A Small Victory in a Long War

I have a confession to make. I hope my reputation isn't forever tarnished with this revelation, but, well here goes. I stood trial yesterday. I was accused of the high crime of "failing to use my blinker during a lane change." I know readers may not want to associate with an accused blinker non-user so I understand if you quit reading now. At the trial, the cop showed up and sat several rows from my lawyer and myself. The judge dismissed the false charge. One small victory in a long war.

So what? Well, that one charge served as the catalyst for ruining my Air Force career. At least on paper it did.

While I can't divulge everything that happened during the traffic stop, since my civil lawsuit against the police department is pending, I will detail the events that led to my arrest. That's right, arrest. I live in an enlightened state where police offices have a wide array of made up offenses they can pick to justify arresting somebody they want to punish. Failing to use a blinker is one.

The cop pulled me over in a downtown area. I had my license and registration in hand when he approached the window and asked for them. I asked why he had pulled me over and he said, "I pulled you over because you have an out of state license plate and I want to make sure you have a driver's license." I said, "Confirm you randomly pulled me over without cause?" He said, "Get out of the vehicle." I said, "Confirm you're now ordering me out of my vehicle without cause?" He confirmed the order and I got out. Quick note: the courts have stated that roving stops (pulling people over randomly without reasonable suspicion of unlawful activity) is illegal and a violation of the Fourth Amendment. This stop was unconstitutional. He took my license and registration as I got out, and told me to face my car. Cuffs. From his approach to my arrest took no more than 20 seconds or so. I later asked him why he was arresting me and that's when he came up with the blinker charge. He filled out some paperwork and said I had one chance, I could sign the citation and be on my way or spend the night in jail. I said I'd sign the citation but that I remained concerned because he said he had pulled me over for out of state tags. He said, "That's it. You're going to jail."

And I did. The police report was ridiculous and not believable on its face. There's a lot more I'd like to provide about this dirty cop...he has previously been suspended from the force for lying and intimidation. But I'll stop at this point and let my lawyers bring up that information in the civil suit.

So the next day when I got out of jail I had to meet with a commander. Service dress. I won't discuss the content of those discussions but suffice it to say there was a difference in opinion concerning the oath to support and defend the Constitution, questioning Constitutional violations, and the like.

Several weeks later I received a Letter of Reprimand (LOR). It had two charges. The first charge was that I was unprofessional etc etc during a "routine traffic stop," and the charge was based entirely on the lying cop's police report. The second charge was that I lied to local Public Affairs (PA) in a meeting concerning the academic freedom violation (previously blogged about) and a story I was considering writing with the Air Force Times. I was shocked to see the PA officer had written up a memo saying that I had lied in the meeting about having a blog and only after repeated questions did I admit I had one. This formed the second charge, that I'm a liar, no integrity, etc, and of course bolstered the first charge.

Fortunately I covertly recorded the conversation with PA (completely legal) and have digital proof that the PA officer's claim was incorrect and that I had not lied. I was very transparent, as is my nature. That digital evidence wasn't provided with my LOR response because my lawyer's request to extend the response date for the LOR wasn't granted and my lawyer needed more time to turn over every stone to confirm I hadn't broken any laws, rules, or regulations with my recording. But my LOR response was incredibly good even without the digital evidence. I was given the LOR anyway.

An IG complaint was filed for retaliation. A package was sent to the Air Force Board of Corrections, since I met my primary promotion board with that LOR/UIF sitting in my records and it's certain I won't be promoted as a result. The digital evidence was provided and both processes are ongoing. I've got a long way to go in this war but at least I've won a small battle.

I was also unmatched from an assignment as a result of the LOR/UIF. I had volunteered to fly RPA for the Air Force and was, of course, quickly matched to an assignment. That was undone and it appears I will no longer get my number one assignment choice. I cringed when I volunteered for it. But I did volunteer because I support my senior leadership and the program needs motivated people and I love providing support to my brothers on the ground. My friend Dave explains the rationale perfectly and I blogged about his SWJ article. I thought I could help with that cultural transformation but it appears a fabricated LOR will keep that from happening. It's a strange world when highly qualified pilots aren't allowed to fill the number one need of the Air Force because of nonsensical fabrication.