Not all people are good people, but we tend to assume most people act with positive intent. There are people who will lie in order to inflict legal and reputational harm against you. We fought this member’s misdemeanor unlawful carry charge for over three years before it was finally dismissed. This is a prime example of how slowly the wheels of justice move, and of how much damage can be done by a simple unfounded accusation.
The Incident
Our member was driving home from work on a 2-lane back road when a man on a motorcycle initiated the confrontation. Our member engaged at first—made a few hand gestures and yelled back at him—but otherwise just went about his drive home as normal.
As our member continued his drive home, the motorcyclist continued to follow him.
Police Involvement
No one called 911. Why not? Because nothing had happened that was worthy of a 911 call. While the motorcyclist was following our member, they passed a police car stopped on the side of the road. The motorcyclist pulled over, flagged the officer down, and made up a story that our member had pointed a gun at him.
The motorcyclist gave the officer a description of the member’s truck and a partial license plate number. When the police found our member, they asked him if he had been involved in a road rage altercation. At first, the member didn’t even know what the police were talking about. It was such a minor incident that he had moved on with his day and forgotten about it. Then, the member realized it must have been the motorcyclist and confirmed that they had interacted. He then gave police access to his vehicle where they located the member’s carry pistol. These two things were all the police needed to corroborate the motorcyclist’s tale and arrest our member.
The Takeaway
This is a great example of how little evidence the state needs to place you under arrest. It only takes one person’s word to get you arrested in the state of Texas. The word of a lying bad guy is enough to put you through the wringer of the criminal justice system. Interestingly, this motorcyclist had a previous conviction for making a false police report. What did he lie to the police about in the past? He falsely accused a different man of pulling a gun on him! So, even a known, convicted liar can get you arrested.
Thankfully, the prosecutors eventually saw through the story and all charges against the member were dropped after three years in the legal system.
Texas have a lot of ridiculous laws.
This needs to change with the open carry law, now any one who don’t like open carry or don’t like you can accuse you “he pointed me with a gun” and you get arrested, is so wrong.
You guys, the attorneys have to push this change.
Okay, now what happened to the motorcyclist who lied to the police? Nothing, probably!
3 Years that is absolutely crazy… another good reason to have TX Law Shield in your back pocket!
So is there any way the driver could have avoided being arrested and fighting this in the legal system for 3 years?
Get a radio scanner and listen to what goes on around your county on the highways – this stuff goes on all the time, more than people know. I call it “911 Rage” – people say stuff to try to get the cops to take it seriously and respond, and maybe score revenge on the outside chance the target of their anger will actually be armed. Mr. Motorcycle rolled those dice and scored. Ways to avoid that sort of ugly are first and foremost BE AN ADULT for crying out loud. Don’t get caught up in participating in that kind of nonsense, don’t interact, evade and get away from the situation if you can. Conflict is typically an OPTION – do you feel compelled to accept every fight someone offers no matter how petty? Next, DASHCAMS – just make sure the microphone is on – if you have a smartphone, activate video recording on that too. The vid you record may save your bacon.
My understanding is that one should never consent to talk to an officer when being questioned. It can never help you and can only hurt you.
Second is he should have refused the search of his truck.
If he would have done both of these he wouldn’t have spent three years in the legal meat grinder.
Has anyone looked in filing charges and even suing the scooter driver ?
Since he has been known to lie in the past and made a false accusation to the Police would not there certainly be any statutes in place to address this and also the driver of the truck member should look into suing the crap out of this guy in his personal capacity and anything else he and an attorney can come up with. Hey, it does not take much for criminal and illegals to do this. FIGHT BACK HARD.
My two cents worth today.
b
Cameras cameras cameras. Its sucks in today’s society that this not only occurs in incidents like these but in all facets of life. A lie will get you fired with no chance of appeal only to have the lie continued to potientional new jobs. Front, rear, POV cameras would be my guess. Its no longer being paranoid, its self preservation.
This is the exact type of situation where you need to sue the pants off of the person who made the false report, the arresting officer for not checking that liar’s record, and the prosecutor who allowed this sham to continue for three years. Emotional distress, damage to reputation, financial damage, anything you can think of. Make them pay dearly.
I agree the attorneys have to push this charge but not 3 years ,2 and 1/2 years too long. The chooch that made the comment to the police better which out next time who he does that to next ,they just better be careful . Oh Chooch means Jackass in Italian . OK JDS III
Since you gave us details of what happened to the innocent party, why did you not include what happened to the liar who gave the false police report? He should have been criminally charged. There have to be serious consequences for false accusations, especially if it involves a firearm. If you’re going to get us riled up about this, then you have an obligation to follow through and tell us what happened to the accuser.
Also, 3 years in the legal system is a complete joke, especially considering the accuser had a history of previously making a false police report. It sounds like it’s all about the money (as usual). In the meantime, it wrecks peoples lives. I hope the various state agencies or departments were sued and the innocent victim received a big settlement.
Why did he give permission for a search? That was a dumb move.
I’m not blaming him for the biker’s vad acts. Just never consent to a search! TLS should have made this clear to everyone. Cops are not your friends. They work for the state. It’s their job to arrest people.
Great plan listed by “Driver”. All I would add is, if you can, have a front and rear dash cam. Cell phone video catches the side.
Civil lawsuit ??
Civil lawsuit ?? Probably Austin…? Houston or San Antonio Texas??? Sanctuary Cities all.
Liberal Conclaves…
So why isn’t the motorcycle person in jail and why isn’t he being sued by the truck driver for all the harm he caused him? Surely the motorcycle person can’t do what he did (twice) and just walk away???
U.S. Law Shield,
When posting articles such as this one, it’s incumbent on you to provide all relevant elements of the story that will be of obvious interest to your readers. These posts are always careful to describe what happened to our fellow members, during and after their journey through the legal system. Conspicuously absent is any mention of what, if anything, happened to the so-called bad guys. When this occurs, we witness plea after plea in the Comments section for the rest of the story. And so it happens here.
Give us that story. Please.
-James R.
There are a couple of reasons why we don’t give all the details; the foremost is to protect the innocent.
If a person has been involved in an incident, or are the target of a criminal investigation, the most important piece of advice would be to speak to an attorney as soon as possible.
When it comes to civil lawsuits, the law gives great protection to law enforcement and people who claim to be crime victims. On top of that, the ability to recover varies greatly and is evaluated on a case by case basis. The most common scenario is because the false accuser does not own anything. And it makes sense; most folks don’t want to spend years of their life and tens of thousands of dollars to try to collect from a person who is, what the legal profession calls, “judgmentproof.”
Finally, on the criminal side, prosecutors are very hesitant to go after people who make false accusations because of the chilling effect it has on real crime victims.
Each case is different, and advice will vary from case to case. To make sure your rights are preserved, it’s important to speak with an attorney.
Dear US Law Shield,
Please explain what your members should be doing differently to avoid legal trouble. Otherwise it looks like you are selling anxiety insurance instead of legal services.
Zero-content clickbait is unprofessional.
There are a couple of reasons why we don’t give all the details; the foremost is to protect the innocent.
If a person has been involved in an incident, or are the target of a criminal investigation, the most important piece of advice would be to speak to an attorney as soon as possible.
When it comes to civil lawsuits, the law gives great protection to law enforcement and people who claim to be crime victims. On top of that, the ability to recover varies greatly and is evaluated on a case by case basis. The most common scenario is because the false accuser does not own anything. And it makes sense; most folks don’t want to spend years of their life and tens of thousands of dollars to try to collect from a person who is, what the legal profession calls, “judgmentproof.”
Finally, on the criminal side, prosecutors are very hesitant to go after people who make false accusations because of the chilling effect it has on real crime victims.
Each case is different, and advice will vary from case to case. To make sure your rights are preserved, it’s important to speak with an attorney.
Do not engage with idiots while you’re carrying.
Your firearm is for self-defense, NOT to provide false confidence in verbal confrontations.
You’re not looking for trouble, but you are prepared when real trouble finds you.
Sadly it’s a good enough reason to keep people for exercising their own rights.