TexasCHLforum.com

Charles L. Cotton wrote:When Rep. Garnett Coleman, the State Rep. who chairs some committee, subcommittee or ad hoc committee looking into the Sandra Bland suicide, lied about a traffic stop, the sheriff's dept. released the dash cam video and audio of the stop. Not only did it show Coleman was lying, the deputy could be heard telling him that "if the ______ county deputy had given [him] a ticket instead of a warning, [Coleman] would lose his drivers license on points." (Paraphrasing).

While I was thrilled that yet anther a liar had been exposed, I was surprised and concerned that information about warnings was available. While minor, it's yet another eroding of privacy.

Chas.

I completely agree. Even my brother (who is a local city LEO) was surprised and sceptical that this information was available to some agencies.

[Abbreviated profanity deleted.] More unpleasant and upsetting for sure, but less strange. The strangest part is he was completely calm and nice through the whole encounter, but had a VERY heightened sense of something being out of place.

In the end, he seemed to follow all protocols and laws appropriately, never pushed me to answer a question, told me when I was free to go and didn't push the issue about a search at all.

As for the statewide system, I just assumed there was a way to see traffic tickets and warnings, but a friend who is a city police officer also stated he wasn't aware of any...

Yeah, in the end, my conclusion is that he was already on edge. Something about my vehicle (the mess of fast food trash from the past 2 days in passenger seat, mess of papers in the backseat because it's my office, etc.) probably set him on edge even further. The most surprising thing was after all that he gave me the warning.

Upon completion of the whole thing, I asked him if in the future he would suggest showing my CHL initially even if I don't have my gun and he didn't like that at all. I think he felt I was trying to game the system or something... I was like, I'm just trying to be helpful!

Overall, I felt as though he did his job and made the correct call, however the process was very strange. Maybe I should get some business cards made to make me appear more "official" in the future. That and hope I don't get pulled over by the same guy tomorrow.

So first, before it's mentioned, I did not have my handgun in the vehicle at the time and I'm embarrassed about that because I generally always have it with me. Moving on to the story though.

I am an independent Landman so I do title research in courthouses all across the state. Currently I am a couple hours from home working. Today I was driving from my hotel about 45 minutes from the courthouse I am working in. I passed a sheriff deputy and was pulled over (I missed a speed limit sign and was speeding 10-15 over).

Standard procedure, I pulled out my DL, insurance, turned off the vehicle and had my hands on the steering wheel. The officer seemed on edge from the start when he walked up. He asked if I had "any other license" to show him, so I pulled out my CHL and told him I didn't have my handgun in the vehicle today.

He proceeded to ask several questions about where I was going what was I doing, etc. He went to his vehicle for a few minutes. He came back and told me he felt I was nervous and the fact I had been pulled over "several times all across the state" was making him suspicious. He asked more about what I did, if I could prove it, what hotel I was staying at, what restaurants were close by, etc. Being an independent Landman I have no business cards, company ID, etc.

He went back to his vehicle, and 5 minutes later came back with a warning, told me he felt very uncomfortable, but the traffic stop was completed. Then proceeded to ask me if I would consent to a search. I told him I would prefer to be on my way and he let me go.

I have absolutely 0 criminal record or history, 1 ticket my entire life, 4-5 warnings all in different counties because I drive for a living. I thought the whole encounter was extremely strange.

Does it sound like I handled the situation correctly? What would you have done differently?