We just got this letter from one of our local CABB members. This is horrid -- government out of control:
I am Naomi Sarasola and I am sending you a report of what happened to me last weekend. Please let me know if there is anything we can do to fight this stupid statute that won't allow us to approach a shore on my catamaran, even if for safety reasons alone. Please read below and believe every word of it: On Sunday, September 2, 2001, I went sailing with my 15-year-old daughter, Christina Sarasola and my friend, Mike Rivera on my Hobie 16. Also accompanying me on their Hobie 16 catamaran were Susan and Manny Conde. We set sail from Hobie Beach, Key Biscayne at about 12:00 noon and headed towards Stiltsville. Susan and Manny were sailing about 100 yards ahead of me the whole time -- which raised a serious concern as to the possibility that my boat was taking in water because I had had a repair done to my starboard hull not too long ago. I felt as though I was dragging behind due to water intake. I arranged with them to change course and approach the nearest shore to our position where I could check my hull.
We decided to round the cape of Key Biscayne and head in at Bill Baggs State Park. Susan and Manny were ahead of me and, having seen a Hobie wave on shore, landed in an uncrowded section of the beach to wait for me. As I approached the shore, I could see that a short man in uniform was standing next to their Hobie and appeared to be writing them a ticket. Susan and Manny had advised Officer Veloso beforehand that they were waiting for me to get to shore so I could check my hull. Officer Veloso still insisted that they could not wait for me and to leave immediately.
So they left the shore and waved me off to not land. My concern increased because I realized that if I couldn't land, I'd have to round the whole key or return on a slow downwind sail back to Hobie Beach. So I continued my course and approached the shore. As I approached, Officer Veloso (I'll refer to him as the
Turd
), was now rapidly coming towards me visibly upset. I was close enough to talk to him and asked why I could not land. He responded
because this is a restricted zone.
I then saw that there another Hobie in the swimming area about 50 yards away. I asked him
Why can't I land if there is a Hobie over there
? He responded that
They have a concession.
I then stated that the shoreline is public and that I could land if I wanted to. The turd then began to provoke me by stating
Why don't you come and find out
?
I said
No because I don't want to get a ticket.
He continued to provoke me stating
Come, come to land
as he simultaneously held out his clipboard in a gesture so as to indicate that he would definitely issue me a citation. That action provoked me to begin a heated verbal exchange where I told him that he needed a girlfriend and I additionally called him an
[censored]
as I tacked the Hobie to find another place to land.
About fifteen minutes later, a motor vessel approached me. I observed that it was a Marine Patrol. The operator of that vessel asked that I go to shore. I headed for shore and told him
Good, I want to go to shore! I need to land to check my hull.
As soon as I landed right at the borderline of the state park and Crandon Park. The Turd approached on a three-wheeler bike. He then stated that he was going to issue a citation where I would have to appear in court. I could not believe he would go to this extent since I had left him behind about 15 minutes later and my first inclination was to give him false information about my name, address and identity.
When he asked me to sign the form, I said I would not because it was all false information. I then told him that I would give him the correct information about my identity if he would just hurry up and let me go. Meanwhile, the marine patrol guy that told me to head to shore was talking with my friend Susan and told her not to worry that he was going to call another park officer (called
Santi
) to come over to our location and attempt to diffuse the situation because he saw that the Turd was
getting out of hand.
When I saw the three Metro-Dade police officers arrive, I thought,
Oh no, this is a nightmare.
Little did I know what was going to happen to me.
The Turd then asked me to follow the police officers to their car so that I could be fingerprinted because he had to confirm that I gave the correct information about my identity. I told my daughter to wait for me because I was only going to get fingerprinted.
At about 3:00 p.m., I followed the Metro-Dade police officers and the Turd to the patrol car. I was fingerprinted and asked to sign another form. The Turd then told me to put my arms behind my back because he was arresting me for
resisting arrest without violence.
He then handcuffed me very tightly so as to cause severe discomfort on my wrists and one of the Metro- Dade police officers dragged me away to the back seat of his car.
I WAS ARRESTED, HAND-CUFFED AND TAKEN TO THE DADE COUNTY JAIL. My crime was
Violation of State Park Rules ? sailing in a restricted zone.
Statute 858.011. According to the Complaint/Arrest Affidavit form which he filled out.
My daughter was my first concern. She was back at the beach waiting for my return. By placing me under arrest at that time, the Turd and the other cops had total disregard for my minor daughter's welfare. I had no opportunity to arrange for her to be taken back to Hobie Beach or, in the alternative to have a family member pick her up. I should have been afforded the chance to call somebody for my daughter's care.
Additionally, I had no shoes and no clothes other than a bathing suit. As I sat in the patrol car, the Turd began to write a report using the assistance of three other Metro-Dade police officers. All four officers were laughing, cajoling, and treating the entire situation as a big joke. I was seated in the hot patrol car for over two hours with my arms cuffed behind my back agonizing over the wellbeing of my daughter.
I asked them what was taking so long and the police officer that drove the car replied
we're making up lies.
None of the officers participating in this arrest went back to the beach to advise my daughter or my friends that I was arrested and would not return.
When I arrived at the Dade County Jail, barefoot and in a bikini, the Turd and the other Metro-Dade cop which drove me to the jail continued to laugh and leer and seemed to enjoy my discomfort and embarrassment. I was surrounded by other inmates and twenty-plus correctional officers who joined in increasing my humiliation of being almost naked and barefoot and not being able to cover myself up. They were all jokingly requesting the female correctional officer to frisk me
adequately.
She laughed back and replied
can't you see she's got no clothes on
?
I was fingerprinted, booked, thrown in a holding cell with 7 other women which consisted of crack dealers, two big black transvestites that asked me to sit on their lap, and others you don't even want to see in your worst nightmare; then transported to the Women's Detention Center where I was strip searched and thrown in another cell to await bail.
I was finally given a copy of the Complaint/Arrest Affidavit and to my disbelief read several false statements:
1) that he ordered me to come to shore and
Defendant refused
2) that when I gave him the false information of my identity, he asked me 3 times if I was sure it was the truth? He never asked me. This was a wreckless use of authority on behalf of the Turd and the other Metro-Dade police officers whom also witnessed and participated in the obvious mistreatment of the whole situation. Mary, I will be contacting the Internal Affairs departments -- so they can begin an investigation -- for both the Metro-Dade Police and the Department of Env. Protection Law Enforcement Division. It turns out that this Officer Veloso (short, bald, egotistical, Latin Macho Man) is a Park Officer operating under their division. Let me know what you think.
Naomi Sarasola
I forwarded this message along with my comment to the website at http:/
I doubt I'll get a response. Has she contacted the local media? I would -- if she was indeed harrassed by the local officials I'm sure WSVN or other media in the area would love to know about it.
Whoa! This makes my inland H16 sailing seem very boring. If it were me, I would've rolled off the tramp and started yelling that I couldn't swim---turn the situation into an emergency and let the
officer
haul me and my boat to shore in rescue. Then, after pleasantries, I check my hull plug and go. (easier said than done)
We advised her to get a good attorney already. Meanwhile, we asked that she send us a copy of the citation but have not seen it yet.
We did contact the only journalist in the state that gives a hoot about boating (God! We miss Eric Sharp) who is with Sports for the Jacksonville paper -- he said he was going to look into it. Funny, but his immediate response was sort of -- oh well another cop giving someone hell story -- and that is probably what the media would say.
John McKnight of CABB made mention to the fleet down here that they had just recently barred all boats from landing -- power or non-power. Mostly because of JetSkis. He and another boat apparently beached outside the park area on private beach and went inside for lunch. The patrol harrassed them into leaving, but they sure as hell did not handcuff them, strip search them, etc.
The point of this whole thing is that if you are in trouble on the water, do you have to read every law and rule before you go to land and to safety. Geez! Even if you were in trouble on the China Sea, you would probably get better treatment -- they may keep the boat for a couple of months for inspection, but you would probably be treated better.
Rick
Rick White
Catamaran Sailor Magazine
email: rick@catsailor.com
Unfortunately this type of story of abuse of power is all too common. About the only thing one can do in this situation is to get an attorney and sue whoever is responsible. Make them feel the heat. Do it for yourself and for the rest of us.
I would reccommend letters to the editor of any local newspapers as well as a written complaint to the chief of the agency involved. Also, I would contact my state legislative representitives and insist that they contact the State Agency responsible for your delimena.
Fortunately in Maine there are adequate laws protecting boaters who have to make emergency stops on restrictive shores. Best of luck and I am with you in spirit.
I would strongly suggest before you go retaining lawyers you better find out exactly what its going to cost and how the lawyer is going to be paid. If the lawyer wants to be paid by the hour consider how much you want to throw away on legal fees. Determine specifically what can be done against the local authorities under the common law. It could be that you could go to trial and find out your only remedy is a minimal dollar amount that doesn't begin to cover your court costs and legal fees!!! You would probably be more effective if you spent your time pursuing the local & national media to raise awarness of what happened to you. Let the media investigate and expose this behavior. It could tie up your life for a long time to get this done. Leave off the cute adjectives and be very very accurate to the last detail about what you claim. Write down specifically, step by step, exactly what happened. Venting in a public forum [you gave your name] could lead to action for litigation against you. Whether you were wronged or not; it cost big bucks to defend yourself in a court of local law and don't count on a speedy trial...count on at least 3 - 6 delays all of which will play very roughly with your peace of mind as well as your pocket book. The possibility exists that they could bring litigation [lawyers work for the govt] against you to drain your money reserves and destroy your life and then drop the law suit when you are in debt to your eye lids to some lawyer. Who knows how far they will go to save face? And if you think this doesn't happen you should go to the court house for a few days and listen to the conversations. Frivilous lawsuits are brought daily by anyone or any entity. All I'm saying is getting justice can put you into financial ruin and destroy your life. Especially when there's four police officers with badges against one person with no witnesses except a child. You did say that your friends had left the beach area.
This story sounds like a bad movie...but unfortunately its south Florida...
Good luck
Thom
While I must admit this was very harsh treatment there are extenuating circumstances that make this a not so cut and dried abuse of power. The officer in question might have had at the very least a hard life. I will point out I am on the side of a fellow sailor but there were mistakes made. Law requires any boat in trouble and in fear of sinking to beach for the safety of life and limb. A ticket just for beaching for a safety reason would have been summarily thrown out of court. That reality has moved on to a compound horror. While I was still young I learned not to yell obscenities at anyone with a ticket book or gun. Had you not argued with or gestured to the park custodian he could have been brought up on charges of not providing assistance in an emergency.
The truth will set you free
, only if you haven't already given false information. I sometime assist in doing search and rescue work for a local Sheriffs Dept. I have seen these Sheriffs give only ticket for very serious offenses but if someone gives a false name they are automatically arrested and booked. They then get their prints checked for verification of ID and outstanding warrants. This all happens regardless of the presence of minors.
The saddest four word ever penned are these four words, what might have been
. Because you used a false ID and admitted you used it any statement you give in court will be suspect. That is just a fact of life at this point in time. I can't advise you but I can tell you what I would do in this horrible situation. I would plead guilty of any charges of a false ID. I would also have an attorney present and even plea bargain with a DA. You will have to put this unfortunate incident behind you sooner or later as uncomfortable as that sounds.
The law is a sword with two edges, I'm sorry I can't be more positive.
These situations arise because people let them happen to them. When I read the original post I was so incensed by the primary issue that I glossed overt the part about the false names, etc.
However, advise like yours only fosters abuse of power. If people don't question authority in a proper manner they are only propogating systemic abuse of others by the authorities. If someone doesn't have the money to protect themselves in court they can get legal assistance from Legal Aid or from their local law school. I am knowledgable this source of legal aid.
In most states it is common law that mariners in trouble have the right to trespass and this is the issue here. Bad judgement such as giving false names by the lady in question is a secondary issue.
Reading the original post in this thread disturbs me in so many ways it's hard to narrow them down. Naomi felt she was in trouble and was proceeding to a beach to check on the seaworthiness of her craft. She didn't go into the beach for fear of getting a written citation? She had her child with her. Take the ticket, check the boat and call it a day.
Getting into an obscenity shouting match with a peace officer is going to result in a predictable winner and an predictable loser. If you want to find out which way that will go, every time, go call a cop a name and see what happens.
Giving false identity when she felt there was evidence of a misjustice...well, enough said. I'm sorry for the plight of the child, and I'm sorry that Naomi had so many frightful moments of concern while trying to get her daughter and boat to safety, but once she got on land, she pretty much got what she deserved.
We can question the authority of our peace keepers, but as soon as we get abusive, whether it is returning the gesture or initiating it, we are summarily screwed. I think the lesson to be learned here is there are good times to keep your mouth shut. Worrying about the welfare of your child, once the cuffs are slapped on, and not while you are busy giving false information and trading rude comments might be considered somewhat late. I learned this lesson the hard way after asking a police officer, who had just written me tickets for every traffic infraction I made hurrying to work, whether anyone had called him and a-hole yet today. That got me a mandatory court appearance in addition to the four moving violations. I got what I deserved.
In closing, peace officers wouldn't be so suspect of people lying to them all the time, if people weren't lying to them all the time. The officer in question is going to end up being able to justify his actions because he couldn't know if Naomi was telling the truth about the seaworthiness of her craft or not because when she came to the beach after their little tete et tete she lied about her information. Yikes. Our peace officers have leaway on their judgement calls. If Naomi came to the beach, without yelling at the cop and found her hulls full of water, I'm sure the
Turd
would have probably left her alone or at most ended up with a citation that she could have easily defended in court. I hope Naomi's daughter learned something from this little altercation. I'm sure that all she learned is that cops are power hungry jerks. She probably should have learned that shouting obsenities at police officers and lying to them is not something that responsible citizens do. I pray that is the lesson she will learn and not end up thinking that her mom acted in ANY mature fashion.
Cheers!
First of all, instigating a swearing match with any officer is not a smart
thing to do. You should realize, that from that point on, things are only
going to get worse.
If she felt that she had a real safety concern, not merely an issue of
inconvenience, She should have beached the boat immediately, told the
officer that she had a safety problem, and was beaching to perform a safety
inspection. If he proceeded to write the ticket anyhow, she should have
asked him to include her reason for beaching in a restricted area in the
citation. Then she should have taken citation to her attorney, explained
the situation, and almost certainly, it would have been dismissed.
Giving false identity to an officer is not only bad form, it's a criminal
act. That alone can buy you a trip downtown for fingerprinting and a positive ID.
Refusing to sign a citation will also buy you a trip downtown. By signing a
citation, you aren't admitting guilt or fault or abrogating any of your
rights. You are simply agreeing to appear before a judge or magistrate or a
JP or whatever. If you don't agree to appear, you are a flight risk, and
hence the trip to the cooler for setting of bail.
Now, what do I think about the conduct of the officers involved? I think
they displayed very poor judgement, and are probably guilty of at least harassment,
if not more. However, I won't sign up for
lawless, out of control cops
.
Sonny
Hello Phil-
First of all I don't give
advice
! I made a suggestion! Lawyers give advice!
My SUGGESTION was to go to the media and keep it out of the courts! At least with the media Naomi might get a fair remedy.
But lets say she follows your route...
If shes qualifies for legal aid which is not a given; she will have to go into a court of law in the town that the violations occured. In this court will be a local judge, local jury that probably will consist of property owners, tax payers, retirees, etc. The local DA that is their best because they need to save face. The DA will bring out 4 police officers whose job is so dangerous that they have to wear a gun. Some of them may have some medals for valor, etc. They will state their case along with photographs of her arrest photo. If she has had any problem in her past they will try to destroy her character in addition to the charges of lying to the police, avoiding arrest, sailing through a restricted area, calling the police officer a
....
on the internet, etc.
Its my understanding from Tami that she works for a law firm and I wonder how long they will tolerate her calling the police
....
??? The DA could ask her why she is represented by legal aid instead of her employer?? If they agree with her calling the police officer a
....
?if they support her lying to the police? If they support her sailing away to avoid getting a ticket?, etc.
She won't testify if she's smart because there's no way to justify lying to the police!!! If theres a person on the jury that doesn't approve of her choice of attire, choice of boat, choice of not testing the boat for leaks before she took her daughter out for a sail, her calling the police officer a
....
, she may have a hard time overcoming the police photo especially if it makes the papers, etc.
The local authorities may want to question her competence as a parent for exposing her daughter to a possibly unsafe boat, avoiding arrest, lying to the police, etc. especially in light that she works for a law firm would indicate that she knew better than to do that. That she made a fully informed decision that someone else would not have done! The DA and others could ask "if your boat was in peril why would you risk your life and your daughter's life to avoid getting a ticket???
The only witness she has that was close enough to hear what was said is her child. Does she really want her child to testify and have to answer???
Naomi, you really need to take a long look at your options! I suggested that you take the media route but that could turn out to be unpredictable at best...
Bottom line is that she will have 4 police officers testifying against her and her child...Who the jury or judge will believe is never certain....
Fair winds and good luck Naomi!!
Thom
Wow.
For the record: I am not now, nor have I ever been a law enforcement officer of any kind. None of my family is. None of my close friends are. I've even run into a cop or two I thought would be better off in another line of work. I've been hassled by state park police, over boating-relating regulations.
I'm very sorry you had a bad experience. I hope your daughter wasn't too traumatized, and that your boat is okay.
I emphatically support the right, even the necessity for even possibly leaky boats to make landfall.
But I am troubled by several points in your narrative. Even allowing for absolutely no
observer's bias
the facts as you relate them are troubling to me, as a sailor. If I'm understanding your account correctly, then I'm truely sorry you conducted yourself in the fashion you described. If I've got you all wrong, then I'm truely sorry for writing this.
Here are my concerns:
1. If some merchant has a concession to monopolize a state park's sailing area, that's really a sad thing for us boat owners, and should be opposed with vigor. But it's not up to officer Velaso!!! Arguing with the messenger about a park policy is a waste of time and just generates bad will.
If the officer was truely refusing you landfall, and you felt your safety at risk in leaving, you should have politely asked him to call the coast guard and let them duke it out. Yelling the guy down implies to the officer that you couldn't prove a genuine emergency, and so didn't wish to try. I sincerely hope that was not the case.
2. It's really too bad you didn't make the most direct course for land when you decided you were in distress. You say you chose to sail around a key to this beach, which another post on this thread describes as a known no-no. While your decision may have made perfect sense to you at the time, the unfortunate, unexpected consequence was to make you *seem* to the officer to be merely trying to excuse your efforts to violate the ordinances he ws ordered to enforce, by fabricating an erergency. Your account doesn't mention this, so I ask you, when the subject of your reason for landfall *first came up,* did your demeanor to the officer reflect that old
I know this looks funny, but...
, or were you just righteously indignant? If the latter, you seem to me to have compounded an unfortunate decision with poor people skills.
3. Others have commented about abusing a man with a gun and a citation book. How about 'shooting the messenger
? This poor guy is probably sick to death of acting as 'competition protection' for the concession - - he'd in all likelyhood rather be sitting in his air-conditioned cruiser, yukking it up on the radio with his colleagues. Instead they send him onto the hot sand, lugging 20 pounds of radios, equipment and weapons, to protect some politically connected merchant's business from competition. Whatever his personal shortcomings as a person might or might not be, you wasted your time and simply vented your frustration on an person who had no power to change the policy.
4. So you took advantage of what you thought was your superior position to abuse this guy, then sail off. You may not have planned it that way, but it sure looks that way in retrospect, eh? Your intentions may matter to God, but your actions are what cops and judges go by. To that cop's way of seeing it, you sailed up to a beach he's been assigned to warn you off of, argued with him for your 'rights' to violate the regulations his superiors told him to enforce, became abusive, and left, violating his expressed order to you to land the boat.
Short story: you thought you had the power to abuse him, and get away with it, and found out differently. It looks like another case of
meeting another driver who drives just like you do.
Too bad his vehicle is roughly 1 million times the size of yours. I'm not defending this guy; he sounds fairly obnoxious - - but you, in your own words, rattled his cage pretty hard - - which seems foolish.
5. THEN YOU LIED ABOUT WHO YOU ARE! Shame on you.
If your actions need the shield of anonymity, then you should reconsider your actions. (Preferably before doing them)
False ID is what terrorists, drug smugglers and organized crime people do. Cops are obligated to take it seriously.
6. False Statements???
1) that he ordered me to come to shore and
Defendant refused
You're own account indicates he asked you ashore. After you abused him, I can't believe he wouldn't make that an order. You said you sailed off. Sounds like he's got it right to me.
2) that when I gave him the false information of my identity, he asked me 3 times if I was sure it was the truth? He never asked me.
He doesn't have to ask you one extra time, nevermind 3. You dictated your false info to him, while he wrote it down. It's not like he said, over a bullhorn,
hey, who're you?
and you put up signal flags to answer. You lied. period.
From what you yourself tell of this, I'd implore Rick and Mary not to damage their/our credibility giving your 'story' one ounce of effort. You may have all kinds of excuses and explanations for your actions, but, sorry, lady, I don't want people thinking that sailors in general act anything like you - - for any reasons, however elaborate.
Ed Norris
I received this email from Naomi -- she didn't know how to post a reply:
I thank all of you who have taken your valuable time to read and reply to the post about my experience with the law last Sunday, Sept. 2nd. You are all correct. I did act wrongly in getting into a verbal match with an officer of the law. I was not smart in initially giving false information to the park officer about my identity. I should have bit my tongue and landed, despite his provocations and checked my hull. It was a comedy of errors on my behalf. I am not proud of that. However, I had to pay one hundred fold for it. I am not a criminal and should not have been treated like one. I should have, at the least, been given two basic human rights--one, to have made arrangements for my daughter's well-being, and two, to have been advised, instead of tricked, that I was going to be arrested so I could at least have sought some clothes coverage. Why even one of the women in the cell with me was arrested in her own house for selling crack and the officers let her change into some shoes, a sweater and jeans before taking her in. My best asset is that I love to sail and am generally an honest and decent person; my worst is my short temper and big mouth.
Rick White
Catamaran Sailor Magazine
email: rick@catsailor.com
Short temper and a big mouth....child you have no idea.....the last time I spoke my mind without reservation I was on jury duty...the judge took offense when I said
if the evidence proves the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt he should be hanged at sun-up and his body left in front of the court house to rot
I also included before that statement
That I didn't want some judge issuing out a light sentence because of his liberal beliefs
Well after 2 days in the Dallas County Jail for contemp of court I sort of think about things before I speak to anybody with authority. It only took me until I was 52 years old to figure that out. Some say I am not too smart when I get involved...
Naomi, before you know it the pain of this will go away and you and your girl child will be sailing by this place and it will be a memory.....maybe not the best memory but one that will help you in the future if you learn from it...memories like this will help you appreciate the good ones that much more....
fair winds
thom
When I was eighteen I had the great displeasure of being detained for five days. I was closing a service station I worked at when five guys I knew drove in with a headlight out. They bought a new headlight for their car and started to put it in while I finished closing.
About twenty police cars arrived and the occupants started yelling for everybody to lie down with their arms over their heads. I just kept working because I was innocent and I needed to get home for some reason that escapes me now.
Two large officers tackled me from behind, I resisted and for a few moments I broke free. I soon learned that you should never go to a gun fight with bare hands.
Instead of explaining who I was first, I yelled obscenity resisted arrest and got in a couple of good shots of my own.
I was arrested and as it turned out all the guys in the van were under eighteen. They also were carrying
Mass Quantity's
of drugs. They charged me for five felony counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Seven counts of possession of controlled substances and resisting arrest.
This was Thursday night of what used to be Washington and Lincoln birthday weekend. Friday was a holiday and so was Monday! I was held without bail in a maximum security lockup for four days. I witnessed very sick deviant behavior in those four days. When I was finally cleared of all charges it had cost me over $1,800.00 in attorney fee's. Was I able to recover my expenses, NO!
It was a learning experience I will never repeat. I now know I will never go to a jail again. I will never resist arrest again and I always tell any officer
yes sir and no sir
. The costs are much too high to do other wise.
Just a comment (or 3) re: your expressed concern for your daughter...
1. The officers left a 15 yr old in the company of 3 adults, at least one of whom was known to her, as a passenger on the same boat. They were at that time in a popular park, in the company, you said, of the 'marine patrol.' They put her in far less danger than your behavior did, once you made your arrest mandatory.
2. Given the behavior you had already demonstrated, once the police decided to arrest you ( your fake ID made that nonnegotiable) they had every reason to prepare for the worst: that you might put on a hysterical scene, traumatizing your child, iinciting your companions to mayhem, escalating a simple arrest into a pocket-riot. As it happened, you were arrested without incedent; if the three of them had to deal with you and two men, the outcome might have been different indeed. Come to think of it, I'd bet you a new mainsail that their training includes instructions to separate detainees from sympathetic onlookers if possible. Incidentally, the officers may also have been following a common and humane practice of attempting to handcuff detainees out of sight of their children. (where such delay doesn't increase risk to officers or civilians) Okay, your daughter knows you were arrested; would you rather she had a head-movie of mom in cuffs?
3. The best thing you could possibly do for your daughter's welfare, IMHO, would be to tell her that 'those officers overreacted, but mom sure put her own neck on the block' and then tell her never to try that kind of stunt. Someday soon, given kids nowadays, she's gonna be in a car that is pulled over for some minor offense, and with your incident for an example, she could conceivably emulate your attitude.
Think on it, and be afraid: it's like, 1 am, on a lonely stretch of road, her date is pulled over, maybe he's not exactly 'clean cut looking' ... the cop's alone and his training is to be wary in these circumstances... and she gets everybody all fired up; what guy is gonna want to be out done by a girl, right?
Believe me it's not farfetched; no matter what we postulate about cops, good, bad or abusive; you're not going to *increase* your life expectancy by agitating them.
Speaking as a sailor who meets law enforcement people at my state park on a regular basis - - sure one or two of them really rub me the wrong way. I've been politest to those individuals, one of whom I promptly, and with the assistance of my club, caused receive a 'policy clarification' from the park superintendent. Translation: this guy overstepped himself just to push me around. I obeyed courteously, politely disagreed with his reasoning, then got him in trouble.
But I'd hate for 'my' local cops to think you were an example of how we catsailors behave. Some day one of these guys just might save my life - - or yours. Hey, you never know.
Ed Norris