John Tuohy, writing for the Indy Star, has an article about Lawrence Township Schoolboard member Adam Goldstein’s adventures in law enforcement. Allegations are that, when his wife was being ticketed on the 4th of July for something to do with operation of their boat at Geist Reservoir, he repeatedly told them he was a Fortville police officer.
He told them the same thing at 2:20 a.m. in the morning in the Geist Marina parking lot. He had gone back home, gotten a Fortville uniform and a Crown Vic cruiser. Trouble is, he’s a reserve officer in training. Or at least was. Now, instead of a ticket, he has been fired from whatever status he had with the police force, has the potential to be removed as a school board member, and is being charged with impersonating a public servant, a felony; two counts of drunken driving; misleading a police officer; and public intoxication. Whoops.
Laying aside his lack of brains for a second… do police officers regularly let other police officers off the hook for tickets? He obviously thinks that’s the case, or he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to try to claim privilege – is that just a delusion in his head the being a police officer would make a difference, or is that actually the case?
Depends on the officers, departments, the situation, and the attitude at the time (I’m a former police reporter for a newspaper). If it’s something minor, they likely let it go (as they do sometimes with “civilians”). Major stuff, and altercations like this … they’d be stupid to sweep it under the rug, and most wouldn’t put up with the way this guy was acting.
I have a vague notion rattling around in my head that Lawrence Township is different somehow.
Regarding his school board status, very unlikely he is in any danger of getting “kicked off” under Indiana law. It is my understanding that in Indiana you cannot remove a school board member very easily even if convicted of a crime. The best a board can do is threaten to publicly censure and hope they resign.
And this is all over a ticket? Amazing, but it seems to happen again and again.