Classic car owner gets arrested (falsely) for stealing his own car

-

trapster

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 19, 2009
Messages
2,775
Reaction score
398
Location
Central Florida
See the video, its pretty scary

Senior Citizen Held at Gunpoint, Forced to Remove Clothes in Public, Jailed, for Driving Classic Car



Las Vegas, NV — Because of the negligent actions of the Nevada Highway Patrol, a couple was humiliated, and their lives threatened, for stealing a car they actually owned.

Robin and Beverly Bruins were out for a drive in their classic car, when incompetent cops confused their license information and pulled them over.

“Driver! Remove your keys from the ignition and put them on the roof now!” screams the trooper over his loud speaker.

At first Robin Bruins found it funny that the senior citizen couple, who broke no laws, was being pulled over. But that changed quickly.

“Actually, I think I might have giggled to Bev saying, ‘well, I don’t know what this is all about’ and I put the keys on there,” Robin Bruins said. “And I turned and looked back and saw three gun barrels pointed at me. And, obviously it hit me. Whoa! What’s going on here? To this day, I have never experienced anything like looking down the barrel of guns like that.”

Multiple officers were shouting multiple different commands, which were conflicting. Fortunately, Bruins wasn’t shot for listening to one command while simultaneously disobeying another during the confusion.

In broad daylight, and on the side of the road Robin Bruins was forced to take off his shirt and hold his hands in the air while several officers drew down on this innocent senior citizen.

Bruins told KLAS, “And it wasn’t until I had taken my shirt off and told to get on my knees and handcuffed, and I said, ‘What’s going on? Do you think this car is stolen or something?’ And he said, ‘exactly right. And their car is going back to its rightful owner.’”

In the meantime, a different set of officers has their guns drawn on Robin’s wife Beverly, who is in the passenger seat with a broken leg. She was forced from the car at gunpoint and then told to walk backward — with a broken leg.

“I got out of the car and I thought, how am I gonna walk back without crutches?” she said. “So, I went to reach for my crutches in the back seat, and they yelled at me, ‘Keep — we said keep your hands in the air and walk backward towards us.’”

Luckily Beverly wasn’t filled with bullets for attempting to grab her crutches.



“And then she (the trooper) ran a check on my license plate and came back and un-handcuffed me and asked me if I’d like to say goodbye to my husband,” Beverly Bruins said. “And I said, ‘goodbye to my husband? Where’s my husband going?’ And she said, ‘well, he’s going to jail.’ So I went over to see Rob, and he’s in the back seat with no shirt on, hands behind his back and tears are running down his face.”

Robin Bruins was subsequently taken to jail and thrown in a general population holding cell, where he would be denied his medication.

“And I said, ‘well I’m past the time for my medications, can I take those now?’” he said. “You know, thinking that he was going to give ’em to me. And they said, ‘no, you can’t have anything you brought with you.’”

After Beverly Bruins had found a hotel room, she went to the jail to try and get her husband out. It was at the jail where she discovered the police incompetence that got them humiliated, almost killed, and her husband behind bars.

Restored plates, issued in the same year a classic car was made are legal in Washington state. However, when the trooper decided to run the plates on this car, he forgot to add a + sign to the beginning of the number, so it came back to the wrong vehicle.

That’s what got the couple unlawfully pulled over.

The incompetence continued after the car was stopped. When the trooper called in the VIN to dispatch, the dispatcher entered the wrong number into the computer. The random wrong number happened to be for a stolen car.

The situation was terrible, but with a few different variables, it could have been deadly.

The couple has since filed a lawsuit against the officers and head of the highway patrol for civil rights violations. And now it will be the taxpaying citizens of Nevada, who are held responsible for the gross incompetence of these officers.


Read more at Senior Citizen Held at Gunpoint, Forced to Remove Clothes in Public, Jailed, for Driving Classic Car
 
I've been pulled over for my vintage tags numerous times. I actually had one blow up with the Chief of Police who pulled me over for my tag. When I explained what the law was to him he snapped. Started telling at me , called back up, etc.. He unlawfully wrote me a warning ticket after over and hour of harassment on the side of the road. The next day I got on the state government website and printed out multiple copies of the law. I put a copy in each of my cars, ad took one up to the police station and handed it to the chief. He wasn't too happy about that either, but he did tell me not to worry about the warning ticket.
 
My brother in law is in law enforcement and a few years ago he spotted a stolen '69 Camaro that was valued at like $100k or somethin' crazy like that. Pulled the guy over, got him out of the car, and the dude tried to run. My BIL tackled him and cuffed him. Turns out that the guy was wanted for murder.

I get that cops have to be careful because you never know who is going to be in the car, and what they're capable of doing, but this just seems excessive. The guy was trying his best to cooperate and was treated very poorly. They should have double checked the VIN and tags before tossing the dude in the slammer. What a bunch of incompetent idiots.
 
Glad that hasn't happened to my parents, with dads health he wouldn't have lived thru being jailed over 24 hrs and not allowed his required medical needs like that.
Mindless obedience. They knew they were innocent
and did it anyway. Sad times we live in.
 
Just one more reason it would suck to have to do that job.
One mistake and you are crucified, but the public expects you to confront all the most dangerous people in society every day.
We as the general public can make little mistakes every day, but one little mistake by an officer ONCE can get him killed.
 
It is better that 10 guilty men go free, than for 1 innocent man to suffer -- William Blackstone

That saying has apparently been flipped end to end in the last 20 years. How about not treating every little infraction as a means for a revenue stop.
 
what are the odds that another car with one digit different from yours is stolen. That has to be like getting struck by lightning
 
It is better that 10 guilty men go free, than for 1 innocent man to suffer -- William Blackstone

I don't think it's better either way. If he did, he's an idiot.
 
-
Back
Top