The Mauldin Police department is a sad example of how cops are suppose to act.
Mauldin is a small town and not a lot of criminal activities happen, therefore the Mauldin Police must make something happen in order to meet their quota and/or bring money to the city.
I am a Christian man. I am 29 years old, black, and married to a white 29 year old woman. I own my business, don't drink nor do I smoke.
On July 17th, 2009, my wife and I just left our friends house around 1:30 AM and was headed back to our house in Mauldin. About 4 minutes before we even entered Mauldin City limits, officer Misty Ross pulled out of a Greenville subdivision and began following our vehicle. She followed us for about 10 minutes. We made sure to stay within the speed limit of 35 MPH and make sure we do everything legally.
We came to a four way stop sign and waited for 3 seconds (I could out loud). Around this time I told my wife to start recording from our Blackberry because Mauldin Police are known for being corrupt. We came within 60 feet of a left turn, turned on our left turn signal and made our turn. We then approached a stop light, waited, signaled left, and turned onto Main Street. This is when she finally pulled us over.
She came to our vehicle and we already had our information out. She said that the reason she pulled us over is because I was swerving and that I made an improper left turn. She said that the law states when you turn on your signal, you are to turn to the road closest to you.
The manual I have clearly says you are to signal 100 feet before your turn, which is what I did.
I let her know that we were recording (this is when her attitude changed). She went into her vehicle, came back out and issued me a 4 point $232.50 ticket for an improper turn. We know this was completely ridiculous.
For one, she said I was swerving so why not write me a ticket for that or even administer a DUI test (although I wasn't drinking or swerving).
While she was handing us the ticket, my wife and I wanted to ask her a question but she refused to speak to us. I said three times, "M'aam we have a question" she looked at us and kept walking back to her vehicle, completely ignoring us.
The whole situation was completely ridiculous. I will be taking this to court and I hope that the judge views the police vehicle camera to see we were clearly being harassed.
I was, and am so upset because these officers need to stop acting like they are above the law and actually fight crime instead of messing with innocent people.
I'm including pictures of Officer Misty Ross. It's easy to see she's part of the "good ol boy" system.