Castile - 52 stops. $6,588 fines, fees

Gus Philpott, The Woodstock Advocate
10 July 2016 (8:44 AM)

How many times have cops pulled you over? In the last year. Five years. Since you began driving.

CBS News in Minneapolis is reporting that Philando Castile was stopped 52 times "in recent years" and cited for 86 violations, More than one-half of the violations were dismissed (not uncommon, when there are multiple charges, as will anyone familiar with traffic courts), but his fines and fees totaled $6,588.

Remember how Diamond Reynolds said he never did anything wrong?

Those jerkwater protestors really anger me. The cops should have arrested absolutely every one of them on the highway.

The Constitution guarantees the right to assembly peaceably. Does shutting down an interstate highway constitute peaceable assembly? No!

Does shutting down streets, sidewalks, buildings constitute peaceable assembly? No.

I remember the ticket in Woodstock in 2007 for a headlight that had been burned out for 15 minutes. (I said "the" ticket, rather than "a" ticket because, until then, I hadn't had a traffic ticket in 50 years.) The cop was going to give me a warning, until Cop #2 showed up and reminded him that the rule at Woodstock PD was "if Philpott gets stopped, he gets a ticket; no warnings."

While I wasn't targeted for that stop (the headlight was out on that frigid Monday night), I got a ticket, instead of a Warning, because of hatred of the Woodstock PD toward me.

Then two years later I slipped up and failed to signal a right turn before reaching the corner. Who roared up behind me like he was after a bank robber? Cop #2. The same cop who caused me to get a ticket in 2007, instead of a warning.

Well, that was the price of having a big mouth in Woodstock. Cop #2 will probably end up Chief somewhere, someday.