Every once in a while, after being pulled over by a police officer you manage to get out of a ticket. While it has never happened to me, I have heard stories from friends and colleagues where the officer let them off with a warning and sent them on their way.
For driving a few miles an hour over the speed limit or a seatbelt violation that seems understandable, even an act of kindness. For a driving under influence (DUI) violation, where the driver’s blood-alcohol concentration at 0.16, twice the legal limit, there is no excuse. Yet that is exactly what happened in Indiana recently.
Was There Foul Play?
Boy, that is the million dollar question. A former Indiana State Police trooper has admitted that he destroyed results of a breath-alcohol test and released an intoxicated driver following a traffic stop a year ago in West Lafayette. Why would he do such a thing? Did he know the violator? Nope.
Brandon T. Titus, 28, of Lafayette pleaded guilty Tuesday in Tippecanoe Superior Court 5 to one count of obstruction of justice, a Class D felony. The charge against Titus stems from an investigation that began last fall when the driver -- identified in court by only her initials, T.D. -- called the Indiana State Police to complain that she was forced to stay in Titus' patrol car for an extended period of time. No foul play so far, right?
So why did he let her go? Perhaps, the better question is why did he have more than a hundred photos of her from his Facebook account? Titus was corrupted by something. He is currently suspended pending the investigation.
It is so important that police, the arm of the law, obey the law!