It happened many years ago. Not long out of school I was summoned to jury duty and after a day of waiting around I was selected to be part of a jury. The case involved a domestic dispute, two police officers responded, a fight ensued, the accused somehow grabbed an officer’s weapon, a real mess.
The officers testified that the accused did not follow their instructions and when they tried to arrest him he resisted forcefully. During the fight he grabbed one of the officer’s guns and waved it threateningly in their face.
The accused never testified. His lawyer said he was too drunk to remember anything. His wife and mother-in-law testified that it was all a big misunderstanding, yes there was a little scuffle but he was too drunk to be a serious threat. Over the years whenever I hear the phrase “white trash” I think of these three. The accused, the wife, and the mother-in-law seemed more caricatures created by a bad TV screenwriter than real people.
When the lawyers were finished we retreated to the jury room. But before we could begin deliberations one man angrily declared, “The police are lying!” Did I sit through another trial? What was going on that made him so sure it was the police who were lying?
I got my answer years later courtesy of the Ho-Ho-Kus police department. I was driving to work down the same road I traveled every day. There was a police radar car tucked around a slight curve at the end of the road. Earlier in the week I had seen police there so I was expecting him. A radar detector was screaming in my ears. My eyes were glued to the speedometer, 25…25…25…I got pulled over and given a speeding ticket anyway.
I went to court and talked with prosecutor and the officer. I said that I was not exceeding the speed limit. The officer claimed that when I saw him I slowed down sharply. Could an experienced officer misread his radar and think a vehicle traveling a rock steady 25 mph was instead suddenly slowing down? Credulity won’t stretch that far.
I had my answer. My fellow juror from years before knew then what I know now. Police lie.
Somewhere buried in the files of Motor Vehicles is a piece of paper that says I broke the law. I was also fined $100. Businesses in Ho-Ho-Kus township lost many times that as a result of a total financial boycott since the incident. But the real loss comes when ordinary citizens find reason to distrust the police. When police lie, we all lose.
