentId":1711804,"authorDomain":"kimmy123"}
kiml

Is this like the old line,"Do as I say and not as I do"?

{"commentId":1711804,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"kimmy123"}
  • 3 votes
Reply#1 - Sat Apr 19, 2008 6:39 PM EDT
{"commentId":1712060,"authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
Dreadspydr

Attorney: Your penis is not bigger because your a cop.
Police Officer: Yes it is, I am the 50, and I can park where I want.
Attorney: Oh no it's not.... I'll see you in court and the judge can decide.
Police Officer: Did you not hear me, I am the 50 b*tch.

Few weeks later.

Attorney: Sir, mr popo was illegally parked.
Police Officer: Was not.
Attorney: Was to!
Judge: Idiots.

{"commentId":1712060,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"dreadspydr"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#2 - Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:14 PM EDT
{"commentId":1712213,"authorDomain":"divbyzero"}
Division by Zero

It doesn't surprise me that a cop would park illegally. Recently in my area we had somewhat of a stink arise because a cop was speeding along a city street without using his lights or siren and struck another motorist. To my knowledge they still haven't released whether he was responding to a call or simply speeding. It seems to me that those who enforce the law should also abide by the law.

{"commentId":1712213,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"divbyzero"}
  • 3 votes
Reply#3 - Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:13 PM EDT
{"commentId":1712254,"authorDomain":"kimmy123"}
kiml

I have pulled over for the police with lights running only to discover that they were racing to a restaurant.

{"commentId":1712254,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"kimmy123"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#4 - Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:25 PM EDT
{"commentId":1714541,"authorDomain":"bartning"}
Vincent Bartning

Yeah, they never use their turn signals either!

{"commentId":1714541,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"bartning"}
  • 4 votes
#4.1 - Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:45 PM EDT
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{"commentId":1712284,"authorDomain":"GreyWolf"}
Grey Wolf

"...parked his patrol car next to a no-parking sign..."

Why is there a no parking sign? So that actual emergency vehicles have access.

"If someone broke into your house, would you rather have the police be able to park in front of your house or have to park three blocks away and walk there?"

Irrelevant to this infraction of this no parking law.

Real question based on rationale for the law in question: If Officer Chad Stensgaard has a heart attack while waiting for his fat-boy special, would he prefer that the actual emergency "responder" vehicle, such as an ambulance, be able to park in front of the restaurant and run in the defibrillator, or somewhere across street...

Arrogance and ignorance are actually synonyms, aren't they...

{"commentId":1712284,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"GreyWolf"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#5 - Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:34 PM EDT
{"commentId":1712326,"authorDomain":"Wheel"}
Wheel

hmmm...I think it's funny when lawyers and cops fall out. It's kind of like the white hand orcs vs the red eye orcs. A lawyer getting a ticket from one ultimately lead to the red light cameras in High Point NC being taken down. Wonder what the police did to this lawyer?

{"commentId":1712326,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"Wheel"}
  • 3 votes
Reply#6 - Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:47 PM EDT
{"commentId":1712346,"authorDomain":"zippythepinhead"}
zippybob

I'm from the big apple and it is disgusting the police park anywhere they well please even if its just to go to work they all get a special plate they put it into there windows and no one will ticket them since the parking agents are pat of the police force this is not just regular police but all kinds of police it sucks believe me
Bob

{"commentId":1712346,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"zippythepinhead"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#7 - Sat Apr 19, 2008 9:55 PM EDT
{"commentId":1714326,"authorDomain":"DrKnow"}
Dr Know

The cops are not subject to the laws they enforce. There are few patrol cars with seat belts in the rear. Have you ever seen an episode of COPS where they buckle the arrestee in the back? It is a $210 fine for the driver of a vehicle to allow an unbelted passenger AND a $58 fine for the passenger for not being belted in. The law does NOT describe any exceptions.

{"commentId":1714326,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"DrKnow"}
  • 5 votes
Reply#8 - Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:08 PM EDT
{"commentId":1714424,"authorDomain":"Arcturas"}
Arcturas

I have to say I find it humorous when I see a cop come up to a red light, (really late at night, or really early in the morning) and flash their lights, and go through the light. In fact I saw this two days ago 5:30 in the morning, in Portland.

{"commentId":1714424,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"Arcturas"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#9 - Sun Apr 20, 2008 3:50 PM EDT
{"commentId":1714483,"authorDomain":"DeathOrLiberty"}
DeathOrLiberty

We need to be able to monitor and police our own communities. This includes issuing citations, carrying firearms, and having access to cameras placed in our communities via the internet.

{"commentId":1714483,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"DeathOrLiberty"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#10 - Sun Apr 20, 2008 4:18 PM EDT
{"commentId":1717518,"authorDomain":"jasunwurster"}
AboveTheLaw

Officer Chad Stensgaard is the same guy who in 2006 while off duty assaulted cyclists Reverend Phil Sano after he was hit by his lady friends SUV. Chad was the passenger while Phil was preventing her from running into a group of cyclists.

The PPB officers that showed up promptly let Chad switch seats with the driver and let them drive away while threatening to arrest by standards trying to show them video captured on cellphones of Chad being the aggressor.

{"commentId":1717518,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"jasunwurster"}
  • 3 votes
Reply#11 - Mon Apr 21, 2008 2:55 PM EDT
{"commentId":1730356,"authorDomain":"bingham"}
RallySoob

PDX cops pretty much do as they please. There really is no way for the public to pursue claims against corrupt cops. The media is the most powerful weapon against these kinds of offenses and the 'system' almost could careless what the media thinks anymore. I mean, look at the War

{"commentId":1730356,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"bingham"}
  • 2 votes
Reply#12 - Thu Apr 24, 2008 4:21 PM EDT
{"commentId":1731411,"authorDomain":"bartning"}
Vincent Bartning

Yeah, the solution reminds me of the story of Las Madres y las Abuelas de la Plaza de Mayo in Argentina, also known as "the mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared." I saw a documentary on it last night in an anthropology class. Police, paramilitary, and military ruled the country between like '75 and '83 or so. (The British standing up for their Falkland Islands helped bring down the junta.) Personal matters of government personnel became one cause for government terror according to the documentary.

Even mothers who complained about their missing children disappeared, the founder of the group of mothers even. Later revelations told about how people were cut up and burned, thrown out of planes over the ocean, and when the government wanted to terrify its people, put in trash bins or worse. State terror killed 30,000 people and included concentration camps. The media and human-rights groups became a weak refuge from the horror.

{"commentId":1731411,"threadId":"252652","contentId":"1441148","authorDomain":"bartning"}
  • 1 vote
#12.1 - Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:36 PM EDT
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