Original Article
Va. Deputy Pulls Over Officers, Gets Heat
Updated: Friday, Sep. 30, 2005 - 5:43 AM
STAUNTON, Va. (AP) - A deputy pulled over a convoy of New Jersey law
enforcement officers traveling home from a Hurricane Katrina relief
effort, sparking complaints from a New Jersey sheriff for the "grief"
they received.
Augusta County Sheriff Randall D. Fisher defended the deputy, saying
he pulled over the emergency vehicles on Interstate 81 after state
police received complaints about their driving.
"They were traveling at a high rate of speed, people were being run
off the road," Fisher said Thursday. The deputy "was basically asking
the guys to cut their (emergency lights), slow down."
Some members of the convoy did not heed the deputy's order to pull
over, Fisher said, and the stop initially was adversarial. But he said
the New Jersey officers left amid handshakes and back slaps with his
deputy.
"We pretty much thought it was the end of the story," Fisher said.
But the same day, New Jersey's Passaic County sheriff, Jerry Speziale,
called the Augusta County Sheriff's Office and criticized the deputy's
actions.
"If you think that that's not a disgrace, you should take the badge
off your shirt and throw it in the garbage," Speziale said in the
telephone call, which Fisher played for The Associated Press.
Speziale said Thursday that the vehicles in the convoy were using
their overhead lights while driving in the left lane, but denied they
were speeding or pushing drivers off the road.
"I stand behind my men," Speziale said.
He said Virginia police had pulled over other out-of-state officers
also returning from Hurricane Katrina duty. "They did it to the NYPD.
They did it to others. The pattern's not on our part."
Fisher said the deputy extended the professional courtesy of not
ticketing the officers even though they were speeding at up 95 mph
and, he said, forcing motorists out of the passing lane.
But he also said he could understand their haste: "I'm not defending
anyone's actions, but I'm sure they were anxious to get home."
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