Officer charged in wreck on way to robbery scene
A Charlottesville Police officer has been charged with “failure to yield” in an accident that occurred while responding to yesterday’s Wachovia Bank robbery. According to Albemarle County Officer Lt. Todd Hopwood, an accident investigation revealed that Charlottesville Police officer Kyle Boynton, along with his passenger, Officer Otis Collier, tried to “split traffic” at an intersection on Route 29 as they came out of the Seminole Square Shopping Center in an unmarked Ford Taurus police car.
Unfortunately, Boynton collided with Port Republic, Virginia resident Byrl Bowman, who had a green light and was headed North on Route 29 in his Toyota Camry. Hopwood said the light and siren of the Taurus were on, but added they were not as “high-profile” as the ones on a marked police cruiser.
Hopwood suggested that a van that yielded to Officer Boynton may have blocked Bowman’s view of the police car, as well as Officer Boynton’s view of Bowman. Regardless, County investigators felt there was enough probable cause to charge Officer Boynton, says Hopwood, as officers “still have to make sure the intersection is cleared” even when responding to a call.
No one was seriously injured in the accident, though all were taken to the hospital as a precaution. Hopwood says the Taurus suffered $5,000 worth of damage, the Camry $4,000. Bowman, Hopwood mentioned, was wearing a seat belt, while Officers Boynton and Collier were not.
“There are some exemptions for officers that allow them not to wear seat belts,” said Hopwood, but added, “If I’m running a code, I’m wearing my seat belt.”
Charlottesville Police Chief Tim Longo was unavailable for comment, and City spokesperson Ric Barrick deferred all questions about the accident to the County PD.
“We will be following our standard procedures in reviewing the accident from a policy perspective,” said Barrick.
37 comments
Learn to spell.
S-T-E-V-E S-H-I-F-F-L-E-T-T
Thank You!
straight from the king of fallen souls
"You people crack me up! Anybody who feels wronged is a fallen soul and bitter."
Why are you bringing a discussion from a Halsey Minor thread into this thread?
Girls in the daisy's drive Tim Brown craaazy
Here's a link some of you might also enjoy.
http://www.autoblog.com/2009/11/20/pull-over-broward-county-sheriff-gets...
Cop shoppes nationwide are now putting their troops out in superpowered cars. It's nothing but pure unadulterated LIABILITY rolling down the highway when cop shoppes place rookies out here on the streets in these cars. They can't even drive 250 horsepower Crown Victorias without crashing them left and right.
Sick of the Local Gasbag, change the channel if you don't like the show. It seems everybody here posts under a new user name day to day. Including yourself most likely. at least I use the same user name 98% of the time unlike the rest of the anonymous cowards do here. :)
Must have been a rookie if they crashed.
Well, it's quite obvious you aren't a judge. :)
Your opinion therefore is not important (as I said above).
Sorry to see our policemen were in a crash, not to mention the other driver. Two lessons here
1) the cops need to be the best drivers. If you crash during an emergency response the the overall problem just increased. Your intended good is now a burden. Be careful!
2) all others motorists should help by staying alert.
I just want to thank the Police for attempting to respond and help. I am sorry that an accident occured and I hope everyone recovers. Forget all of these people wanting to bust on you for trying to do a good job.
If the police make a mistake then they need an opportunity to make it right. Since they were charged then they are so far accepting responsibility.This is a great step forward from the past.
To the self gasbag grudgeholder: The bad police are still a minority and your constant attacks tend to make others question your credibility, so you may want to try and be a little less chicken little and a little more Ben Franklin.
Okay, a few points I feel have to be commented on here.
- From a safety stand point sure they should have been wearing their seatbelts.
- No where did I read any mention of "rookies". What difference would that have made any way? More often than not, you will find it is the older, "more experienced" officers who are injured in the line of duty for one reason or another than "rookies" as well.
- Are you aware that the Commonwealth of Virginia Traffic Code ALSO has exemptions to where officers cannot be charged with a traffic violation when responding to a call as long as they are displaying lights, siren and acting with due reagrd to public safety?
- Ask yourself this. If it were YOUR family members in the bank (or anywhere else that police assistance was needed) wouldn't you want ALL available officers to respond as quickly as possible?
Say what you want, law enforcement has a tough enough job without every "Monday morning quarterback" second guessing every move they make. If and when you have ever worn the shield and "been there, done that" you'd understand.
It is my hope that everyone involved in this incident comes out of it without undue stress and injury.
Chris you forgot the usual dog and pony show about them being so underpaid.
At this point in time it seems like it has become a game. Anonymous cowards and their simpleton namecalling, using a different user name in each reply while thinking they can come on here and embarrass me. They can't embarrass me any more than a long series of false arrests for the last decade have. :)
What most of these cowards won't acknowledge is the fact that I have always claimed the vast majority of cops are hard working decent individuals who are quite trustworthy. At the same time I am proud to say that two of the cops involved in my false arrests are no longer local cops. The number should be about five to six, but two is a good start.
If you read my very first reply in this thread, I clearly said the matter should be left up to the insurance companies to clean up. There was no need for charges to be placed. The judge is just going to dismiss the charge anyway. In the fourth reply, the personal attacks start on me. As if I care. After the attacks, namecalling and insults start, it's all downhill from there and becomes nothing more than entertainment. :)
Furthermore, if the spineless cowards insist on placing my real name here in the threads, they could at least learn how to spell it right.
Gasbag, could you please find someother way to voice you're idiotic opinions than hijacking every story that is remotely related to police. Maybe you should get you're twitter you're delusional ramblings. I'm tired of reading them here.
You people can't have it both ways.
I post, and my fan club acts irritated. (We all know the fan club is simply pro-cop though, no anit-cop remarks should be allowed here, no freedom of speech here. Attack the author, not what an author may say.) :)
I don't post and my fan club questions why I haven't. Just like in the Wachovia bank robbery thread, people questioned why I had not posted my professional opinion yet. :)
If we are going to start namecalling, such as "retard" above, a lot of my fan club members need to realize that light travels faster than sound. You sound bright, until you speak up.
If you don't like the show, change the channel.
Name.
"Are snoozin’ and a shoulder boulder really enough to reduce someone’s credibility to zero? I mean, ZERO? Like you can’t believe a word he says about anything, ever, zero?"
Yes. See his last delusional diatribe above.
Steve,
"Sick of the Local Gasbag is one of those persons who believes everything they read in the media. Probably a cop, or a cop’s mom, who does not like any negative remark about any cop."
Wrong again. Not a cop. Not related to a cop. I'm just a person who would like to be able to read a comments section once in awhile without having to sift through your nonsense. And I don't need any media to KNOW that you are full of dung.
I guess the county cops that go flying by me doing 80 on the bypass with no lights and sirens should be exempt too. Give them a freaking seatbelt violation for crying out loud. I'm sure they're presence at the scene of this robbery was irrelevant anyways considering they were miles away. I respect police don't get me wrong but adrenaline junkies in uniforms I don't have much time for.
Dawg, sooner or later those going by you at 80 mph will pay the price. Check out the pdf file below from Connecticut. Two cops horsing around, one hits a car at 94 mph broadside and kills 2 occupants.
The pdf file is the actual affadavit for 2 murder warrants against one of the cops, with all details listed. Witnesses claim the two cops were racing on public streets, but that could never be proven.
http://media2.wtnh.com/_local/documents/2009_11_18_anderson_warrant_appl...
Keep dreaming Steve. You are pitiful and have zero credibility.
$10,000 in damages, personal injuries and medical expenses, and a lawsuit eventually. This is not a fender bender.
The only seat belt exemptions I know of for cop shoppe employees in Virginia state code § 46.2-1094 are....
2. Any law-enforcement officer transporting persons in custody or traveling in circumstances which render the wearing of such safety belt system impractical;
and
8. Law-enforcement agency personnel driving motor vehicles to enforce laws governing motor vehicle parking.
I don't think running code across town qualifies as a "impractical" seat belt useage. And I don't think they were enforcing parking violations while headed to the bank.
They should have been charged with seat belt violations too. :)
The charge above means nothing anyway. The judge will dismiss it with his usual "leave it for the insurance companies to work out" speech. And that's the way it should be. It's not like the cop intended to have the crash or did anything to insure he would crash. The new breed of rookies just need to learn people can not see the blue lights in daylight, especially on an unmarked car; and people can not hear the sirens because of the better soundproofing and better construction in newer cars. These rookies learned their lesson the hard way.
A police spokesperson recently asked everyone to buckle up after three deaths on 29S. They should wear their seatbelts. Everyone should.
what would anyone exspect from a department that lets criminals take off in vehicles and get away everyday because of there fuzzy feel good no pursuit policy. truth of the matter is your at a intersection i dont care if you have a green light or not, or cant hear the siren. i am always leary at any intersection because of anyone could not be paying attention and fly through. but as i was taught by my dad thru a fishing trip, when the light turned green he still took the time to look both ways and wouldnt you know a corvette going about 100 came racing thru because he was running from the cops. common sense tells us that there pieces of crap out there who dont care even if they hear a siren they are going to continue because they feel they have the right.
Steve- where in the story does it mention "rookies"? Of course, everyone that wears a badge is a rookie in your book because if you still were a cop you'd be the poster child of non-tarnished integrity, now wouldn't you? You are a joke
Dale Earnhardt must have been a major rookie; he died in a car crash...
Kayla, the fact that you would equate NASCAR with route 29 speaks volumes regarding your point of view vis a vis traffic safety.
I didn't equate anything. Others submitted that those who crash cars must be rookies. Following that line of thought, Dale Earnhardt must have been a rookie as well. It's an 'if then' statement, not an equation. Think a little harder before you post next time.
no, you should think harder. you submitted that this wreck is equivalent to Dale Earnhardt's tragic death. This was a fender bender involving a cop car. No one should drive like a nascar driver on state roads and the death of a major sports icon is hardly the analogy you should make.
Dayum, I'm good! I found the video too!
Senseless waste of life so two cops can play around with their cop shoppe cars on public highways.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZJvihI8nfo
Gasbag, why on earth would you put years of effort into clearing your good name as you say and then do this to it? If the local police department had someone on staff working full time to destroy S-T-E-V-E -S-H-I-F-F-L-E-T-T 's local reputation, they would have to have a very dedicated and talented individual to even come close to causing the damage you've done to it yourself.
No one was paying attention before, but now thousands of local people have witnessed you make an ass of yourself over and over again. I'm not even remotely "pro-cop" whatever that's supposed to mean, and I don't recall ever having even met one in this town that didn't have me pulled over, but when I read gas, no matter where I see it at this point, I can't help thinking the word douche.
Delusional. And now incoherent.
Kendra, I have always said that corrupt lying cops are a minority. My hatred comes from watching a small handful of cops, from a low line rookie all the way up to a police chief, commit perjury in a case one day. When the judge asked a captain a few questions, the captain looked to the floor to answer them. He couldn't even look the judge in the eye because he knew he was lying.
The only place my credibility is important is in front of a judge. And I have never had a judge question my testimony. In the case I speak of above, the judge believed me over 6 or 7 cops. Can you imagine that? 6 or 7 cops felt sure they were going to take me down, by lying. The judge even went further while retiring to his chambers by telling his balliff he couldn't believe an entire chain of command had just lied to him in his courtroom. He also retired shortly after this case. I personally think he had seen enough. IMHO, the judge could no longer continue to convict people on testimony from cops he couldn't trust.
As far as responsibility and the charges being placed, the cops know the charge will be dismissed as soon as the trial comes along. They only placed the charge to impress people like you. And it seems to have worked. After the trial I will be the first one to proudly announce, "I told you so!"
As I have promised before, in 2010 you will see a high profile case where cops will be testifying against each other. A retired former cop will say, "I did no such thing!". The other cops will say, "You most certainly did, you jerk!" The sad part about this is the fact it should be a criminal trial instead of a civil trial. I will never understand why the local commonwealth attorneys do not prosecute cops for perjury. I guess they just don't want the public to know this small majority of corrupt lying cops even exist?
SotLG,
I don't understand why you'd state GSOE has "zero credibility." It's obvious you don't like the guy, but what is it he's said that actually makes him untrustworthy?
GSOE,
Nice linking the PDF; I've somewhat been following that story and hadn't seen it until now. I'd like to know why the second officer hasn't been suspended or SOMETHING considering he was also super-speeding, didn't have his emergency lights or siren on, wasn't responding to a call, and ran through all the same traffic signals without checking the intersections.
Mr/Mrs/Miss Name (required), if a cop shoppe suspends a cop it means they have acknowledged that the cop has done something wrong. This is a cop shoppe's worst enemy when and if the victims of their wrongdoing decides to sue -- in this case, for wrongful death obviously.
This horsing around with cop shoppe cars stuff takes place nationwide on a daily basis. It wasn't that long ago a local cop was horsing around with an almost brand new cop shoppe car, flipping it upside down and demolishing it on Stribling Avenue Extended. As far as I recall, it was never released to the public, swept under the rug.
Name,
Former Deputy Gasbag got canned a few years back for sleeping on the job in the courthouse, and the experience left him with a sizeable chip on his shoulder. Now he takes every opportunity he can find to rip on the local law enforcement community. Just look around at some of the millions of comments he has posted here alone (mind you, he probably uses about ten different aliases besides GSOE too).
GSOE,
The arrest warrant for the one policeman kind of gives the impression they're not above admitting wrongdoing (in this case, anyway). I also tend to think any lawsuits are going to be nothing to officer Anderson when compared to the nightmares he'll be having for the rest of his life for unintentionally killing those two kids.
SotLG,
Are snoozin' and a shoulder boulder really enough to reduce someone's credibility to zero? I mean, ZERO? Like you can't believe a word he says about anything, ever, zero?
Seems extreme.
Mr/Mrs/Miss name (required), Sick of the Local Gasbag is one of those persons who believes everything they read in the media. Probably a cop, or a cop's mom, who does not like any negative remark about any cop. They can't deny it - they live to see what I am going to post next. :)
The cop shoppe knew it was an uphill battle to defend the cop who was traveling 94 mph in a 40 mph zone. They have tossed him to the wolves, and rightfully so. The video from the second cop shoppe car could easily have been destroyed and it's existence denied. But there was no way they could ever hide the report from the cop shoppe car's onboard computer. And they knew it! And yet most cops have no clue that their every move is being recorded in the vehicle electronics. I suspect the cop shoppe would have loved it if the Crown Victoria had burst into flames and destroyed the onbaord computer. :)
quote: "Former Deputy Gasbag got canned a few years back for sleeping on the job in the courthouse, and the experience left him with a sizeable chip on his shoulder."
Wrong again. The chip on my shoulder comes from being subjected to a long series of false arrests for the last decade. 7 false arrests between 1997 and 2005. SEVEN!!!! And my having to file lawsuit after lawsuit to clear my good name. None of them could issue a public apology and admit they had made a mistake. It's not fun filing lawsuit after lawsuit, and it's something I could never have imagined myself doing after being a sworn deputy sheriff for almost three decades. Maybe they thought I would roll over, play dead and go to jail if they kept issuing one false arrest warrant after another?
I also have a chip on my shoulder over the technique used in serving the last of the 7 false arrest warrants. They parked their cop shoppe cars a few blocks out of sight and proceeded to circle my home on foot. Total darkness, peeping in my windows like common thugs. My dogs alerted me to somebody trespassing on my property. My outside dog would not shut up and was waking up the entire neighborhood, so I had to rush it up in getting dressed to go outside and see who was trespassing and WTF was going on. Had I walked outside with a weapon in my hand to defend my family and property I probably wouldn't be sitting here right now submitting this reply. My wife and daughter would have been attending my funeral. Maybe this is what the now former cop sitting in the background orchestrating this assault on my home and person wanted? Maybe he wanted me dead? If so, it would be the third documented attempt on my life.
Dayum right I have a chip on my shoulder. They could have picked up the phone and asked me to report to the Magistrate's Office and meet them. They knew who I was. They could have found my phone number in the phone book or on the 911 CAD system. They had no trouble calling me on the phone 2 nights later and asking me to meet them on West Main Street to discuss a related matter. But everything had to be done Rambo style in the dark of the night. Just like they raided Bob Archer's sons home one night on a simple moped violation. I might add the moped charge didn't even exist in the books. It too was another infamous false arrest in this area.
Cop shoppe tactics are very dangerous to the average citizen nowadays.