The Police and I - Personal Statement

It was around 2am on a friday when I was driving on market street by the civic center. I was waiting at the intersection on market street for a red light to turn green. Once it turned green, I made a left and continued onto my destination. Shortly after I was stopped by a police officer. When I asked him the reason for pulling me over, he said I ran a red light and that my lights weren’t on. I denied the accusation and knowing that there is a camera at the intersection of market street that shows everything, I stated to the officer exactly, “Can you give me my ticket so I can be on my way. I’m not going to go back and forth with you.”

Once I said that, he asked me to get out my car when two additional cop cars came onto the scene. So now there are a total of 3 cop cars for what was initially supposed to be a traffic stop. Immediately after getting out the car, they started searching my car. At this point I was lost on exactly what their end goal was. I already felt like I got stopped without a cause, and now my car was being searched. I felt like they were doing everything to prove me guilty of something considering I got stopped wrongfully. I was asked to do a series of test for them. The first test he made me do was a Horizontal gaze where he held a flashlight to my eyes and asked me to follow a pen. The second test he asked me to do was to walk and turn on an imaginary line.

Than lastly, he asked me to stand on one leg. After the test I expressed to the officer If I was free to leave considering I did not want to waste anymore time. It was extremely windy and cold, and not having a jacket on made things worse; I wanted to leave. He than asked me to do another test for him, which I told them at this point, I felt like i'm being violated and if they want to arrest me, they can. After saying this, I got brought to the Dutchess county office where one of the officer explained to me that because i refused to do their test(breathalyzer), my license will be revoked. Not knowing this before, I asked the officer if i could do the test(breathalyzer) because I didn't want my license revoked. The officer informed me that because he had already done the paperwork the answer was “no.” After the paperwork, he told me the only way I could leave was if I posted bail, if not I was going to have to spend the night to see a judge. I told him I couldn’t post bail or call anyone because my phone, and money were in my car, which they had towed. After a while, he informed me I was free to go around 4am. Since my house keys were in my car along with my phone, I didn’t have anywhere to go or anyone to contact.

I made it known to the officer my current situation and informed him I didn't feel safe roaming around Poughkeepsie aimlessly with no destination. I asked if I could stay until morning time. He denied and said exactly “This is not a hotel.” After going back and forth with him about not wanting to leave, he got hostile and shoved me toward the door. I gave up and asked him if he could drive me to a place I felt comfortable at. He said no, than finally I asked if he could call a cab for me which he agreed to.