Any thoughts on this one guys?

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eviltravis

New member
Man gets $200 fine for helping police

HELENA -- A Helena man who pulled his truck in front of a stolen vehicle to halt the vehicle for pursuing police last week has drawn a criminal record and a $200 fine for his efforts.

Gregory Daem, 25, pleaded guilty to negligent endangerment in City Court Friday, paid a $200 fine and received a six-month deferred jail sentence.

Prosecutor Bob Wood said he filed the charge because Daem endangered himself, the teenagers in the stolen minivan and police officers.

Daem said he wasn't willing to go through the hassle of a trial, but still didn't believe he did anything wrong.

"To me, it wasn't something I should've been ticketed for," he said.

Police and sheriff's deputies had chased the minivan through town for several minutes at speeds up to 90 mph.

When Daem saw the minivan and police cars approaching, he pulled his pickup truck across the flow of traffic and tried to force the driver of the minivan to stop. The minivan slammed into the side of his vehicle, but no one was injured.

"To me, it was the responsibility of a citizen," Daem said. "They could have killed somebody."
 
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Fly320s

New member
Makes perfect sense to me.

Of course, if Mr. Daem had let the stolen van drive by then he would have been arrested for aiding and abetting known fugitives. :p
 
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Chuck Dye

New member
The charges and guilty plea work for me. Afraid I would not survive voir dire in the civil trial jury selection, don't have that good a poker face.
 
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Bob Locke

New member
"To me, it was the responsibility of a citizen," Daem said. "They could have killed somebody."
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I guess in that town if you see someone about to gun down another person, you'd better not draw your own piece and prevent it lest you face murder or attempted murder charges.

Thanks for the laugh, though. This is one of the biggest jokes I've read in a while.

:rolleyes:
 
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RickD

Moderator
Have you ever watched a high-speed chase on COPS and see the semi-rigs try to block the fleeing felon? Those cops laud them.

Of course, I have never seen a semi-rig actually stop the bad guy, so the cops have to lay down spike strips or do a Pick maneuver, both of which can result in rolled vehicles.

What's the diff?
 
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para.2

New member
Well, it's obviously a problem with this "untrained civilian" in his "high-powered assault vehicle" taking the law into his own hands. When will we wake up and ban or at least require licensing and registration of these dangerous, unregulated consumer products?
What?...We do?... Umm...;)
 
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Betty

New member
Prosecutor Bob Wood said he filed the charge because Daem endangered himself, the teenagers in the stolen minivan and police officers.
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Well, I guess the prosecutor would be more satisfied if the samaritan didn't intervene and the thieves sped down the road and plowed into a bunch of school kids crossing the street.

I blocked a car for the cops once. It worked. Not dramatic like this story, and there was no collision involved. It wasn't cop wannabe, either.
 
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TallPine

New member
If the cops don't protect us, why should we intervene to help them? :mad:

Actually, I am ashamed that this happened in my state - I thought we were better than that here.

But ... it was in Helena - which is the capital. Where ever politicians are, I guess common sense goes out the window.
 
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Sodbuster

New member
Hard to tell from the story if the prosecutor acted upon the wishes of the sheriff and police chief, or if he filed charges on his own volition. Maybe it's a case of The Bored Prosecutor. I don't have a handle on Montana LE yet. A wave to a state trooper or deputy sheriff usually results in nothing in return. In Wyoming, they almost always wave back. In fact, a couple of Wyoming troopers have let Sodbuster drive on down the road after receiving a finger-shaking for doing 75 in a 55 and 75 in a 65. (I usually don't speed, but when I do, there's a troper there :) ) They seem to be a pretty stoic lot in Montana. But with an emblem with the dimensions of a coffin (or a grave?) on it, what do you expect? :D
 
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jimpeel

New member
So a citizen affecting a citizen's arrest by blocking the escape route of the fleeing felons is a punishable offense as being too dangerous to others but the cops can do a fishtail manuver causing a vevicle to roll over in a residential area and that endangers no one.

Got it.

Next!
 
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Russ

New member
I they had another attorney with 1/8 of a brain in that town, he could run and beat Bob Wood for DA for being butt stupid.
 
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40ozflatfoot

New member
Vindication sometimes comes slowly, but at least it's nice to see that it does come.

I posted here last year about the liberalization of Montana, and the infusion of idiocy. Looks like the takeover is going just as I, and everyone else that has seen this happen before, expected.

And for the same reasons.

Before too long, we'll see handgun registration, all kinds of carry restricted to permit holders, and increased attempts to ban all hunting and fishing. After that, the slope slips faster.
 
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